Bookmark a small(er) voice

I'm still experimenting with my on-line "presence," so I started a tumbleblog as a compliment to a small voice.

I want a small voice to be mostly focused on my work specifically as a photojournalist for the Statesboro Herald. Here is where you will find my more thoughtful attempts to connect with the community about what I do. Commentary, tips, stories behind the stories, etc.

So, rather than clutter up this blog, I created a small(er) voice as an attempt at a more stream-of-consciousness sharing of links, articles, information and pictures, with examples of my own work and others that I admire or find interesting.

You can find the link on the sidebar to the right. So check in and follow me on both, if you like.

Oh yeah. Feedback. I need feedback, folks! Let's "conversate."

Saturday, October 30, 2010 | posted in commentary, conversation, hot topics | 0 comments [ More ]

A camera is just a tool, right?

Good light and composition are not dependent on gear.

I get it all the time. I'm out working, and inevitably someone will take a look at my gear and say "I bet that camera takes good pictures."

Well, no, I counter. A photographer takes good pictures. The camera is just a tool. I tell that to anyone who enquires about taking better photographs. I preach it to my students when I teach classes. A photographer understands how to use light and thoughtfully compose an image. A photographer chooses when to press the button and capture a particular moment in time. Owning a nice camera does not make you a photographer.

I might have to eat some of those words.

You can build a house with a hammer and a saw, but you can build one a whole lot more efficiently with some power tools.

For the past couple of weeks, I feel like I've been working with a hammer.

My trusty Nikon D300 wigged out on me. The mirror locked up and the camera essentially became non-functioning. It was my only working body, too, my other one being an old D2Hs with a fried image sensor functioning only as a lens holder. (Useless, unless images with a sickly hot-pink magenta cast are the look you're going for) To simply do my job, I've had to borrow a camera from the Connect Statesboro staff. I'm grateful to them, but it's been an exercise in frustration.

The camera I borrowed is a Nikon D40x, which was the entry-level digital SLR in Nikon's lineup (since replaced by the snazzier D3100). To be sure, it's cable of making fine images within its limitations. But make no mistake: it has its limitations.

Many folks appreciate lightness in a camera body. It's sure a lot easier on my shoulders and neck. But a little heft has its advantages. A heavier body acts as a counterweight against heavier professional-level lenses. The D40 looks and feels downright silly with a 70-200 mm f/2.8 telephoto zoom lens mounted on it. Plus, the camera is made of flimsy plastic. Camera equipment tends to get knocked about in the course of covering news assignments. The build does not inspire confidence.

Like I said, this camera is capable of making good images. I shot a fairly bang-up portrait for the cover of one our monthly publications. Light and composition are two of the three most important elements of good photography. That part never changes, regardless of your gear. The third – timing – is where I consistently have experienced frustration. And, in photojournalism, I can't think of anything more important than timing.

Missed a funny moment while D40 searched for focus

I'm accustomed to a camera responding instantly. I shoot a frame, and the D300 was instantly ready to shoot another. If I needed to shoot a burst of frames, I've had up to 30 or so frames available, at 8 frames per second, no less. Not so with the D40. Sometimes, there is a lag when I press the shutter release. Sometimes I have to wait before I can shoot again. Nikon claims "instant response time" and "3 frames per second burst rate," but I beg to differ.

Plenty of light? No problem. Typical human movement? Sufficient. But news photography frequently requires shooting action in low light. Thank goodness all of our local high school and college football teams were playing out-of-town games last weekend. Still, I was cursing as the D40 struggled to make in-focus, properly exposed images at a Halloween haunted house.

So, if you ever wondered what you get when you spend megabucks on a digital camera, this is what differentiates a model with pro features from an entry-level camera:

• Durable build. When you drop big bucks on a camera, you should expect something that can take a reasonable beating. The camera body itself will outlast the electronics that make it function. (e.g. my D2Hs) Higher end models come with a degree of weather sealing, too, to keep moisture and dust from invading the electronics inside your camera. Not water-proof, mind you. I wouldn't suggest shooting with any sophisticated electronic cameras in a driving rainstorm. But a gentle sprinkle shouldn't make your gear lock up.


