In photojournalism, there is a type of photo called wild art. Wild art is hard to grasp by many students. But it is not very difficult once you relax and figure out the basics.

There are different types of topics a photojournalist covers. They got their hard news, spot news, feature stories, and sports. This covers all the types of news they will need to photograph and wild art does not cover any of these. Wild art is a type photo that does not go directly with any news story but can go with any story it can. It must also be able to go with no story at the same time.

Wild art is a type of stock image a newspaper can use as filler to fill up empty space on a page. It must be interesting and stand by itself. With its cutline, it must tell its own story by itself. The cutline below the image will answer the five W’s (who, what, when, where, why). While its cutline tells us in words everything, the photo must be just as informative.

To make the photo informative is not an easy task. It takes practice and experience. Take many photos whenever going out. Couple of things to keep in mind is to capture the human element, get in close, capture motion, and keep those eyes open. The human element is people and their emotions and actions. “If your photos are not good enough, get closer” is a great quote to any photographer. Capture the details. Motion is always interesting for it is action that changes things. Photographers must keep their eyes open and watch for interesting photo opportunities. The informative part of any photo comes when a good photo is taken.

Wild art is a photo of something interesting that happens naturally. It cannot be set up or be made to happen. But is not the main focus of an event or story. A photojournalist cannot set out to take wild art. They must keep their eyes open and your camera with them at all times. It can happen at any moment. Wild art can happen at an event or while walking down town.

One example of wild art at an event is at a sports game. There could be people out in the parking lot tailgating. Tailgating is not the main focus of the story but is very interesting especially if the tailgaters are in full body paint of their favorite team. It is not the main story but interesting. It also tells its own story. Just remember to get all the people’s names.

An example of a random wild art opportunity while walking down town. If you see a deer in the gas station parking lot. If you can get close to the deer. That can be an interesting photo. It can stand by its self and could go with a story.

Other wild art can be of fallen trees from storms. People gathering for church. Remnants of extreme weather like snow storms. Animals are interesting if it’s a close up and tells a story.

With this all said. Relax. Just go out and take great photos. Wild art opportunities will happen. Just keep those eyes open to what is going on around locally. Just don’t be afraid to take that photo.