In a workshop on blogging today, I mentioned that photos make great blog material. Of course, writers (including me) need to remember to use photos, videos and other visual elements in our blogs (like I didn’t in this one). But I noted that some photojournalists have excellent blogs that revolve around visual content — sometimes all photos, sometimes the stories behind photos.
A photojournalist in the workshop asked me for some examples. I provided a few quick ones:
Digital First colleague John Strickler’s Strick’s Pics
My former Cedar Rapids Gazette colleagues’ Refocus blog
The Boston Globe’s The Big Picture
The New York Times’ Lens
Reuters’ Photographers Blog
Look, the staff visual blog of the York Daily Record
I knew I was overlooking some good ones, so I quickly crowdsourced this on Twitter:
@stevebuttry The @sltrib‘s Trent Nelson has a fun one: http://t.co/Aq3OXdewZu @trenthead
— Kim McDaniel (@tivogirl) August 30, 2013
@stevebuttry I think @christhedunn‘s is pretty great. http://t.co/Sf1ZsAUzsR
— Kelsey Proud (@KelseyProud) August 30, 2013
Note that these are two separate blogs from the Toronto Star photojournalists and photo editors:
@stevebuttry @TorontoStar @TOstarphoto Toronto Star’s photo blog http://t.co/yWB7z2E0XL
— Andrew Spearin (@AndrewSpearin) August 30, 2013
@stevebuttry The Toronto Star’s has been going for a while: http://t.co/bmbVgIfElH
— Patrick Cain (@pcaintoronto) August 30, 2013
@stevebuttry Definitely @cityexposed on SFGate. Great Instagram and Vimeo feeds, too. http://t.co/pCZ3DQYJPZ
— Seth Long (@sethlong) August 30, 2013
@stevebuttry The Baltimore Sun’s Darkroom is great: @BaltSunPhoto
— Colin Campbell (@cmcampbell6) August 30, 2013
Here’s the link to the Darkroom.
@stevebuttry Great photojournalism! #summerofthegun @jmgpix Baltimore City Paper http://t.co/nowlyQp2qS
— Deborah Rudacille (@DRudacille) August 30, 2013
What are some other photojournalism blogs that you like?
Surprised you didn’t have http://blogs.mercurynews.com/viewfinder/. Terrific work and the stories behind that work.
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Thanks, Randy!
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TIME’s Lightbox is a must, especially their monthly Photojournalism Links.
And I write about photojournalism and visual storytelling on my blog too.
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Link to Lightbox – http://lightbox.time.com/
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Absolute must-read:
Assignment Chicago by Alex Garcia of the Chicago Tribune:
http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/assignment-chicago/
Great insight into the profession from a vet in a very interesting market, these days.
And a plug for a good friend, Mark Johnson’s Visual Journalism:
http://visualjournalism.info/
Mark is one of those college journalism teachers (Visual Journalism lecturer at the University of Georgia’s Grady School of Journalism) who struggles every day to impart the importance of visuals in reporting the news to a new generation of young people interested in entering a field trying desperately to redefine and re-establish its relevance. His insights and the links he shares help even we vets re-examine what we do and why we do it.
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Oh, a couple more. More broad in scope but extremely relevant, even to newspaper journalists …
Paul Melcher’s Thoughts of a Bohemian:
http://blog.melchersystem.com/
Melcher’s background is in technology, working with many renown photo agencies over the years. His experience working with commercial photographers and photojournalists give him a very important perspective in today’s constantly evolving digital world and a market saturated with images from innumerable sources. He’s constantly envisioning how photojournalists might remain relevant in today’s climate. He doesn’t always have answers, but he’s asking the right questions.
Also, Rob Haggart’s A Photo Editor:
http://www.aphotoeditor.com/
Rob’s background is in magazine photography, both commercial and editorial. His blog is an incredible source of information, including interviews with prominent photojournalists. Those interviews are exceptionally valuable, as many folks give their perspectives on the changing horizon in the news business. This is one of the most recent … an interview with National Geographic great Sam Abell:
http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2013/09/04/sam-abell-interview/
Abell, who has essentially retired from professional photojournalism, still gives his perspective about the technological advances and challenges for photography as a paramount medium for communication. The one passage that has really stuck with me and should be a guide to those who are taking up the challenge of reporting the news in today’s world:
“Yes, there are billions more photographers, and billions more photographs every day, but who’s building up a point of view? Who’s photographing with intention, and whose body of work will sustain itself and survive?”
Perhaps that’s a perspective newsroom managers should consider before laying off an entire staff of photojournalists?
Also, Haggart offers up plenty of professional, business advice and examples from successful independent photographers (pricing, for instance), which is invaluable to so many photojournalists who must now make their way in the world as freelance photographers.
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