Deanne Fitzmaurice on Judging CPOY and the Evolution of Photojournalism
Pulitzer Prize-Winner Deanne Fitzmaurice had just finished judging the College Photographer of the Year in Missouri, when she jumped on a plane to join the faculty at the Summit Sports California Photography Workshop near Malibu, CA. While she was in transit, a prominent photo editor started a discussion on Facebook over whether the desaturated look of the winner, Mathias Svold, adhered to the standards of photojournalism.
“Photojournalism is evolving,” she said. “I think there are different ways to tells stories, and we don’t have to be formulaic about it.” Fitzmaurice says that during the course of the judging, the issue of tonality never came up because the images stood on their own.
In this interview we chat about:
- CPOY judging and the evolving nature of photojournalism
- Ethics in photojournalism
- Starting a career in freelancing
- Sexual harassment and what it means for photography
- The future landscape for photographers
It’s interesting that completely desaturated images (black & white) don’t raise ethical concerns. Full color images don’t raise a concern. But partially desaturated images do. What is the foundation of the concern some journalists have about partially desaturated images?
Listening to the podcast, it seems openness is one of the keys to Ms. Fitzmaurice’s effort to find balance within the evolving profession of photojournalism. She is open with editors about taking an advocacy position with respect to a central figure in a story. In so doing, she empowers that editor to determine if her work meets a publications standards.
This is important. In all professions, the act of concealing an agenda has the potential create compromises in the ethics of that profession. However, being open about having a perspective, and then applying your skill and expertise to honestly tell a story from that perspective should allow that story to be eligible for consideration as content for a news publication.
If the photojournalist is open about their involvement and the publication is open about this content being advocacy reporting, I say, let the audience look or read and decide.