“PHOTO VISION”

What I affectionately call “photo vision” is the part of a photographer’s brain that views everything by its potential to be a good picture.

During a baseball game, while most of the crowd focuses on the entire field, the ball, or their specific child…

…I am constantly watching for these.

OR

 Any landscape can make a beautiful shot…

…but finding the right angle can turn a beautiful shot into a memorable one.

In the Online Journalism Review, J.D. Lasica (1) separates citizen journalism into 5 sectors:

1. Audience participation: namely blogs, personal photo/video footage, and news written by community members

2. Independent news and information sources: specifically consumer reports, and informal news websites

3. Participatory news sites such as OhmyNews, and GroundReport

4. Collaborative/contributory media sites such as Slashdot, Kuro5hin, Newsvine, and HumanTimes

5. Other forms of “thin media”: newsletters, mailing lists etc.

6. Personal broadcasting sites such as Youtube.

What has allowed citizen journalism to flourish?

Technological innovations such as the camera-phone, the digital point-and-shoot, open publishing systems, and collaborative editing allow citizen journalists to be independent, and active in their communities.

What are the problems associated with citizen journalism?

News media argue that citizen journalists are often very involved emotionally with the news they present: this makes their news subjective.  Journalists, such as Nicholas Lemann, a staff writer for the New Yorker, argue that only professionals understand the ethics of news reporting.  Others propose that much citizen journalism lacks accuracy, and strong editorial content.

How does citizen photojournalism contribute to our views of the news?

Photo and video contributions from members of the communities where news takes place makes the news real–the golden saying, “a picture is worth a thousand words” sums it up: when we see an image, or a series of images, we not only have an emotional reaction to the image–we react to the idea that the photographic information was captured by an agent independent of the official news media.  Without citizen journalists to mediate news, we are forced to depend solely on news media sources, many of whom have specific agendas, political or otherwise.  The technological innovations being used by citizen journalists today force the news media to be more transparent than they perhaps would be otherwise: citizen journalists act as the watchdogs of the news media.  I like to think of citizen journalists as the watchdogs of the  news media–of the so-called watchdogs of democracy.

Can you think of a citizen photo or video that has impacted news media coverage this year?

Recently, a citizen video of the tasering of Robert Dziekanski triggered public outcry over proper use of the taser, which prompted further news media coverage of other instances showing the abuse of the taser.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPe_hf7aBXM

 Source (1) J. D. Lasica, “Rapporteur”, The Mobile Generation: Global Transformations at the Cellular Level: A Report of the Fifteenth Annual Aspen Institute Roundtable on Information Technology (Washington, D.C.: Aspen Institute, 2007), accessed October 10, 2008

I found it interesting when I read the following:

Q: In a day, how many photos do you take for National Geographic magazine?

A: I’m asked this question often. How many pictures I take in a day depends on what I am shooting. On a very busy day with lots to shoot, I might take 400 pictures. There are other times when most of the day is setting up the photo, adjusting strobes, etc., and I might only take 50 shots. But the funny thing is, the picture editors at National Geographic, who have to look at all my photos, don’t know or care how many pictures I shoot. They just care that I have enough of the right photos for the story. During seven weeks of shooting my recent story on wildfires, published in July 2008, I shot 12,000 images. My picture editor would gladly have me shoot double that if it meant I would get better picture

It’s funny how people think that being a photographer is simply “pointing and shooting”. The beautiful (may I even venture to say perfect), photos we see in National Geographic may take months to shoot. I watched a documentary on the BBC series “Planet Earth,” and the videographer lived in a shack for something like six months waiting to get one shot of the elusive white leopard. Can you think of another career choice where you have to WAIT to do your work for SIX MONTHS? That man also had to deal with other fun stuff like a polar bear trying to break into his shack and eat him for dinner. The poor girls on Americas Next Top Model sure have reason to cry and whine about how hard it is to pose, smile and look beautiful. I’m sure they’d get a sympathetic ear from these guys. 

