Guide To Photojournalism

Citation preview

AP As s ociate d Press

Second Edition

BRIAN

HaRTaN

Ap Associaled Press

Guide lO Pholoiournalism Second Edltion

Briao Horloo

McGraw·Hill New York San Francisco Washington, D.C. Auckland Bogota Caracas lisbon london Madrid Mexico City Milan Montreal New Delhi San Juan Singapore Sydney Tokyo Toronto

This book is dedicated to Fred Wright, Jack Schwadel, Tom diLustro, Billlngraham and the thousands 01 other photographers and photo editors who have inspired us, There is so much we can learn includiQij ,epQ,~ey lesson: content is what counts.

Post-war portrait. Michael Nash, Warsaw, 1946 Willie Mays makes spring training catch, Uncredited, Phoenix, 1956

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Associated Press Guide To PhotO¡ournalism

Contents Foreword

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About tbe Autbor

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From lb. Aulhor

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1. INTROOUCTlON

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2. THE lOOK: Composition, Style, Cropping

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 28

3. NEWS: Sensitivity, Thinking, Instinct and Curiosity

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 54

4. FEATURES ANO PORTRAITS: Seeing the World Around Us

•••••••••••••••••••••••• 18

5. SPORTS: Peak Action and Telling Reaction

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 102

6.lESSONS: Experience is the Best Teacher

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 128

1.lIGHTlNG: Using Light to Your Advantage

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 184

8. ElECTRONIC PHOTOGRAPHY: Pictures Without Film Contributors

Associated Press Guide To Photojournalism

••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 202

221

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McGraw-Hül

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Ao;.,;,;."o(1lIt~Hl/I~C

© Copyright 2001 The Associated Press Second Edition. AH rights reserved. Printed in the United States 01 America. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no par! 01 this publication may be reproduced ordistributed in any lorm orbyany means orstored ina database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission 01 the publisher. ISBN: 0-07-136387-4 McGraw-HiII books are available at special quantity discounts to use as premiums and sales promotions, orforuse in corporate training programs. For more information, please write to the Director 01 Special Sales, McGraw-HiII, 2 Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121. Orcontact your local bookstore. Book design by Loren Fisher Layout byElf Multimedia, www.ElfMultimedia.com 56789DBAN/BAND9876

Olher Tilles in The Associaled Press Series Associated Press Broadcast News Handbook

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Foreword nformation seekers demanding to "see" what others write about has made the role of pictures vital in the world's information flow of the 21st century. Driven by this need, the use of pictures as information is changing - more pictures are dramatically used, there is greater reliance on visual devices to tell stories and provide insight. This new , intense use of the visual boils down to photography. And that is what this book, the Associated Press Cuide to Photojournalism, is all about. The author, Brian Horton, has a unique background for this volume. He is educated in journalism; he has worked as a photographer and has covered virtually every kind of story news people encounter; he has been a picture editor. In rhe latter capacity he has planned the work of photography and reviewed the work of photographers. He is young enough to recognize the good in the new, and old enough to save the best of the pasto This book is not a manual. Much has been written elsewhere about the technology of photography, how to operate a camera, how to judge exposure, how to crop pictures and plan a printed page or a dot-com screen. This book is about the essence of photography, about the editor and photographer's minds at work seeking the most elusive of all journalistic ends, a fine picture that tells those who see it something about thcir world. To put it another way, this book is about contento 1 assure you, as a journalist who has coped with the challenges of technology and content, that content is more difficult. The precious skill - "seeing the story" and therefore providing meaningful content - is developed in a variety of ways. It requires education, experience, desire, knowledge, insight and that rarest factor of all, talent. And using all those factors in one instant to provide a picture that tells us more then we knew before. It takes a lifetime to learn to do that. No one ever masters ir cornpletely because there is always a bit of serendipity in every new situation the picture journalist faces. What this book does is take you into the minds of photographers who have dealt with a broad spectrum of assignmems. The best of

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them will tell you that the old adage is true: Chance favors the prepared mind. To help the picture journalist meet the challenge of preparation, the Associated Press Cuide to Photojournalism creates an opportunity few other books on photography offer. Horton, through his interviews, gives the reader the benefit of the years of experience, the hours and days of preparation, the grasp of insight and other skills fine photographers bring to each assignment. y ou will walk with photographers in Vietnam; chase a tornado with another cameraman; learn about the tedium of hours and days of waiting for the great picture that then comes in a cat's wink of time; you will move through the human debris of an air crash. Horton also offers the picture journalist a look at digital photography, both the good and the not so good aspects of film-less photos, and the challenge this technology brings to content and to credibility. In short, the careful reader of the Associated Press Cuide to Photojournalism will have the opportunity to share the telescoped experience and talents of others who have done the job well and are willing to share their knowledge.

Hal Buell AP Photo Editor lretiredJ

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AboUI Ibe AUlbor Brian Horton, Associated Press senior photo editor for sports, is a 29-year veteran of the news cooperative. His coverage resume, as a photographer and photo editor, includes the World Series, the Super Bowl, horse racing's Triple Crown, the Winter and Summer Olympics since 1984, World Cup soccer, the Indianapolis 500, the major golf tournaments, the Final Four, the NBA Finals and many other large sports events. He also has covered news events ranging from the Persian Gulf War in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to coal mine disasters, presidential campaigns and political conventions. Horton grew up in Indiana and attended Indiana University before joining the AP in Chicago in 1971 as a photo editor. He later had assignments as a staff photographer in Philadelphia and Cincinnati, was Ohio NewsPhoto Editor based in Columbus and transferred to New York in 1982 as Photo Enterprise Editor. Horton was named LaserPhoto Network Director in 1987 and was named Senior Photo Editor for Sports in 1992. In addition to his photo editing duties, Horton has lectured here and abroad on topics including color photo usage and reproduction, informational graphics and photojournalism. In 1986, Horton was honored by the National Press Photographers Assoeiation for his manual on improving color usage and also for the workshops he conducted on the topie. Horton is the author of an AP book, Tbe Pieture, the predecessor to this edition, published in 1989, which was extensively used as a text for college and young professional photographers. With his wife, Marilyn Dillon, he was the picture editor for another AP book, Moments in Sports, a compilation of noted sports photos from the AP's archive. In 2000, Horton was named winner of the Gramling Achievement Award, given for his significant contributions to the news report and the overall success of the AP. Horton and his wife live in suburban New Jersey. Assaciated Press Gulde To Photo¡oumallsm

