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Being
a photo-reporter in Venezuela:
…“Being a photo-reporter is not easy. It goes beyond image composition and the pushing of a button. A good press photographer must have a series of qualities: You have to know how to see; you must have the tact and the empathy when relating to other people; you have to study and to be informed; you have got to have quick and agile mind and body; you must also have persevearance, luck, courage and team spirit” says Carlos Abreu, a Venezuelan specialist, in his article “El reportero gráfico: testigo ocular de la historia”, (The photo reporter: an eyewitness of history) published in the book: El estallido de febrero (1989) (p. 51). However, all of these virtues have not been enough to grant some prestige to the profession. In that same article, Abreu defines the photo reporter as the most underestimated professional of the communications area and reckons that over the last hundred years they have been deemed as mere assistants of the writing journalists, when in reality their work is as –if not more- demanding. The derogation towards photo reporters is evidenced by the fact that most professionals in the Venezuelan press did not complete their studies and started out by mere chance, without any photography background, and had to learn in the streets. “It has been said that journalism can hardly be taught in a school or faculty” says Miguel Ángel Bastenier (2001) on his book Blanco Móvil, Curso de periodismo (Moving Target: A journalism course) (p.17). In Venezuela is not a requirement to have any social communication studies to work as a photographic reporter in a newspaper, and there are no regulations whatsoever regarding this matter, it is a question of finding out about an opening in a newspaper through word of mouth. Even to take a portfolio of your work is an optional practice that only a few people do. Journalist Jose Pulido tells a story about Luigi Scotto -one of the most important photo reporters of Venezuela-. Two months after his arrival from New York in 1947, when he was strolling along Plaza Bolivar with a Leica around his neck, he was approached by a stranger “Are you a photographer?”, he said, “Ultimas Noticias is looking for one.” Luigi’s response was “What is Ultimas Noticias?” When he found out it was an evening newspaper, he went there and got the job (pg.8). This tells us something about the informality of this trade in Venezuela, which is probably one of its most noticeable features. However, such informality does not take away the importance of the work done by these people on an everyday basis. The pictures taken on October 14, 1936, on October 18, 1945, on January 23, 1958, of the “Porteñazo” in 1962, on February 27, 1989, February 4 1992 or the Coup of April 11, 2002 and the events of those days until the return of president Chavez on April 14 have all made history. As a matter of fact, the pictures taken on the early morning of April 14, 2002 by Hector Rondon made him the first-ever Venezuelan to be awarded a Pulitzer prize. This contradiction between the importance of the photographic work and the scarce professional education of its authors, was a feature of the Venezuelan photojournalism during the 20th century. But, what is a photographic reporter? In Venezuela, there is no such career in the University nor it exists a specialization on this field as part of the communications program, it is barely an optional course of the program of the communications major. We know that the photo reporter is mainly a photographer, since his job is to take pictures, but in addition to being a photographer, he is -at least to some- a journalist. Hence the variety of names this profession bears: photo journalism, graphic journalism, press photography. The diversity of skills required by the profession makes it difficult to define.
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