Human interest vs sports action in photojournalism

PSA Journal, August, 1997 by Keith Vaughan

Photojournalism" is ubiquitous in our everyday lives. The Oxford Modern Dictionary (Oxford University Press, 1992) defines photojournalism as "the art or practice of relating news by photographs, with or without an accompanying text, especially in newspapers, magazines, etc." Indeed the newspapers that we read over breakfast would be rather bland without a photographic image or two on each page. The magazines that we subscribe to, and sometimes find time to read, are usually richly illustrated with color photographs in the editorial pages or in advertising. The video images imparted through the television tube bring news pictures and travel locations from all comers of the world into our living rooms. Tourism brochures and color guidebooks are enhanced by a wealth of color images that capture the landscapes and peoples of exotic places.

It is logical to assume that photojournalism (PJ from now on in this article) should by definition portray some element of "human interest." So, why should we even have to consider the question of human interest in PJ at all? Like many of the readers of this article, I belong to a camera club which, in turn, is a member club of PSA (the Photographic Society of America), and I belong to PSA as an individual member. PSA has a division devoted to the pursuit and promotion of PJ; the PJ division of PSA attempts to foster the photojournalistic activities of its members, most notably through the recognition of international exhibitions around the world. Some of these exhibitions offer a PJ section as an adjunct to the larger or more established, divisions of Color Slide (pictorial), Nature, Color Print and Monochrome Print, whereas a smaller number of exhibitions offer PJ as a major feature along with Photo Travel (PT), e.g. Golden West, Atlantic Lighthouse, Bayer. Regardless of the size of the exhibition, in recent years the PJ sections have been dominated by high-profile sports images, most notably from a growing number of European photographers with relatively easy access to a large number of world-class sporting events, right on their doorstep.

This domination of the PJ salons by the sports photographers has led PSA to find ways to reward and promote non-sports PJ images, in particular, by making it possible for exhibitions to award medals for Best Human Interest in addition to the traditional Best of Show. (A few years ago, one or two exhibitions went so far as to dictate the type of image submitted by choosing the special theme, "Family Life," for the PJ salon.) This is where the notion of "human interest" in PJ images becomes important. The reader would be correct in pointing out that since sports activities invariably involve people, then human interest is an inseparable part of any sports photograph. Indeed many of the sports images accepted in PJ salons would qualify for the award for best human interest. Nevertheless, it seems to be a general trend that sports images have taken over the salons from what could be referred to as the "soft PJ" purely human interest photographs. A common goal of all exhibition organizers may be to select a range of images for the public show (i.e. the exhibition) that will give the audience a balanced view of the world of man and his environment.

The challenge to the individual photographer is to seek out and photograph the non-sports PJ images that will rival the sports pictures for impact. No one should expect to gain international acceptances for ordinary images of people just because they are pictures of people. However, an achievable objective is to produce human interest images that will (a) please you, the photographer, (b) will have an impact on the judges and (c) will add to the entertainment of the audience at the show.

When I developed ambitions to gain PJ acceptances in order to climb the ladder to 5 Stars and beyond, I naturally went after sports activities. Living in Nova Scotia is a different world from the center of Europe. Very few national or international events are ever staged here, although when big events do come here the opportunities are plentiful; media accreditation is not always necessary to get good access to the events. (A recent example of a national event in Nova Scotia was the Canadian Canoe championships held in August 1996 at Lake Banook, Dartmouth, only 15 minutes from my home; this event will be followed up by the WORLD Canoe championships at the same venue in August 1997.) But generally, I had to look toward local small-time sports events for action and I had a lot of fun and some success, as my exhibition record shows (PSA Journal, August 1992, Vol. 58, no. 8, pp 13-16). These local activities were supplemented by occasional forays outside Nova Scotia -- the 1988 Formula I motor racing Grand Prix in Montreal, British motor cycle racing at Brands Hatch and the Calgary Stampede.

What goes around comes around! I have become aware recently that it is becoming more difficult to gain acceptances with even the above average sports picture; I have challenged myself to come up with nonsports PJ images that will have an impact and so I am on the lookout for strong human interest situations. Often these situations can be found at a sporting venue, but associated with the peripheral activities away from the sports action. Take basketball for example! Most PJ basketball images involve activity with the ball under or around the basket. But take a look at the activity of the cheerleaders, who are usually incredibly acrobatic. Witness the brave girl being tossed 20 feet into the air, putting her faith in four colleagues waiting to catch her. Or keep shooting after the final buzzer and capture the emotion of the winning supporters. (One such image did well at the 1996 PSA PJ Traveling exhibition, with the theme "Emotion.") Occasionally you can find unusual images before the event as I found one day at the Calgary stampede. I spotted two older ladies in the grandstand in their seats surrounded by empty places. The resulting image (see Figure 1) was accepted at 3 out of 4 salons of a recent PJ exhibition circuit.