Weekly journalists’ meetings held in the Press House in Ankara as part of the Media for Democracy/Democracy for Media program (M4D) are continuing to draw attention. Former chairman of the Progressive Journalists Association (PJA) and photo journalist Abdurrahman Antakyalı shared his experiences with young journalists with his presentation “Photo-Journalism in Turkey and the DepoPhotos Venture”.

Vice-chairman od the Association of Journalists and M4D Program Director Yusuf Kanlı made these remarks in his opening speech:

“When creating the Press House, we aimed to establish a platform to discuss both the problems the press faces in Ankara and other issues that concern the press. As you all know this program isn’t only about holding talks, but also about focusing on increasing the structural strength of journalists and press organizations.

We have held many talks as part of the project. Today we welcome a good friend who I had the pleasure of wokring with in the Anatolian Agency, someone who has travelled the world with his camera and made history, Abdurrahman Antakyalı… It has always been a topic of debate, some view photo-journalism as something separate from reporting but I believe they complete each other. These are all elements of journalism, it would be foolish to think one is better than the other. The only difference between the two is the photographer’s name remains on top, due to having taking the picture of the article. Antakyalı and his friends never decided to remain on the side-lines after retiring, on the contrary the decided to become even more active. Today he is going to talk about how photo-journalism has changed in the digital age.”

Antakyalı “The first photo in history took eight hours to develop”

Abdurrahman Antakyalı said he thought he found his calling when he started as a photo-journalist in the Anatolian Agency in 1989. He added that reporters explain events through news articles, and photo-journalists use pictures they have taken to explain an event “[sic] it contains both photography and reporting. It’s basically a journalist taking photographs.”

Antakyalı remarked that during his first years in the profession they used black and white film and in 1990 the agency started using colour film for important events. According to Antakyalı he first came across digital cameras in the mid-1990s, and when the agency gave them their first digital cameras, they “doted over them.”  Antakyalı emphasized that the internet didn’t exist at the time “There were computers and photoshop; photoshop preceded the digital revolution.”

Thanks to scanners and photoshop they were able to escape the dark room said Antakyalı, by using digital cameras they didn’t have to wash film thus making things quicker which helped him produce photographs faster than his rivals. 

Journalism is intertwined with technology and photo-journalists use a lot of technological equipment remarked Antakyalı, he showed the first picture ever taken in history and said:

“We see some sharp shading in the first picture ever taken in 1826, it’s actually quite obscure. This photograph was produced in eight hours, why did it take so long? The chemicals used to stabilize the image could only do so much in those days. Photography technology is a little slow, we’re talking about a long process here. Lighting was a big problem back in those days. The basic principle is this: the person being photographed had to remain very still. People were actually cuffed from their hands and necks hidden from the observers’ viewpoint so that they would remain still.

In 1880 a picture was printed for the first time in a newspaper. Photographs existed until then but because they weren’t able to actually print them in the papers they were illustrated. If you look at photographs from those times, you’ll see that people have an expression of fear or surprise on their faces. This was because people were shocked by the magnesium powder igniting and creating a little explosion. After Oscar Barnack invented the Leica camera, the photograph became less ceremonial. Photo-journalism started in 1928 with a photograph taken by Solomon. The photograph became really important, people went everywhere to take pictures, from wars to celebrities and so started the golden-age of photography. Solomon was only able to use that camera until the mid-1990s. The breaking-point started with digital photography.”

 

85% of photographs are taken with smartphones today

Antakyalı said that in the year 2017 around 1 trillion 200 billion photos were taken, and about 2 million photos are taken every minute. Antakyalı, who is one of the founders of Depo Photos, remarked that he looks at thousands of photos on the site. According to Antakyalı people used to use camera brands such as Nikon and Canon, but 85% of photographs are taken with smartphones today. Antakyalı added:

“Four percent of photos produced are taken with tablet computers, the remaining 11 percent are taken with cameras. The main benefit of digital cameras is they increase quality significantly and broaden our boundaries. Through improvements in digital technology and the internet we were able to ease our minds in terms of copyright infringements. For example, you can find-out if someone has been using your content without your permission by simply using Google Images. Back in the day if your camera was stolen it was impossible to find it. Nowadays you can use your camera’s serial number and find-out who stole your camera by tracking photos they’ve taken online. These are developments that make things easier and safer for us. We can also instantly see photos we have taken, and then edit them as well.”

Depo Photos

Antakyalı talked about the Depo Photos website “through to the photos we received from old friends and various organizations we aimed to crate a visual and data bank in Turkey for people to easily access. We of course came across some obstacles when gathering content, for example we came across a box of films that only said 1962 on it. We didn’t know what was in it, some content was well documented but others were like solving a puzzle… Digital photos contain lots of information like what date the photo was taken, and even its location so it’s much easier to conduct research.” Antakyalı emphasized that thanks to the internet educational opportunities have also increased “Educational videos have increased significantly, you can simply type into YouTube how to use a camera and its specifications, and get results instantly.”

Due to being able to save on time people can focus more on content remarked Antakyalı, a two-year reporter can make ten-year progress, this progress is constant but also results in not being able to absorb everything.”

