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I am a certified platypus. It's time to confess. A couple of years ago there was a thread on the internet about photojournalists and their roles. In that, I asked if there were still photographers who used additional skills to aid in their story telling. I used the strange little platypus as an metaphor. Like the animal with a duck's bill, fur and a beaver tail, this kind of photographer might defy traditional definitions and casue some confusion once it was discovered. I thought of photographers who wrote stories or were page designers. Dirck Halstead had another, more concise vision. The Time magazine contract photographer had been intrigued by the new, small DV video cameras. He though a still photographer could use these cameras on assignment alongside their Nikons. They would make still photos but could also provide video and sound for the internet, CD-ROMs or for one of the many new cable television outlets. He just didn't know what to call this new breed. Hence, the platypus. Dirck embraced the symbol, put it on t-shirts and in March he held the first Platypus Workshop. I was among the students; 30 mid-career still photographers who came to Norman, Oklahoma to learn the basics of video journalism. In two weeks, we were trained to use the Canon XL1 video camera, learned to use Sony edit machines and attended seminars that were given at the NPPA Television Workshop being held at the same time. I went to the workshop because my newspaper, The Orlando Sentinel, invested in a cable new channel about a year and a half ago. Central Florida News 13 has its studios on Sentinel property and it broadcasts 24 hours of news every day. Some of the stories on this station are television versions of stories developed by the newspaper staff. For those pieces, our still photographers shoot the video. As a platypus, I learned that video isn't something you can just pick up on the fly. I came to Norman having shot a bunch of crappy b-roll (the background video they play when a reporter is talking) but not much else. After days and days of 12, 14, 16-hour shifts I learned that while I'm not a great TV photographer yet, I know one when I see one. But my goal wasn't to become a TV photographer. I am becoming a multi-media journalist, or a platypus. We are redefining how we cover stories. I am learning to translate between the medium of print where the reader is an active participant and the medium of video where the viewer is a passive participant. And we will also have the possibility of the ever changing medium of the internet. In some ways, the Workshop was like college with the long hours, the philosophical discussions with good buddies and the enthusiasm of learning something new. I met photographers whose work I've admired and made new friends. But it was harder than college because we had to let go of some of the habits that make us very good still photographers in order to become passable video photographers. It left some of us feeling very vulnerable. This web site has had several good journals recently about the future of photojournalism. I'm not sure what the future is, but I do know it won't be the same things I've been doing for the last 20 years. I don't know if the platypus will be the future. We have to see if there are editors who want us. After all, until recently no one has ever seen a platypus. Tom Burton
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Tom
Burton
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Contributor
since 1998
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Behind
the Viewfinder - A Year in the Life of Photojournalism |
