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AFP Photo\/Patrick Baz<\/p>\n
When AFP\u2019s Patrick Baz recently returned to Baghdad for the first time in four years, he found that \u2013 compared to the decade of conflict he had covered as a photojournalist \u2013 daily life had improved in every way.<\/p>\n
Except one.<\/p>\n
\u201cWorking as a photographer in the streets of Baghdad is a complicated, red-tape nightmare,\u201d he told Correspondent. \u201cYou have to show your credentials everywhere and need clearance for everything. You never know who exactly you\u2019re dealing with or who\u2019s in charge of what.\u201d<\/p>\n
After French journalist Nadir Dendoune got arrested on January 23 for taking pictures of the secret service headquarters, signs have gone up everywhere, Patrick said, especially next to the city\u2019s dozens upon dozens of manned roadblocks: \u201cNO PHOTOGRAPHS\u201d. Walking the streets with his bulky professional gear was like wearing a siren \u2013 it attracted a lot of unwanted attention.<\/p>\n
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AFP Photo\/Patrick Baz<\/p>\n
Patrick did what he could, and then he switched to \u2018Plan B\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy girlfriend gave me an iPhone 5 for Christmas and I had been playing with the photo apps just for fun, and sharing the results on my Facebook page<\/a>. I\u2019m keenly aware of the controversy about using them in a pro context, and I\u2019ve been reluctant to do so. But faced with the frustration of not being able to of working freely, I didn\u2019t hesitate.\u201d<\/p>\n Hipstamatic<\/a>, one of the most popular photo apps on iPhone, offers a range of film-like effects (official motto: \"digital photography never looked so analog\"). But unlike photo-driven platform Instagram, it requires users to set the filters before the shots are taken.<\/p>\n \u201cPhotographers write with light,\u201d Patrick said, explaining his choice. \u201cBecause I couldn\u2019t do that \u2013 i.e. I had no control over the aperture of my smartphone \u2013 I decided to \u2018write\u2019 with Hipstamatic. Whatever one says about the results, I have to say: it was fun.\u201d<\/p>\n ngg_shortcode_2_placeholder<\/p>\n AFP Photo\/Patrick Baz<\/p>\n And practical. AFP\u2019s local photographers take pictures of attack scenes using tiny cameras that they can discretely tuck away inside their trouser pockets as they pass through checkpoints. In the same way, Patrick could navigate \u2013 and work \u2013 unnoticed. \u201cNo one gave me a second glance.\u201d<\/p>\n Well, almost no one.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a funny photo of me taken by Sabah Arar, one of our photographers in Iraq. I am standing in a middle of a pedestrian street taking a picture with my iPhone while my other cameras are hanging off my shoulder,\u201d Patrick said. (Sabah took the picture with a point-&-shoot Lumix<\/a>.)<\/p>\n When a soldier asked what I was doing, Sabah answered: \u201cHe\u2019s taking a souvenir pictures for himself with his smart phone\u201d. True enough.<\/p>\n ngg_shortcode_3_placeholder<\/p>\n AFP Photo\/Sabah Arar<\/p>\n The decision on whether to make Patrick\u2019s Hipstamatic shots available to AFP\u2019s clients landed with Eric Baradat, the Agency\u2019s managing photo editor.<\/p>\n \u201cFor AFP, our policy is clear and simple: using apps or filters that create artificial effects on the image are not consistent with our mandate of delivering objective information, and we do not distribute such images to our clients on our wire,\u201d Eric explained, referring to the \u2018push\u2019 delivery system for media clients that subscribe to the agency\u2019s photo service. \u201cThe distortion of reality engendered by these filter apps introduces an element of subjectivity, and takes us too far from the kind of journalism upon which our reputation is constructed.\u201d<\/p>\n At the same time, Eric continued, most photographers are also equipped with a smart phone which has become a kind of digital diary. \u201cThey take \u2018notes\u2019 on their reporting experiences, and share them with friends and colleagues via the Web. These images have found their way into traditional media, which now also post content on blogs and different social network platforms such as Twitter, Facebook or Tumblr.\u201d<\/p>\n ngg_shortcode_4_placeholder<\/p>\n AFP Photo\/Patrick Baz<\/p>\n Debate on whether Hipstamatic or Instagram are compatible with photojournalism flared in February last year when New York Times photographer Damon Winter won a Picture of the Year International Award for a series of pictures <\/a>he took, entitled \u201cA Grunt\u2019s Life,\u201d while embedded with US troops in Afghanistan. The stylized images were highly atmospheric, but some said that they crossed a red line between news and art.<\/p>\n When Time Magazine hired five photographers to cover the devastating impact of Sandy last November \u2013 and then put a cropped version of a Hipstamatic image taken by one of them, Ben Lowy, on the cover of the magazine<\/a> \u2013 the controversy reignited.<\/p>\n ngg_shortcode_5_placeholder<\/p>\n AFP Photo\/Patrick Baz<\/p>\n Lowy argued that using a smart phone has freed him from the increasingly technical demands of his profession. \u201cI have discovered that my iPhone has allowed me to capture scenes without feeling that I am once again on the job,\u201d he wrote on his Tumblr<\/a> page. \u201cTo \u2018point and shoot\u2019 has been a liberating experience. It has allowed me to rediscover the excitement of seeing imperfections and happy accidents rendered through the lens of my handheld device.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s a debate, by the way, that finds is parallel in the way text news stories are evolving. The shift \u2013 some would say drift \u2013 towards first-person perspectives, personal point-of-view (if not outright commentary), more stylized writing\u2026 all have their boosters and detractors.<\/p>\n ngg_shortcode_6_placeholder<\/p>\n AFP Photo\/Patrick Baz<\/p>\n For AFP, Eric finally decided that there was room for both, the kind of unadorned photojournalism that Patrick has been delivering from conflict zones in the Middle East, Africa and Europe for over 20 years, as well as this more personal, stylized perspective.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy not show \u2013 in a kind of digital diary \u2013 a Baghdad transformed ten years after the US invasion that Patrick has also covered? He had already done the work which we send to our traditional clients via our photo wire.\u201d<\/p>\n ngg_shortcode_7_placeholder<\/p>\n AFP Photo\/Patrick Baz<\/p>\n Eric placed the shots in dedicated space within AFP\u2019s image database. \u201cFor the moment, it has an experimental status,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s something that can work for a feature rather than a specific news story.\u201d<\/p>\n Patrick agrees that the two approaches should remain separate: \u201cHipstamatic is more of a photographic approach than a journalistic one.\u201d<\/p>\n But one thing is certain: the debate on how to best leverage the limitless possibilities offered by digital technology for telling a news story has only just begun.<\/p>\n ngg_shortcode_8_placeholder<\/p>\n AFP Photo\/Patrick Baz<\/p>\n