Turdpolisher
Well-known member
It's been a while since I've been on the board. Around 2005 when I dropped out, things had gotten a bit fractious, most of the discussions were rehashes of arguments settled years ago, and this new guru named Rosenblum was preaching a new gospel.
I'm here to add gasoline to the fire.
A lot has changed in our industry since then. The internet has heightened the pace of an already frenetic 24-hour news cycle, and sucked the young audience away from their TV screens. Any schmo with a cell phone can and will shoot the latest backyard brawl and post it to Youtube. And the economic down-turn has slimmed down an already bare-boned newsroom and cast many photogs out in the street.
I decided it was time to make myself a little more valuable inside the newsroom if I wanted to survive. A year-and-a-half ago, I, one of the staunchest supporters of the two-man-crew, crossed over to the dark side. . . And the world didn't end. Hell, things even improved.
Think about it. Who, logically, can make the seamless switch to one of Rosey's minions and your penny-pinching Adult-in-the-Room's favorite: a fresh face from the halls of academia who's studied all about prepositional phrases, double negatives, and polished their telegenic grin; or a unshaven, scruffy-haired shooter who's learned the hard way when to ask the tough question and when to blend into the background? Sure, said bobble-head might look better doing it, but when the pictures from the point-and-shoot come back blue, out of focus, and over exposed, there ain't much that FCP can do to improve it.
Now if the same an experienced photog goes out, shoots the story, asks the questions, and can -- gasp -- even write it as well or better than the starry-eyed intern, who's more valuable?
And who can make the transition to a one-stop-shop for all the Adult-in-the-Room's needs? The easy answer is the experienced photog. Simply because we already got two-and-a-half of the three parts to storytelling down cold. Any photog worth his salt is gonna bring back better pictures than a reporter pressed into shooter duty. Any shooter around long enough to develop his hundred-yard stare understands storytelling and all the tools at his disposal, and they already have an idea of how to write. Hell, I'd even argue that you can't shoot a story without being able to write it.
So we should be, hands-down the logical choice when it comes to transitioning the newsroom to the new, sleeker model. But as everybody with an electronic lump on their shoulder knows, newsrooms are anything but logical. Bean-counters would rather hand a pretty face a point-and-shoot babycam that Uncle Fred used to shoot his son's wedding than foist a photog on their precious viewers.
I'm still not a believer in the Rosemblum gospel that anyone can be an OMB. It's not for everyone, but I have found the transition a natural one for shooters. I've also been asked to train reporters and those fresh-faced college grads. It ain't pretty.
I guess this is just to say I'm back, and I've got a whole new outlook. Now flame away.
Regards,
Turd
I'm here to add gasoline to the fire.
A lot has changed in our industry since then. The internet has heightened the pace of an already frenetic 24-hour news cycle, and sucked the young audience away from their TV screens. Any schmo with a cell phone can and will shoot the latest backyard brawl and post it to Youtube. And the economic down-turn has slimmed down an already bare-boned newsroom and cast many photogs out in the street.
I decided it was time to make myself a little more valuable inside the newsroom if I wanted to survive. A year-and-a-half ago, I, one of the staunchest supporters of the two-man-crew, crossed over to the dark side. . . And the world didn't end. Hell, things even improved.
Think about it. Who, logically, can make the seamless switch to one of Rosey's minions and your penny-pinching Adult-in-the-Room's favorite: a fresh face from the halls of academia who's studied all about prepositional phrases, double negatives, and polished their telegenic grin; or a unshaven, scruffy-haired shooter who's learned the hard way when to ask the tough question and when to blend into the background? Sure, said bobble-head might look better doing it, but when the pictures from the point-and-shoot come back blue, out of focus, and over exposed, there ain't much that FCP can do to improve it.
Now if the same an experienced photog goes out, shoots the story, asks the questions, and can -- gasp -- even write it as well or better than the starry-eyed intern, who's more valuable?
And who can make the transition to a one-stop-shop for all the Adult-in-the-Room's needs? The easy answer is the experienced photog. Simply because we already got two-and-a-half of the three parts to storytelling down cold. Any photog worth his salt is gonna bring back better pictures than a reporter pressed into shooter duty. Any shooter around long enough to develop his hundred-yard stare understands storytelling and all the tools at his disposal, and they already have an idea of how to write. Hell, I'd even argue that you can't shoot a story without being able to write it.
So we should be, hands-down the logical choice when it comes to transitioning the newsroom to the new, sleeker model. But as everybody with an electronic lump on their shoulder knows, newsrooms are anything but logical. Bean-counters would rather hand a pretty face a point-and-shoot babycam that Uncle Fred used to shoot his son's wedding than foist a photog on their precious viewers.
I'm still not a believer in the Rosemblum gospel that anyone can be an OMB. It's not for everyone, but I have found the transition a natural one for shooters. I've also been asked to train reporters and those fresh-faced college grads. It ain't pretty.
I guess this is just to say I'm back, and I've got a whole new outlook. Now flame away.
Regards,
Turd