• Processing power. A digital camera is essentially a mini-computer, and you can expect the same difference in performance that you would between a $500 computer and a $5,000 computer. Every camera function is dependent on processing power, from responsiveness, to autofocus speed, to image processing, etc. An entry-level DSLR is just fine for most folks. But when you need to make a couple thousand images in one day ( and sometimes I do), you need something more robust.

Those are the main things, but some other niceties come with a bigger price tag. Ergonomics and convenience, for example. Instead of having to scroll through endless menus to change certain settings, pro models have lots of buttons and dials right at your fingertips to quickly make adjustments. You get what you pay for.

Perhaps I needed to spend more time with the D40x to squeeze the most out of its potential. It's the kind of camera that would suffice more many, or most, photography enthusiasts. In fact, it would be a great used purchase for those looking to step up from a point-and-shoot. It's not a power tool, however. (Well, maybe one of those off-brand power tools you can buy at discount stores.)

My equipment breakdown has expedited the approval by our corporate folks for a new D300s camera body, which should arrive in the next day or so. Just in the nick of time, because there are football games Friday and Saturday with playoff implications. Having two camera bodies is not a luxury for a photojournalist, either. Backup is not the only consideration. I lament the countless pictures I have lost because I was switching lenses. To that end, I should get my trusty D300 back from the repair shop fairly soon, too.

I can't wait, because it sure takes good pictures.

Thursday, October 28, 2010 | posted in behind the lens, general photography, photography tips | 2 comments [ More ]

"a small voice" goes mobile

I'm keen on irony.

After posting about the virtues of print, or "Legacy," media, I decided to make a small voice more mobile friendly. If you would like to read a small voice on your mobile phone, click on the a small voice MOBILE SITE link.Bookmark it and stop in where ever you are, now.

And comment! I want to know what's on your mind. Journalism is a conversation, folks!

Tuesday, October 26, 2010 | posted in behind the lens, multimedia | 0 comments [ More ]

"The war between old and new is a false construct. Nothing goes away."

… I lose patience with pundits who prophesy and lobby for the demise of all traditional media in favor of newer forms. - David Granger, Esquire Editor-in-Chief 

I covered the Georgia Literary Fair today at Georgia Southern University. The focus was on books. Real, honest-to-goodness printed books, their authors, and people who love to read them. I photographed a woman who loves to read books. She loves the feel of them and how they smell. And I spoke to some student volunteers who also said they loved books but, ironically, were fiddling with their smart phones while on break.

 Then I ran across a quote from which the title of this blog comes from.

I often think about the future of my profession. What will it look like? Will photographs be viewed only on tablets and smart phones? Will photojournalism be a viable career choice in an environment where everyone expects information to be free and where news organizations troll for free material from amateurs and hobbyists as the lion's share of their content? Will photojournalism as a full-time job be reserved for only a select, super-talented, ultra-committed few?

Sometimes, that's the picture being painted. (That's a quaint saying, isn't it?) Many appear to be advocating for the complete abandonment of printed communication, or "Legacy Media," as they say with a snarl. Maybe I am becoming a dinosaur, but I can't help but feel that some stories are more appropriately and most powerfully communicated in print.

Fact is, today's digital viewing devices simply can't adequately display the images modern digital cameras are capable of producing. The iPhone 4 touts itself as the highest resolution smart phone ever made at 960 by 640 pixels. Sounds impressive, but all those pixels are packed into a 3 1/2 inch screen. So, no matter how far you zoom in, you are still viewing a 3 1/2 inch image.

We go ga ga over gigantic High Definition televisions. No matter how big the screen, however, the resolution remains the same: 1920 by 1080 pixels. Professional level digital cameras are capable of producing TEN times that resolution – or more. In other words, an HD TV is capable of displaying only 10% of the detail captured by a pro digital camera.

Newspaper reproduction is limited, too, but it still requires an image roughly twice the resolution, or more, than that of HD TV to print adequately. Ever consider what you might be missing?

