PJ’s hold the key to communicating the news on the printed pagePictures today do not merely supplement the news stories or serve as

ornaments to break up the gray type. Today’s photos represent the best means available to report human events concisely and effectively. PJ’s are

not appendages of writers. Rather, when you start to find, interpret and report the day’s news, features and sports, you form an opinion about the newsmaker that you transfer into life, you constantly face ethical issues of

when to interrupt a citizen’s private moments of grief or joy.

WHERE TO FIND NEWS

LuckCannot be learned. But if luck is not accompanied by good technique and the sense of what to do with the photo once it’s been shot, then the PJ won[t be able to turn an accident into front page news.

- Look online at public records and schedules for ideas – COMPANIES,

SCHOOLS, HOSPITALS, GOVERNMENT PRESS OR PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICES

- Follow breaking news reporters on social media

Newspapers - Birth, wedding, and death announcements, schedules of local theaters, sports events, parades, and festivals. Magazines and news letters: special interest, trade magazines, sports, environment and more for upcoming happenings

LOOK TO MEDIA

Assuring visual variety:- The overall photo allows

viewers at home to orient themselves to the scene and judge the magnitude of the event.

- You should shoot overalls on each assignment so the editor can see the location in order to interpret the rest of the pictures.

- The overall requires a high angle, generally. When you arrive to your scene, a quick survey decides what’s happening. Elevate yourself above the crowd: chair, tree, nearby building, roof of your car, airplane

THE OVERALL

Medium shot tells the story in one photography – close to the action yet far enough away to show the relationship to other things and the environment. Contains all the story-telling elements of the scene - quick compression of story’s news elements in one image – think 50mm lens Used for action, which you must anticipate when and where it will take place

MEDIUM SHOT

CLOSE UP- Nothing beats the

close-up for drama, slamming readers

into eyeball-to-eyeball contact with the subject, eliciting

empathy in the reader.

- Close enough to isolate one element

and emphasize it- Doesn't’t have to

include a person’s face: doll covered in mud or burnt forest

fire.

- Longer telephoto lens allows you to be inconspicuous

(200mm+), which decreases depth-of-field, blurs

background and isolates subject from background

- Add instant interest to a set of photos by shooting from a unique elevation.

- Down from a 30-story building or up from a manhole cover

- The viewer gets a jarring but almost refreshing look at a subject

- Covering a meeting? Shooting from the chair or while sitting on the floor can add variety

- Avoid the 5’7 syndrome – shooting from the chest

Ta ke s e v e r a l f r a m e s f ro m e a c h v a n t a g e p o i n t – a t l e a s t 6M o v e o v e r a f e w f e e t a n d re p e a tO n e s l i g h t c h a n g e c a n c h a n g e e v e r y t h i n g . Tr y t o i m p ro v e e a c h p i c t u re a n d s t a y u n t i l y o u ’ v e g o t i t .

Steal images like a pickpocket WITHOUT interrupting Eye contact with the subject tips off the reader that the picture is not candid and suggests that the subject was at least aware of the photographer and might even be performing for the lens.

Although PJ Is usually a team endeavor, the individual shooting the photographs pushes themselves to the limit – the labor is stressful and dangerous, the pay is moderate and the upward mobility limited. But contributing to living history overcomes the disadvantages for people who want to succeed and love their jobs.

Always keep in mind there is more than one way to reveal the truth about your subject. Your subject presents you with more than one truth at any given time.The burden you bear is to ferret out the most appropriate truth and visually present it in a fair way. This is the challenge and the reward.

International assignments:Wall Street JournalChristian Science MonitorNew York Times Sunday magazineNational Public Radio

Late 1800s PJ: New York Herald, Harper’s Weekly, The Daily Graphic, Illustrated

newspapers

McClure’s and Cosmopolitan magazines

Documentary photography: picture taking done with the sole or primary intention of informing about reality in an objective and truthful way.

Documentary: landscapes, still lifes, architecture, fires, accidents, floods, industrial progress, medical problems, prominent personalities and warsSocial Documentary:Photography with an end purpose in mind other than to simply objectively and visually inform, although you may do this. This purpose is social change, i.e. improving conditions for poor. (Jacob R. Riis and Lewis Hine)