...a girl named jane...

Dr. Jane Goodall paid a visit to Redlands last week. What a treat! My only disappointment was that, due to a short deadline, I was only able to hear her speak for about 5 minutes during her forum on Monday night. Still, it was a pleasure to listen to her tell stories to the children earlier in the day. And Jane's story - her chosen life - is an inspiration.

...dim lights...

A patron pays the five dollar entrance fee at "A Mic and Dim Lights," a weekly open mic event, held on Thursday, February 18, 2011 at the Cal Poly Pomona Downtown Center in Pomona.

moments ago, my father came into my room, newspaper in hand, telling me i need to call someone at the paper to complain about how bad my photo looked. when he opened the paper to the photo, i laughed because i knew exactly what he meant. what my dad didn't know, however, was that the photo was suppose to look that way (although i would've brightened it up if i knew it would've printed so dark).

the story was about a weekly spoken word event that takes place in pomona. it's called "a mic and dim lights" because they supply a microphone and, to add to the ambiance of the room, have a few dim lights on. when they began the event, and i relalized there was virtually zero light for me to shoot in, i got worried. i sent a text to my editor explaining the situation and asked if i should "try for something artsy with a slow shutter speed?" he said sure, but also suggested i try some flash. i did end up trying a few shots with flash, but immediately hated the look. it's not how the room looked, and it wasn't fitting to the vibe of the event. so i chose to play with shutter speeds. the only problem was that it was making the people look like awkward monsters.

eventually, though, i got one shot that i liked right away. i could clearly see that there was a man with a mic in hand, and i could tell the room was dimly lit, and i also liked how a few small lights from the dj's table created neat things in the frame. it wasn't perfect, but by the end of the night, the image below was still my favourite, so that's what i turned in as my first pick to go with the story.

it printed a bit darker in the paper, so i can see how it was confusing to my dad, but i feel pretty confident that everyone that was at the venue would understand the photo. either way, out of all the photos i shot that night, this was what i felt best represented the atmosphere of what i found to be a really incredible event. having confidence in making those kind of photos (something that represents the event, shot in my style) is a big focus for me this year. for the future, though, i hope most of those photos will be made in better, more ideally lit situations.

...natalie...

 

...mike davis' can o' newspaper whoop-ass...

just over twenty-four hours ago, renowned photo editor mike davis opened up a can of newspaper photography whoop-ass. his post has also spawned an emotive discussion over at the sportshooter message boards, and rightly so.

i can understand the offense some photographers have taken to mike's words. heck, it hurt my chest to read it as well, but only because i knew he was talking about me.

to put mike's words into a tiny nutshell, newspaper photographs are often lacking. bold statement. but if you read his entire post, you can't deny that there's a lot of truth in those words. in fact, there isn't much for me to disagree with.

i've only been at this freelancing madness for just over a year. i came into the industry after what seemed like half the profession had already been laid off. i hear older photographers talk about the days when they would be out shooting film, then return to the office to develop and print their images from the day...everyone gathered around the table discussing their work. every single day there was a photo critique. every day new images were viewed, touched, discussed. i've never experienced that, and as much as i love digital images and capabilities... i think, over the years of transition, our photographic world has lost some really important communication and growth. i know that, for me personally, i'm missing out on plenty, but most of what i'm missing out on is probably my own fault.

i've been told more than once by my editor, rick, and some of the other staffers that i am welcomed into the newspaper office any time to discuss photos, do some edits, etc. but i've only gone in a handful of times. the thing is, the newsroom is so empty. photographers either file from home or the closest starbucks (hey, it's what i do, too) and rick is the only photographer i know who's working on a personal project, so it's not like everyone's coming in to discuss those either. this is hurting the future of newspaper photographers, i think. this is hurting me.

all too often, when out on assignment, if i don't have a lot of interest in the assignment or much time to put good effort into the job, i'll get what is "good enough" and "safe" for the newspaper. all too often i shoot with the paper in mind, rather than what i have in mind or what i think would be cool or different. i shoot with their eyes and heart rather than my own. rick has noticed this before and has reminded me, more than once, to shoot for myself and although i've been pushing myself to do that more lately, i still struggle with surrendering my "safe" photos as first pick into the paper.

mike's recent words have encouraged me to knock that off. in fact, they've encouraged me so much that i already spoke with rick about meeting once a week to go over my work from the previous week. i'm excited to see how i, and my photographs, change from this point on.