Director's Column

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I'm not usually big on New Year's resolutions. I rarely make them, I believe it's a better idea to change behavior because you want to, not because of some tradition each January first. Of course that doesn't mean I can't use the occasion of starting a new calendar to state some goals for the coming year.

One of the first orders of business for the region is to build a regional web site. Virtually every other region in NPPA has a site, which puts us very behind in serving our members. The Region One web site should feature winners in the still and TV clips contests, content from One Shot, more frequent columns from the regional director, a calendar of upcoming local, regional and national events and a freelance marketplace. This last item would be a page where NPPA freelance members could post contact information and a web site link and photo editors or individuals could go to look for a photographer when they need to hire a freelancer.

Robin Shotola, a freelance photographer and web designer who has worked at The Day and the Concord Monitor, is the webmaster for the site. The current Region One e-mail list will continue to operate. This list will compliment the web site by being an active voice for the regional leadership and to direct members to content on the web site. Watch that e-mail (and the web site when we get it going) for announcements regarding the next Region One Education Day. Education Day 2002, masterfully chaired by Michelle McLoughlin of the Meriden (CT) Record-Journal, was a qualified success. Attendance was low, but the quality of the program was outstanding and met with rave reviews from all who attended. We're going to build on that success.

Mark your calendars for October 2003, probably either the 18th or 25th, for Education Day 2003 at the Boston University College of Communications. Speaking of BU, my alma mater, I've long held the goal of starting an NPPA student chapter there.

When I was a student we got the initial moves in place, but I graduated before we could take the final steps. Between now and the end of this school year I hope to see things come together. While I'm at it I would like to see all photojournalism students in Region One get better support from the pros in the region. The NPPA primary mission is education and there is so much we need to do.

Very few of these PJ students in the region are in programs that offer much in the way of practical business education. And yet with what the current job market is, many young photojournalists are going to be in the freelance marketplace. The NPPA can, and here in Region One I intend to lead us this way, presenting programs that give these students the knowledge and tools to make it in the field.

On the national level the NPPA faces a number of challenges. At last summer's annual meeting the board approved a new, forward-looking, budget that fundamentally changes the way the organization works. The professional office staff has been expanded to allow volunteers to concentrate on directing the photojournalism content of our programs while the staff take care of the details around sponsorships, planning and logistics. To make this budget work, the NPPA needs to grow. A new membership initiative was launched this winter, called the 2-4-1 Membership Drive. Any NPPA member who recruits two new members to the organization gets their dues paid the following year. Additionally, one lucky member will win a free vacation for two, anywhere in the continental U.S.

Watch your e-mail or check nppa.org for more details. The NPPA's Best of Photojournalism competition is in its second year. Formed on the fly by the NPPA leadership in the wake of the split with the University of Missouri and the Pictures of the Year, the contest was a resounding success in the first year. Entry is free, and thanks to sponsor Merlin One, easy to do online.

Best of Photojournalism is about much more than winning awards. The contest entries will once again be viewable online, and not just winners, but all the entries. This is a great chance for everyone, pros and students, to look at the body of work being done by photojournalists around the world. I encourage you to enter. Encourage your co- workers, friends and colleagues to enter. Win or lose you'll be contributing to a timeless record of the year in photojournalism.

Of course by stating all these goals, I'm putting the rest of you on notice. I can't do much, if any, of this on my own. I need volunteers. I need the volunteers I already have to keep up the good work they've been doing, and I need new people to step forward and take on some of the new tasks.

Oh, and on a personal note, I'm going to be better about going to the gym this year, and see if I can shave a few pounds off my middle.

– Sean

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Editor's Letter

My primary goal is for the magazine to be more than a delivery device for winning print clips. I’d like to see Region One photographers pick up a OneShot on the way to the airport for plane reading. Take it with on long assignments for a little light reading during the down time. For that to happen, the magazine needs to be more than clips. This quarter, we have a Profile with Jim Mahoney of the Boston Herald and a Portfolio section showing work by Bill Plowman, a Boston-based still freelancer. Amaral Santos and I are also brainstorming on ways to include more television news. So plan on taking OneShot with you - for the articles, not just the pictures.

As for print clips. I’d like to clarify deadlines and procedures. For an example, lets say we are entering clips for the month of March.

Step One: Entering the clip contest.
Deadline: by the 7th of each month you send in
previous month’s clips to:
Carrie Niland /
Portsmouth Herald
111 Maplewood Avenue
Portsmouth, NH 03801
Example: For March clips, you will send Carrie clips by April 7.