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From Ibe AUlbor This book has been an education for me. With a phone pressed to my ear as 1 made notes, I've listened to hours of wonderful, horrible, inspirational and thoughtful moments related by the photographers, photo editors, educators and journalists who are the contributors to this book. The stories they have told, the insights they have offered, the lessons they have shared have made me proud to be pan of the fraternity of photojournalists. It has been an honor to be allowed inside their thought processes. To hear how they handled various situations. To hear about their triumphs and their failures. To marvel at how open they would all be to helping other photojournalists get a step ahead in this business we are pan of. More than ten years ago, 1 wrote the first edition of this book. At the time, 1 expressed the hope that the book would provide the basic building blocks for a photojournalist. 1 didn't promise suggestions on which lens to use, or what shutter speed to set a camera, but 1 did promise the book would provide a peek behind the scenes. The thought process of photography, as it were. Since that first book carne out, 1 have gotten dozens of letters from students, young professionals, teachers and even a few more-seasoned professionals, and met photographers on assignments, who have read the book. They have been kind in their praise and compliments and one even told me he had inspirational quotes from the book on the wall of his darkroom. But it was the contributors to that book and to this new edition who deserve the praise. They had lived it and were willing to share. A book like this doesn't come together in a vacuum. Obviously, the people quoted gave so much of their time. But, even more, there were people behind the scenes who gave so willingly, too. My wife, Marilyn Dillon, offered suggestions and encouragement during the formative stages which made the book a lot better than it would have been. Her input is stamped throughout. For that, a simple thanks isn't enough. 8

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Chuck ZoelIer of the AP's photo library pulIed my bacon out of the fire more than once. Suggestions on content and help in tracking down an errant image or two were among the things he did. The AP's Sports Photo Desk crew (Paul Kazdan, Melissa Einberg, Tracy Gitnick and Dan DerelIa) covered for me while 1 had my head in the book and never let a thing drop through the cracks. For their vigilance, my thanks. Finally, I'd like to thank Hal BuelI, my mentor, an inspiration, and a source for aH things journalistic for so many years. He's the person who pushed American newspapers into the digital age, the person who is the walking history lesson of photojournalism in the latter stages of the 20th century. And, a dear friend who never says no when you need someone to talk with, For alI of that, thanks. And, to aH of my AP colIeagues, and the photojournalists I've met and worked with from newspapers and magazines over the years, a thank you for alIowing me to share a bench with you on the front row of history.

BrianNonon long Beaeh Island. NJ. 2000

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Introduction t can be a picture of a trio of men fighting the elements as hurricane-whipped waves wash ahorne into the ocean. The fury of the storm captured in a picture by a photographer who isn't afraid to get wet doing his jobo It can be a picture of a tiny youngster playfully trying to push back his hulking opponent, a Sumo wrestler. Not an earthshaking moment of history, but a fun pieture that makes you smile. It can be a picture of hundreds of flash bulbs going off at once as fans try to capture slugger Mark McGwire hitting a record home runo Thinking on the part of the phorojournalist of a different way to tell a story. It can be a picture, an instant recording,

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of a heavily armed government agent reaching for young Cuban immigrant Elian Gonzalez. The photo would elicit emotional responses from people on both sides of the political issue and fuel heated discussions about the government intervention, too. It can be a picture, a portrait really, of a young boy with a small bunch of flowers in his hand on his way to pay his respects to Mother Teresa. His eyes lock on to the viewer of the photo. It can be a picture of a lone bagpiper leaving his footsteps in the dew as he strides into the mists after an emotional memorial service for a popular golfer who has died tragically. The viewer can't he1p but feel the sadness of the momento

Opposite page: David Longstreath, Calcutta, 1997

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Introduction

Alan Diaz, Miami, 2000 (top); Amy Sancetta, Leominster, Mass. , 1998 (above left); Paul Sakuma, San Jose, Calif., 1993 (right)

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Introduction

Pat Sullivan, Houston, 1999 (Ieft); Dave Martin, Key West, Fla., 1998 (below right); Ed Reinke, SI. l.ouis, 1998 (bottom)

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Introduction City bom bing, which struck at the heart of It can be a pictu re, a portrait of sorts, of the inventor of the pink flamingo surAmerica in th e worst domestic terrorism case in its history, or a smoky house fire rounded by his wares. A slice of Am erith at displaces a family, have the same miscana. It 's all photojournalism, sion - to convey the enormity of th e event in human terrns. Telling a story with a picture, reporting Phorograp hers covering the last out of with a camera, recording a moment in the World Series or th e last time, the fleeting instant seconds of a high school when an image sums up a basketball game have the story. Henri Cartier-Brestakes a special same mtsston -- to capture son called it the "decisive kind of passion for pho- the essence of th e winner's mome nt." H appiness, sadness, tojournalism to be suco happiness, and the lonely moments and despair of the accomplishment, failure, cessful. Passion that losers. relief, fear, death -- the elevates one photoqraMoments that are part of mosaic of Out lives captured our history - big and small. on film and on electronic pher aboye another. In each case, venues may disks. be different , but the misI'hotojournalism isn' t just sion is th e same - to inform , to report , to a spot news picture made in a war in an carry th e scene to th e readers, whether th ey exotic location far away. Datelines don't change the quality of a picture. It's also the are th ousands of miles away or just down the street. To show them something th ey local ciry council meeting, or state legislamight not have had a chance to see thernture, where membe rs are arguing about a selves. To grab a moment of history and tax increase or a new law. preserve it for the futu re. It 's not just a national magazine cover Most agree it takes a special kind of paspicture sho wing the key play from th e sion for photojournalism to be successful. Super Bowl. It' s also the local high schoo l team, anywhere in America, playing for the Passion that elevares one photographer aboye another, towri's glory. "Technical ability aside, th e difference is It 's not just an essay on rafting down th e commitrnent," says Western Kentucky UniMekong River in Asia. It 's also people versity photojournalism program director keeping cool und er a water spray on a hot Mike Morse. "Sorne people look at whatevday in your town. er they do as a job and they want to be Ph otographers covering the president of good craftsmen , T hen there are people who th e United States or the mayor of a small do it as a passion. They really care about it, town have the same mission -- to make an accurate reporting of the subject 's activities. and it shows in their photographs." J. Bruce Baumann, th e managing editor Ph otographers covering the O klahoma

