A Little News

Once in a while I get an assignment that really allows some flexibility with light. I got a lifestyles assignment this past week that fit the bill exactly. The story is on a young man who wrote and starred in a low-budget, feature length motion picture. The movie was about a guy who was tormented by visions of a murdered girl but the problem is you never know for sure if the guy is really tormented by an apparition or if his over the top drug habit is causing his psychosis. My assignment was to get some photos while he was being interviewed; however, I saw an opportunity to make something a little different and a little more dramatic than an interview photo.

The reporter, Danielle Komis Palmer (the lovely bride of my colleague Jonathan Palmer), and I met the guy in the downtown area where they shot one of the scenes. The situation was not promising because it was an alley in the middle of the day. At night it would have been a great location. After asking a few questions we found that part of the movie was shot in his grandmother’s home a few miles away so we moved there. There was a hallway in the house that played a role the movie so we had our location. I recruited our reporter to stand in as the ghost of the girl and we have all the makings of a nightmare.

The only real technical problem now is I have a very limited number of gels in my possession. I chose red over either green, blue or yellow to use on the background light. I placed this light at the end of the hall facing the camera to provide a backlight for my ghost. You can’t have folks recognizing your reporter you know! I only used one other light and that was placed on a stand just about two feet from the subject and snooted with about an 8 inch snoot. This light was aimed to just catch his face. I tried it bare and gelled but I knew our printing press could not reproduce the gelled light so I went with an unfiltered source here. The two lights were fired with Pocket Wizards. The final touch is actually a happy accident. I did my test shot a 1/320th second instead of the camera max sync speed of 1/250th second. The faster shutter blacked out the top of the frame and I liked it enough to just leave it that way. I thought it added a brooding quality to the image.

The only trouble, if you want to call it trouble, was the guy had just gotten his hair cut. From the trailer I saw I knew he had really long hair and I could see those eyes staring out from behind strands of hair. Alas, he had gotten a hair cut just a couple of days before the shoot. After I nailed down the psychotic portrait, I shot a few normal interview type photos to round out the coverage but I didn’t think we would need them. Andrea Brunty, our Living Today editor, did a very nice job displaying the portrait with a six column photo. She extended the dark and red areas the full depth of the page and inlaid the article and additional art in that frame for a very nice package.

You can call this assignment an exercise in creative lighting. These things don’t come along too often but I love to do them whenever they do. The famous American landscape photographer Ansel Adams had a technique he called previsualization. This allowed him to see the finished print in his mind before he ever exposed the frame. When he had a good previsualization, he applied the appropriate technique to reach the final image that he saw in his mind. That is a good exercise for you to do too. Approach a situation like this one with a final image in mind and then pursue it until you either find it can’t be done or you find a better approach. See in your mind and make it happen. That is really cool. I must admit that what I first see in my mind is seldom exactly what I end up with but the process allows me to exercise maximum creativity and it forces me to think through the process from beginning to end before I ever shoot a frame. Obviously this works only when you are setting up a shot. For your normal photojournalism, you have to go with the flow a whole lot more.

Of the three photos with this post, the first one is the one we ran in the paper. I tried some Photoshop effects on the others and the last one shows the blue gel I used on the face. Bizarre effect with the PS stuff but still probably beyond the reproduction limits of the press. There you have the psychotic portrait although some may debate who was more psychotic, the photographer or the subject!

Photos copyright The Decatur Daily and Gary Cosby Jr. The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

Tis the season for annual photo contests. I usually enter the NPPA Pictures of the Year competition and just like baseball teams going to spring training, I feel like I have a chance. Okay, not really, but since the judging hasn’t begun yet I have as much of a chance as anyone. Winning would be like finding money laying on the street. I never really expect it but if it happens it is most excellent. You can view my twenty shot entry in the NPPA Pictures of the Year contest below.

The point of entering contests, for me at least, is not really winning, or more likely, losing. It is all about competing. For several years I quit entering contests. It was a rough time in my career and I felt like I was not getting better. Most of the time I felt like I was getting worse. That was the time of the multi-year slump I talked about in some earlier posts. When I started to come around, I decided to start entering contests again because the competition sharpens me. I never shoot for contests. That is like trying to hit a home run. If you are trying to do something that simply means you are pushing yourself in a very negative way and you will usually deepen the funk you are in because it frustrates you more. I rejoined the NPPA and started to enter the monthly clip contests. Just the act of competing against other photographers sharpened my focus.

I was not trying to win clip contests. I was trying to compete. Some photos in my NPPA entry are pretty decent. Maybe one might actually place in the competition. Who knows? The point is that I am using the competition to keep me sharp. I found that competing really helped me focus and make the most out of whatever situation I found myself in. Sometimes, and this is just flat out wrong but it is still true, you fall into a complacent trap and your work just goes flat. You really don’t care. That makes your work flat or just plain bad. The only way to break out is to do something different. Maybe you have read it here before but a good working definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

The point is that contest can actually help you get better. They can help you stay focused. They can help you push the envelope. Maybe we should all be self-motivated 24-7-365 minus the two week vacation but I confess that I need a little help from time to time. Win or lose, let contests help you get better too.

