Photojournalism and Warfare in a Postphotographic Age

Abstract

This essay will consider some of the challenges faced by contemporary photojournalism in the documentation of twenty-first-century warfare. More particularly, it will examine representations of American military power in a “postphotographic” age, an image-saturated era in which the violent conduct of war has become less tangible or accountable in documentary terms. I will examine some of the ideas and arguments about the limits of photojournalism and consider several strategies and practices by photographers seeking to reinvigorate the capacity for photography to represent the realities of twenty-first-century warfare.