Dr Helen Lewandowski

Thesis: The Aesthetics and Distribution of Photojournalism, 2000-2020

Supervised by Prof. Julian Stallabrass

Funded by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation

While photojournalism’s ‘death’ has been repeatedly invoked by critics since the 1970s, the first two decades of the 21^st century have marked a heightened existential crisis in photojournalism. My thesis explores this anxiety in the field, which has been spurred by three core shifts: from analogue to digital images; from the domination of professionals to the rise of mass amateurisation in photography; from a relatively small circle of wire agencies to large, accessible and inclusive global networks.

I argue that these transformations in the creation of images have profoundly influenced the distribution and aesthetics of photojournalism. These changes are methodically examined through five lenses: NGOs, agencies, magazines and newspapers, competitions, and social media networks.