It

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Introduction of The Courier and Press in Evansville, Ind., ph otographers who pioneered th e ph otosays it is important for the phot ojournalist graphic styles used to day by countless newspaper and magazine ph oto graphers. to think first as a journalist, second as a photographer. And lessons to be learned by makin g pieBaumann believes pho tographers need to tures yourself. reach out more for excellence these days. Several years ago, a newspaper group ran "It seems to me that the real guts of jouran ad showin g a photographer in combat nalism, the reason 1 got in th is business, is gear. Th e capti on: "Be prepared for a few to make a differcold din ners." ence," he says, Th ar's cert ainly "to present the true for a ph otolives of peop le, journ alist covertheir joys, their ing a war, but fears, their hapalso true for a piness and sadphotographer ness. To tell the covering th e world what is local scene. going on around Long days are thern." th e rule, with Baumann says th e stress of a ____~~"""' ~~_"""... hun dred deciphotographers should be "looksions a part of AP photographer Mark Humphrey looked tor more than a news eonfering for new the everyda y enee lo illuslrate the eontinuing story 01a state legislative budgel ideas, new impasse in Nashville. His photo 01two legislators meeting privately in a life. Will 1 be in the right place? themes, breakhallwayis a goOO illuslration 01 how deals are made in state polities. Will 1 make the ing new ground, picture 1 want? Will 1 select th e right lens looking for things that are happening." and exposure to tell th e story? When th e Fro m Matthew Brady's coverage of th e moment comes, will everything I'v e Civil War to the social report ing of Lewis Hine and Jacob Riis at the turn of th e cen- learned give me th e tools to mak e th e pieture th at will tell th e story of th e event I'rn tury, from the document ary photography of Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange in covering? the 1930s to th e Life magazine phot ojourAssociated Press ph oto grapher Amy nalists W. Eugene Srnith and Alfred Eisen- Sancett a explains: "You have to love this staedt and to day 's avant-garde images of job because the schedules, the emo tiona l D avid LaChapelle and Nick Knight, there ups and dow ns, the pressur es would sorneis a fine heritage of ph otograph y to look at times be to o much if yo u didn 't love it. It' s and study. a creative field. If yo u go to a game and mak e a good picture or shoot a nice porT here are lessons to be learned from

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Introduction

A Kenyan woman weeps during a memorial service tor victims 01the 1998 terrorist bombing of the U.S. embassy in Nairobi. Photographer Jean-Marc Bouju, on assignmenttor the AP, used a wide angle lens and filled the frame.

trait, yo u go home feeling great, but if you miss something, yo u go hom e feeling awful." ]. Pat Carter likens it to the tightrope walker in the circus. "Everyone is waiting for yo u to fall, but whe n you make it across, they yell, ' Bravo. Encore,' and they applaud." Every photographer lives for that applause, those "bravosl," the Oklahoma City-based AP photographer says. The burden of the news you cover can be a heavy load. "With that camera," Caner says, "you are the eyes of your readers and your viewers and you have to take thern there . Sometimes 1 am uncomfortable but 1 have a job to do. If yo u do n 't feel unc om fortable at 16

times, if you don 't share in th e emotion, yo u are not going to have th e heart and soul to do the job anyway. "You cari't be the tough guy all the time . You can't be the guy who doesn 't cry," he says. Laura Rauch, an AP photographer based in Las Vegas, was called on to help cover the Columbine High School shootings near Denver. Then she returned there a year later to assist in coverage of the first anmversary. Both times, there was an emotional toll. Rauch's family was from the area, so there was sorne family history, sorne familiarity, to figure in the equation. But thi s was bigger than that, "1 dori't think you

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Introduction had to have family from that area for it to Years later, Reinke would be in Japan hu rt ," she says. "1 don 't care who yo u are. covering an O lympics, when he got word That one is going to hurt, because it is such his wife and two sons had been injured in a a tragedy." Covering th e initial story and th en the followup exposed Rauch to scenes of tremendous grief and sadness. "H igh school kids," she says, "who had lost their friends in what is supposed to be th e most carefree tim e of their lives. Man y, A 15-year-old high school studentleans on her mother during a candlelight vigil in Littleton, Colo., many ph ot ogra- marking the one-year anniversary 01the 1999 shooting deaths atCoiumbine High School. "Many, phe rs, including many photographers, inciuding me, were overcome with the sadness 01 it all," says APphotographer Laura Rauch. me, were overcome with the sadness of it all. head-on crash so violent that it totaled th e "1 would have to take a mom ent and cry family caro He was moved to tears as he a little. 1 would let it go for a minute, and thought of being on the other side of th e then I'd suck it up and sta rt shooting world, on an assignment considered to be a again," she says. bright point in his career, when his family Ed Reinke, an AP photographer, recalls a needed him. bus crash that killed more than two doze n T he cost of that kind of commitment to th e job can't be measured. teen -agers on th eir way hom e from an amusement park . After days of covering O nce, after going five weeks without th e emotional scenes at cemeteries, church- fresh water wh ile covering the conflict in es and funeral hom es, "1 had come to th e Sarajevo, Paris AP staffer Jerome Delay end of my line on wh at 1 could take." called ho me to find out that the family Reink e's answer after the story wound washing machine was bro ken. It took him down was to "take a few days off and hold a mom ent , he says, to realize that to his my ow n kids and think about how fortufamily this was a serious situation, "Even tho ugh it might not be important to yo u at nate 1 arn."

