Picture Story Reading

This week’s readings covered several important aspects of photojournalism.

The Picture Essay by Hurn and Jay focused on exactly the purpose of this class: telling a story or point through a serious of pictures. They offered advice on how to edit and group the pictures. Putting them in categories of overall, medium distance, interaction and detail pictures is a great way to figure out what pictures you still need or organize what you have. They also reminded photographers that the visual cliché is not the entire event. Telling the story is more important that providing that one extravagant ‘publishable quality’ photo. This is why visual note taking is such an important part in an in-depth story.

In reading Langton’s ideas on the relationship between a photographer and subject, I realized the importance and help we are to them as well as they are to us. Yes, they give us the material for a story, but we often provide comfort, or a simple ear to listen. He gave the example of the Rocky Mountain Times “Final Salute” story of a photographer accompanying the wife when she picks up the body of her Marine husband killed in battle. At the end of the night when the editors and photographers went to talk to the wife, she thanked them for allowing her to talk about her husband. Without compromising the story, we can help our subjects get through the tough times in their lives.

Chapnik’s reading focused on prosing a story. One of his main arguments was to not propose a story on an area to which you’ve never been. Too often we want to go to areas and tell stories we are sure are there, but in reality, may not be. Proposing requires the gift of being able to take criticism and being flexible on your story.

POYi Reaction: Picture Story 2

The last week of POYi focused on multimedia and editing. I attended the Issue Reporting Multimedia category and was yet again impressed with many entries. Some entries were still images with audio, while others included video and music. Since this is a photography competition, I loved the judges’ focus on photography rather than video. One entry was about a job fair and done completely through video and audio. The economy was a common thread throughout the entries, but this story provided a completely different view. It used double frames to transition between the first character and second- something the judges commended. However, during discussions, the judges nixed the job fair piece saying the photography element was not strong.

Another economy piece thoroughly confused me. Opening with harsh music and for sale signs, it showed the transition between a once successful neighborhood and the present harsh times. The judges loved the music and photography. My confusion mostly stemmed from the music and the actual story being told. While this entry deserves to be commended, I did not see how the music did anything but dramatize the situation. I don’t consider myself an old school, by-the-book journalist, but believe if you do an audio piece with natural sound, putting unrelated music is a little jarring. The judges however, loved the music and kept coming back to the piece. I was shocked to see it voted out after the positive remarks.

The entry that won ("A Boy's Struggles") was the only story the judges watched all the way through in the first web-casted round. It brought tears to my eyes and is probably the single best audio with still piece I have ever seen. The story was about a boy who had been sexually abused by a tutor. What made this piece so amazing was the photography. The photographer completely avoided the faces of the mother and son. Showing the emotion of the situation as well as the character of the people without their faces is nothing short of artful. The comfort the subjects with the photographer were evident in the stunning audio produced in the piece. The entry was a hands-down winner, but at one point, the judges brought up the reasons why. Not only was the relevance of the issue apparent, but they story exhibited a deep understanding of the difficult topic. The limitation of identity perhaps caused the subject to open up more. Overall, the delicacy of the situation was handled perfectly.

Lastly, I want to mention second place. While an amazing piece, I have several personal connections that moved me. First, I frequently drive through and have several friends who live in Wentzville, Missouri. Seeing homelessness in such an area that resembles my town is striking. These are average, middle class families who have hit hard times and suffered the worst consequences. Second, the story showed the struggle of one husband finding a job to support his family. He attempted several fast food restaurants and only found success with McDonald’s. The fast food company is constantly ridiculed for its hiring standards as well as its effect on our nation’s obesity epidemic. In times like this, people need to appreciate the good that one of the world’s most successful companies does for the average person. The subject could have snubbed his nose at the job, considering ‘flipping burgers’ beneath them as most people do. They paycheck as well as the added help many owner/operators give to their employees will hopefully allow this family to get back on their feet. Throughout the recession, McDonald’s has not cut back on charity donations and has kept the same hiring standards. I know I’ve strayed from the POYi reaction, but this makes me extremely proud to be associated with an organization that does so much good with so little recognition.