Things that distracted me this week, 2-11-11

Apparently, if you’re really smart and you want to be a boss, you know that being openly creative is a career problem. So what happens in an industry that needs innovation, like newspapers, if your leaders are the product of this kind of tradition?  Chunka Mui writes on Forbes.com:

First, many current leaders are the product of past biases against creativity. This calls into question their likelihood and, perhaps, ability to be creative. It might also be hard for them to inspire, recognize and lead the kind of creative, innovative moves now required.

Second, the smartest people have learned over time that being openly creative is not rewarded. If open creativity has long been a career-limiting move, the rational response to admonitions to pursue creativity and innovation is to resist or adopt a “wait-and-see” attitude.

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For the impatient ones in the crowd . . .

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Judging is underway at POYi. In years past, it was tucked away comfortably in Missouri and the results came out quietly. now, they are posting the winning images in real time, but not the photographers names until the contest is over. The New York Times  photography blog LENS has an interesting piece by  James Estrin.  His opening paragraph is on point:

I have always thought that photojournalism contests lead to bad photography. They encourage young photographers to make images like the ones that won in previous years instead of pursuing their personal vision.

His also admits that like all of us, he has entered the contests and anxiously awaited the results.  And I also noticed that the feature photo category, once the home of community photojournalism,  is again completely filled with photos from crisis regions. Estrin also mentions this LA Times multimedia  photo essay on gang violence by Barbara Davidson that is one of the prize winners, although we can’t congratulate her yet because her name is currently being withheld.

Things that distracted me this week, 2-4-2011

The NFL Best Shots of 2010 is still some of the best sports film out there. I watched NFL Films when I was a kid and I am now convinced that the special blend of super tight cropping, slow motion replay and dramatic music helped making football into the national obsession that it is today. With the Super Bowl approaching, enjoy this smash mouth inspired short film.

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Once, a long time ago, Kirk McKoy was an Orlando Sentinel photographer. but he’s been with the LA Times now for years and this is a really good behind-the-scenes video of a fashion shoot with Kirk. I like that the the video is really specific about technique while still emphasizing the shoot itself.

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Poynter talks with newspaper website folks, especially the Miami Herald, about online video.

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Very nice aerial coverage of the Chicago blizzard by Trib photographer Alex Garcia on the Assignment Chicago blog.

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My fav viral of the week.  Makes me nostalgic both for my old Volkswagen and for Star Wars when I was a kid.

 

Things that distracted me this week, 1-28-11

Famous wildlife photographer Jim Brandenburg writes on his blog about dragging out a 30-year-old 500mm mirror lens and using it for critter pics. Because his new digital gear has such good high ISO settings the fixed aperture f/8 of the mirror lens isn’t a problem. And, he likes carrying the tiny mirror lens compared to monster 500mm he usually uses. I loved Brandenburg’s book Chased by the Light where he shot a single frame each day for three months. I like this blog post because it also has the phrase “I tried an old technique of grunting like a lovesick bull.”

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I like the style of this personality profile. It get’s to the point a little slower than what we are used to, but the feel is really interesting. It’s called Intimidator but it’s not about Dale Earnhardt. It’s about a mechanic.

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Ken Kobre compiled descriptions and links for all of the movies nominated for an Oscar in the documentary category.  The movie Roger Ebert loved so much didn’t get the nomination he thought it deserved. Oh, well. The big name nominee is Exit Through the Gift Shop, a film about graffiti artist Bansky. You can find the full-length feature on Netflix and Hulu or watch the trailer below;

Things that distracted me this week, 1-21-11

Brothers Tim and Noah Hussin are riding recycled bicycles across the U.S., meeting people, talking to them and making interesting films about them. And then they post them to their blog. Tim is a UF grad who hit all the prestigious internships before graduating and heading out on this adventure with his brother. The films are really engaging. The only downside is the films are large enough that it takes a bit for them to buffer, so be patient.

And, I have to love any story series that begins with this amazing soundbite:

“We like to get our dead animals, get ‘em nice and full of maggots and feed them to our lovely, lovely girls.”

Take a look at American Recycled.

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The 360-degree panoramas from the Disney dream. Gary Green did a a great job of choosing the best place to set the photo so viewers really can feel what it’s like to be there.

