Visual Journalism – Notes from aside the camera

May 23, 2023

Why Photographers Charge

I was scrolling through Facebook over lunch when I saw someone had reposted the above. I could not disagree more with this logic. If businesses were to base what they charge on equipment costs, than McDonald’s ice cream would be outrageous. The machine they use, made by Taylor Company, costs $18,000 (even if it breaks down on a regular basis)....

Advice & Learning/Business & Industry/Photojournalism

May 2, 2023

AI Used AI Images … and I’m Now AI

Luke Taylor in The Guardian reports Amnesty International used an AI-generated image in one of its pieces and I’m now all irate. The only thing journalists have, at the end of the day, is their credibility. You can change platforms, you can use different mediums for storytelling, you can alter your style or the tools that you use, but if...

Ethics & Legal/Photojournalism/Thoughts & Theory

April 8, 2023

The Perils of a Focus on Realism

Kenneth Jarecke takes on, indirectly, both the advanced of photographic technology and the challenges of AI generated images. At a certain point, photographic technology got good enough, but instead of engaging our brains to make what we do better, we focused on making it easier. For a group that needed to think more, we decided to think less. I’ve referred...

Advice & Learning/Craft/Photojournalism/Tech Talk/Thoughts & Theory

March 28, 2023

Making Sense of Photographs

Berkley Hudson and a few friends saved the work of O.N. Pruitt, and with it an understanding of life in Mississippi. This piece over on Salvation South is worth your time and I hope the traveling exhibit makes it to Athens.

Craft/Good Work/Photojournalism/Thoughts & Theory

July 1, 2022

Take a Minute, Tell the Complete Story

It’s the most dramatic set of photographs from the world of sports this year – a swimmer, unconscious, at the bottom of a pool as a coach races in to save her. AFP’s Oli Scarff tells the story of how the image was made. We talk often of the impacts our images will make in those we photograph, especially when...

At Work/Ethics & Legal/Photojournalism

June 21, 2022

There Are Only 16 DSLRs Left

The subhead there stunned me – there are only 16 DSLRs still considered active. Six-teen. Wow.

Business & Industry/Tech Talk

April 16, 2022

Photographing Hell

David Hume Kennerly, in a guest essay for The New York Times, writes: The best photographs of war might make us want to look away. It’s imperative that we do not. A worthwhile read.

At Work/Ethics & Legal/Good Work/Photojournalism

February 2, 2022

“Photojournalist” Recorded Staging Photos

A nationally-known “photojournalist” was caught setting up an image and video of it was posted online. There have been several Twitter threads and now PetaPixel has picked up the story. At the time, Maranie Rae Staab was making photographs for Getty Images, which has deleted the images from that event and severed their relationship with her, according to PetaPixel. Note:...

At Work/Business & Industry/Ethics & Legal/Photojournalism

January 11, 2022

The Persistence of an Image

Carol Rosenberg at The New York Times looks back at an image made 20 years ago today, an image that has been read and misread a thousand ways since its release. “I’m always of the opinion that people should be able to see most of what the government is doing,” (Shane T. McCoy) said. “The fact that I have a...

Ethics & Legal/Photojournalism/Thoughts & Theory

January 5, 2022

A Craftswoman of Photography

I shall admit the name did not resonate with me at first, but the work … the work certainly did. Sabine Weiss, the last of the “humanist” photographers, died on December 28, 2021, according to a New York Times piece by Clay Risen. “From the start I had to make a living from photography; it wasn’t something artistic,” Weiss told...

Business & Industry/Craft/Good Work/Photojournalism