Photojournalism | Telling Story With Picture

© 2010 Wazari Wazir | Official State Visit President of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic

Photojournalism is all about telling a story with a pictures, if we tell a tory with words, then we are journalist, minus the “photo”, that’s why it is very important to get all the element right in one single frame whenever is possible. The picture above were taken recently during State Welcoming Ceremony at Parliament Square in Kuala Lumpur for the Official State Visit of His Excellency Choummaly Sayasone, President of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Madame Keosaychay to Malaysia on November 24, 2010.

This kind of shot, I mean from this angle, from this point of view is among the favorite “angle” among photojournalist, it is not hard to know why. From this angle we can see every important person in one single frame and if we are lucky, we can see all of them clearly. On the front row to the left, we can see Laos’ President Choummaly Sayasone walk next to Malaysia’s King Sultan Mizan on his left hand side and behind the President, second row from the left is President wife Keosaychay and next to her is Malaysia’s Queen Nur Zahirah and third row behind President wife is Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak. If we are lucky we can see Prime Minister wife also from behind but I didn’t get the shot because by the time I can see Prime Minister wife, the King is blocked by someone with the red tie, so this is the shot that I get. I took this shot with 300mm lens because it was quite far from where I was positioning.

© 2010 Wazari Wazir | Parliament Square | Kuala Lumpur

Personally I like the picture above a wide shot where we can see Kuala Lumpur Tower on the right side and Malaysia iconic figure Petronas Twin Tower on the left hand side, a little bit hidden behind those tree but you get the whole story where this picture is taken, which is in Kuala Lumpur. This is what I called an established shot where, I took a wide shot first before get it tight, eliminating all those background view but just concentrate on the President and the guard of honor. Normally for this shot, most PRESS photographer will use either 300mm or 400mm lens because our position was quite far away from the President, so in order to get a tight shot of the President and the Guard of Honor, we need these lens otherwise the subject will look small.