ZEKE: Documentary vs. Journalism

Lori Waselchuk first arrived in Angola, Louisiana on a magazine assignment in 2011. A photographer with over 15 years experience including published work in Newsweek, LIFE, and The New York Times, she was there to document the Louisiana State Penitentiary’s prisoner-run hospice program.

But the “incredible journey” Waselchuk saw in the caregivers—the tenderness and care demonstrated by what society dubs hardened criminals—had her returning to Angola again and again for over two years. Her study of these “people with mostly heart and not a lot of skill making life better for others” culminated in the award-winning photo documentary series Grace Before Dying.

Even though most viewers would be stumped telling the difference between the two, a division exists in the world of visual reporting between photojournalism and documentary photography. The definitions of each are broad and the same body of work can be considered both, but as we see in the evolution of Waselchuk’s work, differences between the genres do not manifest in the finished product but in the photographer’s process and intention.

“Documentary photographers are almost always, by definition, personally driven by the subject matter and the issue,” says Glenn Ruga, ZEKE Executive Editor and a photographer whose experience chronicling issues relating to the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s, particularly Bosnia, led him to founding the Social Documentary Network.

An ignited interest means documentary photographers dedicate themselves to a subject indefinitely, with some doing so for years. Such intensive commitments are less often found in photojournalism. In the classic scenario, news breaks and a publication dispatches a full-time or freelance photojournalist to document the scene for hours or days before moving on to the next story. Today’s demanding news cycle prizes speed over depth.

Documentary work is much more challenging and much closer to the way I want my photography to work in the world. It’s more of an artist’s life.  —Lori Waselchuk

“As soon as I started photographing Manenberg…I knew I was in it for the long haul,” says Sarah Stacke, a photographer who first visited the Cape Town, South Africa suburb in 2012. “I hope to be present…for milestones and daily moments well into the future.”

Manenberg was established in the 1960s when “coloured” citizens were forcefully relocated there by the apartheid government. Most people today know it as one of South Africa’s most violent neighborhoods, but Stacke’s series, Love from Manenberg, instead explores “relationships and how we navigate relationships against the backdrop of our circumstances.” She continues to visit the Lottering family, the subject of her work, to this day.

The extended time spent on documentary assignments results in emotional, intellectual, and organizational investments largely absent from photojournalism. Even though Waselchuk’s active work on Grace Before Dying is over, she admits, “I probably think about it once a day and put energy into it. The conversation the work generates is something I work on continuously.”

But according to Stacke, it also results in a deeper understanding of an individual which illuminates “the positive and negative issues that affect an individual and his or her community.” Should a photojournalist seek a similar depth of understanding, it is likely that issues of bias, reporter sympathy, and misrepresentation would arise.

“Documentary photographers have a perspective on the subject,” says Ruga. “They’re not expected to have an objective position whereas the credo of photojournalism is that you’re there to give an unbiased presentation of the material with no particular agenda.”

Photojournalism is task-driven, and in today’s demanding news cycle the medium’s purpose is to catch readers’ eyes and expound on a written narrative. For photojournalists, the professional challenge, and what publication’s pay for, is the ability to enter any situation—no matter the culture, circumstance, or resources—and come away with a captivating image.

Documentary photography is much more a labor of love, according to Ruga, who says it has never been a lucrative business. Waselchuk, who has worked several jobs to support her photography, agrees. “No one’s paying me to do this. You can’t support yourself as a documentary photographer.”

Fellowships and organizations supporting documentary work do exist, but unlike photojournalists, documentarians lack the support of editorial departments. They forego the expectation of earning money for the freedom to craft narratives and expand their skills. Not just photographers, documentarians are researchers, writers, and editors. But what marks them from photojournalists the most is their role as storytellers. Every documentary piece communicates the photographer’s personal understanding of the subject, and, in voicing the story, they become a part of it.

“Documentary work is much more challenging and much closer to the way I want my photography to work in the world,” says Waselchuk. “It’s more of an artist’s life.”

