Dennis Dunleavy

Blogging in and out of the Classroom

The annual Broadcasters Education Association held each year in Las Vegas offers a variety of informational panels as well as some hands-on skills development sessions. Last week I participated on a panel about blogging with Anthony Moretti of Point Park University and John Dalley of Ball State University. I recorded the session and have been working on three podcasts from the panel.

In the first podcast, Anthony Moretti gives a very nice overview of what he feels are some of the pros and cons of blogging as a tool in higher education.  You can listen to the podcast of the first speaker here.

In part II you can hear John Dailey talk about blogging as a tool to empower students.

Content Maybe King in Photojournalism, But Light Makes it Right

I used to think that photojournalism was predominantly driven by content, but there is much more to it these days.

Subject matter -- the story the image tells -- is absolutely near the center of what photojournalists do, but as the field matures and the aesthetics of  image-making becomes increasingly precedent, there is another deeper foundational element at work here.

Although the storytelling qualities of photojournalistic practice remains high, I think that the process begins and ends with the characteristics of light.

In other words, the intensity and direction of light can make a story come to life. I think this why photographers seek out the sweet light of early morning or the subtle tones of a sunset.

Light Rowing

A member of the Ashland Rowing Club heads in to shore after a morning practice session Sunday.

An experiment with sound and stills

I have been learning how to edit sound lately and this is my first attempt using Our Media, which is a great space for all sorts of work. This piece is called "Liam learns to Read."

Big Blog of the Day

Hats off to Martin Fuchs for his amazing audio interview with Joachim Ladefoged of the photo agency VII.

On the old Dodge and Burn Baby Burn

The aesthetics and ethics of making parts of a picture darker or lighter is a constant matter of concern these days. With public mistrust of the media at a low point in recent history, thinking about what will be perceived as truthful is not only a noble gesture, it's intelligent as well.

Back in the day of wet process -- the darkroom -- we called it dodging and burning. Photoshop still has these anachronistic terms on the toolbar, but I don't the hipper generations -- those that have only worked with digital technologies -- have a clue about their origins.

The question came up -- thanks to ARG -- about the image I posted yesterday.

How much of the background did I burn in or darken? Would burning down the background to make the picture "pop" more be considered unethical? Is the treatment of the picture deceiving and misleading?

These are all very relevant questions in an age when many images look suspiciously manipulated.

In this image, I did darkened the background about one quarter to one half stop of the exposure to make the marimba sticks stand out more. But, in my opinion, the manipulation was not excessive. Nothing more than I would have done in a wet darkroom.

In February, I quoted the Charlotte Observer's photo editing policy, which states: "Adjustments to any image will be limited to standard industry "dodging and burning" practices to accurately reflect the scene which was photographed."

The effect sought in this image was to separate foreground from background information. I tried to expose the image in a way that would make the background go dark on its own. The players in the background were actually in the shade, so I concentrated on playing with the light in an interesting way.

I wanted the background to stay in shadow so I exposed for the keyboard and I got lucky.

I think all images are in some ways manipulations of light. In this case, I'd rather make the magic happen in the camera and not in the software I use, because I think the burden of visual veracity remains justifiably high in an age of digital shenanigans.

Marimba sticks

What it takes to be a great photographer

In a recent commentary for The Ashland Daily Tidings, Lance Pugh wrote about a long-time studio photographer in town. In his talk with Christopher Briscoe, Pugh captured a few gems of wisdom that I think are well worth the time to consider. Pugh paraphrases Briscoe’s ideas about what it takes to be a successful photographer:

It takes three qualities to be a success as a photographer:

The first is vision: The ability to see the quintessential elements in any circumstance and react by framing the shot accordingly as well as being able to peer into the future and plan accordingly.

The second essential quality is passion: A fierce, unbridled desire to keep at the task until the perfect image is captured.

The third quality is courage: The ability to walk the plank and jump into a sea of possibilities that are infinite, yet without any guarantee of success.

Briscoe is right about these basic qualities, especially as it relates to photojournalism. As photojournalists we must have vision, passion, and courage to endure in an increasingly creative world.