Step Two: Judging
Clips are judged by a newspaper staff outside Region One. The turnaround time varies, but for the most part, it takes almost a month for results to get back to Carrie.
Example: For March clips, Carrie would receive results by the first week of May.

Step Three: Receiving Results
There are two ways you will find out if you are a clip winner.

1). By mail.
Carrie receives the list of winners from judges. The standard form includes the Region One clip winners from each category plus judges’ comments. She sends this list to each winner within three days of receiving results. Sean Elliot and I also receive a copy.

2). By email.
Within a week of receiving results, Sean Elliot sends a list of clip winners to everyone who signed up with Region One’s email group. To subscribe to Region 1 information go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nppar1 and click on the “join this group” link.
Example: By May 10, you will receive the judging form alerting you of your winning March clip(s).

Step Four: Mailing Winning Clips to OneShot
1). Deadline for mailing clip(s).
From the time you receive results, you have two weeks to send your winning clip(s) to OneShot.
Sean and I will coordinate to include a deadline
on the email clip winners posting.

2). Format.
Send clip(s) as Photoshop file(s) - longest side 10 inches, 200 dpi and as jpeg compressed between 8-10. Burn to a CD and pop it in the mail.

3). Mail to:
Sarah Evans
OneShot Editor
13 Grove Street
Belmont, MA 02478
Example: By May 24 your March clip(s), on a CD, will be in my office.

One note: when out on assignment, take a photo of your friendly TV cameraperson. Send me a copy for NewsViews Photos. Thanks to Bob Thayer / Providence Journal for including nice notes with his clips to both Carrie and me. And John Woike / Hartford Courant wins for most creative use of a manila folder and napkin to wrap a CD.

– Sarah

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Guest Column - The state of newspapers. Posted August 2002.
by Christopher Assaf

A sad day has come in the photojournalism world. Shawn Patrick Ouellette, chief photographer at the Journal Tribune, and a former colleague of mine at the Biddeford, Maine paper, told me he will resign effective Thursday, August 01, 2002. Despite his protestations, and those of the editors, publisher Wayne Powell has determined the journalism in the Journal Tribune, with photographs, design and coverage, was not working. He has decided to reduce the size of photographs, micro-manage the staff and focus photo coverage toward pictures of children (send a photographer to a playground and run as many pictures with faces as you can, he supposedly said) and use mugshots to excess. A recent example from Monday; six stories and six photos on the front page with a heavy reliance upon the Associated Press.

This compared to the old average of two photos and five stories on front with a judicious use of Associated Press – and a willingness to be flexible with usage and the story count if necessary.The problem is the flawed idea, tried many times before, amounts to a quick fix that will kill the patient instead of curing the disease. Instead of adding staff, creating a stronger news report (something the JT tried to do, and succeeded at much of the time, despite staff limitations) and spending money for promotion and solid branding, they are going to blame the staff and their work. This despite the awards, kudos and respect the Journal Tribune as a whole has won throughout the years.

Taking a look at what preceded the circulation declines and the current plan it appears ludicrous to blame the current work as imply it is not working. The staff did not decide to shrink the paper's newshole and circulation area in 1995-96. Also, they are not the ones who turned to layoffs in 1993, a time when circulation, at 14,500, was at its highest. Powell's ideas are short term, small-picture thinking for long-brewing ills. It is like using a small adhesive bandage when someone has a wound the size of a grapefruit. The real problems were not addressed in the past and are still not addressed in the present. The need to add staff – so time can be spent processing and creating stories that delve beyond the obvious – and produce thoughtful, original journalism that not only informs and enlightens, but also serves and provokes.

I think in this day and age something like this is a travesty, not only to the staff photographers – who will now bel looked at as button pushers by the publisher, where quantity means more than quality, instead of visual reporters--but in underestimating the readers. Meaningless glimpses into the obvious should be left to others, not a paper with the national and regional stature of the Journal Tribune. It has built a culture respected by readers and peers. Subscribers need, and deserve, more than what Mr. Powell is going to give them. The foundation and work of Sandy Marsters – the former managing editor who in the early 1980s promoted strong photojournalism and a good looking paper – and John Metzger and all the others, will now end after almost twenty years. Though not the same since the recession of the early 90s, the Journal Tribune still played photographs great.

They won awards in the Best Usage category of Pictures of the Year until 1997. Despite loss of a photo editor and later an internship program, great effort was made to make great photographs and essays. They recently had a Region 1 photographer of the year, Tom Rettig, carrying on what was started by Carl D. Walsh in 1989. Now the
philosophy of thoughtful photojournalism and usage will end and mug shots and as many faces as possible will be plastered all over the paper of York County, Maine in an effort to bump circulation in the short term. A tradition will waste away and shortly die despite the efforts of those who remain. It is doubtful the paper will continue to draw some of the best photojournalists in the country, who were paid very little for the work done, with this attitude.

