Page 110 - Convergent Journalism an Introduction Writing and Producing Across Media

DIGITAL STILL PHOTOGRAPHY

Video often shows an event to a passive audience. The viewer sits
and watches as the scene unfolds. Still photographs can be examined
fleetingly or in detail.
In most cases, the viewer of a still photograph is in control. The
viewer decides how long to look and where to focus attention. This
gives power to the viewer, power to the photograph, and power to the
photographer. The skillful photographer directs attention to the key
elements in a picture but how the image is seen ultimately rests with
the viewer.
Still photographs appear to have a sense of permanence. One mom-
ent selected out of the parade of images that fly past the lens is cap-
tured, selected, and immortalized. Video achieves its power through
the very impermanence of its images. The images fly by, propelling the
viewer through the story at the pace set by the editor. The story can
be recorded and watched multiple times, but the relationship to the
images is different. Collectively, the video images form a whole and do
not usually stand on their own as individual pictures.
The challenge in a converged media environment is to take advan-
100 tage of the power of all media. Use the power of the still image with
its seeming permanence, but also harness sound and the energy of
motion. Multimedia presentations have the potential to harness the
power from both of these types of imagery. In a converged environ-
ment, the picture editor’s role, already important in any single medium,
becomes even more important.
Issues such as how to frame an image and shot composition are
covered elsewhere in this book. This chapter outlines the history and
the technology associated with photojournalism as well as the ways in
which to select and display images based on the medium with which
you are working. The purpose is to serve as an opening gambit for
future discussions that will refine and expand the discussion of how to
use images to tell stories across media platforms.

Impact of Technology on Photographic Reporting

In 1855, barely a decade and a half after photography came into public
knowledge, Roger Fenton, the first war photographer to make surviving
images, and his assistant Marcus Sparling traveled through the Crimea
with state-of-the-art equipment. Fenton brought two servants, three
horses, a photographic wagon about the size of a small motor home