Genres in photojournalism

Offentliggjort 04/13/2005

Af Søren Pagter

The genres and working methods of photojournalism are not clearly defined and photographers use terms like documentary, portrait, illustration, and feature indiscriminately although these terms may have a different meaning in the context of photojournalism than in other areas of journalism. The lack of proper terminology makes it difficult to discuss and write about photojournalism for media workers as well as those outside the trade.

This article attempts to define the genres and terms used within photojournalism and it aims to explain how they are used within the media and how they are perceived by the audience.

Genres or topics?
All photojournalism can be divided into two genres: portrait/illustration and feature/news. The main distinction between the genres is the degree to which the photographer has actively framed the photograph. In other words: The degree to which the genres allow for stage-managing. At the same time reader-surveys carried out by Centre for Journalism and Further Education in autumn 2003 at a local and a national Danish newspaper show that the two genres are also perceived differently by the readers.

The genres of photojournalism are different from the topics of journalism in the following ways:

When a photojournalist covers a sport event, sport is not a genre but a journalistic topic which can be covered through portraits, feature/news and illustrations.


The Danish double-kayak Mads Kongsgaard and Lasse Nielsen. Photo: Nanna Kreutzmann

A picture from the memorial service for the murdered Swedish foreign minister Anna Lindh will typically belong to the genre of feature/news. The topic is foreign affairs, crime or similar. In other words: News photograpy can not be a genre by itself.

Feature and news
The difference between feature and news is not determined by the working methods of the photojournalist nor is it a question of credibility. The difference lies in the topicality and angling of the picture.

As a matter of course the news picture is topical and often closely linked to an emerging situaton or news event. The feature photo on the other hand can be less topical and a feature series does not have to live up to any of the traditional journalistic news criteria but can function as background information on a topic.

Often news pictures are more objective and recording than feature photos. The latter often have stronger angles and are more personal. However, it is not an ingrained photographic rule which make it possible to distinguish between two separate and independent genres of feature and news photography.

Consequently this article will refer to feature/news as feature as photojournalists use similar methods in both genres.


Cleaning at Christiansborg the day after Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen was attacked by activists who threw red paint at him. March 2003. Photo: Annette Sønderby, Jyllands-Posten

Break with traditions
An article and a picture must necessarily deal with the same topic in order to create a link between the two forms of expression. Photojournalism can therefore be divided into the samme topics as journalism – politics, sport, war etc. And all topics draw on photographs from both genres.

But individual journalistic topics are often predictable in their choices of photographic genres. Sports journalists will typically use feature photos whilst business journalists use portraits.

If you want to surprise the audience it could be useful to break with these ideas of what we normally do when covering certain topics. For instance, business pages could be more lively and present by including features from the company or the everyday life of the managing director instead of the usual portraits and illustrations of products.

It is perfectly possible to illustrate a news story rather than take a news picture. For instance by drawing on a picture how a new road is projected to cut across a natural resort. Such an illustration could be far more informative than a traditional news picture.

Oddleiv’s model
Photographer Oddleiv Apneseth from the Norwegian newspaper, Bergens Tidende, uses a model to illustrate the various realities that photojournalism and journalism operate within. It shows that the journalist and the photojournalist do not have to operate within the same reality even if they are covering the same story. The model also shows that photojournalism as well as journalism can vary on a continuum from objective to subjective.


Illusory reality
Tertiary reality
Secondary reality
Primary reality
Objective Subjective
(graphic artist: Jens Nex)

Tertiary reality refers amongst other things to theories about larger phenomena such as the national annual budget or bullying. It is seldom possible for a photojournalist to portray this reality. The solution will typically be to make an illustration (from the illusionary reality) or show a consequence (from the primary reality).

Oddleiv Apneseth uses the model to show where photojournalism in his view is most useful. The Norwegian photographer points out that written articles which originate from secondary reality (for instance articles about people representing a group) and tertiary reality (for instance theories and statistics) are unavoidable and important. But at the same time such articles are often accompanied by meaningless photographs.

“So the trick is to move more photojournalistic stories from secondary to primary reality. And when an article demands a portrait or an illustration, do not underestimate the readers’ intelligence. In that way readers will experience the link between text and photos as more lively and informative”, explains Oddleiv Apneseth.

Photographic genres must be determined independently of text
Quite often a written portrait is accompanied by a photographic portrait, and a written football feature is accompanied by a feature photo. However, a photographer and a journalist covering the same story do not necessarily have to use the same genres.

A news story could easily be illustrated with a portrait of a person mentioned in the article, or a written portrait could make use of the feature genre if the photographer makes a features series with the interviewee instead of a portrait.

The photographic genre can not be determined from the genre of the article but should be assessed independently.

The file photo
The first time a photograph is used it will normally be in the genre for which it is produced. A news picture will immediately find its way onto the web or into the newspaper the following day. A portrait will be used in connection with an interview, and illustrations will be produced to accompany specific articles.

When a photograph has been used once it becomes part of the archives – a file photo with its own life. A file photo can for instance be cut and in this way a feature photo can become a picture which is used and understood by the audience as a portrait.

An example is a photo of the Prime Minister attending a summit in the EU. The first time the photograph appeared it was as a news picture. However, when the photograph is used two months later to illustrate an interview with the Prime Minister it becomes a portrait – but a file portrait.

File photos are also used for illustration, for collages made by graphic artists and for many other purposes.

The definitions in this article take their starting point in the genre the photographer chose for the photo.

Label file photos as such
A photograph which has been used once in a particular context and is then used again should be called a file photo. File photos can also be categorised within the above two photographic genres.

Quite often newspapers as well as magazines omit to mention the fact that a picture is file photo, and readers only realise when they read the text accompanying the photo or even the article itself that the photo was not taken specifically for this article.

A typical example is feature photos of athletes in action at a sport event. Pictures like these are used again and again for advance publicity, flashbacks, opinion pieces, and interwiews with the athlete – and it is rarely mentioned that the picture was not taken for the particular article. The photograph is used as a portrait or an illustration and is no longer current. Therefore it should be labelled file photo.

File photos are not bad per se but their use should be considered just as carefully as you would in case of a topical or new picture. The readers will immediate link the file photo to the text and may even recognise it from it earlier. Therefore it is important to consider what the use of a file photo signals. For instance it could be important to use the file photo as a reminder of an earlier event. But if the file photo mainly is an illustration of a particular theme and can be used again and again, it may not be so interesting for the readers.


Articles from the local daily newspaper, Randers Amts Avis. The same photograph is used a few days apart to illustrate articles which deal with different issues relating to children.

Translation of this text: Kirsten Sparre

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