Hopefully this will not be lost on the readers and the rest of Southern Maine. The readers who always called or wrote and appreciated the commitment of their local paper to visual reporting. The readers who rarely, if ever, questioned the size or visual challenges of the photographs. I am saddened, but proud, I worked for the Journal Tribune, Biddeford, Maine. A newspaper that never operated under the assumption of being small – until now.

- Christopher T. Assaf
  Journal Tribune Chief Photographer,
  September 1994-January 1997
  ctassaf@earthlink.net

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February 10, 1971 may well have been the blackest day in modern photojournalism history. In the mist-shrouded mountains of the Vietnamese-Laos border a South Vietnamese Air Force helicopter wasbrought down by hostile fire, killing photographers Henri Huet of the Associated Press, Kent Potter of UPI, Keisaburo Shimmamoto, a freelancer working for Newsweek, and Larry Burrows of Life Magazine.

Three of the photographers were close personal friends. I had mentored Kent Potter when he was a stringer for UPI in Philadelphia. Henri Huet was one of my first hires when II was the photo chief forUPI in Saigon in the mid 1960s and Larry Burrows was the consummate professional that I looked up to as my role model.

Larry Burrows was not only an artist with his camera, but truly a gentleman. I mean that in every sense of the word. He was gentle, with a heart that cried out in empathy to his subjects as he photo-graphed them in the midst of war. His photographs from Vietnam represent some of the iconic images of that conflict. Now, three decades after his death, his son, Russell Burrows has assembled Larry's most powerful images in a new book, published by Knopf, which we are pleased to excerpt in this issue.

Larry's friends and colleagues, David Halberstam, Gloria Emerson, Richard Pyle, and Horst Faas write of the man they knew and loved. We also present an excerpt from a film by Patrick Chauvel, “Reporters de Guerre” showing Larry Burrows at work.

If Vietnam was a crucible of fire for my generation of photojournalists, the wars in the Gulf and Balkans served that purpose for today's photojournalists.

Roger Richards was a young freelance photographer covering the Siege of Sarajevo in 1995. This war was every bit as punishing for the journalists covering it as was Vietnam. The casualty rate among photo-graphers was very high and the conditions were even more miserable. Roger’s coverage of that war left indelible memories and has influenced his life since then in many ways.

He married a young woman he met during the Siege, and since then has been working on a documentary project, “Seven Lilies” about the devastation of what was once one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. We present his portfolio along with an excerpt from the film.

We have often discussed the rapid and dramatic changes taking place in photojournalism, regardless of whether it is still or TV. This month Terry Heaton offers us some profound commentary on howtelevision, like it or not, is about to enter the postmodern world, and what that implies for the profession. Contributing Editor Jim Parisi echoes many of the same sentiments as he explores the mindset of television executives, and suggests it is time they awaken to the new realities.

Tom Hubbard contributes a thoughtful essay onthe comparison between photojournalism and the “Potter's Wheel”, and Mark Loundy calls for a new "Manhattan Project" to try to come to grips with the new business climate in which photographers find themselves.

With concerns about the coming war with Iraq dominating the planning in many newsrooms as they deploy their personnel to cover the battle,Contributing Editor Pat Sloyan offers some advice in his column “Get Down!”

Contributing Editor Peter Howe writes about the new importance of museums as part of photojournalism's business model.

In his “Nuts and Bolts” column, Bill Pierce continues his look at the arguments pro and con between digital and film, as he looks into the darkroom.

Finally, Jim Colburn evaluates the new Canon EOS1-Ds, which sets new standards for resolution in a pro photojournalism camera.

More than a million of you came to our package by Peter Turnley “The Unseen Gulf War.” Our letters to the editorshow that this feature stirred fierce debate. We feel that this is part of our purpose – toprovide an arena where we can present the sort of features that you just can't find in traditional media. We hope you continue to come back.

- Dirck Halstead / Editor and Publisher

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IN THIS MONTH'S ASSIGNMENT SHEET
The Assignment Sheet for February contains a full plate of diverse commentary.

Mark Neuling is a video cameraman from TechTV and writes from a videographer's perspective. His journal, “Big Mac visits Bahgdad by the Bay” describes the logistics and problems of covering the MacWorld Conference in San Francisco last month. New York City freelancer, Susan Markisz relates a problem that many can identify with regarding a reporter who is clueless when it comes to working with a photographer. Read all about it in “Waiting Game.” T.C. Baker, a staffer for the Victoria (TX) Advocate, answers a common question often asked by peopleoutside of this profession. “How can you take pictures of people in some of the most horrible situations?" Read his answer in “How you do what you do”.

