Category: Thoughts & Theory

March 14, 2014

The Ethics of Managing Conflict Journalism

James Estrin has a must read story at The New York Times’ Lens blog looking at the apparent use of activists and untrained photographers in Syria. There are portions of this that horrify me – including the triggering act of an 18 year old, apparently equipped and paid by Reuters, who was killed recently. The ethical concerns involve more than...

Categories Ethics & Legal/Photojournalism/Thoughts & Theory

March 12, 2014

Speeding Up the Transmitting Process

I have several feelings about this project the Toronto Star is developing, allowing their photojournalists to transmit images from the camera straight to the web with no editing process. On the geek front, I want one. On the journalist side, where is the journalism? How do you know what’s important and what isn’t? Where is the editing in this? Still,...

Categories Photojournalism/Tech Talk/Thoughts & Theory

March 8, 2014

Camera of Lust

As often as I have told people I don’t care about cameras, that I care about pictures, you’d think I would actually believe that … and I do care much more about pictures than cameras when it comes to shooting and telling stories. But I am a geek and so I occasionally fall into the geek trap of lusting after...

Categories Craft/Tech Talk/Thoughts & Theory

March 4, 2014

Why I’ll Never be an Artist

Yep. Not going to happen.

Categories Graphic Design/Photojournalism/Thoughts & Theory

March 4, 2014

Why Situational Awareness Matters

I would like to think that I’m pretty good at paying attention to what’s happening around me. As a journalist, that power to observe was a key component of my mental tool kit. It can also be an important survival tool as one Philadelphia television reporter almost found out. The fact that neither he nor his photojournalist had the foresight...

Categories At Work/Photojournalism/Tech Talk/Thoughts & Theory/Video

February 26, 2014

Many visual pundits have been writing about this year’s World Press Photo of the Year winner, a stunning image made by John Stanmeyer for National Geographic. The image is a beautiful and powerful statement on the relevance of communication and technology. One of the best pieces of read so far on it comes from Fred Ritchin writing at Time’s Lightbox...

Categories Competitions/Craft/Good Work/Photojournalism/Tech Talk/Thoughts & Theory

February 18, 2014

How the AP and Getty Cover the Olympics

Nice piece over at Gizmodo by Mario Aguilar about how the Associated Press and Getty Images are covering the Winter Olympics – everything from the technology to the philosophy is covered. Browsing the wire, you notice that the AP’s photos also have a grittier, newsier look about them. They tend not to be as closely cropped so that you can...

Categories Business & Industry/Photojournalism/Tech Talk/Thoughts & Theory

January 6, 2014

Gregory Heisler Talking About His Work

Last November I got to see Gregory Heisler talk at the Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar – easily one of the best talks I’d ever seen there. Now, a talk he did for Ilford has been posted online. Get comfortable, this runs two hours in length … but so totally worth it.

Categories Advice & Learning/Journalism/Photojournalism/Tech Talk/Thoughts & Theory

January 4, 2014

Choosing to Do Good

In less than 48 hours, I’ll have two new groups of kids sitting in the Photo Cave here in Athens. They’ll wander in to my Introduction to Photojournalism class with all sorts of backgrounds – most will have been shooting since they were very young, but most will never had thought deeply about visual storytelling. A few have known, for...

Categories Journalism/Photojournalism/Thoughts & Theory

January 1, 2014

Search, Seize and/or Copy

Traveling with sensitive material on your laptop is always a challenge. What happens if it’s lost or stolen? Turns out, even if you never lose possession of your laptop while traveling, going through U.S. Customs may open your data up to the government. This is chilling: (U.S. District Judge Edward R.) Korma, a judge in the Eastern District of New...

Categories Business & Industry/Journalism/Photojournalism/Tech Talk/Thoughts & Theory