Why Newspapers still rock

Newspapers, especially the sports section, have helped kids learn to read for a very long time.  

Girls Rule

I love this shot of Maya beating out the boys for the ball in the YMCA soccer league on Saturday. I think this will be the last year for the tots to play co-ed. They will be playing in separate leagues next fall, and now I know why.  Liam is on the left.

I have been working with a M-Audio compact flash digital recorder lately and will be posted sound over the images from time to time. I am learning the the better the microphone used the better the overall sound will be. That would seem obvious enough, however, it easy to try and skimp and use a cheap microphone, just like it is to use an off-brand lens on a camera.

Trying to capture good audio is a lot harder than I imagined. You can't simply run the recorder and hope for the best, just like you can't just shoot everthing in sight. The technology is getting so good that both options are possible, but it takes some skill to juggle when to put the camera down and focus on sound.

Private Eyes and Public Spaces

I haven't heard back from the company representing the security guard in Tom Hawks story. Interestingly, in my public journalism class we discussed the possibility of not entirely trusting the blogger's account of what happened.

The idea that blogging extends journalistic storytelling beyond traditional formats is complex. Could Hawk's posting of this incident be considered a type of public journalism? We couldn't assume that we would learn of the incident on the nightly news, the radio, or in the San Francisco Chronicle.

In this age of instant, information is a commodity that must be accounted for by the context in which it is collected, presented, and distributed. In short, we need to be skeptical.

In this case, I read an e-mail from the National Press Photographers Association list-serv about the post, read it, and decided to comment on the information. But how can I be confident that what I am reading and responding to is legitimate?

How are people able to trust the sources of information? How do we know that the ideas, information, news, and facts are true in an age when anyone and everyone can self-publish on the web?

Who Let the Dogs Out? The New Cold War on Civility and Photography

People have always been known to get a little grumpy around photographers, but since 9-11, something akin to a New Cold War on civility and civil rights has erupted in our society.

Just ask Thomas Hawk, a shutterbug living in the Bay Area. Hawk is an active blogger and posts his pictures and words on different sites such as blogspot and flickrnation. The other day while Hawk was making pictures of a building in San Francisco, a security guard came rushing out waving his middle finger at him. 

Hawk writes:

So today there I was minding my own business shooting 45 Fremont in downtown San Francisco when all of a sudden a Shorenstein Company employee security guard decides to give me the finger in my photographs of the building. Next thing you know I get the typical hassle. Except normally when the guards come out all polite like and all this guy instead comes out middle finger a blazing and telling me that I'm not allowed to photograph the building from the public space.

Marshall McLuhan’s saying that “the medium is the message” pretty much sums up this encounter. In this case, the guard is the medium and message.

No needs for words any more. If you don’t like someone taking a picture, even when they have every right to do so, just ward them off with a one-finger salute.

Jack Anderson spoke about our constitutionally guaranteed rights to freedom of expression and freedom of the press.  Anderson contends:

" Our Founding Fathers understood that government by its nature tends to oppress those it has power over. Our Founding Fathers decided that there must be, there had to be, there should be and there is, an institution that keeps an eye on government. That is what we do. There is nothing in the Constitution about the freedom to practice law.

There is nothing in the Constitution about the freedom to practice medicine.

There is nothing in the Constitution about the freedom to engage in commerce.

There is nothing in the Constitution about teaching or learning. But there is something in the Constitution about the freedom of the press.

Our Founding Fathers understood that it would be necessary to have a watchdog on government, and that is our role: to keep a watch out."

  --Jack Anderson, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, in 1999 speech at Utah State University.

Thanks to Ted Pease for the Anderson Quote!

In response to this situation I sent an email to the public relations office of the Shorenstein Company who manages the property and hires the building's security services.  I wanted to share my letter on my blog because I think it raises some interesting questions about human visual behavior and the blogosphere.

Dear Press Relations:

I am a journalism professor investigating human visual behavior, especially in photography and society.

I found this blog post on April 17, showing a Shorenstein employee intimidating  a photographer with what is considered in our culture a rude gesture. I am absolutely confident that you train your security people to act professionally and I find this behavior not only offensive personally but also indicative of the times in which we live.

