Category: At Work

June 19, 2018

“I wanted to stop her crying”

It’s an image everyone is talking about, a little girl crying as her mother is searched by U.S. Border Patrol agents. It’s an image that took John Moore a decade to make. “I have no way of knowing if things will be okay.” Journalism matters.

Categories Advice & Learning/At Work/Business & Industry/Good Work/Photojournalism

May 5, 2018

Visualizing Autism

I am going to put this right up front – I think Craig Walker may be one of the most important photojournalists of our time. He won earned two Pulitzer Prizes while at the Denver Post, one for a story on a kid joining the Army and a second on a Marine coming back from war. This week, the Boston...

Categories Advice & Learning/At Work/Craft/Good Work/Journalism/Photojournalism

April 6, 2018

The Hypocrisy of a Corporate Mandate Urging Independence

By now, you’ve seen the video montage that Deadspin created, with anchors from dozens of Sinclair Broadcasting Group stations reading the same corporate-issued script. You’ve seen the response from media associations like the National Press Photographers Association (and seen the consequences of that statement), you’ve read the analysis from folks like Al Tompkins at the Poynter Institute. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer...

Categories Advice & Learning/At Work/Business & Industry/Ethics & Legal/Journalism/Photojournalism/Thoughts & Theory

March 21, 2018

The Ethics of Self-assigned Work

In a piece for the Poynter Institute from 2017, Kainaz Amaria talks about the moment she realized she wasn’t going to be a conflict photographer and the underrepresentation of women in photojournalism. But there’s one line in there, one line that I wish every student and young professional would pay attention to: It’s that I couldn’t justify asking someone to...

Categories Advice & Learning/At Work/Business & Industry/Ethics & Legal/Journalism/Photojournalism

March 16, 2018

Seeing Where You Are

For every photographer who has ever said they need to travel somewhere to make better images, for every journalist who has driven to work with windows up and music playing, you must read this piece by Neeta Satam on how to see stories ethically. Next week, students in our Documentary Photojournalism course will head a little south for our 13th...

Categories At Work/Business & Industry/Craft/Ethics & Legal/Journalism/Photojournalism

March 6, 2018

A Narrow Slice if History

Hondros, a film about the late photojournalist Chris Hondros, is now open in select cities. Producer Greg Campbell, a friend of his, spoke with Christopher Booker for PBS News Hour. Because I think Chris knew very well that there were also not a lot of happy endings after he snapped the shutter on his camera. And I’ve heard him say...

Categories At Work/Business & Industry/Good Work/Journalism/Photojournalism

February 7, 2018

The Value of Photo Editors

Nice piece over at National Geographic on the relationship between photo editors and photojournalists. This is a relationship we all need to understand, need to take advantage of and/or need to find for ourselves.

Categories Advice & Learning/At Work/Good Work/Photojournalism

February 5, 2018

When Assisting Means Employed

David Walker at Photo District News has taken a look at several legal issues related to large-scale photo shoots, ones where “assistants” are routinely hired to help with the production. The common industry term “assistants” means something different in New York and California. Most of us think of assistants as independent contractors, paid a flat rate to work on a...

Categories At Work/Business & Industry/Journalism/Multimedia/Photojournalism/Video

January 20, 2018

“I am not useful for my camera if I die.”

Karam Shoumali told the story of Syrian photojournalist Hosam Katan on The New York Times’ Lens blog a few months back, it’s worth reading to understand how Syrian journalists have covered and been affected by the war there.

Categories Advice & Learning/At Work/Journalism/Photojournalism

January 6, 2018

Getting the Big Picture, Leaving a Legacy

A wonderful piece by a gentleman whose work I admire and whose character I deeply respect – Billy Howard writes about making a group photo at a summer camp and becoming part of the camp’s legacy. Too often we drop into people’s lives, quickly assess what makes them who they are and then dash off. If the photo succeeds, if...

Categories At Work/Craft/Photojournalism/Thoughts & Theory