Visual Journalism – Page 45 – Notes from aside the camera

November 18, 2014

The Language of Photography

We talk about the language of the photograph in my classes quite a bit, whether the kids recognize it or not. There’s a parallel language, spoken by photographers, and there’s a dictionary for it … who knew? Future students may have to study this … lots of quiz possibilities there.

Advice & Learning/Photojournalism/Tech Talk

November 18, 2014

Stolen: Where and What

PetaPixel’s DL Cade has a post up about the most stolen camera equipment as tracked by Lenstag. The results are surprising to me – I would have assumed some consumer level camera was the most commonly lost piece of kit, not the high end pieces from Canon that make up the top three. Digging deeper, the data source – Lenstag...

Business & Industry/Photojournalism/Tech Talk

November 16, 2014

Get a Grip

We don’t deal much with grip equipment in our visual journalism sequence, but some of my kids wander off into commercial/corporate/advertising work where they’ll suddenly have to know what a C-stand is or how to load V-flats for transport. Cinescopophilia has a collection of three videos on what goes into a grip truck. Every photographer who ever leaves their office...

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

November 14, 2014

Seeing What Others Have Not

To me, the great photojournalists are not the ones who have recorded the great moments in history. To me, the great photojournalists are the ones who have helped us understand the everyday moments of life. And near the top for those is Marc Riboud, who has a new show opening in New York City. There’s a simple elegance to the...

Craft/Good Work/Photojournalism

November 13, 2014

What Comes After School

Poking around the web today I found this two year old post by Steve Giralt about being in business and, since I’m talking about business with my kids these days, it seems really relevant.

At Work/Business & Industry/Graphic Design/Photojournalism

November 13, 2014

In Search of a Processing Boundary

Scott Alexander at American Photo has a post up on how far is too far when it comes to processing images, including a set of before-and-after images to study. The images, at the top of the page, are … startling. The toning on two of them is, to me, completely reasonable. The other two … well … what do you...

Ethics & Legal/Journalism/Photojournalism/Thoughts & Theory

November 13, 2014

How to Recognize When the Problem Is You

Don Giannatti has a great rant over at Lighting Essentials about photographers who suck but don’t yet know it. He runs through 10 clear reasons why you aren’t successful and he’s on target with all of them. As we approach the end of the semester, I’m starting to get the gear questions*. Most of my kids get that it’s not...

Advice & Learning/Business & Industry/Photojournalism/Tech Talk/Thoughts & Theory

November 10, 2014

Sixteen Tips

Kathryn Henderson at Complex.com asked 16 people in the photo industry what photographers should know. My feeling is the most important one comes from Molly Clifford: Understand your business, not just the technique needed for making a photograph. If you don’t have a business plan, you have a hobby.

Business & Industry/Photojournalism/Thoughts & Theory

November 10, 2014

Will Smartphones Be the Death of Us?

No. But they are forcing some changes to the way we work and how the public processes images. The literacy that has developed over 180 years of photography is changing, some would say in the say way the English language is changing – a devolution in style, structure and tone. A PhotoPlux Expo this year, a panel was put together...

Business & Industry/Photojournalism/Thoughts & Theory

November 7, 2014

Balancing Journalism and Graphic Images in Sports

There’s been a lot of talk about the Opelika-Auburn News’ front page photo form last Sunday. an image that clearly shows both a game-changing fumble and a season-ending injury. Where is the line between being too graphic and a need to see? For me, this isn’t really debatable – the image tells the story and the offense some feel is...

Ethics & Legal/Photojournalism/Thoughts & Theory