The blog is called Thomas Hawk's Digital Connection and has generated interesting feedback from the photojournalism community about the issues raised by the guard's perception of the photographer's activity as criminal.  As an instructor who teaches public journalism, blogging and visual culture, I find this case to be very interesting.  Do you think the guard would have acted this way if he had known that his picture would been broadcast over the Internet  within hours?  There are several things that we can learn from this incident:

1) Technology democratizes communication to a global audience in an instant.

2) Since 9-11 we have entered a sort of New Cold War on civil rights and civility in this country.

3) We are all stakeholders in a representative democracy, which becomes ever more significant during a time when  the lines between private and public are seemingly being redrawn for us in a digital age.

My final suggestion here:

Your employees should know the laws of this land, because if they don't they may make your company look silly on someone's blog.

Sincerely,

Dennis Dunleavy, Ph.D.

Photojournalism's Social Capital

Last night I watched, on video tape, Robert Putnam, author of Bowling Alone, speak about the meaning of "social capital" to a crowd at the University of Washington recently. Social capital is about building networks of people to faciliate ideas, information, and change.

There is a growing realization in my mind now of how the idea of "social capital" applies to photojournalism and public journalism. 

Putnam's argument focuses on a need to reclaim "public life" in civil society. “social capital calls attention to the fact that civic virtue is most powerful when embedded in a sense network of reciprocal social relations." Putnam claims.

Putnam and many others believe that since the mid-20th century social and civic life has been on the decline. In other words, the web of social networks that have kept America "civic minded" for the greater part of our existence as a country has been unraveling.

According to the Web site, Infed, social capital refers to interactions which enable "people to build communities, to commit themselves to each other, and to knit the social fabric. A sense of belonging and the concrete experience of social networks (and the relationships of trust and tolerance that can be involved) can, it is argued, bring great benefits to people."

As I sit behind my computer in the dark grading papers, checking RSS feeds, blogging, and writing, I am distant and remote from actual human contact. As I listen to Bach or Bread on iTunes, I may not feel any real sense of belonging or any concrete experience of social networking going on. But there is something going on in the background -- something big.

I know that once I click save my ideas, images, and the images of others, like Robert Gumpert's wonderful Baggage Claim e-Card below, will be networked. Although I may not hear from the people that take the time to read my ideas or look at my pictures, I know that I am practicing a form of social networking. My social capital as a blogger, educator, photographer, and friend is alive and well on the Internet. I may not need to belong to any one of the "animal" clubs like the Elks, Eagle, Lions, or Moose to feel connected in a world of wireless immediacy. My pockets are laden with communication technologies, from camera phone and PDA, to the new digital compact flash recorder I am using. 

For Putnam, "social capital allows citizens to resolve collective problems more easily."

I don't think there is any better communication than face-to-face interpersonal exchanges, but the Internet is extending communicative processes beyond anything we have adjusted to.

It has become clear to me that blogs can establish and build social capital that allow citizens to resolve collective problems. For example, last year I wrote about an investigation into possible recruitment practices at Brooks Institute of Photography.  Since this time, dozens of people have commented on the post to share concerns and experiences. Today I am posting a link to the address and contact information for the Braun Law Group that is handling the case.

Clearly, a blog may be considered a civic space for people to gather -- information and ideas are exchanged, which may eventually lead to action and reform.

Good Friday Reflection

Worshippers from the First Presbyterian Church carry a wooden cross to the top of a hill overlooking Emigrant Lake near Ashland, Oregon. Around the world, Christians are gathering to pray and reenact the crucifixion of Jesus.

Although this image may lack visual impact it seemed significant to me because of the circumstances. The image is a gift. Seeing the procession reminded me so much about the acts of faith and personal sacrifices people make in life.

From an interpersonal perspective, I was hesitant to impose myself as a photographer on the worshipers. The human being in me told me not to intrude on such a solemn moment and I felt like I was stealing a few frames as they quietly walked by. By making a few pictures I felt humbled in some way.

If I were on assignment for a newspaper or a magazine, I think things would have been very different for me. I think I would have worked to gain understanding and acceptance of the need to make picture before hand.