Soccer and Photojournalism: Kindred Spirits

photo by Tom Burton

World Cup has been great to watch with some truly amazing matches. Great players came prepared for the chance of making creative, assertive decisions that make or break the game. In a fraction of a second, they either capture the moment or miss it all together.

Like soccer, photojournalism is a craft of quick reactions and creativity and playing the sport feels a lot like working an assignment.

I’ve been in photojournalism a long time, but soccer is something I’ve some to later, especially playing the game. My kids played growing up and I learned the game that way and helped coach their teams later on. It’s only been the last few years that I’ve laced up cleats and played in weekly pick up games but the more I play, the more I recognize the similarities.

I love the skill of positioning in soccer. When you don’t have the ball and are waiting, you drift into the open position, waiting for a pass. If you’re sneaky, you drift behind a defender who doesn’t see you. It is so much like figuring out the best place to be for a photo, quietly moving into position and then pushing the shutter at the perfect moment. Getting the pass and the clean shot on goal feels just the same.

Being in on a corner kick you are packed in tight, throwing elbows and shoving, you position yourself to get to the ball with perfect timing. It’s the same as being in a media scrum, chasing a celebrity or getting the handshake photo at the end of a football game. You have to guess the right position, move quickly when the opening comes and get the shot in the one moment when it is available.

Crowdsourcing Jupiter

NASA's Cassini spacecraft on December 29, 2000, captured this image of Jupiter, showing its distinctive bands. (NASA/JPL/SSI)

There’s celestial excitement brewing because Jupiter has lost a belt. In addition to the famous red spot, Jupiter has two wide stripes that circle the planet and the Southern belt is gone. Apparently this has happened before, but it doesn’t happen often.

A good piece on npr.org explains that the surface of Jupiter is really a big old cloud and that a number of things could change it. They quote Kelly Beatty, senior contributing editor for Sky and Telescope magazine who says they have “some confidence” the belt will be back. He also said amateur astronomers were among the first to see the change.

This quote was especially interesting;

“There aren’t enough professionals to keep track of everything going on in the universe all the time,” Beatty says. “So in a sense, they rely on amateur astronomers — who have very good equipment, by the way — to actually keep an eye on things.”

Wow — professionals relying on enthusiastic, well-equipped citizens to help them gather information. Sounds a little like crowdsourcing, user generated content, citizen journalism or whatever ever catchphrase we use to describe using non-professionals in newsgathering. The difference seems to be that astronomers work with it while journalists fear the consequences.

The New Platypus

The official hoodie from the 1999 Platypus Workshop

In 1999, Dirck Halstead and PF Bentley hosted the first Playtpus Workshop, a program designed to train still photographers in the techniques of video production. It was primarily a group of experienced photojournalists, including several Pulitzer winners. I was very lucky to be a student in that class and later a teaching assistant in 2008.

The workshops have been popular and the latest will be in Las Vegas April 2-11. Dirck is very generous to credit me with naming the workshops years ago. In fact, the credit should probably reside more with Dirck than me since it was his vision that created the workshops.

The gem of the platypus came from a message board discussion in 1997, in the days of AOL and dial-up modems. I posted a note about the platypus and how when it was discovered, the scientific community thought it was a hoax because it didn’t fit their definitions of how animals were classified.

Fly on the Wall

So here’s another metaphor (idiom?) that bugs me. At a  conference the accomplished, talented photojournalists talk about how they approach their subjects. They talk about how they want to fade into the background in order to capture candid moments. They want to be “like a fly on the wall.”

"La Dolce Vita" on a laptop

Their intent is good. The photographer doesn’t want to direct, pose or influence the story. They want to photograph reality as it happens. But the fly on the wall is such a bad metaphor.

Danica and the Fans

Fans and media surround Danica Patrick after the Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200. photo by Tom Burton/Orlando Sentinel ©

This photo of Danica Patrick after her first official stock car race is goofy in a fun way because of the guy on the left side of the photo, pushing his way in to get a photo of himself with the celebrity driver. There’s no way to know if his photo was any good, but you can tell he is enjoying the chase.

The “media scrum” around the famous person of the moment can be scary and these days there are a lot more civilians in the mix. The camera technology makes it easier and cheaper for anyone to get photos. So what’s the difference between the official media and the civilians?