The digital era was expected to make things easier but it ended up overwhelming journalism

Through the extensive usage of photography, we have entered an era of “visual noise” which inhibits journalists in their efforts to make themselves heard and good photographs go unnoticed said Antakyalı. The pressure of being quick does not produce good results, current news sites expect photographs even before press conferences have ended said Antakyalı and added these words in regards to the disadvantages of the digital age:

“Nowadays photo-journalists aren’t being employed, instead things are run with very few people and very few editors. An editor looks at approximately 40 thousand pictures a day. There is very little staff, low pay and long working hours and these all cause problems. The digital era was expected to make things easier but it ended up overwhelming journalism. Professionals aren’t rewarded for their work; the once flexible profession is non-existent today. If I were to show the same effort I did in photo-journalism in another field I’m sure I would be the best in that field. I view photo-journalists as the people who willingly picked the short straw in life. This could have been endured for some time but things have headed in a very strange direction.

Thanks to Whatsapp and e-mail we don’t have to pay fax or telephone bills; the main expenditures of a media organization were removed but more people must have realized this because everyone is in the media sector now. Everybody wants a slice of the cake, there are so many game sites, forums, and news sites that you’d have to use a magnifying glass to cut everyone a slice.

“Half of the newspapers in Turkey do not have a photo-journalist”

Antakyalı stated that journalists do not have a say in their newspapers anymore and continued:

“Taking without giving anything in return seems to be reserved only for Allah and media bosses in Turkey. In the past we could chase after a news piece thanks to the advertisement share, we didn’t have budget problems. Nowadays prices have dropped, and due to the financial structure photo-journalists were the first to go. Half of the newspapers in Turkey do not have a photo-journalist today. Then they blame the readers by saying “The New York Times has a 790-million-dollar subscription revenue, the Turkish people do not have the habit of subscribing to a paper.” I mean, what is the public going to read? You don’t have permanent staff; you don’t have a proper editor. If they were to produce good content people would be willing to pay for it.

Photo-journalists sell their content to advertisement agencies in order to survive. Most war journalists are opposed to war. Robert Capa once said “I wish I were an unemployed war journalist.” When we experience the troubles there [sic] our humanism expands exponentially. For example, it is a great tragedy that a photograph taken in Afghanistan was used to promote a new missile for one the biggest arms manufacturers in the world. The photographer of this photo said that this didn’t mean they were not against war, but that they needed to put food on the table. Since the financial structure doesn’t function properly people can ask you for free photographs. Could you go to a shop and ask for half a pound of sugar for free? When you divide salary by working hours, we are among the cheapest labour forces in the world.

 And of course, press cards aren’t being issued. A friend who worked 14 years in the field was made redundant, this friend was claimed to be ineligible for a permanent-press card for not having served enough time. Without a press card how is one going to do their job? You get arrested when documenting a social event if you don’t have a press-card. Do you take away a barber’s certificate if they leave their job? Do you take away a doctor’s diploma if they leave work? This silly rule in journalism is like the sword of Democles swinging above us…

The public hungry for simple stories about everyday people

Antakyalı underlined that people want to read news that isn’t sensational but is about everyday life and that the media has been ignoring this. He said “the media has become a circus. The public is hungry for simple stories about everyday people.”

Photo-journalists have been presenting NGOs with projects, the main problem here is that content can be interfered with and journalists cannot act independently remarked Antakyalı. He added:

“You can’t write against your financial sources in our country… acting cute towards your financial sources is not journalism, that’s called PR. A journalist practising PR is formidable, it isn’t our job… A PR person would go broke if they tried to practise journalism, but now they’re trying to get journalists to do PR. If you were to write anything against them, you end up being threatened with advertisements being stopped.

Tragic events are being given less space in newspapers. Advertisers do not want their content to be associated with negative events, they even came up with an excuse “the pornography of violence, I don’t want my child to see this.” Of course, children shouldn’t be exposed to violence, but how are you going to talk about war? You need balance.”

50 percent of footage is from CCTV

Antakyalı quoted his friend working in television “We record so much content but 50 percent of footage is from CCTV”, he added this about citizen journalism:

“Citizens are now uploading pictures they have taken, some of them are quite good. The new medium is Instagram, journalists have come up with cunning ideas to keep up with the spirit of the time. For example, cell phone pictures of Hurricane Sandy were shared by hashtag. Citizens who saw this took their own photos and shared them via hashtag. This was an important event and a picture taken via cell phone was used as a cover photo.

Of course, we cannot access everything, and of course we are going to benefit from the people as well. There is not such thing as “only we can document what’s going on”, the most important thing is to fulfil our duty in the face of history. Citizen journalism seems like a good idea, I mean we don’t own photography, but if you try to spread this everywhere you are going to eventually run into problems.”

“The current situation is quite obvious: The most-liked photo on Instagram is a picture of an egg”

Antakyalı remarked that we have transitioned from a society of intellect to a society of interest and he added “The current situation is quite obvious: The most-liked photo on Instagram is a picture of an egg. When I told my 12-year-old daughter about this she excitedly said “Dad, I have to follow this”. Whoever put this picture up there must have really grasped the spirit of our time. 99 percent of photographs published lack content, and will be quickly forgotten.”

Ethics have also become a topic of debate remarked Antakyalı and added:

“In the past people would edit photographs but not to this extent, and it was difficult to notice it. Nowadays you can see it immediately. There should be limitations to how much you can alter photos; it shouldn’t be done to excess. Media bosses tend to edit the pictures politicians they are close to show them in a good light, for example. I think these things give us an opportunity to see the corruption in this business, because you cannot alter documentary photos. Its limitations are quite defined, you are providing people who aren’t there with visual content. You have to provide them with content that is closest to reality.”