Motivation

One can have a skill for technique and capturing images with an artistic eye to be a good photographer. Something that sets photojournalists a part from most is their motivation be voices for others. What exactly inspires them to display the realities of the world is different for each. Sometimes a photojournalist can be inspired themselves to guide their efforts towards something new. 

Image Source: http://mediastorm.com/contributor/ed-kashi/72

Photographer Ed Kashi did not become a photojournalist until later in life, but he is dedicated to introducing social issues to the world. He hopes that audiences will work to be a part of solutions. He says, “It's about driving the issue forward. And what I learned… is that to really drive issues forward you have to get your work seen by as many people as possible.” He is like Felix Massi from Kenya. At first, Felix was trying to capture news but then when he focused on the lives of regular people who were suffering but still had hope, he felt more purpose. In an interview from VOA Africa, he says,"The way people talk about these images, that just made me feel that I'm actually doing something: that this is my path."

Photo By: Ed Kashi

  

Image Source: https://twitter.com/mrkenjikwok

 The theme of photography as a medium of activism reoccurs is common. Photographer Kenji Kwok does not just want to take good photographs. He wants his work to serve a purpose. In an interview with Leigh Diprose from F Stop Lounge, Kwok asserts, "Rather than being concerned about job opportunities for this industry, I feel that there are so many pressing issues that could be documented to both expose injustices and to move people in authority to do something about it." This relates to Xyza Cruz Bacani's work that started her path in photojournalism. She had previously been a domestic servant in China and began to document the lives of other domestic workers who were not as fortunate as her and endured abuse.
She believed that she was, "there to be the voice of those domestic workers who remain unheard, whose voices have been muted."

Photo By: Kenji Kwok

          

Image Source: http://www.fotogpedia.com/mary-ellen-mark.htm

Mary Ellen Mark is a well-known photojournalist because many of her subjects were people who usually do not receive much attention. She's photographed addicts, people in mental wards, and those inflicted with leprosy to name a few. She loves photography and she is driven to capture people who instill passion in her.   In an interview for Photo Metro, she explains, "I photograph the people I photograph because I care about them and because their lives fascinate me. In a sense you might say that they are my heroes, because I think they have such a sense of passion and feeling in their lives. They have heart and soul and that is what I want to capture in my pictures. They touch me. If I had to stop photographing people I care about, I wouldn't even want to photograph again." Often, finding inspiration and strength in other people leads a photojournalist's passion for spreading the ideologies that they themselves see in their subjects. Ruth Prieto is a photographer from Mexico City, Mexico and did a photo essay focusing on women in her culture that she looks up to. She sees them as "icons of identity and culture."
 

Photo By: Mary Ellen Mark

I think my motivations relate to the motivations of these important people because I want my life to have purpose and that's how they view their work. It is a little different because I am very much influenced by the need to have the lifestyle I want and to support my family so that is going to affect the direction I let my work take me.