What!!??....WE Gotta learn to shoot Video?!
Well this is depressing for me at the moment. I may or not may go to Guatemala for a story and i am all excited about it because i seem to do "stories" less and less. The job may still fall through because of money and other bullshit. Ok maybe for the first time in my life i am scared that i may not be able to make a living in ten years and believe me i dont make much of one now.
Free newspapers, news websites that dont seem to suffer from not having compelling photography in them, the you_tubes of the world with their free visual content that no one pays for or cares that a lot of it cost money to make. I think we are entering some form of "Tower of Babel" world of information. a lot more of it out there but that negates itself with the sheer volume of crap that one has to navigate through.
The Daily Telegraph here in London has just fired its whole picture desk department. Lots of writers sacked as they move into new offices that are the latest in technology. But no one is talking about photographers making video content, but reporters. The Telegraph wants it writers not only to write but produce video diaries. Soon they will all carry a small video camera and produce visual content for the new look Telegraph website, which will post stories as soon as they come in and not wait for the morning edition of the newspaper to come out....
This morning i was to photograph Ian Hislop, editor of the satirical magazine "Private Eye". Of course i was to do the photo after the interview. the writer went over hs time while i slowly started fuming as my time slowly dwindled. I thought to myself if that writer does not finish soon I am just gonna pack up and leave. Why should I try to make a great pic in 5 minutes, knowing full well that i will be in such a rush I will probably produce a crappy pic. But I thought to myself, "will the paper really care if i dont come back with a pic?, Its not like they wont be able to source a photograph about one of the most well known journalists in London." So I did my photo in just under 10 minutes, all, frantic like, rushing to get as much in my small amount of time.
And in all this I thought to myself, do i really make a difference, a contribution.???? Right now I dont feel indispensable and from the looks of it, neither does the industry feel that way about still photographers.
posted by Antonio Olmos at 10:33 AM
7 Comments:
Great post Antonio.
Great Blog Antonio, keep going.
Sad to say you're 100% right, we will be following the typesetters within the next 3 years or so, if not sooner.
Nah, I dont think we're all dead just yet...and if yer know me, I ain't exactly Mr Optimism.
The brutal truth is that US newspapers are already getting screengrabs from Hi-Def video produced by their photographers.
But of course, the photographers are still producing the images, because ya know what? Those newspapers are bginning to realise that if you're producing content for the web, it had better NOT be shite, because if it is, theres PLENTY of places people can go to for that.
The future of newspapers is sifting through the digital garbage...so you don't have to. Which is excactly what they do now with well, the news.
If papers are smart (which is doubtful to be honest...and why the Telegraph job cuts were a huge mistake IMO) they'll realise that people have a pretty small tolerance on the Web for visual crap.
I mean, do you wanna sit thorugh some shaky-cam sub 'You've Been Framed' video cack on some story? Like, every day in your 'newspaper'? Nope - not when you can look at some gorgeously shot stuff on the Discovery Channel or something instead.
That's where we come in - 'content is king' as they say, and its still about the eye. In fact, the more visually idiosyncratic the video, the better chance a paper has of gripping fickle viewers, because you have to justify their eyeball time.
As for learning to shoot video? Well, I have...it's a bit of a headbanger but its not nuclear physics - I've just done my first video story for the Telegraph, so if a numpty like me can manage it...
Don't forget, you learned to use digital cameras etc...and in many ways (as I'm beginning to learn), video (or stills with audio) opens up a new way to leverage stories in the papers website in a way which you havent had the opportunity to do in the print paper.
I mean, you want a 20 picture story? NO CHANCE in the paper, but on the Web, you can have as many 'pages' as ya like, as big as ya like, in whatver layout ya like...
The crux lies in not letting technological change turn us into widget-makers AGAIN, in the way digital photography turned us all into newspaper pixel monkeys. The window is open for us to lobby hard, as visual maerial is the CORE of the newly emerging internet.
If not, we deserve to be second fiddles to journalists with monkey-cams.
cheap car insurance quote uk
california car insurance
cheap car insurance uk
car insurance canada
compare car insurance quote
progressive car insurance quote
instant car insurance quote
online car insurance rate
geico car insurance
diamond car insurance
car insurance dallas
car insurance dallas
aaa car insurance
car insurance broker
car insurance n
mercury car insurance
young driver car insurance
allstate car insurance
california car insurance
car insurance rating
fresno car insurance
car insurance rate
car insurance
car insurance uk
car insurance dallas
car insurance rating
auto insurance quote
car insurance canada
car insurance coverage
budget car insurance
http://cheap-car-insurance.quickfreehost.com
Random Keyword: :)
cheap car insurance rate
I still don't think it's all doom and gloom.
Look what we do is being able to shoot 1 still image that sums up the mood/story and scene. Not every man/dog/muppet with a camera has the eye, and i don't care what anyone says, it's all about having that eye.
Great, let reporters start shooting themselves, let the newspapers and bean counters think they are saving cash UNTIL the consumer starts asking why all the images are mediocre and not like they used to be.
Citizen journalism, sure shoot a image with a shitty pixelated camera and then put it on the front cover, im sure your customers would love to pay money for something their kids can do.
Sion Touhig (http://sionphoto.blogs.com/) recently did a post on this about the need for all photographers to get used to video, look it's just evolution of technology and hell if video is what the papers and picture editors want, why not add that to your arsenal of tools?
A good photographer won't die, the world still needs us, but the bean counters need to wake up and realise this
I agree that we shouldn't be afraid of new technology or learning new skills, you never know articulating our creativity and story telling skills in this new way with video or audio slide may be an exciting alternative development. How ever on a down note I am worried that this increased expectation of us will not automatically mean any increase in our fees. Probably not. And at the same time we'll have to buy yet more kit. So while some things are changing, others probably won't...
Nice article.
By the way. Get the cheapest prices on digital cameras, digital camcorders and accessories at Megacameras.com
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home