More than "fixing the ink rub" problem

In the changing media landscape, a consistent theme is of the jilted editor, the gatekeeper who can no longer gate-keep.

I appreciate the example of the consolidation of the Tampa Bay Tribune, Tampa Bay Online, and the WFLA broadcast news outlet. It only makes sense that reporting the news becomes a team effort, with the news consumer being another arm of the team.

Giving space to the public not only gets the consumer involved, but it also saves money: The Contributor is not paid.

If anything, news is becoming de-compartmentalized and more open. The workflow is open. As reporters take on learning more media, they also learn that the public itself can become part of the media, another way to farm information.

The public consuming only a lopsided point of view is problematic, but completely understandable, as I listen to National Public Radio (NPR), a decidedly liberal news source. It makes sense that someone will always be needed to sort and package the news.

I never thought about the aging newspaper demographic. I believe that tying in people 18-30 can be done by harnessing their natural ability to communicate through digital online media.

How to de-fragment the viewers? Could a paper publish specialized sections the way the community paper is in certain Sunday papers? Could you subscribe to the Sunday paper, and add a thicker music section? Possibly. Or link to online for coupons.

Although newspapers declining is sad, a 15 percent profit margin while still reaching half of all adults in the U.S. is positive, and I think the industry needs to move deliberately to direct the public's interest back to newspapers and hold the line at half, and then figure out how to grow.

Growing pains are ahead.

In an example of convergence, the bottom pic ran on MLIVE.com, while the upper shot ran in the community paper insert.

Graveyard

This is a grave marker for a veteran in a "Paupers Graveyard" in Flint. The site is maintained by a retired marine. The Flint Township News' Bernie Hillman is doing the story.

All of these shots were taken with a Nikon D2H, with a manual 50mm 1.4 lens. When I got to the assignment, I discovered that my camera wouldn't function with the digital lenses, meaning the single-use manual lens from the 60's had to be used. No autofocus, no zoom, and worst of all, no wide angle.

I tripped over poor Bernie trying to get the right angle with this lens.

My problems with the shot is that there are no people. Lewis is right- no people means very little interest.

Having a narrow view lens limits my options, which hurts more in the lower shots.

This particular shot had to be photoshopped for brightness and dust-cleaned.

This shot is of the marine who maintains the old graves. There were Spanish American and civil war graves there. In his left hand is a print out of the map showing where the graves are divided up by age, war, and most significantly, race. This is me compensating for not having a wide angle lens. I thought getting the man gesticulating might be interesting. I don't think it worked.

The shot to the right is self explanatory- he was clearing off the marker of a black man, a veteran who died in a vet hospital. This doesn't work because I should gave been on the other side of him. I would have gotten a ground up shot- but the lens would force me to keep quite a distance.

This is what I would prefer the blog to be about- throwing up my photojournalism and talking about what worked what didn't.

What didn't work were my digital lenses, and my fingers after shooting with no gloves on in the winter.

Welcome

In the newspaper business, a "Standalone" is a photo usually placed in the center of the page, above the fold, to attract attention. It doesn't have anything to do with any story, it's just there to be "art," and look nice. A Cutline is underneith telling the viewser what's going on.


As it turns out, it's way more fun to take a picture, and gathering cutline information, then to write a story on deadline. To find a bunch of sources, and verify the language, make sure you're in AP style, and make every word count. I can still do this, and I will, but I'd rather have three photo assignments than one writing assignment.

I've learned this while interning at the community news at the Flint Journal. I love being the one with the camera. I like the name badge, I think it fulfills my urge to be in the FBI. I like working with equipment, and having a relationship with it.

So this blog is about photography, more specifically photojournalism, and even more specifically, standalone photos and the info underneath. It's dry, but it's what I do, folks.

I plan to include a photo, write a cutline (caption), and then critique my own work, and give a little back story. Exciting? No? Well I don't have to entertain you people!

I spend most of my time talking about either my band or my photography. Maybe this will ease the listening burden on friends and family. Probably not.