Visual Journalism

John Loengard has a guest post over on Scott Kelby’s site, and it’s an entry that every aspiring photographer and picture editor has to read. The role of the picture editor is, perhaps, the most misunderstood one in the communication industry. No one likes their picture editor – not the photographers nor the editors on high.

But the role a good picture editor can play is so crucial it amazes me that there is not a great university program designed to produce great picture editors. Many schools have a class, but none (of which I’m aware) have an entire program dedicated to the art and business of visual editing. (Are you reading this, boss?)

A few quotes lifted from Loengard’s piece …

Other editors, with the story’s text in hand, may judge photographs by what they have read. Don’t join them. The reader sees before he ever reads and may never read if there’s nothing interesting to see.

The number of complaints I received as a picture editor from the word and design side regarding the photos not matching the story, with an assumption we had gotten it wrong, was uncountable. And asking, “Are you sure the reporter got it right? Where they there?” never went over well …

Before I became a picture editor, I assumed that “good photographers” took “good pictures” because they had a special eye. What I found was that good photographers take good pictures because they take great pains to have good subjects in front of their cameras. (Reflect a moment on what cameras do, and this makes sense.) Good photographers anticipate their pictures. What good picture editors do is help them.

I will admit I was a good photographer and probably a better picture editor (though I enjoyed shooting far more than editing). Where I put so much of my energy was in helping my staff get into the right place to tell a story. Once I had opened as many doors as I could and led them down the right hall, it was up to them.

Text editors do their work after the fact. But because photographers have something in common with Babe Ruth-they either hit the ball or they don’t-almost everything a picture editor does is done before the pictures are taken. What can you do after a home run except smile?

Another dilemma photographers run into. In the newsroom, the reporters are slaving away over their keyboards while the photo staff is relaxed, jovial even, at their work stations. The reporters response to this, verbalized or not, is that the shooters have it easy. What they fail to understand is the photojournalists who are no so relaxed are unwinding from having to tell an entire story in a split second, from having a massive amount of pressure dropped on them and then removed. There are no re-shoots in news, a picture editor can rarely rework an image to get a better story out of it. The timing of the pressure point is different. In fact, it may not even be a pressure point for the reporter as their agony can be dulled over time. For us, it is instantaneous and the bitterness of failure lasts a very, very long time.

As our spring photojournalism workshop drew to a close, we put some of our editors around the table and asked them the questions every student wanted asked – what’s next? What do I need to know to get a job? Where are those jobs? What do I do to survive?

Walt Stricklin, Director of Photography at the Birmingham News, Minla Shields, the former Senior Editor for Planning at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and Mike Haskey, Chief Photographer at the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, tackle those questions.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

(40:54)

He’s big, he has a big heart and he has a big passion for community journalism. He’s the legendary Dave Labelle, and he’ll be make a big presentation next week at Grady College.

Labelle is the author of what is arguably the greatest community journalism book ever – The Great Picture Hunt, a book that explores enterprise photography through community understanding and immersion. He has worked as a photojournalist, photo editor and professor across the country and his books are lauded as seminal works in the field. His latest, I Don’t Want to Know the All Technical Stuff, I Just Want to Shoot Pictures, along with the second edition of The Great Picture Hunt explore and explain the whys of photography and photojournalism with a conversational style that belies the depth of information.

Taking on a completely different tone, Lessons in Life and Death discusses the ethics of covering grief and sorrow and has been used as a training manual for grief counsellors.

Labelle will be speaking to the Advanced Photojournalism class at the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, December 1. The talk, which will be in room 130 and open to the community, will be followed by a book signing. This is the inaugural speaker event for the UGA National Press Photographers Association Student Chapter.

Continuing with the conversations we had during our March photojournalism workshop, this one on “backpack journalism,” also known as “mojos” for mobile journalists. Most refer to it as “one man bands.” We hear from Walt Stricklin, Director of Photography at the Birmingham News, Jon Samuels, staff photojournlaist at WXIA in Atlanta, John Curry, Visuals Director at the Augusta Chronicle, Minla Shields, the former Senior Editor for Planning at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and joining in later, Dave Labelle, author and former photojournalism professor.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

(37:29)

During our March photojournalism weekend workshop, I put several of our guest editors around a table and lead a series of conversations about the state of journalism. In the first, on using social media for journalism, I was joined by John Curry, Visuals Director for the Augusta Chronicle, Walt Stricklin, Director of Photogaphy for the Birmingham News, David Labelle, author and former photojournalism professor, Minla Shields, the former Senior Editor for Planning at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and Mike Haskey, the Chief Photographer for the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer.

Here’s their take …

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

(28:14)

My apologies for the digital noise – we learned to have everyone turn off their iPhones before the next recording.

National Press Photographers Association members – you know there’s a national election going on right now, correct? Get over to the NPPA web site, log in and cast your ballot. Everything’s different now in how the board is structured, so pay attention to the new plan.

Andrea Jones (who bills herself as, “an ink-stained-turned-pixel-stained wretch,” which I love) tells us the Five Reasons You Should Hire a Photojournalist. To her five I’d add what Laurie Moot said in class last year: “Other people just aren’t as good at doing things as we are.” Which closely ties into Jones’ fourth reason: “Photojournalists are problem solvers.”

And, really, that’s what you want no matter what you’re doing – someone who will solve problems, not tell you what they are. Or, worse, complain about them. When you’re hiring someone to do anything, you just want the job done. That said, we generally don’t do plumbing anymore. Not since we tore out all of are home darkrooms and put in server racks … maybe we do electrical work.

If you’ve never watched Rear Window, you should. But this has nothing to do with that. Monica Almeida has a post up on the New York Times’ Lens blog about shooting from her car.

Another reason why you should have your camera with you all the time – you never know what you’ll see.

Time.com has posted an audio slideshow of more color photos from the depression, complete with a simple narration that tells some of the back story.

I know it’s silly, but it’s so darn cool …

Okay, several days … but this time lapse piece of what events at the White House looks like is pretty cool. Reuters photojournalist Jason Reed spend a few weeks working on the idea and has strung together a set of images that paint an interesting picture of life on the White House beat.