Putting together a portfolio is tricky enough. To make it just a little tougher, there are traps and pitfalls along the way. One of those traps is Santa Claus. I remember having a picture of Santa with a set of quadruplets in a portfolio I showed to an AP shooter. He just shook his head and said, “Never put Santa in your portfolio!” He added a couple of colorful adjectives which I have deleted here to help make his point.

Another, much more common trap, is putting a photo in your portfolio of an important person or a big event. Now, if the photo rocks, of course put it in. I had a nice photo of Bishop Desmond Tutu in my portfolio as a student. He was speaking at Duke University and I photographed him as he spoke. What a great, emotional speaker and I had a really nice image of him. Another editor panned it just saying he didn’t like to see famous people in a student’s portfolio just because they were famous. He asked me if I would have the picture in my portfolio if the person were not famous. Of course not because it would be just a picture of a guy gesturing in a pulpit. Point made.

The other trap I wanted to let you know about is putting photos in your portfolio from big events just because you were there. I have covered exactly one hurricane in my career. Ivan hit the Alabama Gulf coast a few years ago and I was sent down to shoot it. I had very little lead time and very little time actually on the ground before they brought me home. I believe my actual shooting time was about six hours spread over two days and it was far and away the most stressful two days of my career. I came back with several nice images, one which I have included here. The problem is, none of the images will ever go in my portfolio because they are just not good enough. Yeah, I was there but that is about all in portfolio terms. Editors have seen so many great images from hurricanes around the world that to include one that is sub-par in my portfolio would just sink it visually.

The other photo from the soldier’s funeral is another example of a good photo that simply doesn’t rise to the level of a portfolio. The temptation to include it is strong because I was there and felt the emotion and was moved by the moment. The problem is that there have been thousands of excellent photos that editors have seen of the effects of the war and to include this one would bring down my portfolio. Yes it is important for an editor to know you can handle the big jobs but it is not so important that you want to drag down your portfolio. As the old saying goes, your portfolio is only as strong as your weakest picture so edit with that in mind.

Photos copyright The Decatur Daily. The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

Composing your portfolio should be like being in a Mike Tyson fight. Hit ‘em fast, hit ‘em hard and hit ‘em often until you have them knocked out. Start with your best shot. Hit ‘em right in the face right off the bat. Then keep a steady stream of excellence until you have exhausted your repertoire. If the editor is still standing, fine, he deserves it. If he is out for the count you probably have yourself a job.

Now a bit of advice that is free with admission. A newspaper photographer is a generalist. Your portfolio should show as much diversity as you can show. I regularly have to shoot standalone features, hard news, environmental portraits, sports, lifestyles, slide shows for online content and even advertising. You will find yourself in places as diverse as a chicken house (God bless you in advance) and corporate boardrooms. Sometimes on the same day. You will stand on the sidelines of sporting events from you local youth baseball or football fields to NCAA and NFL games. You will have to shoot jobs that require lighting skills and you will have to shoot jobs that require split-second decision making. And some days you will just be bored.

So when you put together that portfolio, concentrate a few images in the area, or areas, of your strength but don’t neglect diversity. Editors can see whether or not you can shoot regardless of what you are showing but editors also want to see that you can handle a range of assignments. Just remember the first post and don’t include pictures just to say you have them. This will weaken your portfolio.

When you have your portfolio completely put together like you like it, remember to show it to some fellow shooters and mentors. If you are a student, solicit the advice of some people who are already working for the type industry you are aiming for. It would be pointless to show a newspaper portfolio to advertising executive so show a newspaper portfolio to a veteran newspaper guy. Most people are pretty decent to young shooters and will help you but there are some jerks who will just look at you as a threat so find someone who is willing to help. Some universities already have relationships with newspapers and you will find trusty worthy advice there.

I have included three favorites in this post and you have already seen them but they are among my favorites in spot news, portrait and feature photography. I would not hesitate to use any one of the tree as a lead picture in my book. Now, what would you do? It really depends on the paper you are applying to. Is it a heavy spot news paper? If so, the answer is obvious. If the job uses beats and you are applying to a lifestyles beat then the portrait may be your best lead. If it is a community newspaper then the kid with the fish may be your best lead. You can find a lot of this out in the paper’s advertisement. Some will say what type work they favor. Some will not but just about everyone is online and many have galleries of their photographer’s work online. You can check these to see how the shooters who already work there are thinking. Use any edge you can find. It never hurts to talk to staff shooters that are already working there if you can get in touch with them. Just don’t be shy about whatever approach you take. Be aggressive. Be Mike Tyson.

Photos copyright The Decatur Daily. The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

The conventional wisdom in composing a photojournalism portfolio for newspapers is to include about twenty pictures. I work for what most people consider an entry level paper with a circulation of 25,000 and we mostly see portfolios from students looking for their first job. What we consistently see is too many mediocre to bad photos. Here is the problem with the twenty picture rule of thumb, many people compose a portfolio just to fill the picture limit and that means they are putting in a bunch of photos that shouldn’t be there. The question of how many photos should be in the portfolio should be answered with another question, “How many photos do you have?”