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Introduction the time," he says, "it is imp ortant to them , and yo u have to respect that and sho w yo ur concern." David Longstreath, also an AP staffer, calls it a balancing act -- the professional

And, that means keeping in tou ch with yo ur feelings and th e feelings of the people yo u are photograp hing. "Once you pull those cameras out," he says, "you 're involved. You have to bear the weight of the comments and stares. You try to do it with a degree of sensitivity." T he balance, he says, is to "be sensitive to their needs, but still do the job ." Michel D uCi lle of the

Washington Post says any photographer's approach sho uld Alamily grieves over the body 01 their slain son in a makeshift margue in Dili, East Timar. He died be about "treatin a 1999 gun battle in the light for independence there. AP photographer David Longslrealh ing subjects wit h spenl the day with the lamily asthey identilied the body, then took it home lar burial. For the dignity and 10 5assignmenl, hesaid hehad to be "sensitive to their needs, but slill do the job." mg yo ur preconrespo nsibilities and the person al turmoil. ceived notion s. Be a strong anticipato r of Longstreath covered the O klaho ma City human nature and be in the right place at feder al building bombing while based in the right time." that city. He was at the scene minutes after Delay says yo u need to not only know the explasian crushed the building. H e was when and where to make pictu res, but just expased to a harrific scene. as impo rt ant , yo u need to be sensitive to "One af the things that 1 learned after the when yo u sho uld pull away . Oklahama C ity bombing," he says, "is that "There are times when 1 say to myself, every situation is gaing to impact yo u and ' Leave these people alone ,' but there is no yau have to just recagnize that yau are a rule ," Delay says. H e dra ws frequent hu man. You may put yaur feelings on hold assignments to tumultuou s situations in the while yau finish the job, but at sorne po int Balkans and other hot spots where peopl e yau have to allaw yaurself to feel, as well." often are on the edge emo tionally . 18

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Inlroduction "Y ou just know wh en it is right to go," he says. "You feel it, As yo u get older, the more experience yo u have, th e fewer wrong calls you make . You can see when yo u are being intrusive. It's a little like dancing with

heart int o your ph otog raphy." Amendola says if yo u' re ru shed or unint erested, "it just doesn't work. And th at shows in yo ur . " pictures, "Whe n 1 start ed out ," Rauch says, "1

wolves."

AP photographer Elise Amendola says sornen m es you have to draw from your ernotional reservoir when you are dealing with a sensitive situation. "1 think an . . important tim e to draw upon the emo tional reservoir is durmg a one-on-one with som eon e who has lost a loved one in an The effects of flash flooding after a storm in 1999 were captured by AP photographer Laura Rauch accident, illness in her photo 01 an 85-year-old man in the yard 01 his LasVegas home. Rauchthinks the role 01lhe or w ar," she

photojournalist is important, "but it is never more important than the people you photograph, ever."

says. "It 's a frequent assignment," says Amendola, describing a recent assignment where she photographed a woman who had lost her daughter in a teen car wr eck. "It helped me to emp athi ze with her. And 1 mean with genuine patience, eye contact and real conversatio n. Too often, we're in a rush. But in th ese instances, it's a must to take the time to establish rapport and a trust. This is when the ability to empathize puts Assoclated Press Guide To Photolournallsm

thought th e role of th e photojournalist was the most imp ortant thing in the wo rld." The years have tempered those feelings a bit for her. "It is impo rta nt," she says, "but it is never more imp ortant than th e people you ph oto graph , ever." Thought, planning and a good chunk of luck cut down th e chances for failure, but photographers have to be prep ared, whether on th e biggest assignment of their career, or the pet of th e week at th e animal 19

Introduction shelter, to bring back the picture that really tells the story to the reader. Reinke says it is the art of being able to go with the flow, with sorne control. He explains, "1 think it becomes a thinking

Longstreath describes that "flow" management another way. At a new s scene, he says, "you throw yo ur ant enna out, yo u look, and yo u size it up. Pretty soo n yo u see yo ur opening, and yo u' re in ." "If yo u are not prepared when oppo rt unity kn ocks," says J. Scott Applewhite of the AP's Washing-

i.------.,

ton bureau, "you' ll o nly be ,o.---"~~ left complain ing about the noise." Or, as famed G reen Bay Pack~~~ ers football coach Vince """"~ Lombardi used to tell his players, "Luck, that's where preparation meets Faced with a dramatic rescue during flooding after Hurricane Hortense hitPuerto Rico in 1996, oppo rt unity,» APphotographer John McConnico sized up the scene and selected the right lens to capture the Great phot ogdrama from the edge 01 the swollen stream. raphers co me of backgrounds. As chilfro m a variety person's game. An yone can stick a camera in t he face of the obvious, but a truly good dren, many began making pictures with a ph ot ojournalist willlook at the situation simple box camera, developing th e film in and the light that is t here, and the light yo u crude darkrooms set up in t he family's bathro om. They watched th e contact print s are carry ing in your bag, and t he cameras and lenses yo u have, and make the best pos- develop in little trays balanced on the edge sible picture out of what you have." of the sink, while family members waited "That is what separates a good ph otogra- impatiently to use the facilities. For Kansas City AP staffer Cliff Schiapph er from a mediocre one, " Reinke says, "t he ability to go with the flow, but also to pa, it was a different inconvenience for his have a genera l idea of how the flow goes." family members. Schiappa got a job making

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Introduction pictures for the local weekly before he got quarterback Bart Starr. his driver's licen se. So, his mom and dad AP's Bob Daugherty got his start on the wo uld dri ve him to his assignm ems and high school newspaper and yearbook in Marion, Ind. But , at the tender age of 15, wait patiently in the car while he made his prctures, he m oved to a full-time spot o n th e local AP p hotographer Harry Ca bluc k began his photo career in high school w he n he raced to auto accidents, alerted by the dispatcher at his famil y's towing busine ss, in hopes of making a picture. T hen he'd try for a sale to the local newspaper or, perhaps, an insurance company. O n weekend ni ghts, he'd troop up and During a 1992 debate between presidenlial candidates, pholographer Marcy Nighswander, then down the sidewilh lhe AP, chose a position away Iromíhe olher photographers. The result was this photo, part lines of high 01the AP's Pulilzer Prize wlnning entry on lhe '92 campaign. sch ool football games, making flash exposu res powered by a homemade car battery setup. Sports Illu strated photographer John Biever also got his sta rt covering foo rball gam es, bu t at a slightly higher level, At the age of 14, he was working the sidelines with his dad, Green Bay Packers team photographer Vernon Biever, and even got a doubletruck sp read in Look magazine that first season wit h a photo o f famed Packers

