:Mood Lighting

Patrick Schneider of the Charlotte (N.C.) Observer was fired today for altering a photo of a fireman. Only the photo wasn’t faked, it was altered in Photoshop to correct the color and it seems that some think Mr. Schneider went too far.

It isn’t his first time that he has dodged and burned a bit to much. He was stripped of some awards in 2003 from the North Carolina Press Association for dodging and burning too much.

Here’s some related links I’ve found:
“Newspaper Photog fired for altering photo — again”
“A photojournalistic confession”
“In defense of a photographer Patrick Schneider”

It seems that this incident wasn’t as serious as past incidents, but it was his past that did him in. Only, I don’t see the difference between what he did on a computer and what photographers like Ansel Adams and Bresson did in the darkroom. Burning is burning and sometimes it’s done to make an image more aesthetic; other times it’s done to more accurately portray the scene.

It’s a complicated issue that has far-reaching implications. But just remember, as a photojournalist, the first thing to consider is: Does this photo accurately convey the story and represent the people in it?

No Comments

Check out this audio slideshow by photographer Jacquelyn Martin about Central American migrants and the challenges they face as they head north through Mexico, and eventually to the United States.

These migrants aren’t walking, though. They’re jumping aboard freight trains to get to their destination, which adds a whole new level of danger to their journey.

No Comments

Otis Half Moon, a Nez Perce tribal elder, during the 2006 Taos Pueblo Pow-Wow in Taos Pueblo, N.M.

No Comments

Reader beware: I’m going to go on a philosophical rant.

Ok, with that said, I really think that we, as journalists, sometimes undervalue our audience and what they think should be in the news.

Today in the newsroom, we had a discussion about a story that we were considering running as the main feature, in color, in the center spread. I simply suggested this story because I knew it would have good photos and it would have more than one, a necessity for a center spread.

The story is about a woman with cerebral palsy who’s service dog needs surgery to repair a torn ACL. She’s wheeling 15 miles to raise money to get the surgery because she doesn’t have enough money and can’t work(an entirely different story).

She doesn’t go to KU and has no direct tie to the University. That said, I still think it’s a good human interest story, because it speaks on multiple levels that EVERYONE can relate to: compassion, dedication, loyalty, love, etc.

I was basically told that no one here on campus would give a shit. No one would read it. It’s a waste of ink, time and, most importantly, money.

First of all, not all college students are bumbling idiots who only want to get drunk, high and have sex. Some of us actually do care and we like to hear stories that reflect the good, not just the bad, in our communities.

But the key word here is community. KU is part of the Lawrence community, and neither would be what they are without each other. I don’t think it hurts or shows bad news judgement to run a story like this woman’s. It’s feature-y, will have good photos and is a nice break from all of the other accidents, deaths, crimes, etc.

But apparently, college students don’t give a shit about these kinds of things. Well, I think they do and I don’t think we give them enough credit for it sometimes. We [journalists] are supposed to know the newsworthy from the not-so, but not every death, accident, murder, fatality, person who gets screwed needs to be plastered all over 1A. And sometimes stories like this need coverage. It’s shows that we still give a shit.

The media always gets a bad rap. And maybe it’s because people think we don’t care about them. We care about sales, ratings and readership, but not the reader per se. Don’t believe me? Listen to Jack Johnson’s “The News”, and tell me that people think we care about them.

No Comments

No Comments

I came across this today on Poynter.org, a Web site for any and all things journalism.

It’s not obvious at first, but a voiceover can either make or break a multimedia presentation. In the article, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Tom Opdyke offers some tips for making the best voiceover possible, since more and more of us reporter and photographer types will probably be responsible for our own voiceovers of podcasts and audio slideshows.

It’s something that we’ll definately have to take into consideration as more and more newspapers and TV Web sites move towards more podcasts and audio slideshows.

No Comments

joshuabickel.com is currently in the process of becoming up and running!
Check back regularly for photos, galleries, audio slideshows and samples of my recent work.

No Comments