Cher Phillips
Views on online media and journalismArchive for Photo
A Season to Grow
The Union Street Farmer’s Market moved from behind the Hippodrome Theatre to the Gainesville Downtown Plaza in October.
I spoke with a retired UF professor Leo Polopolus who says he promoted himself when he retired from full professor to farmer.
Polopolus explains how their reasons for forming the market make it the diverse market that it is today.
(Click on the image to view my slideshow 2 assignment.)
Kobre C & D — tagged to remember
Section C
Photo Story
Oh, the boob pictures upset me. I call the Kobre book “the Butt book” in my office, because it seems like the danged thing has someone’s naked rear end, or other part is every chapter. Not that I’m complaining. But I’m also excited to get books in the mail and opened this book in the McIntosh Post Office. I was flipping through it and page 86 fell open showing the full page image of the kid playing with the other kid’s bottom. There were little old ladies in the post office with me, and I had to slam the book shut before someone in town dubbed me a sicko for looking at nekkid kid pics in the post office.
Anyway. The breast cancer pictures chapter 8 really worked me over. The crack babies in chapter 4, along with the torture victim on page 74 were up there on my I-have-to-look-but-I-need-to-cringe-while-I-do-it list. I think the thing I like about photojournalism is its raw honesty. Even the nekkid parts. I hope we never get to a place as a society where we don’t put that out there, or put ourselves out there, because we’re so afraid of upsetting the readership.
Newspeg. This is what I feel like our soundslides are missing. It doesn’t feel like journalism to me with out a newspeg of some kind. Maybe soundslide three will feel different since there’s an issue involved.
Motel Dad. I’ve seen this online, but the images in the web package didn’t include some of the images in this photo project.
Section D
Lighting: I always wondered why they sold photographic filters. I knew that anything I took under fluorescents came out kind of green and had to be corrected in Photoshop. Although, I have to admit that I would have to have a key to carry around to figure out what filter goes with what type of light. I also never realized that normal lightbulbs are called tungsten bulbs.
Web: Do platypuses have pouches? I looked them up on Wikipedia but couldn’t tell. From the reading… if a journalist is going to fill so many roles as a platypus does, it sure would be nice to have a pouch to carry around all this crap in. It makes me a little scared to learn video.
Law: I love the graphic on page 281 of where is OK to shoot and where it is not. I need to print that out and put it on the other side of the “what filter to use” sheet. Kobre wrote, “Press passes entitle you to nothing.” Just because you’ve got the clearance to shoot it doesn’t make it legal. Having no OFFICIAL press credentials… this sentence made me feel a little better after reading the first tip for avoiding jail, which is to always carry your press creds.
Digital Darkroom: I learned Photoshop when I was still at SFCC by working the overnight shift at Target Copy. You wouldn’t think that’d be a great way to learn it, but you’d be amazed at how fast you pick up how to fix miscellaneous issues in PR campaign projects at 3 a.m. so they’ll print right. Everything else has been self-learned trial and error. I never picked apart an image to correct like the book shows in the step-by-step guide. But I’m going to give this a try, I think.
And, oh yeah, cropping — I always need to be reminded to crop aggressively.
Spread Out
The University of Florida Policy Debate Squad Captain Amanda Kelly explains the challenges of policy debate, including spreading — a debate technique of accelerated speaking that’s three or four times faster than normal speech. Kelly shares how being part of the UF Debate Team formed her experience as a UF student.
Click on the image to view a Soundslide focusing on the policy squad.
Photographer tackles suspect: what would you do?
I know this is revisiting the ethics issue, but I saw this video on CNN.com this morning about a Maine photojournalist Russ Dillingham, who jumped into an assignment and tackled a man running from the police.
John Roberts mentions a Maine state statute that says citizens are required to oblige if police order them to assist in catching or keeping a suspect from escaping. Interestingly enough, the photographer said he wasn’t aware of that law but was cognizant of his ethical responsibility to not become involved in something he’s reporting on.
I also thought it was interesting that the suspect later contacted the photographer wanting to know why Dillingham helped the police catch him. The suspect told the photographer he would have fought him off if he’d known he wasn’t a cop and wouldn’t have faced charges of assaulting an officer.