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newspaper's staff. Before long, he was working at the state's largest paper. To learn about photography, Daugherty had studied the Indi anapolis newspapers. One of the photographers was an expert in shooting in available-light situations, two ot hers "could do wonders with a single light ." Later, he would work beside many of th e photographers he had st ud ied so carefully when starting out . Others, like Reinke, took up the pro fes21

Introduction sion after getting a camera as a high school th e Dayton Daily NeW5. graduation gift, asking friends for help in "Go to college and get a degree in ph ot oth e basics of loading the camera and adjust- journalism," he tells prospective photo graphers, "and have the opportunity to have ing the aperture and shutter speeds. H e credits his colint ernships." lege ph otoj ourDuncan studied nalism profe scomputer SClence in college. sor, Dr. Will "1 am gratefu l Co unts of Indiana U niversity, for my comp uter background for his direct, because of hon est appro ach where the indu sto ph otography. try is going, but He says of his more journalism visual style: wo uld have bal"The single anced th at , The th ing that influenced me was journ alism part 'Self Portrait: is imp ortant. USA,' a book My job is not by David Doujust to take pieglas Duncan." tu res, but to Reinke says th at impart informabook, a collection ." Sorne ph otogtion of Duncan's raphers, like photo graphs Longstreath, from the tumullearn ed th e fine tu ous 1968 polit _ .......... points of their ical conventions in Chicago and Photographer Mark Duncan drove a fuel-oñ deliverytruck torhis tamily's craft in th e miliMiami, opened business and worked part time making picturesbefore joining the Day- tary, starnng wit h basic docuhis eyes to a way ton Daily News. Now with the AP and based in Cleveland, Duncan's daily assignments include coverage like this 1999 WNBAgame. ment ation tasks of making pieand advancing to elite camera groups and tures that he still aspires to today. AP photographer Mark Duncan went to advanced studies. From a high school photo course, to a job as a "lab rat " for the college and drove an oil delivery truck for his family's business, mak ing pictu res in his FBI, he went on to the Navy and more forspare time before moving into his first full- mal training, before leaving the service and moving into daily phot ojou rn alisrn. time staff job in th e ph oto department of

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Introduction T he military gave him great training and a chance to work with sorne excellent ph otog raphers, but , "after assignments in thirty-three countries, 1 had person ally witnessed too many pier-side goodbyes," Longstreath said.

his credit for his photography. Rusty Kennedy, an AP photographer, says wo rk ing everyday with th e veteran photographers at his first job, an int ernship on the photo staff of the former Philadelphia Bulletin, was really his educati on. "1

Des Moines Register director of ph oto graphy John Gaps III got into ph otographyafter being the subject during his days as a prep football playeroGaps tells th e story: "A ph ot ographer showed me sorne pictu res th at he had made of me playin g football in high schoo!. AP's David Longstreath got his lirst taste 01 photography in high school, then on to advanced Later, 1 went to photo assignments in the military belore joining the AP. His assignments have taken him all over his darkraom the world, including Vietnamand that country's 2000 celebration marking the end 01itscivil war. and 1 tho ught that was pretty neat. And th en one afterwas really lucky to have learned from noon in college, 1 had a choice of going to them . Each had an area of expertise. One was good at fashion, one was good at stufootball pra ctice or finishing a project due dio, and so on. 1 could watch and learn so in my ph oto graphy class." much, then try it myself." "1 gave up foot ball for ph ot ography,' Gaps says, laughing, "and the coach was Kennedy says you can on ly get so much real suppo rtive." Gaps explains he wasn' t fro rn a book or watc hing, tho ugh . "Ph otogNFL material on th e football field. He did, rap hy is really such a hands-on th ing that you have to do it yourself," he says. however, get to th e Super Bowl several times in his career. With his cameras. And, Longstreath believes you learn from Gaps now has numerous regional and everything you see, and yo u try to keep on nation al awards, and to p assignments, to learn ing. "You learn by looking at pictures, Assoclated Press Gulde lo Photolournallsm

23

Introduction by asking ho w did they do that? You sto re ir away for another day." He, to o, feels yo u learn a lot by simply making pictures, "What wo rked once may work again with a new twist." And, yo u need to be critical of yo ur

tion. "You ' re as good as you are today," he says. "Then yo u have to do it again to rnorrow."

The common thread th at keeps these ph otographers in th e busin ess is the joy of seeing negatives on th eir film for th e first time - and after subsequent asslgnments -- or the print com ing up in th e developing tra y. O r, to screen th e slides th ey 've shot and see the impa ct that th ey had hoped foro And, now, in th e digital age, to call up a disk from a difficult shoot and see th e pictures on a computer screen. Dau ghert y says he th ought Rushing currents and the danger ofhitting cars and trucks submerged on the flooded streets of ph otography Bound Breok, N.J., made it difficult lorAP staffer Dan Hulshizer lo maneuver ina small boat as was for him he pholographed a fireman checking out a building fire atter Hurricane Floyd in 1999. when "1 saw my first print come up under th e yellow safework. "The minute yo u are satisfied with light in th at tray of Dekt ol. T hen, whe n 1 th e way things look," Lon gstreath says, "that's th e time to quit oYou sho uld be con- saw th e first ron of the newspaper," he says, he was hooked for sure. He can't stant ly striving to improve yo urself and remember that first picture, but laughs and your craft." "T here is no such thing as good eno ugh," says, "1' m sure it was th e best picture 1 ever made." Longstreath says. After yo u've worked as a photographer, AP ph oto editor Horst Faas says it is a where do yo u go? That's changing as phonever-ending reach for bett er communica-

