How I Learned Not to Be a Photojournalist [Paperback]

Dianne Hagaman (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Hagaman's story is one of reeducation. When she began this MFA project in photography, her training had been in photojournalism. There were certain rules: focus on a peg that will immediately signal "human interest" and will draw people to read the text. It was, she found, often formulaic. "A picture of two people hugging is generally useful as a sign of emotion... When you are assigned to a funeral, for example, you know that everyone at the paper will be pleased if you make a photograph of people hugging at the side of the coffin." Having gotten her job at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer through photographs she took at a reservation in Idaho, she turned to Native Americans again, this time in Seattle's alcohol treatment programs, many run by Christian missions. She gradually realized that her approach to the subject, like her early photographs, was too closely cropped and that she needed to step back to get the context. One breakthrough moment is when she takes a picture of the blessing of the new tabernacle in a Catholic day center. Rather than cropping tightly around the clergy, she enlarges the frame to include the spare furnishings and a homeless man sitting, excluded, off to the side. Her interests likewise expanded to include religion and, often, the obedience demanded of believers. Here, her response can become the emotional one of a lapsed Catholic, as when she describes a girl competing in a game based on Bible verses: "These are concrete and real influences in the creation of her self-image," she says. "She won't simply decide what the real her is going to be and then become her"?as if autarchy were the other option. At its best, the text truly illuminates Hagaman's 59 b&w photographs and works with them to show her artistic evolution.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Packed with compelling pictures and words full of insight into two of the most pervasive cultural processes--religion and photojournalism--this is a brilliant example of reflective action; Hagaman eloquently demonstrates "how work is shaped by the process of doing it, the process of discovering what the result will be, the process as an ongoing analysis." As she notes toward the end of the book, this is not "a new set of recipes for creating successful documentary photographs and projects." It is more. It is an invitation to learn not to know all sorts of places and professions in which we have been securely--often unreflectively--placed, and to read what is not contained in pictures or in words as well as what is contained. The book should be required reading for academics and practitioners concerned with documentary production in any medium, but it is also an invaluable and accessible account for general audiences seeking to become more critical readers and more creative composers of the worlds in which we live. Steve Schroeder --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky (April 18, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813108705
• ISBN-13: 978-0813108704
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 9.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,073,115 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Book That Should Be Better Known!, September 27, 2002

By 

Kevin Bjorke (Santa Clara, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How I Learned Not to Be a Photojournalist (Paperback)

I recently re-read this book after two years. It's still great. Hagaman's recounting of her exploratory and creative processes are detailed and really without parallel in the photographic literature. Few artists detail how they often move through images that may please others but that are cliched and unsatisfying to the artist themselves, and their search for something better through self-examination, staying open to what they really see, and persisting at what they feel is important. She echoes Winogrand at one point, describing her quest to find out that things are like when photographed. Conservative christians may not like some images, but she shoots what she sees.

4.0 out of 5 stars A Dangerous Book, January 27, 2001

By 

"prufrock77" (Morehead, Kentucky United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How I Learned Not to Be a Photojournalist (Paperback)

I loved this book. And those who love good photography will really enjoy it. Hagaman goes through the transformation of everyday photojournalist to heartfeeling photographer. Though the opinions about her religious standpoint can easily offend others, I think it was wonderful how by stepping back from the taught cliches she could open up to a greater expression of truth.

10 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars just bad photography and thinking, January 27, 2000

By 

Mark F. Hedengren "mfinch56" (Salt Lake City, Utah) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How I Learned Not to Be a Photojournalist (Paperback)

How I Learned Not to Be a Photo Journalist is over all a dumb book. The only intrusting thing about it is pointing out the conflicts between art and photojournalism. But other then that it's not much more then a not-so-bright individual's quest to make a not-so-good group of pictures.