ZEKE is published by Social Documentary Network (SDN), an organization promoting visual storytelling about global themes. Started as a website in 2008, today SDN works with more than 1,500 photographers from around around the world to tell important stories through the visual medium of photography and multimedia. Since 2008, SDN has featured more than 2,000 exhibits on its website and has had gallery exhibitions in major cities around the world. All the work featured in ZEKE first appeared on the SDN website, www.socialdocumentary.net.

Spring 2016 Vol. 2/No. 1

ZEKE Staff

Executive Editor: Glenn Ruga
Editor: Barbara Ayotte
Copy Editor: John Rak
Intern: Emma Brown

Social Documentary Network Advisory Committee

Barbara Ayotte, Medford, MA
Senior Director of Strategic Communications
Management Sciences for Health

Kristen Bernard, Salem, MA
Marketing Web Director
EBSCO Information Services

Lori Grinker, New York, NY
Independent Photographer and Educator

Steve Horn, Lopez Island, WA
Independent Photographer

Ed Kashi, Montclair, NJ
Member of VII photo agency
Photographer, Filmmaker, Educator

Reza, Paris, France
Photographer and Humanist

Jeffrey D. Smith, New York NY
Director
Contact Press Images

Steve Walker, New York, NY
Consultant and educator

Frank Ward, Williamsburg, MA
Photographer and Educator

Jamie Wellford, Brooklyn, NY
Photo Editor, Curator

ZEKE is published twice a year by Social Documentary Network
Copyright © 2016
Social Documentary Network
Print ISSN 2381-1390
Digital ISSN: Forthcoming

ZEKE does not accept unsolicited submissions. To be considered for publication in ZEKE, submit your work to the SDN website either as a standard exhibit or a submission to a Call for Entries. Contributing photographers can choose to pay a fee for their work to be exhibted on SDN for a year or they can choose a free trial. Free trials have the same opportunity to be published in ZEKE as paid exhibits.

To subscribe:
www.zekemagazine.com

Advertising inquiries:
glenn@socialdocumentary.net

Social Documentary Network
61 Potter Street
Concord, MA 01742 USA
617-417-5981
info@socialdocumentary.net
www.socialdocumentary.net
www.zekemagazine.com
@socdoctweets

Cover photo by Daro Sulakauri. Georgia. Leila fell in love with a boy that she met online. She escaped from her home and crossed the border from an occupied territory of Georgia to marry.

Photographers and writers featured in this issue of ZEKE Magazine.

Jan Banning

Photographer Jan Banning was born in Almelo in 1954 and currently lives in Utrecht, Netherlands. He studied history at the Radbout University of Nijmegen before becoming a photographic artist. He puts the social and political environment at the fore of his work and often features subjects that have been neglected within the arts and are difficult to portray: state power, consequences of war, justice, and injustice. His project “Bureaucratics,” a comparative study of government officials, showcases his academic, socially conscious approach. This exhibition earned Jan worldwide recognition, and it was shown in museums and galleries in some 20 countries on five continents.

Among Banning’s books are Traces of War (2005), Comfort Women (2010), and Down and Out in the South (2013). Among Banning’s many awards is a World Press Photo Award. His documentary artwork has been widely published and is featured in both private and public collections, including the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

Lisa Liberty Becker

Lisa Liberty Becker has written 90-plus articles for publication in Boston magazine, Boston Sunday Globe, Boston Globe magazine, Sports Illustrated Women, Women’s Basketball magazine, and others. She also has one published nonfiction book.

In addition to being a writer, Lisa is also an editor and a writing instructor. She lives in the Boston area and is currently working on her second book.

Caterina Clerici

Caterina Clerici is an independent multimedia journalist based in New York. A graduate of Columbia Journalism School, she’s currently a freelance photo editor at TIME and the Special Issue Editor at SDN. Her work has appeared in The Guardian, La Stampa, Libération, Die Zeit, among others. You can follow her at @caterinaclerici.

Ara Oshagan

Ara Oshagan’s work revolves around the themes of identity, community and bearing witness. Since 1995, he has been photographing and recording the oral histories of survivors of the Armenian Genocide of 1915 — a collaborative work with Levon Parian and the Genocide Project, iwitness. For over eight years, Ara photographed extensively in Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia for Father Land, a book project with his father, author Vahe Oshagan. Father Land was exhibited at the LA Municipal Art Gallery at Barnsdall Park from December 2010 to Februrary 2011 and at the powerHouse Arena Gallery in NY in December 2010.

