THANK YOU, LYNN.

I am all charged up having just finished reading the last two articles by my fellow journalist, Lynn French. Thank you, Lynn.

Lynn spoke eloquently of her experience at the NPPA TV Workshop in Norman, OK. She talked about the inspiration she received from hearing her co-workers share their techniques and experiences. And even though I am a still photographer, much of what she related about electronic news gathering struck a responsive chord in my single frame soul.

Because, I remember being inspired by NPPA Short Courses years ago where the speakers were down and dirty news photographers and the word “photojournalist” applied more to the high flying magazine photographers.

Those speakers showed me how to do a better job on the plebian type of daily assignment which I had to cover, day in and day out. They showed me how to light a “grip and grin” so that it was more than a “grip and grin.” They inspired me to work with a “three in a row” so that it was more than a “three in a row.” I was amazed when someone showed me how to light a “head shot” with a couple of flash bulbs/strobes so that it looked like studio lighting even though it was shot in some office or hallway. And, will wonders never cease....I learned that a head shot didn’t have to include the whole head. You could actually crop tight over the eyes and just above the chin. And, do you know what? When you’re in that tight, you can actually see the subject’s soul.

God, I loved those sessions. I learned so much. And, between speakers and in the evenings over a beer, we would sit around and rehash what we had learned. I would return to my paper inspired with a whole new bunch of ideas and techniques to add to my repertoire and I couldn’t wait to try them out and adjust them to fit my style. And, I couldn’t wait to return to the next short course to learn more.

Then, for some reason, NPPA got sophistication. Instead of selecting speakers who had fresh ideas but were little known, we started hearing from some of the high power names who traveled the world chasing glamourous stories and had their work published in slick magazines. There was a lot of style in what they said and showed by way of slides. But, little or no substance.

I have spoken of this in some of my writings before so I won’t bore you with details. But, after traveling some distance to attend one of these short courses, I was subjected to an hour and a half discourse from a noted Life Magazine photographer who spoke of how he spent several years researching and locating just the right spot to make a wild life shot that was the cover of Life’s story on Africa. The photo was magnificent, but as I said to my Director of Photography who was seated next to me, “You would expect me to get that shot at the Bronx Zoo between my 10 AM perp walk and my 1 PM fashion shoot.”

I stopped going to short courses soon after that. Most of them were filled with Picture Of The Year or Clip Contest winners. None of the speakers explained what techniques they used to garner such awards. Mostly, they showed their slides and talked about how much time and energy was devoted to their projects. And we were supposed to gasp and murmur, “Oh, Wow!” (Hmmm, do we detect a little sour grapes here? Yeah, I guess.)

I remember one of the country’s greatest light artists showing how he lit location head shots. That was great. But, most of the time was spent talking how he would spend three days lighting some domed stadium for a sporting event, and he had a crew of electricians to help him. That’s great and his photos certainly showed the effort he put in. But, our guys and gals at Newsday usually have a couple of hours advance notice before they have to cover a basketball game, and most of the time it’s at some dingy high school gym and the coach obects to flash of any kind, much less side lights.

A couple of weeks ago, I went to the NPPA Northern Short Course in Baltimore, MD. I’m glad that I went because I met many wonderful newspaper photographers and we were able to talk about the common problems of lack of integrity and respect that we have in the business these days. But, with the exception of two speakers, the rest bored me with tales of “Look at me. Aren’t I great.” One speaker talked about how he wouldn’t shoot photos that he didn’t feel were worthy of him and how much time he would take to shoot the ones he felt were worthy. We’re back to the Bronx Zoo, again. And, if I only shot the pictures that I felt were worthy, I wouldn’t have a job for long. We’re preaching to the chorus here, brothers and sisters. Not enough editors and publishers come to these sessions and they are the only ones who can effect such changes.

In her column, “Tell Me A Story,” Lynn said,

First of all, until I came to WRAL, I don't believe anyone really cared how my shooting looked, as long as it made it's slot in the newscast and was not horrible to watch, it was acceptable.

Too true, Lynn. At my paper, they really don’t seem to care if you get a good or a bad picture, or for that matter, any picture at all. All the editors seem to want is to be able to go to the News Meeting and when the Managing Editor says, “There was a fire last night” the Photo Editor can say, “Check. Yes, Kraus is doing a fire follow.”

Lynn goes on to say....

Consultants have convinced news directors that the more stories you have in a newscast, the more people will watch. That develops the mentality of get it shot, get it on the air and get to the next story, don't waste time and money with lights and tripods.

Amen, Sister. Same with the print media. Get it covered. Who cares if it even makes the paper? Here’s a pop quiz. What’s wrong with this picture?

So, boys and girls. If you feel the same way as Lynn and I and all of the journalists on this web site, make your voices heard to the people who book the speakers at these short courses. Let’s take a note from our tv counterparts and get back to nitty gritty techniques that will make better photographers out of those of us who toil with the daily photo assignments day after day. It’s nice to be able to hear from an occasional shooter who gets the time and the money to shoot the high power assignments. But, teach the rest of us how to use our lenses and our lights and especially our eyes to make a better shot at a press conference or a PTA meeting. I suggest to you, at NPPA, that we down and dirty news photographers make up the better part of your membership.

After that, perhaps we can do something to convince the editors and publishers that we really care about the photographs that we put into the paper and maybe they’ll see to it that some changes are effected. Or, at the least, maybe they’ll pay our way to these courses in the future.

Thanks for listening. And thanks again, Lynn for an effective piece of writing.

This photo of Aaron Copeland was made on location at his home, years ago, using a two light technique that I learned at one of the NPPA Short Courses when they were taught by nitty gritty street photographers who knew how to do things with a minimum of equipment and fuss.

Behind the Viewfinder - A Year in the Life of Photojournalism
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