24

Assoclaled Press Gulde To PholoJoumallsm

Introduction tog raphers become more and mo re a part readers and to writers." of the fabric of th e newsroom. Efforts to push the envelope of composiTen years ago, Baumann wasn't opt ition and creativity may be diminished if mistic about th e upward mobility for pho- you aren't able to explain your actions. "It tog raphers. "T here is, for no practical pur- may be lost," he says, Oto someone who doesn't see the way you see. But if you are pose in thi s country, any place for a photographer to go beyo nd being an assist ant managing edito r for photography or graphics," he said at the time. But now, he says, th at isn't as true. Baumann himself, and several other people from the ph oto ranks, are leadmg newsrooms across the country. O hio University School of Visual Co rnmunicatio n directo r Rather than settle íora picture 01Microsoft tounder BiII Gates at a news conlerence rostrum, AP photographerGary Stewart paid attention even after thelights were turned down tora video preLarry Nig hsentation in 1995. The result was a picture that is still used years later. swander says for photographers to continue that move into able to articulate what it is you are doing the upper ranks of the decision makers at and why you are doing it, then you have a papers they need to be able to commun ibetter chance of educating ot hers inro appreciating th e conte nt and the composicate better with th eir colleagues. "T here is a need," N ighswander says, "íor tion ." photographers and pictu re editors to develThat kind of communication leads to op a language. The ability to articulare th e more respect in the newsroom and that language of ph otography. They need to be leads to moving up the ladder, several ediable to talk to, and about, their photors sayo tographs to editors and, in sorne cases, to "Always make your arguments in the

Assoclated Press Gulde Jo PhotoJoumalism

25

Introduetion same terms as if you were making an argument for a story," says newspaper graphics consultant Bob Lynn, who revitalized The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Va., while director of photography there. "If you use the same words they would use to argue for a story, then the word editors can understand what you are trying to say. But," Lynn warns, laughing, "if you use terms like 'visual impact,' you are dead in the water." People like Baumann and others who have had success, are the ones who could communicate well. "They just didn't say we need to run this picture big," Nighswander says. "They related words and pictures in a way that was alI about storytelIing. They wanted to make sure words and pietures were working together welI so the reader was getting a better package of information." "Once that was established," Nighswander says, "a smart editor or a smart publisher saw the value of having someone who could elevate both sides of the business." Lynn also thinks smart picture editors can take advantage of their broader knowledge of the newsroom. A picture editor, Lynn says, routinely works with every section of the paper and also with the production elements. N o one else in the newsroom, he says, crosses that spectrum so completely. "As a picture editor, you have to be the best journalist in the newsroom." Hal BuelI, the retired head of the AP's photo operation, says newsroom leaders should be judged on their abilities as journalists, not whether they are good writers or good photo people. 26

And BuelI thinks that only recently have photo people been in a position where they would be considered. A person, BuelI says, "should be put in charge of a newsroom because he or she is a good journalist and understands the many pieces of work that go into making that thing calIed a newspaper. That includes good writing. It includes good editing. It includes good photography. It includes good headlines and good design." "The editor in charge of a newsroom needs to be able to see al! of those pieces. What has happened historicalIy is that photos was not part of that process," BuelI says. Photographers were thought of as mechanics or technicians. Only in recent times has that begun to change with photographers being considered journalists. I think that movement of photo people into the newsroom offers a new dimension to photography in the newspaper." But, BuelI warns, those editors should not favor photographs just as editors who have come through the word ranks should not favor words. "They should be put in charge because they have a sense of what good journalism is and that would include photography." Photographers have a long heritage of communicating with an image. Most feel passionately about it and take great pride in what they do. Set aside discussions of digital cameras, or the new frontier of the multimedia photographer, or anything that is about the mechanical aspect of making pictures rather than the aspect of communicating with a picture.

ISSOClatld PrISS lIulde lo Pbot8loumallsm

Inlroduction Sancetta says: "1 know 1 feel better when I've done a good job, made a good picture. If 1 can go out and make a good picture, something 1 can be proud of, it makes my whole week."

This book is writte n under th e assumption th at you already know how to operate your camera, make the prope r exposure, make the simplest of pri nts or handle digital images on a screen.

Asturdytripod, the good fortune of a clear night and a good idea of what he wanted were the key ingredients for photoqrapher Alistair Grant's iIIustration of CometHale-Bopp as it streaked over England's Stonehenge in 1997. The travels of the comet as it passed the BronzeAge monumentswere recorded on 800 ASA color negative film at l /30th of a second at f4.

It will atternpt to take you beyond that . That kind of thrill never really goes Ir includes picking the right angle, the right away. The most jaded professionals, after particularly toug h assignments, still want to medium, lighting the situation if needed, see th e pictures as soon as possible to see if and a discussion of the philosophi es of photographers and how they cover a broad their ideas worked. range of assignments. Reporting with a camera. Capturing th e Ir will introduce you to the basics of instant for others. The "decisive mornent." Photojournalism. good news photography.

Assoclated Press Gulde To PhotoJoumallsm

21

lhe look: Composilion, Slvle, Cropping hree forces - composition, style and cropping -- control the look of your photographs. Composition is the collection of elements in the picture, and how those elements compete for the reader's attention. As the eye tracks across the pictures, the position of those elements, the composition, makes the eye move on or stop and study the image. By approaching your photography so that the composition - the look of the pieture -- is consistent, you will develop a "style" that identifies those pictures as yours. Cropping is inc1uding, or exc1uding, elements as the picture is made, or later in the photo lab or on the computer screen,

T

or at the editor's desk. All three disciplines -- composition, style, cropping -- are tough to teach, according to several professional photographers and pieture editors. Developing an individual style is a challenge. Sorne are successful. Larry Nighswander was a picture editor at National Geographic magazine before moving to Ohio University to head the university's School for Visual Communication. At the Geographic, he worked with a collection of great photographers who had styles of their own but didn't let these styles stand in the way of communicating. In fact, they probably elevated the communication.

Opposite page: Taking a step back to emphasize the solitude, using the available light 01 an ornate New York hotel room, photographer Wyatt Counts made a portrail 01 sax player Clarence Clemens thallets the reader almost hear the music.

