This blog is not supposed to be about the news and topics that everyone discusses in the Photography world, as I’m sure brilliant journalists and well trained bloggers can do it better than me. However I had to do a quick post on the new Emphas.is initiative. A brilliant idea that can save Photojournalism!
Yes Photojournalism is in danger. In a very similar way to the crisis in the Music industry, we’re seeing good magazines disappear, famous photo agencies go bankrupt, and the quality of news stories and images drop. Photo reporters don’t often have the time or support necessary to build a detailed project, to get involved with their subjects, to create their own opinion and tell their own story about the subject they’re covering. No one is any longer willing or able to pay for in-depth on the field stories.
The model has to be reinvented.
Emphas.is is can be one of the solutions.
‘Emphas.is is a platform for photojournalism that offers a unique bond between photojournalists and their audience, and in the process aims to create a new financial model for photojournalism in the 21st century.’
It’s basically a crowd-financed enterprise to help photo reporters go and get a story wherever it is happening. The idea is not to ask people to pay for the photo itself, but for the process of making the photos. The reward for the people getting involved is not a financial investment, the reward is to be able to build a relationship with a photojournalist and follow him through his story. People will be able to ask questions to the reporter, see previews of the work and so get really engaged in the story they’ve selected.
The beta site is now live, projects selected by professionals are ready and waiting for you to get involved.
Here are a few of them, discover them all on the emphas.is website.
21st Century Communism - Laos by Tomas van Houtryve
Besieged.
Four young women want to give a face to Congo rape victims
Sarah Elliott, Benedicte Kurzen, Ying Ang, Agnes Dherbeys
Four young women want to give a face to Congo rape victims
Sarah Elliott, Benedicte Kurzen, Ying Ang, Agnes Dherbeys
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| Sarah Elliott |
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| Benedicte Kurzen |
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| Ying Ang |
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| Agnes Dherbeys |
Pine Ridge Billboard Project by Aaron Huey
So choose your project (or many projects) and get to the heart of a news story as if you were traveling in a passionate photojournalist’s camera bag. I’d love to help them all, but I can’t. So help them too!
Emphas.is
Emphas.is
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