My name is ken and I will be your photographer today .We are serving two specials, one wide angle and one telephoto , the daily journalistic menu special also features a chef's choice that may intrigue. ( i can screw up the spelling of a three letter word , why can't good ideas write themselves )
A good line to use when the reporter refers to you as “my photographer” and not “the photographer” or as I prefer “Thee or Thy” photographist or the modern and accurate Mr. Special Digital Online Imaging Maker 3.0 dude .
I was forwarded a piece written apparently defending the use of the Histamatic app by a photographer at the Hartford Currant .
http://courantblogs.com/photo/2012/05/iphone-therefore-iam/ Change is coming now in great waves .
The thoughts on the subject had all my favourite phrases . Many have religious overtones that I love the most. When I speak of the Holy Church of Journalism , my buddies in the darkroom usually just roll there eyes . There really is a church . There was one back in the day in Toronto called Ryerson with it's monastery on Church St called Henry& Co . There was a whole year devoted to putting photos of yourself on T-Shirts and pillows.
This is not the Unitarian brand where it is still OK to wave a prop over your head while taking the picture and getting everyone to say cheese. It always works.
This church I speak of is hardcore , it describes the the frame as “sacrosanct” , and the moment you snap the photo as “moment of creation” . This stuff you don't mess with , this somewhere between a church with the words , orthodox or reform attached it. You gotta be in Rome or Greece to say this stuff .
I must belong to the Catholic version where the words “practicing” and “non practicing” still have street cred. Country club and Jacks Bar , officer and non-com come to mind . Your supposed to hold arugula as a prop now.
If Christianity has such variations I guess the church of Journalism does too.
There are just so many interpretations of the bible it is too hard to make any sense. Very hard to keep up with the lingo . Our field has so many contradictions and rules and ethics it is amazing any pictures get taken at all.
There are still a few dinosaurs around that know that the ethics of photojournalism were invented to protect photographers from , over zealous , crazy or drunk editors all wanting “cheese cake pictures” spring , summer and fall. Hire a model get them to , jump for joy , dance in the streets pictures .
“Get them to ...” anyone heard this phrase ? Hum. Or how about “JUST get them to...! like your JUST some kind of idiot. Photography for a newspaper is WAY harder than that .
The photographer would JUST say , Oh I can't do that anymore because we have ethics now . Couldn't get fired for that .Thank god for ONPA , NPPA. One photog actually came back with real cheese cake after struggling with the dilemma all afternoon.
Yes I haves sinned , I have done “dancing in the streets” and that other thing back in the day before ethics. But not now , we have been SAVED. Now we have ethics , we are detached except for sports events ,where headlines read , “WE Win “ or “They Loose” and everything is suspended for Grey Cups and Stanley Cups , and Our team is our team. Contradictions ,you really have to read the newspaper everyday to remember where we stand ethically , because it may be that special ethics stat holiday .
The High Church also struggles with how the eye sees. IT sees both wide 180 degrees and narrow , focussing sharply to only a few degrees . Much talk is made when enhancing the the image . The narrow focus of the eye travels subtly and subjectively along pathways from one highlight to another , it also penetrates deep shadow effortlessly depending on the point of interest.
There are “store clerks “ who simplify the argument to just seeing what the “dumb' card sees. This raises the final , finished photograph , not too the hiegth’s of an Ansel Adams or Eugene Smith but to the more worldly station of Walmart machine operator. Yuk! Double YUK !
More contradictions , If the eye sees in an extreme wide view why didn't the Widelux camera with it's distortion free image become a standard photo journalists purist camera instead of the bendy , distorted fisheye or super wide lens. In what non aquatic world does a fisheye exist. Can a stitched photo taken seconds apart be real enough?
If the standard is seeing what the sensor or film sees ,how can we accept seeing something on film that the eye does not see . Take the curious case of the silhouette ,the eye will always see detail in the shadow and not empty , and pure black.
