Dennis Dunleavy

Tiger Woods: A Reasonable Expectation of Privacy

Tiger Woods: A Reasonable Expectation of Privacy

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Working across platforms

Trying to juggle both still photography and video can be challenging. It seems as though decisions on which format to use and when compromises the outcome and quality of the end content. Many photojournalists are presented with this dilemma, because of the transition from print journalism to the World Wide Web. Nevertheless, the ability to produce content across various platforms appears to be the reality. And here's the thing, it's not journalists who want to shift necessarily. Audiences are moving to the Web in increasing numbers. Print media has responded, but often times begrudgingly. Lots of photojournalists appreciate the power of the still image over the sandwiching of pictures and video for the web. Making fancy slideshow videos on Youtube takes time. Having been presented with few choices the so-called "new media" world can be problematic for many smaller news outlets that lack the funds and the time to really produce high-end video. At the same time, there are many newspapers who have committed themselves to both platform, and they produce incredible content.

Here are some still pictures from the same event. Big difference for me because I like the idea of framing and fixing a moment in time. Video is more about sequencing scenes to align with one another -- it's more about layers of moments across time.

  

Susan Sartain and Ellen Flory

  

Eva Cooley

  

The determination of a princess.

 
Halloween is quite the scene in Ashland, Oregon.

 

Celebrating the Mexican tradition of the Day of the Dead.

 
Paying homage to the modernist painter Magritte.

Seeing Things

 

It's Halloween and I am starting to see things a bit differently. Not far from my apartment, on the way to the grocery store, is a tree that has been staring at me for sometime. It's a strange sensation to feel like a tree can speak to something inside me. Somehow, it does this. I turn toward the tree raise my camera and there is what I think looks like an eye. I know it is not an eye, but my brain says otherwise. My brain says, there is shape, there is contrast, there is line and form, there is an eye. I have never been keen on finding abstractions in such a concrete "real" world. However, there really are two world -- one of the conscious mind, and one of the imagination. To succeed in one world, it is necessary to recognize and appreciate the other world -- a world of symbols and figurative meanings. The human brain works at both levels, and not just when we are sleeping. Photography gets its power from bridging these worlds as it appeals both to the intellect as well as emotions. Photography can convey what we think of as real or concrete, as well as help us move beyond reality.

Ouch!

 

Photographing anything at night is a challenge, but high school football... well, that's a completely different story. Sometimes the light is so low it feels like making pictures of a moving train with just the headlights of a couple of cars. In all of the year's covering high school sports, this has got to be one of the more surreal moments as one player's foot just misses another player's face. Fortunately, no one was injured. The biggest challenge with the lighting is timing the flash to coincide with a decisive moment. Not only do the setting have to be right, the action has to be there.

Things we take for granted

Recently I was conducting some research about the history of Southern Oregon in the 1800's. Many people have forgotten about the Modoc Indian Wars in the 1870s. The wars were to be the last between the government and the native peoples in the region situated along what is now the California - Oregon border. It was a terrible time for the tribes and bands of the Klamath Indians as treaty after treaty were broken and families forcibly removed from their lands. During my research I came across a curious sketch that eventually revealed a great deal about the relationship between the Whites and the Indians of that time.

 
I find this drawing especially moving because it shows how the Indians were force to conform to the bureaucratic conformity of the so-called "civilized" society. My interpretation of this document indicates a mean of counting and controlling native resources. The drawing is census of one band of Klamath Indians. It was completed by the chief of the tribe with sketches at the top provided by the U.S. Army's Indian Agent, a man name Olivier Cromwell Applegate. There are sketches of men, women, boys, girls, horses, houses, axes, and boats. From a semiotic perspective, the relationship with the icon, index and symbol are fairly clear. As an icon, the picture shows a formal acceptance of counting with crossed lines to indicate number. Secondly, as an index the piece seems to point toward the nature of authority and control whites maintain over the Indians in the region. The drawing documents the native community as both artifact and resource. Finally, the symbolism in the piece comes from the textual/pictorial system of representative here. The (so-called) primitive illustration served a function beyond the realm of aesthetics. The pictures illustrate a form of communication that is pre-literate.

Life is Complicated

 
This wonderful example of line and representation is the work of Hugh McLeod. As a cartoonist McLeod creates complex relationships between words and images. A lot can be gained from looking at this piece over and over again.