Source: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/

From its inception, National Geographic focused on education, exploration and research. Starting small, they exploded in size, and are now one of the most prolific publications in the world. Below is their timeline, as depicted by National Geographic:

The Story behind NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE

History

Journal of the National Geographic Society, largest scientific and educational institution in the world committed to research and exploration

The non-profit society was founded in 1888 in Washington, D.C., by 33 civic leaders to promote “the increase and diffusion of geographic knowledge

Its first president was Gardiner Greene Hubbard, father-in-law and financial backer of Alexander Graham Bell and first president of the Bell Telephone Company.

Edited by part-time volunteers, the magazine first appeared in October, 1888, and was irregularly published until it became a monthly in 1896

Early issues were short, technical, and unattractive, with plain red-brown covers and News stand sales were minimal

Alexander Graham Bell became president of the society in 1898. With membership stalled at around 1,000 and the treasury empty, survival required making the magazine pay,

2 decisions that turned the magazine around: Instead of news stand and subscription sales, he focused on a society membership.

He figured that “armchair travelers” would want to join a distinguished fellowship, and support the exploration through their dues. In other words, he figured rich people would pay to support others in their explorations- as long as they didn’t have to budge.

Second, he hired 23-year-old schoolteacher Gilbert H. Grosvenor) as full-time editor, initially paying Grosvenor’s yearly $1,200 salary out of his own pocket.

Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor is now know as the father of photojournalism,

Grosvenor is credited with having built the magazine into the iconic publication that it is today.

 Within a year society membership reached 2,000, as Grosvenor began publishing articles of general interest, written in an appealing style

In 1905, with membership at 10,000, Grosvenor, in an unprecedented move, filled 11 pages of one issue with photographs

By 1908 pictures occupied 50% of the space

In 1910 the Geographic’s first color photographs appeared, as a 24-page series on Korea and China, the largest collection of color photographs ever published in a single issue of any magazine to that time

In 1916 the Geographic pioneered in natural color,—- establishing a tradition of notable “firsts” in photography —- include the first natural-color photos of Arctic life, the undersea world, and the stratosphere.

Serving as editor until 1954, Grosvenor determined the popular character of the magazine and increased its circulation to over 2 million.

In 1900 he married Alexander Graham Bell’s daughter, and the Bell-Grosvenor dynasty has guided the society and the magazine almost continuously since.

The magazine’s circulation now exceeds 9 million. 85% of sales are in the U.S., but the magazine is distributed worldwide.

Sourece: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/

National Geographic uses images that stir up emotions, with stark contrast and raw colours that cause an emotional reaction even before the eye has time to realize what the image is.  National geographic photos are instantly recognizable because of their vivid colors and crisp feel.

RED:   the colour of blood, and power.  Red symbolizes passion, love, fire , anger, excitement, violence, desire, heat, and aggression. In Eastern cultures, it also connotes luck and prosperity. 

Yellow:   the colour of joy, happiness, optimism, idealism, imagination, hope, sunshine, summer, gold, philosophy, dishonesty, cowardice, betrayal, and illness. Yellow demands attention; it is seen today on soccer flags, school buses, and yield signs. 

Blue:  the colour of ocean waves and the expansive skies.  Blue is common in nature, and connotes peace, tranquility, calm, stability, harmony, unity, trust, truth, confidence, conservatism, security, cleanliness, order, loyalty, sky, water, and cold

Green:  the colour that is found most in nature–from leaves to moss to frogs. Green connotes nature, environment, health, good luck, renewal, youth, vigor, spring, generosity, fertility, jealousy, inexperience, and envy.

Sources: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/

http://www.adwizards.com/dreamers/symbol_colors.htm 

Read it and simply…imagine.

Legendary Kenya lions shed their mystery.