What about the multi exposure action photo?
Police departments could not use digital cameras because the image could be altered , even that has changed.
Why does everyone in our field call our work “art” when we bristle at being called artists .If we are not artists then our work is not art.
What do the purists say about adding lighting , umbrellas , filters , HUH?! Apparently not much .
Here is the catch , if the media is altered during the “instant of creation” , all is forgiven. This is akin to a papal ... i forget the word , but it is good if you are really uncomfortable with breaking commandments.
This is a case of premeditation , controlling the uncontrollable , the commercialization of the photographic aspect of journalism . Yessss I said it . The biggest contradiction of all.
The setting up of a photograph , saaay Whaaaat?
Do we or do we not set up photos? , do we or do we not ask people to do things again ?Confused again , has the pope ruled this a stat day. My head hurts , the contradictions . Appently you can set it up if it is a good photo , but not if it is a bad photo. Great Rule , like , I before E , except after C or sometimes Y.
There must be some kinda pagan-pre-christian-journalism , rule free , free flowing get the thing done in 10 minutes because there is a fire , and this is really a headshot kinda belief system .The agnostic newspaper photography ship of the damned . Agnostic , that sounds about right .Histamatic , if it sticks to the wall ...? Photography has always been about embracing change , somethings stick some don't. The practices of LIFE photographers were inspiration to generations .
Oh Yea , our pictures sit side by side inside the editorial product with other pictures . They compete with hand out photos , publicity photos , Facebook photos , unverified citizen journalist photos , retouched , airbrushed cloned and altered in ungodly ways and other ways too. Everyone seems exempt from rules but us .Yes there is a God and only the few will make into his Kingdom . These pictures that run side by side are delievered by the same network that sets all the rules for staff photographers but not for other content.Contradictions on contradictions. What about design , designers have fun with our pictures too , creating large black ares that were not there before to put type and headlines in .
Through all the change I have seen the only common element I can find is our responsibility to our readers , in my town .If the reader gets to see something they have never seen before , so be it. If it works at a local it will stick at higher levels. How do we test and varify new innovations if not at the local level. Those picture were pretty good. Can a wire phot standard be applied to every picture . THis is a local picture with new technlogy , it is coming in unstopable waves. The photographer commands the picture and the design aspect , maybe a new thing , journalistc art.
The photographer was compelled to use the Histamatic ap , not becuase he had to , but because it said ssomething to him . He may feel he can find that edge everyone wants . Other wise it is just another crappy cellphone camera picture .Some will see it as away to liberate the smartphone , professionalize it.
Chef's choice , an editor has no obligation to use a staff photographers picture , they show that over and over again. Even though , exclusive content seems to be a matra , we ship our content everywhere so it can be used for free . The news is repetitive and so is the treatment , everyone is satified with that until they see something different. An editor will pick different , if not from staff , by someone else . Change the treatment. Set our people free .This ROCKSTAR app combines photography and design and the photog has control of it. Any local editor would pic these photos for a story , they look that different.
Sooner or later “just anybody” will be the first to send in to high value news pic shot on some ROCKSTAR App and all the rules go out the window. Multi media photogs and regulars will be handed camera phones and they will take pictures with them . It compares to new 35mm cameras in the age 2&1/4”s .Different kinds of pictures will be made , the technology will overwhelm all the rules . Rock on . Not me though , I still can't figure out my new flash. I still call ISO ,ASA . My Sunday Rant .If anyone is offended , there is an App for that . In our business the photographer has always been the outlet for an editorial product with too many rules . Reporters and editors love it when we say things with our cameras they cannot say with words . There are no standards for that. Getting Old Sucks , our product is old .
There may be a app that alters photos styles of ordinary hobbiest to simulate the greatest photographers that ever walked the earth , what do you think would happen then. We would get old photographers that could spell .
Topic: Hipstamatic App - U should sit down (Read 2274 times)