A New Age of Photojournalism

Linsey Tait — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:57:21 +0000

In this new age of photojournalism, photographers are not just photographers anymore. With more of an emphasis on using the Web, photographers are using new tools, like digital audio recorders and video cameras, to tell our stories. When I got an assignment to shoot a Cowboy Action Shooting event at the Danvers Fish and Game Club, the reporter and editors had decided it would make a fun audio slideshow, and I agreed. I’d never been to a Cowboy Action Shooting event before, so I didn’t really know what to expect; I just knew there would be lots of guns and lots of people dressed up like cowboys.

Since we’ve started doing more multimedia at the Salem News, I’ve found that I really enjoy collecting audio to go along with my pictures. It seems to me that the pictures come alive when a reader can see what happened at a certain event and also hear sounds from the event, too. I always try to keep a few things in mind when I begin working on an audio slideshow, just to help me keep my ideas organized. It’s easy to get overwhelmed at an event when trying to collect sound and take pictures. I’m always afraid that I’ll miss a good picture if I’ve got my hands full with the audio equipment or vice versa.

First, I will try to imagine what kind of pictures and sound I’ll be able to get, and I envision what kind of story I want to tell. I already knew the story was going to be about the unusual hobby of Cowboy Action Shooting, and I knew that there would be the obvious sounds of gunshots, and I knew I would want some detail shots of the participants’ outfits and the guns they were using. So right off the bat, before I’m even at the event, I know there are certain sounds and pictures I need to get.

Once I get to the event I’m covering I take a quick overview of the entire scene, making a mental note of people who look interesting, and I listen for ambient sounds, other than the ones I knew that will help tell the story. Usually, there is a person who the reporter will interview, and that will be the main audio of the story, then I look for other things to add to that. For example, at the Cowboy event Paul McNaughton was in charge of the event and he was able to give a good overview of what was going on. That made a great base for the story. But, there was also a girl there who was only 13, and she shoots with her mom and dad and her grandparents. She was able to help give a different perspective on the sport, which added to the story.

This was just one of those events that was fun to be at. The people were interesting and I had fun learning about a sport that I knew nothing about. By the time I left I was ready to strap on a holster and take aim at a target or two.

Click here to view the audio slideshow.

Real games in real time

Amy Sweeney — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 15:36:52 +0000

Covering the State championship basketball tournaments took some preplanning.
The Eagle-Tribune sent six photographers out to cover three state championship games in two states. We had two photographers and a photo editor at all of the games.
Just a couple of years ago we would have only covered it with two.
The internet has completely changed how we do things. We blogged, uploaded photos to Rallynorth.net, changed the score for each quarter, shot video, gathered audio and helped photographers edit through thousands of images for publication and the web in real time. We had our laptops set up on the sidelines and edited the images to let readers who could not make the game feel like they were there.

Check out the 60 photos on Rallynorth.net

The Final Edit

A New Age of Photojournalism

Real games in real time