Of all the ‘Professional Photographers’ out there, the most famous, and perhaps the most notorious  ones you will find are photo journalists.  It is a photo-journalists job to capture the moment, whether or not his subject approves. At the end of the day, it’s the photo-journalists work that everyone sees in the press.  The main focus is on action shots so equipment required has to be up to scratch.  Requirements vary, but the majority of photo journalists are never without a high quality telephoto lens, and they usually carry one or more camera – ready for every situation.  Photo-Journalism requires photographs to be taken very quickly, so there is not much time for composition, scene setting or light metering.  Like a famous person once said – “You get what you are given”…

With perhaps 200,000 photo journalists working in the United States alone, this is also one of the most in demand fields of Photography, it is also one of the more flexible.  Photo Journalism requires that you are mobile, and that’s about it.  A huge majority of photo journalists (Paparazzi) are freelance; they work for themselves and sell their photographs to the highest bidder.  Selling individual photographs is a highly lucrative business for some and with the advent of the internet, selling photography is now a big business.