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| Wilson Hicks |
Wilson Hicks
Photographic Communication: Principles,
Problems and Challenges of Photojournalism p. 19
Wilson Hicks was the
photographic editor of Life Magazine from 1937 to 1950. It was Hicks who built the photography staff
at Life Magazine from 4 to 40. He was also a professor of
photojournalism at the University of Miami from 1955 to 1970. In many way Hicks can be considered one of
the fathers / mothers of photojournalism.
He understood this delicate marriage between the still photograph and
the power of the printed word. The
picture didn’t stand alone in the context of the story but rather the picture
served as a key component of the story; the picture took center stage while being
surrounded by a caption and written copy.
As Hicks says in the quote above these two mediums weren’t melted into a
third medium but rather they were two distinct mediums that serve to “activate
certain subjective responses in the reader.”
It is interesting that he calls the subject reacting “the reader.” Isn’t the reader also a viewer? The subject that engages these mediums are
viewing and reading, reading and viewing, while being moved as the story is
constructed in such a way to provoke movement.
The work of photojournalism is to achieve a “subject response” from the
viewer / reader. The goal of my work is
to take this principle of “provoking a subjective response in my viewer /
reader” specifically in response to
social stratification and gentrification in the Atlanta area.
Hicks and his team of photographers and editors were very
intentional about their work. They had a
They constructed their “picture stories” in
such away to advance their cause. I look
back on this time with romantic rose-colored glasses. Once I clean my glasses
off and situate myself in the present I ask myself, “How can I do what Hicks
and his team did in the time of Life
Magazine?” I answer myself by
saying:
1. You must create / make images that are so moving
and compelling that they demand that the viewer stop, look and ask questions.
2. You must create a community conversation around
the issues you feel passionate about and that need to be addressed.
3. You must use the tools you have at your disposal in this age to get the word-out. The magazine as we knew it no longer exist but in an age of social media / multi-media you can and must communicate in new and timely ways. The community of concerned activists citizens can be developed and sustained via virtual mediums.
3. You must use the tools you have at your disposal in this age to get the word-out. The magazine as we knew it no longer exist but in an age of social media / multi-media you can and must communicate in new and timely ways. The community of concerned activists citizens can be developed and sustained via virtual mediums.
4. You must become an activist in regards to the
issue(s) you feel passionate about.
The model of Life
Magazine and Wilson Hicks was founded on iconic images arranged in the format of story that
served to move the reader. It is this
story format that will work today. We
are wired for story and the power is in the story as told via the images and
multi / mixed media that both informs and moves those who engage the work. What is the historical foundation your work is
built upon? How are you updated that
foundation to work in a changed world?
BBC Documentary on Life Magazine
