Comments on: Early thoughts at Poynter

By: Steve Woodward

Steve Woodward — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 21:33:48 +0000

I’m surprised you had as many print reporters as you did. Writers like me are not accustomed to viewing life through a lens. It feels strange and invasive. Fortunately, I love movies and camera technique, so I’ve paid attention to what works and what doesn’t. But most writers, I think, regard photography as a magical art accomplished with arcane equipment. They’re amazed to discover you can just push the record button and shoot.

By: Mindy McAdams

Mindy McAdams — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 17:04:26 +0000

I think what non-photographers fear is failure. It took my journalism grad students last fall about four weeks to start making really decent pictures. There was gnashing of teeth, pulling of hair, great frustration and angst. I had them all in and out of my office complaining that they just could not do, could not make their cameras give them good images.

And then … ahhhhh … the sun came out from behind the clouds, the angels sang, and all of them had crossed some kind of boundary. They relaxed. They made good pictures.

Most print journalists would not put in the effort those students put in. But look at what they got out of it! All of them can shoot any event of situation now and bring back usable — sometimes even beautiful — pictures.

By: pat

pat — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 04:56:43 +0000

Mindy – I asked Kenny and he said that they just got more applicants who were photojournalists. It had nothing to do with selection.

He also said they expected this to happen, because more newsrooms are asking their photographers to become multifaceted, while not asking their writers to do the same. That’s interesting, because I’d like to see most staffers broaden their skill sets.

When I read the description it doesn’t really scream print or photo to me, that’s why I applied. But I know how to use a DSLR and a Marantz, so maybe I’m not the best person to ask. It just sounds like a description for people who want to learn how to produce better multimedia content. Many of the participants have done multimedia before like me. We are interested in honing the craft.

Now the description is heavy on audio and light on photo. So, many print journalists could have been scared away from applying because this seminar doesn’t really teach much about operating a camera. The conference does, however, go over what makes a good shot and what makes a good photo for a slideshow (which is not always the same).

I don’t get why so many print people fear photojournalism or make fun of it (which is probably just their fear talking). Great stories and photos belong together.

By: Wendy Withers

Wendy Withers — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 00:50:20 +0000

I am too poor to go to seminars at Poynter; although I did have one professor who was smart enough to have us go down there for a presentation on diversity. Fortunately, I’m building my skills right now because my university let me take a graduate course in multimedia journalism. Now, the faculty has to field my complaints about my lack of web skills up to this point and the fact that I got to my senior year in the program before a professor told one of my classes we should learn things like blogging, editing video and audio and Flash.

One professor actually told me she’s been dissuading students from starting blogs, because she thought they were unprofessional until I showed her mine.

By: Mindy McAdams

Mindy McAdams — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 22:31:27 +0000

Ask Kenny Irby about this. He’s a photo guy — maybe he wanted to choose more photo people and fewer print people. That’s one possibility.

Another one is this: A lot of my print reporting students have no clue how to take a decent picture, and they know it. They use their cameras for fun, parties, vacations, friends — but they don’t know how to frame a shot, where to stand, or when to press the button.

So looking at the description of the seminar (http://www.poynter.org/seminar/seminar.asp?id=4486&catid=149), the print people probably assumed “This is for photojournalists and not for me.” Read it and see if you disagree.

By: Andy

Andy — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 21:27:21 +0000

It’s a real shame. I think your point about ‘a shorter step’ is a good one but I also think that there is a strong feeling from editors and photogs alike that photogs ‘should’ be the ones making the leap.

Still, times are tough and getting tougher for photographers. Perhaps they see an opportunity to ease the transition that print journos are still choosing to ignore