Check out the video. What would you do in his shoes?
Fresh eyes, story shape
In class last week, Brittany and I pulled up our Photo 1 assignments, excited to showing someone else the images we’d collected.
My subject is the UF Policy Debate team. When I was picking the images for Photo 1, my criteria in choosing each picture was “Does this tell me something about the team?”
To me, all the images seemed very different.
But I realized this didn’t necessarily come across the same way to someone who wasn’t there when I was taking the pictures. It really hit home when I showed Brittany the pictures I’d taken. I knew what the team members were doing in the images because I’d been there.
Mindy had sent some great feedback that caught some things I needed to collect in later shoots to have a better final package. One point was a good number of my images were taken from the same distance.
Most of the pictures were of students were standing here and there from the mid-thigh on up. I shot the images in two sessions for Photo 1. The first was while the team was packing up their evidence for a tournament one night, and the second caught them packing the van the next day. Each of the four squad members packs a giant Rubbermaid tub full of accordion folders with evidence from news clippings and articles on a central theme. They each prepare a 10 minute argument that they read like an auctioneer, which they call spreading. I chose this subject because I had absolutely no understanding of this kind of debate and the spreading sounds cool.
But sounding cool doesn’t necessitate a variety of images.
In the following image, they’re preparing evidence. I chose it because of the flurry of movement with the paper.
One of the problems with debaters is that they don’t seem to be sitting down very much. They’re packing or arguing. Shooting and recording a practice debate the other day, I overheard their coach correct them and ask them why they shouldn’t sit when they’re cross examining an argument. The answer: sitting puts the person standing in the room in a power position.
I ran into some challenges with the size of the room. There were some pictures I took from the center of the room that I just don’t think I’ll be able to use because I was in the reflection in the window.
Debate doesn’t have that many dangers. But paper cuts can be one of them. On that same note, there’s not a ton of variety of action for debaters. So, I was pleased to catch Amanda nursing a nasty paper cut. Although, she wasn’t too happy about it.
The good thing about the timing for the Photo 1 assignment was that I had a chance to go back and get some of the detail shots and some variety that Mindy mentioned I would need at a later photo shoot. I was able to get some close up detailed shots of the coach’s timer during the debate. Time is a key element in their work, so my hope is to be able to weave that into the slide show later.
So far, I’ve collected about 1,800 images. I’ve figure out that I cull them down by viewing them in the Windows viewer. Anything that works for me, I pull into a file I call “decent.” Then, I use screen shots to print a thumbnail sheet on 11 X 17 black and white paper. After that, I circle the ones I want to tell a story. I can number them and scribble outside the lines with paper.
Soundwise, I’ve collected about two and a half hours of practice debate, which will serve as ambient sound. Due to the team’s travel schedule, I’m still waiting on my main interview with the team captain.
I feel a little unsure because the shape of the story is still not very clear to me. I don’t know how to explain this in any other way. When I write, I can feel the shape of the story in my head, logically and stylistically. At times, when I’ve been unsure of the story shape like I am now, it’s a signal that I need do to more reporting.
I’m hoping after I get my audio logged and the photos organized, this feels like it’s got more of a shape.
Photo editing: GIMP
My brother Tony suggested an open-source, photo editing program to me yesterday, GIMP — the Gnu Image Manipulation Program.
He said Kathy, my sister-in-law, uses it in addition to Photoshop to retouch images. She worked as a freelance photographer, shooting weddings, etc. They both work for a prominent photography corporation, although not as photographers. Tony said Kathy’s used GIMP to put hair on a bald man and completely remove someone from a picture.
Granted, I realize photographic hair implants are a big no-no in our world.
But I was very intrigued by the idea of Photoshop-style shareware. Adobe programs can be really expensive, and it’s hard to find huge chucks of lab time if you don’t have the program at home.
I downloaded GIMP today and checked it out. It’s got most of the same things Photoshop does without the price.
I edited a photo I shot last week for my assignment.
I was able to use an auto color feature, as well as adjust the levels and curves manually. I cropped, adjusted image size and resolution. One thing I found that was missing is the save-for-web feature. It also did a weird export thing when I was trying to save as, at one point. Since I didn’t read the directions and just jumped in, it could have been a user-interface error. (My bad!)