Digital Dilemma

I have been considering the impact of electronic imaging on the burden of visual truth. When a photographer uses layers of two identical images that are exposed differently to make a new image would this constitute digital manipulation?  Years ago in the darkroom we would call this technique sandwiching. You would take two negatives with different exposure values to make a correction. Granted this practice was not widely in use, but it did exist. Today, thanks to digital technology, the latitude for producing images with different exposures, one light and one dark, is easily done. The question is whether this practice is unethical? It all depends. The scene is the same. I am not really adding or removing elements. I am just placing one exposure on top of another--darker on top of lighter.

Here's an example. Note that the final version is very sloppy, but with more care it could be a seamless transition between light and dark.

Composition 1
8th of a second at f/22

Composition 2
8th of second at f/8

 

Composite

I can see where ethics come into play here. It may be perceived that the manipulation actually alters the viewer's interpretation of the scene by controlling the exposures.Now if I were working for a news organization I would avoid controversy by simply using just one negative and then making the appropriate corrections in levels and not through layers. At the same time, if the picture were to be used in a gallery and represent a form of artistic expression then that would be just fine. The problem is that many younger photographers who have grown up manipulating images in Photoshop, might not understand the difference. In this way a digital dilemma occurs.

Fall New Student Convocation

Students march into Raider Stadium for the new student convocation.

Southern Oregon University President Dr. Mary Cullinan addresses the incoming class of students.

Associate Professor of Communication Dr. Alena Ruggerio gives the keynote address.

Southern Oregon Provost and Vice President James Klein gestures after addressing the class on incoming students.

Battle of the Communication Titans

Lately the acceleration of convergence, downsizing and media consolidation across the boards has come to the fore under the buzz word of "net neutrality."

The latest battle has actually as little to do with photography itself but ultimately the implications for audience access to content is significant. As the Internet becomes an increasingly important source for photographers and news outlets to share and sell content, giant media conglomerates such as Verizon Communications, Comcast and AT&T are making a power grab to control the flow of information on the web.

From a photographer's perspective, if allowed, anyone one of these giant corporations could slow down the flow of information on the Internet if they perceived the content to represent a competition with other products,such as cable and broadcast TV offerings. If I understand the issue correctly, the corporations are primarily concerned with their ability to manage assets on multiple platforms including mobile devices. Under the current administration, efforts to prevent Internet Service Providers from monopolizing the flow of content on the Internet are underway.

Although many people may argue that the current battle of communication titans is of little concern, they may not be thinking to clearly about the future of media. In the near future, more and more content will be accessible on mobile devices. The companies, such as AT&T and Verizon, that control the most information across platforms such as mobile devices, the Internet, and cable television stand to make the most profits.

Why Pictures Speak Louder than Words

by Adrienne Carlson

There’s something about a photograph, one that makes a statement or just takes your breath away with its sheer beauty, something that makes me wish I was the artist who was responsible for this masterpiece. I’m a writer; I write for a living; I write because I’m passionate about weaving stories with words. But even I agree that a picture is worth a thousand words, because:

•    Time and tide wait for no man: In this fast-moving world, when you have a message to convey, people hardly have time to sit down and read a paragraph or more. But if you’re able to capture the essence of what you want to say with one photograph, you know you’ve captured your target audience. Even in newspapers and magazines, people look to pictures to tell the story if they don’t have time to read the entire article.

•    One picture says it all: Visuals are always more effective than the written word. A picture is more colorful than a group of words, literally and figuratively. People tend to stop and look at compelling visuals rather than sit down to read (what they consider) boring words. It’s true that our attention is easily captured by a picture rather than a group of words.

•    Easy on the eye, easy on the brain: Pictures facilitate the learning process, especially when it comes to children and others who are mentally impaired. They are easier to remember and associate with facts, which is why people prefer them to plain old words.

•    Tugged heartstrings evoke more emotions: Photographs are able to capture emotions that words cannot, no matter how cleverly they’re used. In a warzone, a crying child in the midst of all the rubble drives home the pointlessness of it all much more than the harshest of write-ups. The picture of a little boy smiling is enough to melt even the hardest of hearts.

•    The power of two, packed into one: Most often though, it’s not just the pictures alone that make a point. When combined with the best write-ups, visuals help to push home the message in the most powerful way. And that’s how they must be used – when the power of two is packed into one, the punch is that much stronger.

This guest article was written by Adrienne Carlson, who regularly writes on the topic of best photography colleges.

adrienne.carlson1@gmail.com