In this case, I was a spectator. I made a few frames because I felt compelled to capture something meaningful to me. As the pilgrimage made its way up the hill my mind rushed back to the Via Cruces I  witnessed in San Antonio, Mexico and Central America more than a decade ago.

Thinking about the meaning of recording acts of faith as photographer raises some feelings of guilt and being overly intrusive into the private and spiritual practices of others.

At the same time, it is hard for me not to want to be a witness to such inner expressions of belief. In my heart, I feel drawn to understand such acts of deep devotion and prayer.

My hope is always that somehow the people I photograph will understand the gift of sharing their experiences with others through my pictures. The hope is that through the faith of others I too may grow as a person of devotion and compassion.

 

 

Illusory Hope

On the Web site Wordreference.com the first meaning for the word "rainbow" is listed as an "illusory hope." It is followed by the scientific reference meaning an "arc of colored light."

The associations people make with rainbows as signifying luck or chance is fascinating. We tell stories about rainbows, and like falling stars we wish upon them.  I wonder if we would feel this way if we saw rainbows in the sky all of the time? Would we just come to accept rainbows as part of our everyday visual environment? Would we look elsewhere for unusual occurrences to wish upon?

Stillness

Sometimes we get so busy with everything it is hard to be still.

This morning we took a little walk around Emigrant Lake and found this isolated tree hugging the shore. The tree, in my mind's eye, is a metaphor for things that are hard to place in this moment. We watched the sky close in around the branches, dark against the stillness of the water. We came to the water's edge to explore and discover and we left behind these quiet things.

A Dance of Tradition, Life, and Light

Native American culture is strong in Southern Oregon. Several times a year Pow Wows are held on campus where tribes from across the region come together.

Firesale on Film Cameras: The Party's Almost Over

The Economist reported recently that Konica Minolta made its last film camera in March, ending 100 years of production.

"After more than 100 years the Japanese company, which is also the world's third-largest producer of photo film, will begin a complete withdrawal from the photography business."

It looks like end of the film era will be about as dramatic as the introduction of flush toilet in society.

Ashland Independent Film Festival Gets Underway

It's been fun to watch all the activities downtown associated with Ashland's Independent Film Festival. Over the next five days, 80 independent films will be shown.

With all the buzz about film distribution moving directly to DVD and bypassing the theaters, this festival sort of goes against the trends.

Photography: Bringing out the best and the worst in people

Photography is an amazingly powerful communicative tool -- one which has as much potential to empower people as it does to destroy them. We are bombarded by images -- our insatiable appetite for the visual is relentless and troubling.

We cherish our privacy, yet feel connected to ourselves and others through the images made of us.

Photography can bring out the best and worst in people.

For example, recently the actress Cameron Diaz won a lawsuit against a photographer who made images of her, topless pictures, of her when she was 19, and then tried to sell them back to her for more than $3 million years later.

Now, the photographer, John Rutter, has had a lot of time on his hands while sitting in jail after his conviction last year on charges of forgery, perjury and attempted grand larceny.

As long as there is a market and demand for celebrity images there will always be folks looking for ways to get rich quick. There is little art to what appears to be a practice of exploitating others through images.

The Hottest Geek Fashion: LED Shirts

Here's something for that special person that has everything, but, might I dare say, a little taste.

This is the latest in geek fashion, an LED dress shirt from TBUC. I couldn't  resist posting about this after reading about the shirts on the gadget blog Gizmodo.

The company claims you can program the shirts to say anything you want.

I can't wait to see what a politician might do with such a thing. Can you imagine a crowd full of supporters all wearing blinking LED shirts? Better get one quick before they sell out.

I'd program mine to read: "Beam Me Up. Now."

On the Great Scrapbook Pile of History: When Ethics Get Personal

There is an interesting article about the ethics of editing scrapbook photos in The Salt Lake Tribune this week. The author, Rebecca Walsh, tells the story of manipulating family photographs in various ways to produce a "much more satisfying" scrapbook for the "future grandchildren who will look at the book."

