|
|
| Dave Clark |
The debate about whether stills photography and video should remain separate in photojournalism in future is beginning to gather pace (see also Cool Kit in this issue). When we asked Dave Clark, Course Leader in MA Photography at Dalian College of Image Art in China, what skills the photojournalist of tomorrow would need, he was in no doubt the ability to shoot and process static as well as moving images was an all-important one.
Said Dave: "Since the introduction of digital film scanners, photojournalism has been through a sustained period of change with photographers having to continually learn new skills to keep up to date.
It is my belief that this period of change is still only mid-way through its present cycle and is unlikely to settle in the foreseeable future.
The industry is currently seeing conflicting regional trends with printed newspapers increasing in Asia and decreasing in Europe and North America. The overall numbers of newspapers sold globally is still increasing, thanks mainly to the Chinese market, though there are few analysts who consider the outlook to be positive.
In all markets, the growth and importance placed on the online edition is evident and this, in turn, is influencing the work of photojournalists throughout the world. Newspapers are slowly moving away from ‘shovel technology’ (the term used to describe replicating the print version online) to content specifically produced for the newspaper website and it is this change that is likely to impact the skills photojournalist will need most in the coming decade.
The introduction of a video function in the latest cameras from Nikon (D90) and Canon (5D MKII) are good indications of the camera for the future photojournalist.
Video cameras have for some years integrated a still camera function but lacked
the quality and much of the creative control an SLR with interchangeable lenses
gives the photographer.
The SLR digital still camera with a video function changes the dynamic, giving priority to the still pictures but affording the photographer the opportunity to record moving images as well, if needed, for the web version of the publication.
Most importantly for most photojournalists, the quality of the still picture is not compromised which can still be used for better quality print and exhibition. The photojournalist of the future will probably carry just one camera with which they will need to produce still pictures for the print version and video for the web edition.
The addition of video brings with it a number of new skills issues that go beyond simply learning basic video camera techniques.
These broadly can be divided into technical skills and journalistic skills, the latter often being missed out in staff training. Most photojournalists will find the techniques of using video on the camera reasonably easy to adapt to, particularly for short news videos that use few camera movements.
However getting to grips with sound recording and video editing present a considerable challenge, particularly given the speed at which photojournalists are expected to work.
Video editing packages such as Adobe Premiere and Final Cut Pro that are timeline based are not intuitive to photographers who are used to working on static images and they will need time to adapt.
In my view the most important new training is in narrative skills and journalism ethics.
In moving from still pictures to a video, the photographer is given a different role in the process of news reporting. Whether using still or moving images within the video the photographer is required to tell a whole story, with a beginning, a middle and an end, where the soundtrack takes the lead in telling the story. This must both have a clear narrative structure and also abide by journalism rules of fair and balanced reporting.
Getting these skills right in my mind is the key to the success of this new media
and the lifeline for working photojournalists under threat of losing their livelihoods.
In short, the photographer of the future will still need their current skills
to shoot and caption engaging visual news images for the printed paper. But in
addition to this, they will also need to develop video, sound and narrative expertise
to produce short video stories for the web."
|
|
