A question for experienced photojournalists

[DominicCassidy]

A question from one who aspires to (news) photojournalism. I work with the United Nations in the Great Lakes region of Central Africa. I'm based in Rwanda, but spend plenty of time in Burundi, DR Congo, etc. I regularily find myself in situations where - if only I had the right (digital) photographic equipment and access to professional advice (be it in book form or online) - I might actually be in a position to put together a portfolio which, as I understand from this forum, is the necessary first step in selling oneself as a photojournalist.

My question then is this: if you were my position (a relative, but not complete photographic novice) how would you go about making the best of my situation? What would you use as your source of professional advice (both as regards digital photographic technique and digital workflow, etc.) which equipment would you purchase (while I'm not Bill Gates, my budget would stretch to everything necessary) in order to give yourself the best chance of producing a portfolio potentially capable of "doing the job?" On the subject of equipment, do you have a view as to which online supplier of photographic equipment provides both reliablilty and value? I do, by the way, have access to a PC running Windows 2000.

Many thanks.

[Neil_Turner]

There are a thousand questions in your posting, the answers to which could form a very good book on the whole subject of becoming a photographer.

The first thing to point out is that using your "insider" status to put together a portfolio wouldn't be properly representative of what you can do as a photographer. The skill in this business is often getting the access in the first place and actually shooting the pictures can be a relatively small part of the skills needed. You would have to make it clear to any potential employer that you were in a privileged position to get those shots.

With that subtle bit of ethic behind us, your choice of kit is one that you need to make for yourself but in general you need more than one camera body with a range of lenses from wide (maybe a 24mm equivalent) to telephoto (at least 200mm equivalent) as well as flash units, memory cards, batteries, chargers and your own laptop computer to handle the files. The standard kit will cost from US$5000 upwards and will probably be nearer US$12000 before you even look at specialist lenses.

Going back to the portfolio, you will need to shoot a wide variety of images in an equally wide variety of situations and locations. Twenty images from sub-saharan Africa will not be enough unless you intend to be a real specialist in that part of the world. Photo editors expect to see samples of portraiture, news, features, stories and sports from an all-round photojournalist.

That's enough for one contribution, so I'll hand the baton to the next person.

[Edmond_Terakopian]

I'd add that at this stage, you really need to become a good photographer - that is to say learning to use a camera as an extension and being able to work without thinking of the camera, lens choice, shutter and aperture settings etc. You say that you're not a novice, but this isn't good enough to be able to put yourself in situations and produce good work - and most importantly keep yourself alive.
I'd suggest you get a camera and a couple of lenses and practice until it becomes second nature. After this you can expand your equipment to levels Neil has mentioned and then go into the field as a photojournalist.
If you're serious about this type of work, you need to be commited - not use your current job as a way of gaining access. Photojournalism isn't just a job. nor a way to make money. There is much more to it.

Regards,

Edmond

[Tony_Gamble]

Dominic.

Third reply from the UK and by now you are possibly feeling a bit depressed.

Being a successful photojournalist is not about taking good photographs it is about taking good pictures.

Ask a photographic amateur what his/her idea of heaven is and the answer is likely to be a month with the perfect camera.

Ask a pro and the answer is more likely to be a day with the perfect light.

By all means use the advantage of your priviledged access. I do, although the world to which I have priviledged access is very different to yours and probably far less interesting. But if you hope to sell or publish your images they need to be more than large snapshots. I am sorry if that sounds really rude but it goes back to my second sentence.

Gosh we are giving you, the enthusiast, a hard time. But if you have the confidence to know you can produce good images I'd challenge Neil's top figure and suggest that you could manage with far less.

Keep chatting and maybe when the US awakes you'll get some other views.

Tony
London UK

[DominicCassidy]

Thank you for your replies chaps. I'm also a Brit by the way. There is positive advice but, I think, judging by the (partial) tone of your replies, I might have offended in some way? Certainly no intention to do so. Perhaps it's the way I phrased my question. I'll try again. I'm not suggesting that just because I happen to be in the "right place" (and God knows, that's debatable) that I can, ergo, become a professional photojournalist. I've no pretensions of taking "snaps" and then assuming that I can sell them to the National Geographic! It's simply that I would like to try to learn and practice as much of the skills of digital photography as possible while I'm out here. But it's slightly more than that - if I was just keen on digital photography per se I would probably be haunting some other poor people on the net. It's specifically digital photojournalism as a career that appeals.