Walsh shares the reaction she received from photojournalists at the newspaper when she told them what she was doing to "beautify" her personal account of the family's history, including adding and removing people and objects, and staging pictures weeks after an event to produce pictures that were more "quintessential." 

Walsh notes:

Newspaper photographers recoil at the idea of misrepresenting time and season. And posing their subjects makes them uncomfortable.

"If I'm going to open a scrapbook, I expect it to be an accurate depiction of family history," says Salt Lake Tribune Photo Editor Scott Sommerdorf. "You're diminishing the value of your scrapbook as a historical record if you're cutting people out or changing history. You have to decide: Is it art or is it journalism?"

Although a seemingly trivial affair, there are some interesting implications raised about the differences between personal and professional image ethics in this article.

The key to understanding the "right or wrong" thing about someone's fudging a personal history such as a scrapbook is largely dependent on context and audience.

Why should it matter to the larger world if Walsh bends the rules a bit by blending a few pixels here and there in the electronic darkroom?

Ethics applicable to photojournalism do not always transfer over to what someone does with a personal narrative. 

In other words, if someone wants to erase the drunk ex in-law from a holiday party picture in a scrapbook, the decision to edit is largely a family matter not a public one.

Or is it?

What would happen if an historian stumbled across the scrapbook a century later in the attic of the local library? How could an accurate interpretation of the past be made and how valuable would this historical account actually be?

If the creator of the scrapbook and the manipulator of family images happens to be a journalist, does that mean that he or she will automatically take artistic license with the news they report?

Should the same ethical standards apply to one's personal conduct as they do in professional life?

If my father is a police officer and I steal $20 from his wallet or take his car for a joy ride without permission should he haul me downtown and have me booked for the offense? If my mother is a teacher and she catches me cheating on my homework should she report me to the  principal?

Walsh contends, "Scrapbooking is both art and journalism. The rules that guide journalists seem nitpicky and impractical when putting together a book for family. Maybe we need our own code of ethics."

In the not so distant past, people were known to have elaborated and embellished personal narratives in an oral tradition. We've all heard the stories of how our parents walked to school without shoes in a snowstorm, and, we've all heard about the "one that got away."

Now, in a visual culture, the oral tradition is subsumed by the accumulation of pictorial records. Our hard drives are brimming to capacity with digital images, both still and video. We feel overwhelmed by the burden of visual truth. To make things worse, we have at our disposal an arsenal of really slick software, that with a click of mouse, can  magically alter reality.

As in the oral tradition of storytelling, people are still prone to exaggeration -- it's only human nature. However, instead of gathering around the campfire for a tall tale or two, we circle the computer to get a look at post-photoshopped perfect skin and those brilliant blue eyes. So what if the babies eyes were actually brown.

We tend to live out our lives accepting the little "white lies" we pass along to our children in our scrapbooks. We tend to think on these visual alterations as an innocent acts of fictionalizing or sanitizing our own realities.

The hope in this case, is that the proclivity toward manufacturing a personal visual truth ends with the scrapbook and does not continue on to enter the public record as journalistic truth-telling.

Sundancing: New Photo Workshop with Some of the Best

This will be the first year for the Sundance Photographic Workshop featuring some of the best editorial, commercial, and fine arts photographers in the business.

The workshop happens also be held in one of the most incredible locations in the country.

Photographers such as Robert Beck, Moose Petersen, Rick Rickman, Kevin Gilbert, Joe McNally, Jill Enfield, and others will be leading small groups  at Sundance in everything from outdoor photography to working with lighting.

Sundance Workshop managers, John and Hillary Cole, creators of the Nikon Video Series, explained recently that "Each Workshop series includes three-four courses with premier instructors teaching simultaneously."

One of the biggest attractions, beside the setting, will be the chance for "students to immerse themselves all day in their chosen course," but at night "they'll get to interact with the other instructors."

According to John Cole, "Every evening is filled with cross discipline lectures and opportunities for all students to directly interact with the instructors."

There are many workshops available for students and professionals throughout the country during the course of a year, but I think people will find the setting, the quality of the courses, as well as having access to some high-profile pros hard to resist. Participants can look to spend about $1,000 for the workshop plus travel and lodging.