The Theme of“Civilians”

2025年10月13日

版权

What kind of photos are worth appearing in the newspaper？

Besides breaking news，big events and celebrity stories，can there be any other protagonists in news photos？

In 1998，U.S.President Bill Clinton visited Shanghai，China.At that time，most of the photographers who could not enter the news site，directed the camera lens to the live broadcast on TV and aimed at the president on the screen.If I worked for a newspaper at that year，I might deal with it in the same way.However，an unexpected photo came out a few days after this event.Yonghe，the director of the photography department of the Youth Daily，although on the spot，did not focus on the special plane on the runway or the president，instead，he photographed the common civilians who were waiting outside the airport.In the night，“Air Force One”landed behind these ordinary people looking up to the sky...

At that time，“International News Photography Week”and WPP have been in China for about ten years.The photographers with ideas have realized that in addition to the famous landscapes or the advertising of big themes，there are other themes to be filmed.But what exactly should be taken is still being explored.Looking at the photos of that period，we can vaguely feel that humanitarianism and humanistic care are gradually entering into the photography.

Ten years later，at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games，as a journalist who did not have admission to the Olympic venues，I became a“visitor”in the streets of Beijing.Nearly 10,000 photos were taken，reflecting the changes about what Olympics brought to the ancient city，and also showing the common life in an urban public place，which was running at a high speed.I didn't worry about those photos not being“news”at all，because after the 21st century，lots of mainstream media began to change.More and more big themes and big events were revealed through small points，like individual characters.

Twinkling of an eye，another ten years has passed.The environment of society and media has undergone tremendous changes：the popularity of equipment，the expansion of the Internet perspective，and the extension of communication channels have promoted the advent of the era of universal photography.The exclusive photos of news become almost impossible for photojournalists.Discovering the different things in the common sight and recording the subtle changes in people's daily life have become the standards for testing the performance of photojournalists.At the same time，we were increasingly aware that，if we stand on the historical dimension，we will find out that the true value of many big events is not the legend that can be written into titles，but all the changes of daily life when the news is no longer“news”.After all，social progress is driven by the ordinary life about common people.More and more protagonists of news photos become ordinary people.What the photographer ultimately wants to express is no longer the event itself，but how the event relates to ordinary people.They also prefer to record normal，ordinary，daily real life，and put their own observations and thoughts into their photos.

No matter how the time changes，photos of“people”are always more touching.The protagonists of those pictures are often little people in the big era like you and me，and the dynamic social reality we are in.If the camera aims at the most authentic daily life，then the news photos will never be eliminated by history.

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