To that end, I wondered if you professionals could put yourselves in my position: which source of technical information would you invest in? Something, say, that Amazon could post to this desolate outpost? In a similar vein, the question of equipment: enough, and of sufficient quality, to attempt to produce photographs that would - were the photographer sufficiently talented - be good enough to grace a portfolio. I can and have looked through the past posts on the subject of equipment. Just wondered if you had anything to add, specific to my situation. Again, there's no photographic shop I can wander round to - equipment would have to be ordered online.

I do take the point about the ethics of using a priviledged position: there's no question I could do that even if I wanted. I work in war crimes investigation, everything we do is confidential and it would be wholly inappropriate to start jumping around with a camera whilst working (not in the sense we're talking about anyway). No, I only mean using the fact of my geographical location - not my job - to gain some experience.

Thanks again.

Dom

[Ed_Foster_Jr]

Dominic,
You can start like most all of us - with one camera and one lens and fumble through the rudimentary steps of just learning which button is which, reading the manual thoroughly, making a lot of exposures, and study and be critical of your own work. While some may have a stronger natural perpensity toward the technical aspects - or storytelling - we all really started at the same place - with that first image.

From that point, seek knowledge if possible from a personal mentor or, if that is unavailable to you from reading and looking. Read to learn how to make good exposures, how to make light work for you, then read some more. Develop a thirst to learn all you can about the craft of photography. Study the work of top photojournalist - look at the work of James Nachteway, for example (access his recent Time article on the Sudan).

A friend of mine taught himself to play the guitar well, simply by sitting down and reading and then playing until his fingter tips bled, and then until he developed callouses. YOU CAN DO THE SAME THING IF YOU DESIRE TO - ALLOW NO ONE TO TELL YOU DIFFERENTLY!

As for camera equipment - start simple. Don't become overwhelmed and become an equipment junkie - it will get into the way of truly learning the craft, first. Keep it simple. Truly great photojournalism does not come by way of a bag full of equipment - it comes from mastery of the photo craft and communications from the heart (journalism).

You might consider starting with a Nikon D-70 kit with its standard lens - and a burning desire to tell the story of what is happening where you are. And truly I tell you, if you have the desire to become a photojournalist and work at it every day until your fingers bleed - you will accomplish your goal.

With Best Regards and Godspeed,

[Ken_Bennett]

[ QUOTE ]
To that end, I wondered if you professionals could put yourselves in my position: which source of technical information would you invest in? Something, say, that Amazon could post to this desolate outpost?

[/ QUOTE ]


Hi, Dom,

A successful photojournalist needs several things: technical mastery of his or her equipment, a creative or artistic eye, and a burning curiosity about the world. The burning curiosity is what drags you out into the world looking for pictures, then the creative eye takes over as you *see* pictures all around you, and the technical mastery translates your creative vision to the printed page.

It sounds like you have the curiosity, or at least a good start toward it. I would humbly suggest that you need to do two things: 1) get out there and shoot, and 2) look at a lot of good pictures.

1) Get out there and shoot. Get your hands on a small digital camera, preferably one with a good wide-angle lens as part of the zoom range. This can be an all-in-one digicam for now, like the Konica-Minolta A-2, or the Nikon Coolpix 8400, or the Canon G-5. (I like the Nikon for its 24mm-equivalent lens.) Learn how to use the camera as an extension of your eyes, and learn how light interacts with your subject. For that matter, learn how *you* interact with your subject. You can certainly buy a 'how-to' photo book, which will help with a lot of the basics, and I am sure that Amazon.com will be happy to help you with this purchase.

2) Look at a lot of good pictures. You can spend a lot of money on photo books at Amazon, but you can also cruise the internet looking at good photojournalism. Look at photos taken over the last hundred years or so by the old masters of the craft. I won't presume to name them all, but I am a big fan of Eisenstadt and Cartier-Bresson. You can start by going to

http://www.magnumphotos.com/c/Home_MAG.aspx

and browsing around their Features page and their Photographers page. The more you, ahem, expose yourself to great photojournalism, the better.

As far as technical stuff goes, I would suggest that you don't really need a huge amount of technical knowledge right now. Learning how to 'see' like a photographer is a higher priority, and should take up more of your time. Set aside time every single day to shoot pictures, and work up-close-and-personal with people as much as possible. (This makes some photographers uncomfortable, but it's a requirement for photojournalists.)

Okay, after writing for several minutes, I agree with the poster who said this was a good topic for a book. Or books. I'll stop here, and see what happens.

Good luck.

Ken Bennett