By Philip Caputo

Photographs by Robert Caputo

We bounced along a rutted track bordering the Kanderi Swamp and the Voi River, hornbills flying past with plaintive cries. We found a place where the undergrowth thinned, affording us a good view. Peyton played the hyena tape, and as the hideous wails echoed across the landscape, we scanned with binoculars.

“Oh my God!” Peyton said suddenly. In the same instant came the shrill trumpets of elephants angered by the hyena cries. Turning to look, I saw nine of them, charging out of the scrub to our right: three calves and two adolescents behind a phalanx of four females, coming on at a stiff-legged run, gray hides reddened by Tsavo’s lateritic dust, ears flapping like unsheeted sails in a gale, trunks raised, tusks glinting in the early light.

They were a hundred yards away at most, a distance they halved in about two seconds, which was when the matriarch ceased trumpeting and lowered her head—a signal that the threat displays were over. This was the real thing. She came straight for us with a terrible singleness of purpose. Her tusks could easily pierce the Land Rover’s thin aluminum skin, and with a little help from her friends she could overturn the vehicle and leave it looking like a flattened beer can, with us inside looking like—well, I didn’t care to think about that. With admirable sangfroid, Peyton switched off the tape recorder, started the engine, and took off as fast as the road would allow, meaning not very fast. We hadn’t gone far by the time the matriarch, followed by the rest, thundered through the spot where we’d been parked. Eight of the elephants carried on, but the old girl, with astonishing agility, turned abruptly and chased us down the road, like a traffic cop pursuing a speeder.

Peyton stepped on the gas. Finally, satisfied that we’d been seen off, the matriarch halted and, with a parting trumpet and final toss of her great head, turned back to rejoin the others. We watched the herd shamble off, now as calm as they’d been enraged—a magisterial procession against an eastern sky going from bright orange to peach to primrose.

Source: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0204/feature2/

Photographers have a language of their own, a feel for their material, and an artistic eye which constantly composes shots. The link below is a personal account of National Geographic photographer Louis Mazzatenta as he speaks about photographing Mount Vesuvius victims.

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/specials/photography-specials/behind-the-shot/vesuvius-mazzatenta.html

Robert F. Sargent

WW1, Joe Rosenthalm

Joe Rosenthalm, an Associated Press WWII photographer, faced allegations that that photo–now one of the most replicated images of our day– wasn’t authentic.  While winning Rosenthalm a Pulitzer Prize, his photo of soldiers rising the flag over Iwo Jima in 1945 has faced claims that Rosenthalm had soldiers pose for the picture.  Rosenthlam disputed these claims saying, “had I posed the shot, I would, of course, have ruined it. I would . . . have made them turn their heads so that they could be identified for AP members throughout the country.”  Rosenthlam later spoke further to these allegation in his book, insisting that,  “no genius could have posed the picture if he had spent a year in a studio with lights and a wind machine”. 

Kent State, John Filo

While WWII images approved for press were mostly heroic and glory-inspiring,  people saw the dark-side of photography as this photo of the National Guard killing four students, and the following image–an infamous photo of a naked young girl fleeing napalm— were revealed during the Vietnam War.  These images were enough to sway Americans to strong opposition of the war.

Girl, Nick Ut

On his blog Photojournalism, Mark Hancock (http://markhancock.blogspot.com/2006/11/how-photojournalism-affects-brain.html) discusses how photographic images affect the brain: “The eye is directly connected to the brain via an optic nerve. The eye and brain are in constant communication. The brain sends instructions to the eyes, the eyes respond with movement. The eyes collect visual information and immediately present it to the brain. Then, the process repeats. Unlike written or spoken languages, the brain can immediately understand the massive data presented and sort for the meaning of visual information in milliseconds. Consequently, visual information is the most immediate and visceral of all communications.”