Otherwise, it’s a decent, cheap version of the real thing. Hot keys like control-z, etc. even seemed to work in GIMP the same way they work in Photoshop. I found it to be comparable to PS, especially since GIMP is free and Photoshop costs $400 on a good day with an education discount. (Actually, I found it on sale for $289.)
There were a number of different places you could download it. I choose the automated installer for Windows, and I downloaded their GTK+ 2 Runtime Environment first. If you are interested, you can click through the windows to find the download. I also noticed that GIMP is available is a wide number of other languages. I had to look to find English when I installed it.
I know Kathy uses a Mac with PS and with GIMP. I’m a PC girl, myself. But Tony says she really likes it.
I’d love to know if anyone else has had experience with GIMP and what you think.
Online images: the other option for graphic images
I’d be interested if this thought occurred to anyone else when they were doing the reading this week.
I was reading about the selection process and graphic photos, specifically the suicide of R. Budd Dwyer that the editors around the country choose not to run. My initial thought was this: “Oh well, I’ll just Google them on the Internet.”
Maybe it’s me, but I always tend to want to run the more graphic picture. I don’t think it’s because I am grotesque. I just like the idea of getting it all out there for people. I like knowing more, understanding as much as I can about a story. So, I tend think other people want that, too.
Does anyone remember when the Mohammad cartoons that were inciting riots around the world? I followed this closely and was grateful for the sources who put that information out there online so I could find it, see it and know more about the source of all the angry reactions in the world.
I kind of feel this way about a number of images.
I guess I have to wonder if maybe this isn’t part of the role of bloggers and others online, to tell what the newspapers won’t tell to keep from upsetting their readership? Kind of like Sanam’s friend, Arash, who gets images out there that would otherwise be lost to the world.
Thoughts?
Lessons in collecting online material
I went to the press conference Tuesday on the Taser fallout out of sheer curiosity. I took my tools with me and made some grand discoveries about myself and how the online media collection process for me differs from print.
I reported with my camera and audio recorder. I didn’t use my mic because I was trying to get the whole room while Machen addressed the press. I’ve found from McIntosh it doesn’t work as well for picking up voices farther away with the mic, even with the settings switched around. I had my camera bag, which meant cell phone, money, extra batteries. But no pen and no paper.
Lessons:
1. I recorded and photographed everything I collected. I got back to my office and I couldn’t tell you the name of the central subject I was interested in. Why? Because I recorded it and didn’t write it down. I don’t grok quotes and names and details the same when I am not writing. I’ve always been a visual learner. I’m not sure where I would have carried it paper and a pen. But this is something I have to work out. It’s probably a practice issue.
2. I also think that this impacted the way I wrapped my head around the story. I will have to think on this some more. But I didn’t pick apart the key issues the same way as I feel like I do with print. I wonder if this is because I am using other senses and keying in on story elements differently.
3. Taking pictures while moving around. This is hard. I was disappointed with some of the images I ended up with. I do believe Mindy had a very strong point when she told us to plant ourselves and lock down before we shoot pictures.
4. This one is lesson specific to my camera.
I was trying to take a picture of a UFPD Taser on a cop’s belt in detail like the dragonfly wing in the header photo. The officer in question was being VERY cooperative, given the situation. I didn’t the supermacro setting right and ended up with blurry pics of guns and Tasers.
Besides all that, I had a blast.
Public affairs photo: dealing with the dull factor
One of the problems with photos from a public affairs meeting is that they can be seriously boring. The McIntosh meeting photos I’ve taken in the past have been poor in quality due to light quality or vibration. My new camera solved both of those problems, for the most part.
What it doesn’t solve is the boring issue.
I found a useful tip a couple pages between last weeks readings in Kobre. The chapter was talking about meetings, and I couldn’t resist reading it. On page 51, there is a small graph about Washington Post photographer Ray Lustig noting that a wrinkled brow, a curled lip, hands and faces reveal emotions. I think we might have talked about hand movement in class, too. Or maybe I imagined that because I read it that morning.
Either way, when I was photographing the council meeting last Thursday night, I found myself waiting for officials to start moving their hands and for the emotional moments to come up in the meeting. If you wait long enough, someone will get angry, or forget that I’m there and start talking with his or her hands.