- Dick Kraus / Editor
  The Assignment Sheet on The Digital Journalist

Republished in OneShot with permission


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Last year, Jim Mahoney was promoted to Director of Photography at the Boston Hearald

The Herald bought the Community Newspaper Company. How is it going?
Yes, that has been a very very good marriage. Its been a very successful business association. And I think the publisher is very pleased. And its a success in tough economic times. I think there were some hard choices that had to be made early on and some folks were let go but in the big picture its been a tremendous success. Its bolstered the CNC papers and bolstered the Herald.

Are you photo director at both Herald and CNC?
No. They broke the CNC regionally, there are six or seven other folks and photographers and department managers that handle their staffs. We have an inter-paper wire service called the Herald Wire
service. It allows papers to work together. The
CNC papers have the opportunity to pick up all the Herald photos. We put photos up there every night. So you’ll frequently see some sharing of stuff. However, they’ve done a good job of maintaining their independence and maintaining their product and their staffs.

How long have you worked at the Herald?
19 1/2 years. Almost 20 years.

What is the paper’s circulation?
Anywhere between about 250,000 and 280,000.

How many photographers on staff at the Herald?
Fifteen fulltime staffers, two parttime, two photo techs and four editors.

Since becoming Director of Photography five months ago, what has the staff been up to?
When I got the job we rolled right into Sept. 11th coverage. Kuni and George went to New York and, of course, we hit it hard up here. The aborted Patriots run, the Superbowl champs. That looked like it was going to be a really good run. We’ve also had the whole church scandal. Though not particularly great photos, it was in itself a great news story. A powerful news story. We’ve had people out and about. We sent Tara down to Washington for the sniper. She was there for two or three days. She did a good job down there.

We’ll see how this Gulf War thing plays itself out and how we’ll handle that. We covered the peace rallies in Washington DC. We’re doing some cool stuff. The folks are moving around here.

We’re little short of staff. We’re at about 1984 staff levels. Believe it or not, we’re down six or seven bodies from just a couple, three years ago. But I guess that has worked out better. Everyone has a few more assignments now, they’re a little bit busier. But at the same notion, everyone is hopping.

Does the staffing shortage impact you in meetings? Are you having to think a little more on what or how you cover things?
No. I think not. The goal of this job is to adapt. We’ll cover as much as we can. We’ll keep people over. We’ll make it work. We’ll bring in freelancers. If our staff is dried up and we’ve got no one else in house, we’ll go outside. We’ll cover as much as we can. This is a picture paper. And we use pictures. The amount of picture play we get everyday is
really good.

Now that you’re a boss, what are some annoying traits of staff photographers?
Yeah. I was there and I was part of it when I was on staff. I think the one thing you suddenly notice when you’re on this side of it, when you’re on the receiving end of it as opposed to the shooting end of it is ahhh....is, is, I think... You know I don’t want to get anyone in trouble.

I ask this question because while watching Entertainment Tonight late one night an actor who became a director was asked about the differences in the two roles. In general, what are the differences between being a staffer and a photo director?
Okay. One is the whole creative end. And like I said, I’m not casting aspersions. I was definitely part of it. The whole idea of coming up with ideas as opposed to just working straight off the desk; as opposed to showing up at 10 in the morning and saying ‘what are my assignments today?’ You know, there is the other half. And as a photographer, I don’t think I truly understood that responsibility. Now that I’m on the other end of it, it just hammers home the fact that, no, I didn’t truly understand it or appreciate that responsibility.

More than anything else, I try to treat the folks on staff as professionals and all I want back, and I’ll
say this publically, is just a professional return. You work hard at your job and you’ve got to get it done.
Another thing, and I was there, I rolled my eyes at assignments because some assignments are tedious.

Some are just outright annoying. But as professionals you’ve got to step up to the plate and do the best you can.

Is there an assignment you’ve had that stands out in your mind?
Oh man, the lights go on forever, there are so many assignments I did like. I thoroughly enjoyed being part of the Patriots over the years. My Northern Ireland trip was a great trip. I did that twice and that just got better. It was just a phenomenal opportunity. Northern Ireland was as close as I came to covering that kind of activity at an almost international flavor. Very exciting. The Ryder Cup right here in town a couple of years ago. That was mind boggling it was so much fun. I’m a golfer too so it was double the pleasure. It was just wild. But over the years there have been so many great opportunities. Three Superbowls. A world series. Back in the heyday with the Celtics.

