Be tech-savvy, photo journalists urged

MEDIA practitioners in the country, especially photo journalists, have been advised to embrace technology and be digitally- savvy so as to be able to meet up with the modern- day demands of the job.

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Giving the advice at this year’s  annual conference of the Photo Journalists Association of Nigeria (PJAN), held in Lagos, recently, a marketing communications practitioner and former president of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN), Mrs Bunmi Oke, also advised the present-day journalists to develop a pool of reliable public citizens, who would help keep portfolio of newsworthy pictures.

Oke, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of Ladybird Limited, harped on the need for  photojournalists and editors to be one step ahead of others, by being digitally- savvy and learning to pool photo archives/ resources for speed and collaboration.

She noted that the primary role of the photojournalists is to be a visual storyteller by photographing, editing, and presenting images to the public, and as a result must be  able to use digital as well as print photography equipment, editing tools, and publication software.

Welcoming members and guests to the event, the chairman of the association, Mr Ademola Akinlabi noted that  it had become imperative for members to improve on the trade, through creativity for them to keep up with the demands of the profession.

“Our pre-occupation should be how we can bring in new perspective and creativity into photojournalism and collectively change the face of the practice.

“We need to up our games if we truly want to survive this very tough terrain, and the only way we can successfully do that is by being open to new ideas and, at the same time, being innovative,” he added.