To Capture the Moment: Basic Photojournalism with Mr. Edwin Tuyay

By Josh Vera

Last July 20^th, Mr. Edwin Tuyay, a celebrated photojournalist, gave a talk to Zone V Camera Club’s  Z Academy.

A veteran photographer, one may recognize his work through the several Philippine presidential portraits from Cory Aquino to GMA, to Rodrigo Duterte. In a brief yet insightful Zoom session, Mr. Tuyay shared a glimpse to what makes a photojournalist tick.

Photojournalism is a process of photographs that tell a story by capturing moments in time. Essentially, it differs from the standard photography with two practical pillars of photojournalism: 1) High Ethical Standards and 2) Pursuit of Objective Truth (which is continually challenged due to revisionism and fake news).

Mr. Tuyay showed photographs that changed the world such as the 9/11 Attack, the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb, and the Famine in Africa. Photojournalists capture Drama, Expression, the Unusualness of the world—all to capture the attention of the viewer with the aim to suggest a story or a message.

With several types of photo assignments ranging from General News to Breaking News to Sports Photography, it was evident that photojournalists have their work cut out for them. Photojournalists must also create captions and bylines to accompany their photo, something Mr. Tuyay noted to be a bit more challenging as one may expect—this is what sets photojournalists apart.

They also need to be held accountable and adhere to a strict Code of Ethics in their work. Nothing should be removed, altered, and added to a photography to deceive the viewer, except perhaps a simple crop to eliminate extraneous details. A similar standard is given to post-processing as well. Photos must be captured to report objective truth as much as possible.

Mr. Tuyay closed the session with a note that the print media, which traditionally was the bread & butter of photojournalist work, is fading in popularity in favor of digital media; something easily seen through the various social media platforms, for example. These photojournalists are also challenged by ‘Citizen Journalists’, the common person armed with a smartphone or point & shoot that can also capture the same moments photojournalists strive to achieve. With ever rising changes, the photojournalist may be a challenging call, but they themselves become guardians of the truth in this modern landscape.