There were assignments that were very difficult. And remain difficult. Yet, as a professional you’ve got to do them. Handouts are very difficult. Grieving families. Interestingly enough the one thing I’ve always found with grieving families, for all the trepidation you have about knocking on the door, it is very curious how often you are readily received. It has always amazed me. That part of the human condition blows my mind. A couple strangers, one with a camera, show up at your door to talk about a recently deceased relative, son daughter, mother, father. And the percentage of times that we were openly received; people like to talk about their families.

When they have that opportunity to express that on a public forum, most people would take that chance.

If there was a tragedy in your family, would you let the press in?
Oh, yeah. Yeah. I think so.

Biggest career regret?
I have one. I passed on the opportunity to go to the first Gulf War. But there were some extenuating circumstances. I was supposed to go but I bailed out on it. In retrospect, I wish I would have just pulled up my bootstraps and done it. That was one. There were some other issues at the time. I don’t want to get in to the personal. But its not because I didn’t have the opportunity to go, I did. And I think that's the difference. Its easy 10 years later to look back on that and know now that I should have just simply done it. Basically I’ve covered other things, certainly not on the level of that, like the Northern Ireland thing. You get a little taste of that and it tastes

Do you think photographers shoot better with digital cameras?
No.

Why not?
I’m not so sure if its digital. I just had this conversation with a friend, with Mark Semeans, and he was saying that on film when he didn’t have the opportunity check off the camera back to see what you’ve got - you tend to be much more relaxed, you tend to accept more readily. And I don’t disagree with him. You look at the frame and go ‘ah, that’s good enough.’ As opposed to the old film days where you said ‘geez, I don’t know if that’s good enough therefore I’m going to make a few more frames.’ Or ‘I’ll try this.’ You didn’t know what you were always getting with film. You hoped and envisioned what you may get but until you actually saw the end results, you didn’t know. The old joke was: don’t tell me what you’ve got until you see it. And I think that was very true. Shooting with film you tend to work assignments harder.

The other thing that has almost killed our business is zoom lenses. I think zoom lenses, as convenient as they are, make us more lazy. I don’t think there is a photographer in America that will deny that charge. With manual lenses you were forced to get closer and/or back off. With a zoom lens, you can just stay in one spot and that doesn’t necessarily mean you will make a better picture. Sometimes moving closer you change your perspective, you change the angle, you change the dynamics of the photo.

Of course by moving back, the background is out of focus, the longer lenses you use, you get more detailed photos.

So I’m not so sure if its digital per se or zooms. But I think there is some tendency with digital photography to get lazy. Accepting what you have rather than pushing the envelope a little bit.

Name two favorite artists either alive or dead.
You know its funny, I don’t consider myself an artist. For me to look back, I’ve always drawn on so many different influences to copy work from. I’ve always liked Monet and impressionists. And Fitz Hugh Lane.

If you could hire any photographer, current or from the past, to work here or to work with in general?
There are just so many. This is such a good staff here. Outside of staff here? -so not to offend my staff here. I don’t think there is any need to go farther than locally. My staff excluded. I’d go will Billy Green. Jimmy Davis, probably one of the finest sports and news guys around. Their both Globe guys. But I worked with Jimmy here for eight years. And I went to school with Billy. Bob Briedenbach at the ProJo. Good guy and great sports shooter.

There are so many friends and colleagues out there that to name one would be unfair. I’ve had the opportunity to work with a bunch of really cool folks. Good shooters.

If you believe in reincarnation - what would you come back as?
I think I have the greatest job in the world. I swear to God I wouldn’t change it. When I was a senior
in college, my real senior year, my forth year, and failing engineering miserably at this point. It had become clear to me that engineering was not happening. Both my mother, my father and my grandfather were all newspaper people. Both my mom and dad worked at the Globe as reporters. I had got on with the school newspaper at UMass and I remember saying ‘I could do this, this is fun. I understand what this is all about.’ So I called my folks, and asked for enough money for one more year. I wanted to change my major.

My father said “To what?” and I said “To journalism.” And there was this long pause on the end of the phone and then this little laugh and he said “Yeah, we can help you out don’t worry about it.” And he told me “Well, you’ll have a hell of a lot of fun but you won’t make any money.”

And you know what, 23 years later in the business, or whatever its been now, I can totally concur with that. He hit that right on the head. This is the greatest job you’ve got. To go out and be party to local events, to be part of a town.

When I worked in Gloucester, a small town newspaper, you were part of the fabric of that community. It was great feeling. People who dismiss small newspapers are wrong. Sure, its great working in a metro environment with all its benefits. But you know what? When I was in Gloucester it was a very special time. Two years of my career that I never would have traded.

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