Issocllltlld 'rus Gulde 'e PbItD!Oumallsm

2S

lhe look: Composition. Stvle. Cropping

AP photographer Eric Gay combined the right angle with the right lens to draw the reader's eye into his photograph 01a lone woman near crosses erected on a hill overlooking Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo. Fifteen people died in a school shooting rampage there in 1999. Gay's photo shows that taking a step back fromthe scenecan sometimes make the picture more powerful than a tight closeup.

"T here are a number of ph ot ograph ers," Nighswa nder says, "like Alex Webb , Bill Allard, Sam Abe ll and D avid Harvey , who have sophisticate d w ays of seeing things that utilize layers within a fram e." T hat layeri ng, according to N ighswa nder, "gives a photograph depth and, in sorne cases, hidden compositional element s that make the reader look at the phot ograph and think about ir for just a little while lon ger ." And, that is good , he says, because "the longer we can captivate someone and make them think about what they are seeing, the better chance we have of them understanding what it is we are try ing to say with the photograph."

30

N ewspaper grap hics consultant Bob Lynn, who led the emergence of strong phot o operations at the C harleston, W.Va., and Norfolk, Va., newsp apers, says you might be surprised by just how visual1y sophisticated your readers are. "1 think the level of sophisticatio n with a lot of readers out th ere is very high," he says. For instance, "t he yo unger ones have been raised on visuals of al1 kinds since th ey were babies. 1 give readers a heck of a lot more credit than a lot of t he editors do." In fact, according ro Lynn, that might be the problem. "My take is that the real1y conservative peopl e are the edito rs in the Assoclated Press Gulde Jo Photojoumallsm

lhe look: Composilion. SlVlll.Cropping newsroom who don't get out and kn ow stop and look." And for the second, and just as imporwhat is going on." At the Tbe Virginian-Pilot in N orfolk, tant, pan of th at guidance, D raper agrees Lynn and Alex Burrows, the phot o depan- with the othe rs and says yo u have to make sure the image doesn't just look good. It ment leaders, got stro nger, bett er pictures into the papero " ,'!"""! has to communiThey were piecate. "A lot of tures that photographers," wouldn't ron Draper says, "are m sorne papers trying to be really and wouldn't creative because have ron in the th ey are try ing to N orfolk paper impress other before their photographers," arrival. "N ot and no t thinking that they were about the readers. lewd or anyAP photographthing," Lynn er Cliff Schiappa says, "but the y AP photographer Rober! Bukaty used a slow shutter speed to isolate says, "Our pri me Nita, the dog, and lo give Ihesensation 01 speed in this 1999 photo lrom were definitely responsibility is to the back 01 a pickup truck. comrnunicate." different and definitely not your same old cliches." And, he adds, "if yo ur style causes static in "Sorne of it is that you have to have th e th e signal, in the communication , then you courage to cornmunicate," Lynn says. "You are not a success." have to shoot it in a new and different Lynn says the best way for young phoway." tographers to learn is to make as many pieBut that doesn't mean being arty for art 's tures as th ey can and keep reviewin g their sake. Lynn remembers sorne photographers wo rk. "A young person should just shoot he worked with who were very artistic, but from the heart and th e gut and shoo t the pictures th at they like." hadn't become journalists yet. Lynn's lesson to them? "If it doesn't communicate H e feels yo ung photograph ers have to find th eir place by makin g those pictures anything, it might be great on someone's and not allow ing th emselves to be molded wall, but ir has to tell a story." by others, "If yo u want to be great," Lyn n Early on in his career, AP photographer Eric Draper picked up sorne good advice says, "yo u need to mak e yo ur ow n pieregardin g photographic style from a coltures." But if yo u follow th at trail , he advises league. Draper says th e message was simpl e but to th e point, "If an image is pleasing to that you should be prepared to move on to the eye, it will draw people in, make thern pursue the dream. "If you' re at a paper that

Assoclaled Press Gulde To PholoJournallsm

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lhe look: Composilion, SlVle, Cropping doesn't appreciate it, then you have to Guzy's style, DuCille says, is geared move on to a paper that does appreciate it." more to when she makes the picture. "1 AP photo editor Horst Faas, a two-time know her style is to capture the moment," Pulitzer Prize-winner, got his education in he says, "but as far as the way she composes photography in a different way than mosto the picture, it is different every time ." Richards, according to DuCille, was one After World War Il, Faas and two other men were hired by a photo agency to put back together its picture collection which had been trashed during the war. Sifting through those thousands of photographs was an incredible experience for Faas. "By looking at a lot of very good pietures," Faas says, AP photographer Jerome Delay made this portrait 01a sheik, one 01 the labled Blue Men oflhe desert, while working on a 1997 essay on the group's return to northern Mali aftsr five years in "you learned refugee camps in nearby Maurilania. what was good. y ou would look at them and something of the first photographers to feel comfortwould stick in your mind. The telling qual- able tilting the camera to better compose ities of the photos we handled was the best the elements. DuCille says the result is journalism instruction 1 could ever have." "dimensional composition, pictures that say more than one thing in one photo, tell Simply put, Faas "got excited by what more than one story in a single photo." you can do with photography." AP photographer Laura Rauch thinks Washington Post deputy picture editor Michel DuCille says a couple of photographotographers must make sure their style doesn't become stagnant or simply a habit phers, Carol Guzy and Eugene Richards, that can get in the way of communicating. come to mind when he thinks of people "You can be a slave to your style ," she who are successful in having a look to their work, but are communicating at a higher says. "You have to keep growing, keep getleve!. ting better." To grow, she says, "your style