Don’t try to include too many pictures just to say you sent twenty. If you only have ten bell ringers then only send ten. If an editor wants to see more he will call you and ask to see more. Most places advertising entry level jobs understand you probably haven’t been able to accumulate a huge portfolio so only show your strengths. If you don’t have too much spot news then don’t include a spot news photo just to show you have one. If you are really good at sports action, go ahead and go a little heavy there but don’t over do it.

Let me give you an example of a borderline photo. This picture was from an apartment fire that really didn’t have a lot of visual promise when I arrived. I hung out for a while and made a nice image which shows solid visual reporting. Is it a portfolio image? Not for me. This is a good daily photo but doesn’t rise to the level of the church fires I showed you earlier. If you are a student with limited spot news, would you include this in a portfolio? All things are relative so, if I were a student, I might include this. There was certainly a time in my photo j life when this would have been in my book for sure. Your portfolio will change and evolve over time so don’t be afraid to include solid images like this one as a student or early in your career. You will definitely get better images but spot news is also about luck and timing.

The next most common mistake we see is portfolios with too much of a good thing. I have looked at portfolios that had more than 50 percent of the pictures coming from sporting events. That is okay if you are applying for a sports job but for a general assignment job we want to see more diversity. I made this mistake applying for an internship once and got my rear end handed to me on a platter by the photo editor. Ouch!

A good balance for a newspaper portfolio might be something like 25 percent sports, action, feature and portrait, 25 percent lifestyles like food and fashion, 35 percent news both spot and general and the remainder in enterprise work such as stand alone photos or photo stories. Now that the new media movement is rocking, you will also want to include at least one slide show with sound and a video piece would also be a bonus. Full disclosure here, I don’t have any video pieces. Fortunately, we have not started playing that game.

The total portfolio, assuming you have something from everything, should not include more than about 20 singles and a couple of picture stories. The picture stories can be slide shows are print versions. I don’t think it matters either way. I think the thing to remember is a portfolio is something that whets the editor’s appetite and leaves him looking for more. The number of pictures is not nearly as important as the quality.

The next post will deal with crafting a portfolio that will take you from that entry level job to the next step.

Photo copyright The Decatur Daily. The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

From the first portfolio post, you guys have leaned toward the photo of the firefighter and rainbow. Now let’s look at a situation where you have two similar photos and can only use one. I have two church fires that both have rainbows in them. You have already seen them both but not side by side so lets take a run at this.

Frankly, I like both of these photos but I lean just a little more toward the dejected fireman even though the rainbow is certainly much better in the second photo. It is difficult to tell that this is a church burning in either case so that aspect of the decision is a wash. So let’s go from there and see what you would do in this situation.

Photos copyright The Decatur Daily.  The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

Building your portfolio is just about the most important thing you will do. You need a solid portfolio just to get your first internship or job and you will certainly need an excellent portfolio if you are going to move up in the photojournalism world. In this age of new media, you will also need some experience doing slide shows and perhaps video. The skill set is always changing but there is one thing that remains the same; your images must move the viewer. Back in grad school, I had a professor that taught The Principles of Christian Communication. Really, the course was just about communication and it was excellent. It remains the most valuable class I have ever taken. In this course I learned, that to have effective communication, one must have a transmitter, a message, a medium, a receiver, response and feedback for there to be real communication.

That sounds all technical but it boils down to this, if your pictures don’t make some sort of emotional connection with the editor evaluating them you won’t get the job. The best photojournalism connects with the viewer on an emotional level and causes him to respond to the image. That response can be anything from joy to bitterness. The only bad response is no response at all. I have watched people flip though my photos and not even slow down. They didn’t have to give me a grade or verbal feedback at that point because I could already see that my photos didn’t move them. So here we go. It is time to put together your stuff, so what are you looking for in a portfolio quality image?

The answer is . . . IMPACT! A photo with impact can be deficient in other areas and still be a portfolio quality image. I am sure you have all seen the image by Robert Capa of the soldier in the surf coming ashore on D-day. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the post and the photo is the middle of the three. That photo has impact but it is a technical mess. It is fascinating. Some of the Pulitzer winning photos have been technical messes but they really communicate. There are even some photos where the photo’s technical failures actually help it communicate. As you sort your images, find photos that move you. After you have a group of images that you like, show them to some other people. They don’t have to be photographers but they can be. See what images move them. You will find your strongest images consistently rise to the top as you get several opinions.

So lets try a little exercise with some of my photos and hopefully you will get a better idea of how to set up your own portfolio. In this post I have placed two photos that I really like from one church fire I shot two or three years ago. I have often tossed the coin over which one I like better. In the comments section, you guys post your opinions and lets see which photo rises to the top. We will do several portfolio building posts over the next few days and hopefully help you build a better portfolio.

Photos copyright The Decatur Daily. The opinions in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.