500 Photographers. My Five Favorite Photo Information Blogs/Websites – Mini Review. Chinese New Year, 2011. Is Photojournalism A Thing Of The Past? Photojournalists are yesterday’s heroes. True, there are still some big names out there, among them Gilles Peress and Sabastiao Salgado. But the significance of their work is unclear. Do they shape political or social opinion through their images? Or are they mostly regarded as imaginative artists who just happen to be drawn to tough, newsworthy subjects? Few photographers are any longer seen as providing definitive information about some national or international trouble spot, at least very few who are what used to be called professionals. The news magazines, which turned certain photojournalists into superstars, have been fading for decades, and the newspapers are in dire health. True enough, photojournalism has always been met with a certain degree of skepticism.
Susie Linfield’s book is difficult to characterize. Peter Galassi believes that Cartier-Bresson’s “unresolved but vigorous involvement with the craft of photojournalism immeasurably enriched his work.”