Ara received a California Council on the Humanities Major Grant in 2001 to photograph the Armenian experience of Los Angeles. This work, “Traces of Identity,” was exhibited at the LA Municipal Art Gallery at Barnsdall Park and at the Downey Museum of Art.

Ara has received a grant from the California Council on the Humanities to photograph Ethiopian life in Los Angeles. In 2012, Ara spoke at the TEDxYerevan event, presenting a talk on “The Documentary Image as Identity.” That same year, he did a photographic/ architectural installation on the theme of “(Re)Population.” Ara’s work is currently in the permanent collection of the SouthEast Museum of Photography in Florida, the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena, Downey Musuem of Art in Downey, California, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Yerevan, Armenia. Recently he has published A Poor Imitation of Death, a collaborative portrait of youth in the California prison system, and Mirror, reviewed in this issue of ZEKE.

Jordi Pizarro

Jordi Pizarro Torrell was born in Barcelona, Spain in 1985. He is a freelance documentary photographer currently based in New Dehli, India. He is mostly interested in his personal reportages, but also covers breaking news in South Asia. He currently is working on a long-term project entitled “Believers” which looks at traditions, cultures, and religions from an anthropological perspective in many different regions globally. He was awarded an honorable mention for this work from SDN in 2015.

The emphasis of Jordi’s work is largely focused on current social and environmental concerns that affect different communities, most of them not covered by major media. His main goal is to aid and increase awareness of issues affecting people and their environments in the world we live in, and he hopes that his photographs will contribute in some small way towards creating a more critical reflection of this world. He has been published in many international magazines including The New York Times, National Geographic, Time, Sunday Times, Le Monde, Der Spiegel, Forbes, and El País. His work has been shortlisted for many awards and scholarships, earning recognition from Pictures Of the Year International (POYI), PDN Storytellers, Sony World Photography Awards, Burn Magazine, San Jose Foto, LensCulture Exposure Award, and Lucie Foundation, among others.

Margaret Quackenbush

Margaret Quackenbush is a freelance reporter based in Boston. She graduated with a master’s degree in journalism from Boston University in January 2016. Her writing has appeared in the Boston Business Journal, The Dorchester Reporter, Eater Boston and other publications in the Boston area.

She was the 2016 coordinator for Boston University’s annual Power of Narrative conference, and was previously the managing editor of the Boston University News Service and a teaching assistant at BU. Margaret received a BA in English and history from St. Lawrence University in 2010 and previously worked at WGBH, Boston’s PBS station.  

Probal Rashid

Probal Rashid is a documentary photographer and photojournalist working in Bangladesh, represented by Zuma Press, USA. He earned a post-graduate diploma in photojournalism at the Konrad Adenauer Asian Center for Journalism (ACFJ) at Ateneo De Manila University in the Philippines through a World Press Photo scholarship program. He also holds an MBA.

His work has been published in many national and international newspapers and magazines such as National Geographic, Forbes, GEO, New York Post, Days Japan, Paris Match, The Wall Street Journal, Stern, RVA, The Telegraph, Focus Magazine and The Guardian. Moreover, his photographs have been exhibited in Bangladesh, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, UK, and USA. Additionally, the Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts selected some of his works for their permanent collection.

Probal is the recipient of numerous awards for his work including the Pictures Of the Year International (POYi), Days Japan Photojournalism Award, China International Press Photo Award (CHIPP), NPPA’s Best of Photojournalism Awards, Yonhap International Press Photo Awards, KL International Photo Award, FCCT/OnAsia Photojournalism, “Zoom-in on Poverty” Global Photo Award, CGAP Microfinance Photo Award, WPGA Annual Pollux Awards in UK, International Year of Biodiversity Award, and the Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar Contest.