That's just technical mumbo jumbo, however. What photographs communicate, and how they do it, is more important. And I firmly believe that print is still often the best way to present still photography. On digital devices, photography is too often presented as video - in a linear fashion. An on-line slide show simply doesn't produce the same experience as a two-page spread in a broad sheet newspaper. And size does count. Does anyone believe those pictures of the World Trade Center on 9/11 would have been nearly as impactful on smart phone screens instead of on the front pages of our newspapers?

I love technology, though. The Digital Age offers opportunities to tell stories in more different ways than ever. We can appeal to a much broader audience. We would be fools not only to resist, but not to embrace the opportunities. But that doesn't make more traditional means of communication any less rich or valid.

Anyway, I'm glad someone like Esquire’s David Granger is better able to articulate how I feel.

For the full quote, click here: Words of Wisdom from Esquire’s David Granger - Mr. Magazine.

Saturday, October 23, 2010 | posted in commentary, personal | 0 comments [ More ]

Miraculous Rescue, Remarkable Reunion: more on how photographs connect us

Miraculous Rescue, Remarkable Reunion - News Story - WCVB Boston

Photographing tragedy is often controversial. Photojournalists are sometimes accused of being heartless ambulance chasers and sharks at a feeding frenzy when they turn their cameras on the suffering.

But I still firmly believe there is great social value in documenting the human condition – all of it. Sometimes, the value is not understood until years later.

Photographing breaking news has always been the forte of Boston Herald photographer Stanley Forman. In the late 1970s, Forman garnered an unequaled three straight Pulitzer Prizes in a row. Perhaps his best known photograph, and most controversial, is one that shows a woman and a child falling from a collapsed fire escape during an apartment fire. The woman died on impact and the child miraculously survived.  It's a heart-wrenching depiction of the worst kind of tragedy. The woman's death was not in vain, however. In short order, the City of Boston revamped it's safety regulations governing fire escapes. While many condemned the Herald for publishing the photo, this question, as always, remains: would such forceful action by city officials have ever taken place had the picture not been published?

The ultimate value of some photographs may not be fully understood until years later. The story linked above is such an example. Sometimes, we are quick to condemn photographs of tragedy in the name of protecting the victims. In this case, an innocent child who lost everything. The photographs depict the heroism of the firefighters in this instance, and that's of great importance. However, we see how, over thirty years later, these photographs and the person who made them helped a woman make sense of and better understand her own personal history.

The fact is, sometimes photographing tragedy actually helps victims cope. Many subjects of disturbing photographs never forgive the perceived invasion into their private experience and emotions. However, many others come to appreciate, over time, the attention given to their circumstances.

In his book Lessons in Life and Death, photojournalist David LaBelle says that photographing tragedy actually has a therapeutic value. That confronting mortality and that of loved ones can help people appreciate life itself. Photographs of tragedy, if used compassionately, can serve as a form of psychotherapy for society, as a whole and on a personal level.

And the key is compassion. As LaBelle says, "Love doesn't always wear a smile."

In the end, Tammi Brownlee's story is just another example of how photographs can reach across space and time and connect us as human beings.

To see more of Stanley Forman's work, click here: Stanleyformanphotos.com

Hannah Forman

Tuesday, October 12, 2010 | posted in commentary, ethics, photojournalism | 0 comments [ More ]

Knowing when to say when ...

ECI running back Darion Moody, center, leaves Poral defenders
flailing on a 64-yard touchdown run on 4-and-2 when the
Bulldogs were trying to run out the clock just before halftime Friday.

There's a certain amount of guilt that goes along with being a one-man photo department at a small newspaper.

You can never adequately cover your community. The news is 24/7. It never stops. You end up having to make choices and sometimes compromise your journalistic ideals. Sometimes you're the one putting in the 14 hour work days, and sometimes it's your co-workers, and you feel guilty when it's not you. And you're constantly juggling that sense of professionalism and commitment with family and activities outside of work. It's a hard, if not impossible, balance to achieve.

Today, I spent most of the day with my sick 3-year-old. I didn't get in to the office until most folks were just kicking off for the day. I knew I was okay, because the only thing I had to shoot was Friday night high school football. Still, most of my co-workers had already been working at least half-a-day, and several would be working past 11:00 p.m., either web-casting the game, writing game stories, or putting together the newspaper for the next day. So, when I decided to bug out of the ball game at halftime, there was a twinge of guilt.

