Mark E. Johnson – Page 220 – Visual Journalism

May 10, 2010

Does Quality Matter?

It’s a question that no one wants to ask or answer, it seems. As journalism organizations scale back their operations, they’re looking more and more to “contributed” material to fill space and time. What’s the result? Well, aside from all sorts of ethical problems, the technical quality tends to be pretty bad, too. Of course, this quote from a New...

Business & Industry/Journalism/Tech Talk

May 6, 2010

Again, Stock Photos Can Be Bad

Sometimes, it’s hard to decide between funny and sad. (Thanks to The Online Photographer for the link.)

Business & Industry/Ethics & Legal

May 6, 2010

Selling Newspapers’ History, One Print at a Time

Interesting read over on Chicago Reader about what happened to the Chicago Sun-Times’ photo library – and why parts of it are showing up on eBay. One of the most horrific stories I ever heard was about an editor at a paper who was tired of all the space the photo library was taking up so she ordered the staff...

Business & Industry/Journalism

May 5, 2010

Tips for the Newly Self-employed

It is that time of year again. There’s a warmth in the air (known mostly as humidity) and a spring in the students’ steps (mostly from nervous bouncing). It is also the time I get lots of visits from students wondering what the heck they’re supposed to do next. Beth Farrar, a recent and successful grad, posted a link earlier...

Business & Industry

May 4, 2010

Runaway Cows Photojournalist Update

Last week, a student photojournalist for The Lantern at Ohio State University was detained after photographing some wandering cows. Now, the paper, which is run by the university, and the university are refusing to provide him with legal representation because he was detained by … the Ohio State University police department.

Ethics & Legal

May 2, 2010

Reflecting on the Kent State Shooting

John Filo is a name not many know, but everyone recognizes the photo – a woman, distraught, hovers over the body of a dead student on the Kent State University campus, shot by National Guard troops during a protest against the war in Southeast Asia on May 4, 1970. Filo is talking about the image as the 40th anniversary comes...

Business & Industry/Journalism

May 1, 2010

Another Practitioner of the Sneaker Zoom

My good friend Woody Marshall down at the Macon Telegraph was talking with one of my students a few years ago and used the phrase “sneaker zoom.” The student had a full compliment of lenses, from 17 mm to 200 mm, in her bag but she needed to get closer to her subjects, so he told her to use her...

Craft/Good Work/Tech Talk

April 29, 2010

Hope is So … Rich

For instance, Anssi Vanjoki, head of sales for Nokia, said at a recent news conference the the cameras in, ahem, cell phones will make other “system cameras” obsolete. By which he means digital single lens reflex cameras. Yes, I believe that small-sensor, small-lens cameras using the processing power available in a handheld cellular telephone will be able to render the...

Tech Talk/Thoughts & Theory

April 28, 2010

College Photojournalist Detained After Photographing Runaway Cows

Alex Kotran, a photojournalist for The Lantern, a student publication at Ohio State University, was detained after he tried to photograph a pair of runaway cows on campus. (The surveillance video of the cows and cops is, uh, entertaining …)