Anne Sahler

Anne Sahler is an internationally published writer, photographer and graphic designer who divides her time between Japan and her homeland of Germany. She holds a master’s degree in Cultural Studies, History of Art and Religious Studies which fuels her interests in Japan, art and social activism. Her curious nature and never ending need for travel helps lend a clarity of prospective to an evermore complicated world.

Paula Sokolska

Paula Sokolska is a freelance journalist in the Boston area and the Strategic Communications Associate at Health Leads. She has a B.S. in Journalism from Boston University where she specialized in science and narrative writing.

She has written for BU Today, BU News Service, Zeke: The Magazine of Global Awareness, and Spotted by Locals

Jamey Stillings

Jamey Stillings, originally from Oregon, earned a BA in Art from Willamette University (1978), and an MFA in Photography from Rochester Institute of Technology (1982). Over three decades, Stillings built a commercial photography business, integrating both fine art and documentary work. In 2009, Stillings embarked on a personal project, “The Bridge at Hoover Dam,” documenting its monumental construction over the Black Canyon of the Colorado River. Work from the bridge project has been published in over twenty magazines around the world and has won many awards. It has also been exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including the 2013 London exhibition “Landmark –- The Fields of Photography,” curated by William Ewing.

Stillings continues to seek new opportunities to integrate his aesthetic interest in the human-altered landscape with concerns for environmental sustainability. In October 2010, he commenced aerial photography over the future site of the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in the Mojave Desert of California. “The Evolution of Ivanpah Solar” has received The Epson Creativity Award in the PDN Photo Annual 2015, First Place Fine Art in the APA Awards 2014, and First Place in the 2013 International Photography Awards (IPA) in the Editorial Environmental Professional category, among others.  First published in June 2012 by The New York Times Magazine, this work has since been published around the world. Photographs from the project have been exhibited in the United States, the Netherlands, and Colombia. “The Evolution of Ivanpah Solar” is now both an exhibition and a book (Steidl, 2015). Stillings’ extended project, “Changing Perspectives,” will build upon the Ivanpah Solar body of work by expanding his look at contemporary energy development. Over the next few years, Jamey’s goal is to develop “Changing Perspectives” into a global study.

Daro Sulakauri

Daro Sulakauri was born in Tbilisi, Georgia in 1985. After obtaining a degree from the Department of Cinematography at the Tbilisi State University, Daro moved to New York to study photojournalism at the School of the International Center of Photography (ICP). Before graduating in 2006, she was awarded the John and Mary Phillips Scholarship and recognized by the ICP Director’s Fund. Upon finishing, she returned to her native Georgia and continued doing photojournalism. She earned second place in the Magnum Foundation’s Young Photographer in the Caucasus contest for her series “Terror Incognita.” She was recognized by PDN as one of their “30 Under 30 / Women Photographers.” She also has won many other awards, including the 7th Julia Margaret Cameron Award, LensCulture Visual Storytelling awards, the EU Prize for Journalism, Human Rights House in London, shortlisted for the Magnum Foundation’s Emergency Photographers Fund, OSF grant, and more.

Daro is now based in Georgia, where she documents social issues of the Caucasus. Her work has been published in many well-known publications such as Forbes, Mother Jones, Sunday Times, New York Times Lens, Saveur, The Economist, Vision, and Bloomberg.

Jan Zychlinski

Jan Zychlinski was born in 1961 in Karl-Marx-Stadt (Chemnitz) in the former GDR/East Germany. He studied history and German philology and, after the end of the German Democratic Republic, social sciences and social work. For more than 15 years, he has been involved in many activities such as social work, urban development, and flood relief projects in East Germany and after the tsunami in the Indian Ocean. Since 2007, Jan has been a lecturer in Social Urban Development at the Berner University of Applied Science, with an additional focus on social photography. He is a self-taught photographer who has taken his humanitarian perspective around the world to document human experiences during crises and in everyday life. From September 2014-February 2015, Jan travelled through the South Caucasus (Armenia, Georgia, Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan) to document the fate and living conditions of refugees from the conflicts after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The resulting book, Beyond the Borders, focuses on people whose stories are representative of the millions of other “forgotten” refugees. In his work and travels, Jan insists on being human first, and photographer second.