Images stay with you, and tell a story that words cannot: those taken by Preston Gannaway, the winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography, for example, tell the heartbreaking story of a family dealing with their mother’s cancer and subsequent death:

http://www.pulitzer.org/works/2008,Feature+Photography

Behind the photos

http://blogs.reuters.com/photo/2008/04/07/the-story-behind-the-pictures/

Additional links:

Pictures of the Year
http://www.poyi.org/65/POYiArchiveWeb.mov

Photo journalist blog site
http://markhancock.blogspot.com/2004/10/find-pj-related-posts.html#FAQ

Foto8 http://www.foto8.com/home/

Time magazine photos of the year http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1695460,00.html
Iconic Magmum Photos http://www.wallpaper.com/newgallery/17050003/1

The word “photography” is derived from the Greek words “photos” (light) and “graphein” (to draw). The word was first used by the scientist Sir John F.W. Herschel in 1839. Photographs were not simply invented by one person. In fact, it was a result of a combination of inventions that eventually led to what we call photographs.

The first invention was the Camera Obscura. This was essentially a dark room. This invention had been in existence for at least four hundred years before traditional photographs. The idea of the camera obscura is that of a box with a hole in one side. Light from a scene passes through the hole and strikes a surface where it is reproduced, in color, and upside-down (Nájera, 2004). The image is reasonably accurate. The image can also be projected onto paper, which can produce an accurate representation when traced.

The second part had to do with chemicals and discovery of chemicals. People had known for centuries that some chemicals changed when exposed to the sun.  The connection, however, was not made with regards to creating permanent still images. For example, in the 1600’s, Angelo Sala discovered that powdered nitrate of silver is blackened by the sun and Robert Boyle discovered that silver chloride turned dark under exposure to the sun.

In 1827, it took eight hours for Joseph Nicéphore Niépce of France to obtain the first fixed image. This was a very historic moment in the history of photography.  Although images had been captured before, this was the first known permanent image produced. Salt was used to harden the image. Niépce died four years later, and his partner Louis Daguerr took over development. Daguerr fine tuned the invention and brought it to prominence. This new invention was called Daguerreotype. This, essentially, brought in the age of modern photography. This time was followed by many other variations and improvements to Daguerreotype. Mass production became possible. Below is the first image created by Niepce called “View from the Window at Gras.”

Although this was a revolutionary invention, not all people embraced the idea. As with most radical inventions during that time there was much opposition to this invention. The church and traditional artist were the most vocal. The church called it blasphemy because man should not recreate god’s views on man and painters stated paintings would cease to exist (Nájera, 2004)

The next major step towards photography as we now know it came in 1871. Dr Richard Maddox discovered a way to use gelatin to make the process easier and more durable. In short, idea of factory-made photographic material was now becoming possible (Najera, 2004). Now the masses could obtain relatively cheap photo supplies.

It wasn’t until the 1890s that it was commercially feasible to provide photos in large scale newspapers (Keller, p.161).  Prior to this, it was too expensive and complex to do this for everyday newspapers. Photos would be included on an intermittent basis and therefore photographers were not usually employed by the newspapers.  Mathew Brady’s endeavour was one of the first photojournalistic campaigns ever. Brady and a team of photographers took pictures of the Civil War. It was still temporary though, as Brady still relied on drawings for his living. The Civil War project actually did not cover its costs and Brady lost money. Even though it failed financially, Brady provided the foundation of photojournalism. The campaign led to the expansion of news agencies around the world to include photojournalism. Harpers Weekly and Underwood &Underwood were the first to venture into the field of photojournalism. Once it became cheaper and faster shutter speeds allowed action shots, the spread of photojournalism was exponential.

HISTORIC IMAGES

First aerial image (1858)

First colour image (1861)

First image from space (1946)

First digital image (1957)

References

Najera, J. (2004). History of Photography, Retrieved October 13, 2008, from http://www.tropinature.com/photohistr/index.htm

Power, M.(2008). A Timeline of Imagery Firsts, Retreived October 13, 2008, from http://www.maxpower.ca/a-timeline-of-imagery-firsts/2007/10/03/