Category: Photojournalism

December 22, 2012

The First DSLR

The George Eastman House has acquired the first digital single lens reflex camera ever made. Built in 1989 on a Canon F1, only two were ever produced. This predates the tethered Nikon F3 camera by a couple of years which I had thought was the first DSLR. Very cool …

Categories Photojournalism/Tech Talk

December 20, 2012

Tools for Journalists

Over at the Poynter Institute, Chip Scanlan has a list of tools the multimedia journalist needs. I agree with all of them except one – I’ve had two clients and several students bring me files from the Nikon 5100 and every single frame looked horrible. The video is okay, but the still photos looked very over-compressed with more artifacting than...

Categories Multimedia/Photojournalism/Tech Talk

December 20, 2012

Knowing Your Source

I have, on several occasions, mentioned that I think the work Pete Souza is doing as President Barack Obama’s official photographer is important, historic and not journalism. Chris Cillizza at The Washington Post seems to agree with me, as well – that the work he is doing, in its current context, is more public relations than documentary photography. Worth a...

Categories Business & Industry/Photojournalism

December 20, 2012

Long-time NPPA Leader Charles Cooper Has Passed

The National Press Photographers Association is reporting that Charles Cooper, who served the organization for more than four decades, passed away at 92. I never met Mr, Cooper, but his influence on my coming of age as a photojournalist was massive. It was clear then, as it should be now, that if you're not a member of the NPPA, then...

Categories Photojournalism

December 16, 2012

Facts Matter, So Do People

Charles Apple retells his story from 1995 about a shooting in Chapel Hill, N.C., from a time before instant-reporting took hold. Well worth a read. (And, yeah, it’s more about journalism than visual journalism, but he did draw a map.) Which brings us to the second part of the headline … I got a text message from a former student...

Categories Advice & Learning/Journalism/Photojournalism

December 13, 2012

Moving On

In a few short hours we’ll march another crop of journalism students across a stage, sending them out into the real world at our winter convocation. A quick look at the program saw about 60 in total, four of them are My Kids – fully vetted and prepped. After what has been my most challenging personal year, I’m pretty sure...

Categories Advice & Learning/Photojournalism

December 12, 2012

Why Photography is Great

I am tempted to do one of these, if I ever complete my grading … over at Photoshelter, Allen Murabayashi has a great post up about 57 Reasons to Love Photography in 2012. I don’t know how he stopped at 57 … (Thanks to NPPA President Sean Elliot for the link)

Categories Advice & Learning/Business & Industry/Craft/Journalism/Photojournalism/Tech Talk

December 7, 2012

The Ticking Clock on Film

Nice piece from USA Today on the demise of film stocks. In my freezer are handful of rolls of Kodachrome – film I’ll never shoot as I’ll never be able to get it processed. My wife asked me last night why I don’t throw it out … sentimental value is all I could come up with.

Categories Craft/Photojournalism/Tech Talk

December 5, 2012

Subway Photojournalist Speaks on the Today Show

R. Umar Abbasi, the freelance photographer who made the image of a man about to be killed by a subway train in New York City, spoke on NBC’s Today show about what happened. There are several things in here that, as a photographer, make sense. He has said elsewhere he shot 40 or more times and here he says that...

Categories Ethics & Legal/Photojournalism

December 5, 2012

Mocking Instagram

I really don’t have a problem with Instagram. I have a problem with journalists using Instagram to artificially create an emotional connection with a subject. If you want to lo-fi your vacation photos? Have at it. But I’m going to sing along with College Humor’s parody every time I hear a Nickelback song now. Which, gracefully, isn’t often … (FYI,...

Categories Ethics & Legal/Photojournalism/Thoughts & Theory