A long-standing issue in McIntosh remains how to control speeding. The speed limit in town is 20 mph. The town tried speed humps, but residents are still unhappy about how fast people travel on the main roads that intersect the highway.
In this photo, McIntosh Town Councilman Lee Deaderick suggests that the town just buy stop signs. Granted, you’d need a caption to explain this isn’t a high five.
Another point on page 51 of the Kobre book involves how news value can increase depending on who’s who and the personalities involved in the picture.
The context of this photo is what falls into the who’s who category of news value. To an outsider, it looks simple enough. In the forefront, LPA chairwoman Charlsie Stott advises the council her committee approved a rezoning application from June Glass, who is watching in the background. But what makes this photo ironic is that Stott and Glass strongly disagree on about every issue about the town, quite possibly the universe as well. Later in this very meeting, they interrupted council discussion arguing between themselves about how much Stott should have to pay for garbage pickup. Getting them together in one image agreeing that June’s land should be rezoned is something of a landmark moment.
On covering McIntosh… the Edna box and breaking the photo barrier
I’m a fan of Edna Buchanan.
I love her books and jokingly call them “reporter porn.” They’re mysteries where most of the time the reporter is the good guy, the hero or the heroine, the smart one who solves the mystery, gets the story, the girl or guy, escapes from the clutches of the bad guys and all around wins when they play by the rules of fair reporting and good ethics. Basically, reporter porn. Some of Carl Hiaasen’s books are the same but more kitschy and … lacking Buchanan’s tips.
One tip I picked up from Buchanan is to carry your tools in your car. Her character Britt Montero keeps a Miami city directory in her back seat, as well as a change of clothes and shoes.
Being computer geeks, you would think that we would be able to find ANY phone number online. When you are covering a town that’s circa 1880 and socially stuck in the 1960’s, folks give out their phone numbers out like this, “I’m at 3551.” In McIntosh, the 591 prefix is a given. My home number is 591-3551. (Don’t bother calling me though. I rarely answer and keep a landline for the sole purpose of having DSL.) McIntosh is a dinky little historic town. A large segment of the population consists of retirees. The town is so small that some people and businesses just don’t show up in Google searches. This presents a problem for me periodically.
So, I created an Edna Buchanan box for the backseat of my car. I keep a McIntosh area phone book in my car and in my office at UF.
I also keep in my Edna box: a camera tripod, a mic stand, phonebooks for McIntosh, Ocala and Gainesville, a Florida Sunshine Law manual, a copy of the McIntosh Land Development Code, a copy of the McIntosh Comprehensive Plan, extra pens, notebooks, batteries for my digital recorder and camera. I take my camera bag in and out of the car, because I don’t want the electronics in the heat, or to get stolen. This is Florida, after all.
I carry the camera tripod because my old digital camera had such a terrible vibration problem. This paid off for me once. Last December, I ran down to the little grocery store in McIntosh. While shopping, someone ran into the store and yelled for someone to call 911 because a car struck a man outside on U.S. 441. I was able to take pictures of this scene. It was just past dusk with my earthquake camera, so the images were pretty bad.
Ironically, some residents chastised me for posting them, even though I decided against running the image I had that was more of a close up. I was also caught in a tug of war between local residents who wanted me to post his name and residents who didn’t. One woman told me that if it was important enough to run his name, The Gainesville Sun would do it. The Sun never mentioned the accident, and I finally put the name in the comment section under discussion, where it would be less likely to show up in a Google search. While the town has done little about crosswalks at U.S. 441 as a result of the story, the broken street lamp directly over where the man had been hit was promptly fixed.
There are a number of reasons I’ve rarely used photos in the my blog. Some of them have been the negative reaction from the community. But the main reason is that my old camera took such horrible pictures. I bought a new Canon a week or so ago that I’m loving, which means I’m going to start posting more pictures in the McIntosh blog. We had a council meeting last night where I took a whole bunch of shots. Posting them means facing the sensitivity in the community, so I’m giving some thought today and this weekend on how to use them.
I’d love to read about what other reporting tips the rest of the class has like the Edna box.
