MyStory Blog

Throughout the process of this course we have had to keep a blog. At first, I thought this would be a series of small written assignments that, ultimately, would have no real connection or purpose for being online. I could not have been more wrong. By keeping a blog throughout this course, I can see how I've progressed as a student by reflecting on and referencing previous work to improve.
This course was designed around a central blog. It was where are assignments were posted and how we could turn in our work. What we did not realize in the process what how useful this "archive" of work could be when we were completing the class and creating our MyStory.

Picturing "The Other"

A tourist dives off a dock in Key West, Fla. during sunset in August 2010.

That same tourist then joined his friends to watch the sunset.

I took these photos while I was on vacation in Key West, Fla. celebrating the end on my internship with The Miami Herald. I chose to "work" while on vacation because it had been a long time since I had taken photos for myself and not on assignment.
My background as a multimedia journalist helped me compose these photographs and use them to tell a short story. It is very clear that the tourists were jumping off the dock to watch the sunset.
I decided to make the subjects silhouetted so I could properly expose the background. If I tried to keep the subjects lit, I would have needed a flash or to overexpose the background, losing the colors of the Key West sunset.

These same people might take a photograph of me on the dock, because I had multiple cameras with me and a tripod. I did not look like a tourist - I looked like I was working. When taking these pictures, multiple tourists, artists and other photographers approached me to talk about the pictures I was making.
"The Other" would definitely make the assumption that I was working. Their caption would most likely read, "Photographer takes photographs of sunset in Key West, Fla."

I think it is important to take in account the perception of your subject while taking photographs of them - even on vacation. Though I do this on a daily basis for work. It is best to "shoot first, ask questions later." The assumption must be taken into consideration when framing the photograph. I could have just taken a shot of tourists in the water without the sunset and they would not have nearly the purpose, or interest, than if I included the sunset.
A different way of representing "The Others" in this setting would be to ask them to pose for a photograph and let them choose how they wish to be perceived by letting them pose. This is not journalistic, but in this setting, it was not an assignment.

Altering an Image

Altering an image can be extremely detrimental to both a newspaper's reputation and a photographer's career. Many do this to make there image better, but others alter a photograph to make it suitable for publication.
For example: if a photograph had a profane word in it, the editor could simply photoshop it out. I am going to use a photo from the Dove World Outreach Center as an example. This photograph does not have profanity, but it does have some writing in the background that could be offensive to some. The trailer in the back says "International Burn a Koran Day 9/11/2010 6PM-9PM."

Pastor Terry Jones walks out of the Dove World Outreach Center to address the media.

There was a major issue in reporting this story because of the unnecessary attention Pastor Terry Jones was getting. An editor might argue they do not want to advertise the time and place of the Koran burning - so they take out this information in the photograph.

This is the same photograph without the information on the Koran burning in the background. (DO NOT PUBLISH)

As you can see, by taking out the information on the Koran burning it alters the photo significantly. While the Pastor is still walking from his church and addressing the media, the lack of information on the trailer doesn't give the reader an immediate sense of what is going on, where the subject is and why he is in the news.
This is a horrible practice in the news media and has been done many times.
Here is another example of photoshopping an image to improve the look of the image for publication.

The Economist removed certain people from this photograph to give a cleaner look to their cover photo.

This has been an issue since the start of newspaper photo publication. A complete history of altered images can be found at this website: http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/farid/research/digitaltampering/

Forest Gump at the Terry Jones Press Conference

I think if Forest Gump made his way into the mayhem that was the Terry Jones' Qur'an burning it would offer some simplistic insight into how ridiculous the events that surrounded the week before Sept. 11, 2010 really were.

Terry Jones met with a number of religious leaders and had his fare share of fights with news reporters over the week of international coverage. If Forest Gump was able to meet with Terry Jones and explain some of this mother's logic to him, it would be interesting to see the reaction from the crazy pastor.

The media had interviewed hundreds of different people from all over the world before Sept. 11, 2010 to get their insight into the Qur'an burning. If Forest Gump was interviewed, I would have changed the events by having him influence the decisions of other extremists into calming down their actions. In the movie, he tends to use his over simplification as a solution to many problems, and he also creates many ideas such as the "Shit Happens" slogan and the smiley-face T shirt.

Terry Jones obviously thought he was right and did not want to listen to any other solution to his mission. If Forest Gump were to meet with him and hold a press conference, I think it would prove to be a comedic and simple outcome. If the movie taught any lesson it was that some of the worlds major issues, such as racism and segregation, are non-existant in the minds of people like Forest Gump who were raised to respect everyone.

There have been many complex events to happen around the world since the release of Forest Gump and the timeframe the movie has been based upon. It shows there are some incredibly simple solutions to the world's problems which a character like Forest Gump would solve.

Forest's reactions would be of disgust, and it would be shocking to him. I think if it were a part of the movie there would definitely be a flashback to some of the values his mother taught him.