Some folks don't understand shooting sports. "Can't you get one good shot and then leave, since it's likely only one shot will be published in the paper?" they say. But it's not about getting a shot. It's about getting the shot. About telling the story of that game. Or at least a small group of photos that capture its essence.

I hate to leave a game early because of that. You just can't count out some kind of crazy turn of events that results in a monumental comeback. It's rare, but I've seen it happen, and I feel it would be professionally remiss to skip out on a game early just because I have a couple of good action shots. My worst nightmare is to leave a game early, have something unlikely happen, and not be there to capture the real story.

Tonight was not one of those times. The score was 42-0 at halftime. So, with both my wife and I facing long work days on Saturday – on our wedding anniversary, no less – and a feverish toddler, I left at halftime tonight.

So, with sincere apologies to Portal High School, my co-workers, and Statesboro Herald readers ...

WHEN!

Portal's Deontre Williams is slow to get up off the field after having his punt blocked by ECI's Wezley Ealey in the second quarter Friday.

Friday, October 8, 2010 | posted in behind the lens, daily work, personal, sports photography | 0 comments [ More ]

Facing loss

Sometimes, photographs are the best way to tell a story. But they have limitations.

One of my assignments last week was to photograph Connie Sacks, whose husband, a former soldier and contract medic with a government agency, was killed during a Taliban ambush in Afghanistan in July. She was clearly still in shock and emotionally raw. Despite that, she shared her story with the Herald. She shared the story of his life, his heroic actions after being mortally wounded, as well as their love story – one for the ages.

How do you show that, with a photograph, during a short interview in her living room? You can't. Photography is best used to create emotional connections. So I knew I had to craft an image that was emotional.

When I first entered the living room, I noticed how the soft window light created a distinctive mood in the room. I knew I could use that to my story-telling advantage. I listened as writer Holli Deal Bragg asked questions and listened to the responses. Connie alternatively beamed with joy and choked with tears as she recalled her life together with husband Max. He was all around her. In the home they renovated together. In the yard they got married in. In the furniture he restored. In the seashells they collected. All the while, she clutched his military dog tags that she wore around her neck.

Personally, I hate to shoot over-posed, directed portraits. But I knew I would have to do a little coaching in this instance. I posed Connie by the window to take advantage of the light. And I told her how to hold the dog tags, which hung near her waist, so I could photograph them close to her face and still maintain a natural feel. She was nervous to be in front of the lens. In the end, though, I really didn't have to do much. Almost immediately, she gazed at the object and began to reflect. I had my shot before she even had a chance to get uncomfortable and think about what we were doing.

So, yes, this is a posed portrait. Not my favorite thing to do, especially under the circumstances. But it couldn't be more honest or more real. I hope it's a suitable tribute to both Connie and Max.

Sometimes folks ask me what you say to people under those circumstances. In this case, I thanked Connie. Sharing her story was courageous, and it's a service to our readers and our community. Grief will touch us all at some point in our lives, and we can learn from how others cope.

And we remember those we've lost through those who remain.

Monday, October 4, 2010 | posted in behind the lens, daily work | 0 comments [ More ]

Link: Headshots don't have to be boring

SLIDESHOW
Photo focus: Creative headshots
from reuters.com

Usher poses for a protrait in NY.

(REUTERS/Lucas Jackson)

Mention the topic of "head shots" to a lot of news photographers, and you just might get a groan as a response. Little postage stamp-sized pics that are used to simply identify the subject of a story or a quote don't typically get the creative juices flowing. Plus, they are overused and over-assigned, as I professed in a previous post.

Unfortunately, some assignments lend themselves to little more. Depending on the notoriety of the subjects, the only access you might get is when they are speaking at a podium or some other kind of heavily controlled environment.

However, I ran across a slideshow on the Reuters news service site that just goes to show how really good photographers can still see things in unique ways.

Friday, October 1, 2010 | posted in general photography, photography tips, professional technique | 0 comments [ More ]