Reportage photography or Who, What, Where, When and With whom?

That’s why a reportage photographer should have the skills of careful observation of what is happening and the ability to quickly notice what at first glance seems not so important and hidden. The talent of a reportage photographer also appears in the ability to predict future moments or events, being in the right place and at the right time in advance.

Reportage photography, as a separate genre, appeared much later than the emergence of the art of photography. The fact is that the first cameras were bulky and heavy. For a high-quality sharp picture, too long exposure was required, which created great difficulties for on-site shooting of any events and events.

At the end of the XIX century, photographers began to try to photograph military operations, thanks to which the public for the first time saw “pro-reportage” shots. But, frankly speaking, most of the pictures of that time were staged, and the quality of the images was very low and did not allow us to recognize these pictures as artistically valuable.  Everything changed when compact cameras appeared on the market in the 20s of the last century. It was a real breakthrough.

In the era of the origin and development of reportage shooting as a special genre, it was initially used as a way to promptly reflect information about socio-political and military events. Today, with the advent of Internet technologies and mobile communications, the world has changed, and it has become possible for reporters to cover not only “acute” incidents and “hot zones” of conflicts in the world, but also to show the everyday life around us, including urban life, public events and even the household of ordinary citizens of modern society.

This means that the purpose of reportage shooting, as the fixation of important historical events, has transformed into the need to record everything that surrounds us, from global incidents and catastrophes to ordinary everyday events of a single family. As a result of the publication of such a shooting, the viewer receives for viewing a series of images collected in a certain sequence, which contain the most objective information answering the questions: Who? What? When? Where? With whom? Such projects are called “Photo-history”, where each photo carries a certain author’s statement or sentence, from which a complete story should be formed.