Icon of Journalism

The New York Times logo is the iconic image of the journalism industry. It is internationally recognized and symbolized as "great journalism." Once you have been published in the times, you have made it as a journalist. The word "times" stands as a metonym for the publication and a status symbol in the industry.
For example:
Someone might say, "He works for the Times." Meaning, he works for The New York Times, not meaning a date or time. It surpasses other publications with the word "Times" in their nameplate.
The nameplate style has not changed since its original publication in 1851. Though the name from "New-York Daily Times," to "New-York Times," to the current "The New York Times" has changed, the font and style created has stayed consistent for over 150 years. Forever symbolizing great journalism with the recognizable logo.
Other industries may have a generic logo, such as "RX" for Pharmacy, but journalism is one of the few industries where a flagship corporation leads the standard for excellence in its respective field.

"The New York Times" nameplate was first used in December of 1896, and has stayed consistent since. 

Additional letters have been added to font since the introduction of the NYT Magazine and The International Herald Tribune, but the style stays the same.
The font has also been adapted to a single "T," for copyright purposes and for logo. This recognizable "T" proves that the font has been so ingrained into our minds that only a fraction of the title can be shown, and the public will immediately recognize the reference.

The "T" logo has been used for The New York Times Magazine since 2004.

It takes millions of views and hundreds of years for a symbol like the "T" of "The New York Times" to be as recognized as it is today, but it also shows how impressionable the public is toward design and advertising. The tropes that are associated with logos, designs and advertising are not always easily recognizable, but they are after inferred without us even knowing it.

If you pick up a publication with the nameplate of The New York Times you expect to get a quality product. This is also why many other news organizations have tried to mimic The New York Times' nameplate.

The Washington Post was founded in 1877 and has a similar nameplate as The New York Times.

This "old english" font has become recognizable as a newspaper heading since before The New York Times was a great newspaper. It is only in the recent decades that The New York Times has stood as the pillar of great journalism and recognized by the "T" logo.

An Indiviudal Responsibility

I feel that in today's society, the way we perceive images has changed due to overexposure of what used to be taboo topics. The judgement of an individual has been tainted by a lack of responsibility on their part when searching for such images.
Susan Sontag states in her book In Regarding the Pain of Others, “Transforming is what art does, but photography that bears witness to the calamitous and the reprehensible is much criticized if it seems ‘aesthetic;’ that is, too much like art” (76). She also goes on to day that war photography is "beautiful."
I agree with Sontag's statements on how culture chooses to judge photographs, but I also think it is the overexposure due to unlimited access via the Internet that has caused much of this chaotic storm over photos of dead soldiers or grouse scenes of war. War photographs are unique in the fact that they tell a story that few may ever experience and no two are alike. These should be preserved, not transformed into grouse examples for political gain. When these pictures show up outside of the privacy of our laptops there is an immediate reaction by others for viewing them. I think the "art" in war photography has been lost. It is an art form to take a great war photograph, just like it involves great skill and determination to make a great painting. This can be seen in Clint Eastwood's 2006 film Letters from Iwo Jima.
In Eastwood's film, the main characters are just that - characters. Similar to fictitious person in a painting, his work of art is the story. While it was based on real letters and factual knowledge of the battle on Iwo Jima - by personifying these people in character in a movie is creating art. Just like creating a good photograph in wartime. It is the response of the public which ultimately judges the images Eastwood has created. Decades ago, Eastwood's movie might have no even been showed because of its graphic nature. Because the public has been overexposed to the horrific images of war, they are not as likely to last out against a film like this one.
I feel like no image should ever be censored, but I also believe that the general population has a moral responsibility to judge for themselves what is good and bad in a war photograph. It is not up to Eastwood to censor his work, just as it is not up to the news organization to dictate what images should be seen. The overexposure is a problem with the individual not the public as a whole. An individual should educate themselves on a topic like Iwo Jima before believing or judging any photograph they see. It is also important for captions to carefully explain exactly what is going on to prevent any false judgements.

A Bipolar Facebook

My Facebook persona is really two persons in one. I have used my facebook page to promote my work as a multimedia journalists and to stay in touch with friends and family.

My professional facebook page.

I think the amount of friends I have one facebook does reflect on my persona. While I do not personally know 1,332 people by name, I think the fact that I have had some sort of contact with these people reflects the kind of person I am - outgoing an willing to talk to complete strangers. This also can be applied to photos that I am tagged in. I have taken down pictures in the past that have reflected poorly on my online persona. While I do not drink often, I do go to house parties where there are large amounts of alcohol, and photos of me in that setting could be detrimental to the persona I am trying to keep online.

The ESPN facebook page.

There are some aspects of my life that I choose to leave out entirely on Facebook. These include: relationship status, religious affiliation, political affiliation, sexual preference and the year of my birthday. I do this for more professional reason than personal reasons, but if you really want to know these things, just have a conversation with me and stop stalking my Facebook page. Items like these can be detrimental to someone if they are friends with coworkers, bosses or potential employers on Facebook that could disagree with your political views or religious affiliation. While this is illegal, it is still commonly practiced in the professional world.

Even my personal facebook page includes photos of me working and promotes my freelance multimedia work.

My Facebook is drastically different than the family photo album, home videos or journal. Because anyone can post to my page and add to my persona, there are aspects of my life, photos or information, that I would have forgotten to add to a journal or never said in a home video. The pictures on my Facebook page are not all posed Christmas-family photos. There are candid shots of me working taken by other photographers that are some of my favorite photos, because I did not know they were being taken.
I value my online persona greatly, and because I'm in the communications industry, I know the importance of keeping a clean online persona.