As a sub-editor on the Reuters picture desk, I am in the last line of defense for ensuring the integrity and accuracy of our pictures and their captions before they get sent to clients. We are usually desk-bound as such but I had the rare opportunity to venture out into the field where our photographers are at the front line shooting pictures. I was sent to Vietnam to help process the 2007 AFC Asian Cup soccer tournament. The tournament was held in various locales in four different countries and four sub-editors from the desk were sent into the field in total.
I learned a lot from this trip: about the working conditions out on the field; the intense competition we face; the mentality of the photographers as they focus on winning the play; and most valuable of all, the interactions with my colleagues out in the field. Nothing beats learning from your more experienced colleagues out in field conditions.
Trying to take news pictures for the very first time was exciting and humbling. Kim Kyung-hoon, who is based in Tokyo and was assigned to Vietnam to follow the Japanese team, was kind enough to allow me a taste of shooting. I helped to cover a training session of the Japanese team and it was so difficult to keep track of all the key players AND the ball at the same time. Especially when the players are so far away you can barely make out their faces. The fact that they are not wearing their own numbers during training doesn’t help either. I was simply reeling from having to keep track of so many things at once. And it is amazing what a great job our colleagues out there are doing so consistently. We see so many great pictures on our desk back in Singapore everyday that sometimes we take for granted what these pictures require: extremely good situational awareness to know who is where and what is going on all the time; good acumen and guts to predict the flow of the play so that you can be in the right place at the right time; and fast reflexes in order to capture the frame at all.
Just before the quarter-final match between Japan and Australia, Asia chief photographer Russell Boyce had an in-depth discussion with his team on how to best capture the crucial moments our clients are relying on us for. Even just from listening on the sidelines, I could feel the magic and excitement. Our photographers are really hungry for the win and they will meticulously go through each and every possible scenario and how to best position themselves to capture the perfect picture.
And it is not just shooting pictures either. The logistics are just as important. With the games so late and Asian clients facing very tight deadlines, we have to deliver the goods to them before their papers go into print. And here is where Reuters technology shines. Using our new propriety software, the photographers were able to easily send pictures as they are shooting, to an editor who will select the most compelling frames. The processor, me, will next fill in all the required caption information detailing the play and identities of players in the picture and then send them to the Singapore desk for final checks before the clients receive the pictures.
I really enjoyed the assignment and making friends with the photographers. Where before they were only names on instant messaging as they filed pictures to Singapore, now I am honored to call, at least some of them, my friends.
We are not alone! It is very good to know that out there somewhere are sentient beings looking to become photojournalists.
Photojournalism is a truly broad spectrum job description. It encompasses those who are almost all photographer with just a smigeon of journalist, those who are almost all journalist with just a hint of photographer and all stops in between. At the risk of stating the glaringly obvious being a professional photojournalist entails earning a living by shooting news pictures that people are prepared to pay for, with great enough frequency to make existence financially viable. There are many ways to achieve it, some easier than others all equally valid.
If the letter disclosing that your greatest wish is to become a photojournalist with an international news agency begins, “Dear Sir or Madam”, save yourself the cost of postage and the effort of walking to the mail box. Let’s face it if you can’t find out the name of the person who runs the operation you’ve set your sights on joining then maybe journalism really isn’t your thing at all.
More than once I have heard, “my passion is to become a photographer but I am just waiting for the opportunity to cover a big story somewhere exciting”. Again, don’t kid yourself, unless you are someone like Scarlett Johannson no assigning editor in their right mind is going to take a punt on sending a wannabe into a high value, high cost, competitive situation. Of course some of us have no choice because we live where the big stories are happening, but more of that later.
If you want to work in the news business it really does help to be an avid consumer of news media.
There is invariably a photographer credit on pictures, contact them and ask them how they did it or why. If they are sensible they won’t believe their own publicity but we are suckers for anyone who demonstrates a genuine interest in what we do.
If you are not already shooting pictures of everything that moves do so. Learn how to use your gear, learn about depth of field, backgrounds, how to light your pictures and practice until it becomes second nature. Try to make pictures like the best of those you see in print or online, then try to make yours better. Practice on local sports and news events, try and get your pictures published. Learn how to edit your own material honestly, learn from your mistakes and most importantly learn how to come back from them and still deliver the goods .
Most of the photojournalists I know started as freelancers operating in orbit around assigning pictures desks at local newspapers or local agencies, doing things that other people couldn’t or wouldn’t do and doing that more often, more successfully and more cheerfully than anyone else day or night. Never work for nothing, never come back without a picture and if you are Scarlett Johannson we could offer you a few Premier League soccer shifts towards the end of the year…….
There are many subject matters that grab our attention or draw us into a photograph, and by far the strongest is the human face. It is because a facial expression betrays what the subject is experiencing, and triggers empathy within ourselves. The more extreme or unguarded the expression, the more compelling the image becomes.
Although we feel sad when we see a photograph of somebody suffering, it is sometimes possible to experience a certain joy from looking at the expressions of others. In my view this is because, regardless of the size of the human population and beyond all expectation, each face and expression is unique.
Below is a small selection of photographs of the human face taken from the Reuters wire service of the past few days, which concisely shows a variety of human emotions that are betrayed by expressions. Taking a global snapshot like this brings home the fact that regardless of nationality or race, we are all part of the human family.
Alicia Contador, sister of Discovery Channel team rider Alberto Contador of Spain, cries as she celebrates his victory in the 94th Tour de France in his hometown of Pinto, outside Madrid, July 29, 2007. REUTERS/Susana Vera
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bites his lip during a live television appearance at his Liberal Democratic Party headquarters in Tokyo July 29, 2007, after an upper house election in which his conservative ruling camp suffered a devastating defeat. REUTERS/Issei Kato
Fans cheer at the premiere of “Rush Hour 3″ at the Mann’s Chinese theatre in Hollywood, California July 30, 2007. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
Chief Khmer Rouge inquisitor Kaing Kek Ieu, better known as Duch, is seen in Phnom Penh in this handout picture released on July 30, 2007. Duch appeared before Cambodia’s “Killing Fields” tribunal on July 31, 2007, the first of Pol Pot’s henchmen to be questioned over the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people. Duch has confessed to committing multiple atrocities during this time as head of Phnom Penh’s notorious Tuol Sleng, or S-21, interrogation centre.
Purnima Poddar, an HIV affected girl, takes part in a protest march against negligence in the field of Thalassaemia and HIV/AIDS treatment and management in the government sectors, in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata, July 30, 2007. REUTERS/Parth Sanyal
A resident with the colours of an Iraqi flag painted on his face celebrates in Basra, 550 km (340 miles) south of Baghdad, after the Iraqi team won the final game of the 2007 AFC Asian Cup soccer tournament against Saudi Arabia in Jakarta, July 29, 2007. REUTERS/Atef Hassan