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Assoclated Press Gulde lo PhotoJournallsm

lhe look: Composilion, SlVle, Cropping has to evolve and change and get better. It Beasley agrees wit h N ighswander that , . " can t govern you or govern yo ur pictures, photographers have a tende ncy to mimi c a popular style and th inks , "there is too N ighswander says ph oto graphers somemuch hero worship in phot ography that times spend too much time trying to use bits and pieces of other ph otographers' leads to copycatt ing and not to the developstyles and dori't develop a c1ear style of ment of the craft, not the movement of the their own. "U nfort unately," he says, "we have a tendency to mimic each ot her. Per iodically, we would adopt a photographer as being a visionary and it was not always a well tho ught out sty le, but a sloppy style that didn 't come out of a well tho ught out cornpositio n." The result, Nighswander says, is "the message can get obscured and th at is problematic." Instead of losing th e reader, N ighswander says phot ographers and ph oto editors sho uld be trying to raise the reader's visual sophistiJ. Scott Applewhite, an APphotographer in Washington, spotted this cation by using more inventive angle as photographers were moved to a camera platlorm and then compositio n, or a more abstract hung back from the pack waiting torthe right moment as President Clin' content, "in an effort to make th e ton moved toward a podium in 199B. readers look at the pictu re and appreciate a sophistication in the composi- craft whe re it can go." tion that rnight not be evident to the averPorter Binks of Sports Illustr ated says as age person. " photographers starting out, "we've got our Newho use News Service photo chief hands full just mastering th e techniques of Toren Beasley likes to take a collection of the camera and the film and tra ining our photos and study the m witho ut knowing eyes to see and our ears to hear. We hardly have time in a lot of our positions to think who shot thern. T hat gets him away from preconceived noti ons based on a photogra- about style, If somet hing develops over a pher's reputation . "1 see how they feel,' he period of years, that 's fine." says, "see what they do, see how th ey comBinks thinks the look of a phot ographmu nicate because wha t is important is the er' s pictures, created by using certain lenses or cert ain angles, may be "bette r defined as pho tograph,' not th e ph oto grapher who a habit that turns into a sty le." made the ph oto.

Assoclated Press Gulde lo Photolournallsm

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The look: Composilion.SlVle. Cropping T hat sty le, according to DuC ille, sho uld are art ists and that 's not abad th ing. come after a photographer has spent quite a "1 am talking about un derstanding how elements work," Beasely says, "shape, and bit of time making pictures and learning th e craft . "I' m a little old-fashioned," line and texture, and color, and how things DuC ille says, "in that 1 think yo u've got to move forwa rd and move back and how work many , they can be used .. , many , many m impartmg meanm g to a years before yo u can even begin photograph, not . . . . to say yo u've ju st m gammg got a style." atte ntion ." DuCille isn't a "All of those big fan of people th ings are from an art backwho mindlessly pursue a sty le, grou nd," says Beasley, who Style , DuCille says, "is often all carne to ph otograp hyafter about th e ph otog rapher and studying art o not about jour"T hat knowlnalism and not edge is what a about th e subphotojournalist ject. So, most of needs to be good ." the time when Unfortunatepeopl e say the y ly, Beasley says, are developing "you don 't see a X-kind of sty le, lot of it." l'm suspicious Don't ru n because 1 th ink it is about th at artist thing them." past Ha l Buell, T hat "takes it The use 01a slowshutterspeed lo blur the movements 01 pedestrians th e retir ed forfrom being jou r- and the spiral 01a staircase inside a pavilion in Hanover, Germany, draw mer head of the the reader's eye into Ihis picture by photoqrapher Jens Meyer. AP's photo sernalism to being art ," according to DuCille. "1 am a journal- vice, or you'll have an argume nt on your ist; 1 just happen to use a camera. 1 just hap- hands. pen to use my camera to tell a story rath er Buell sees it as something that is pretty than writing." And, th at 's not arto simple. "[ournalists are not art ists," Buell says. Beasley feels strongly that ph oto graphers

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Assoclated PressGulde To PhotoJournallsm

lhe look: Composition.Stvle,CroPPing "They shouldn 't be artists because artists things ." have a point of view, or at least th ey Sorne say a feeling for composition is either there, or it's noto should. ] ournalists are reporters and reporters report what happened ." "Co rnposition is Ielt," AP phot o editor Buen says Ed White, one of his editors Bob Daugherty says. "A good picture is felt from the heart. The heart skips a beat at when he was first reporting and writi ng from Asia, summed it up best: "Ten them the right mornent." what happ ened." Buen amends that to the Composition can be a loaded topi c, to o. wo rds of the ph otographer. "Ten thern what happened , or in our case, show thern wh at happened." Faas says th e key is not to get bogged down in a compariso n of ph oto graphy and art, but to realize "that it is the visual apprec iation of As a helicopter carrying PLO leader Yasser Aralat lands during his lirst visit to the West Bank after things that is a 1995 pullout by Israeli íorces, photographer Jerome Delay 01 the AP made this picture 01crowds . lmport ant . " protecting themselveslrom the dust thrown up by the rotors. Although Aralat'sarrival was the key, Delay was alert to what was going on around him and took advantage 01 the moment to makli a Faas has nice sidebar picture to the visit. never considered photography to be arto "It is not less," Draper explains that one recent widely adopted compositional technique was to he says. "It is just a different for m of . " cut off limbs of subjects in pictu res, expreSSlOn. And when it comes to the int egrity of While sorne pictures look good with that the ph ot ograph, Faas is in strong agreement sty le of composition , ph oto graph ers began with man y, including Buen, but says it a to overuse the technique. The result? "They different way. "What an art ist can do, a are losing the goal of communicating with phot ographer should not be permitted to the average person who is going to see the do, and that's to fiddle around wit h phot o in a newspaper or magazine and

Assoclated Press Gulde To Photoloumallsm

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The look: Composition, Stvle, Cropping

AP photographer Ene Draper used a low angle and a wide angle lens to emphasize the hands in this pieture 01 Texas governor George W. Bush in Englewood, Colo., during his 2000 eampaign lar president. Draper traveled extensively with Bush during the eampaign and used numerous visual deviees to break up the routine 01the pietures during the year-Iong marathon 01 ratlies, speeehes and sidewalk greetings.

wonder why is that arm floating in th e air,' Drap er says. Another technique Drap er thinks is overused is framing th at includes a large out-of-focus object in the foreground. While photographers would talk about the great composition, Draper is afraid readers "just wonder what th e blob is." There are many differing views on cropping, to o. Sorne editors say it is an important too!. Others feel it should be avoided if at all possible. Burrows, Tbe Virginian-Pilot director of photography, is on th e side of sparingly 36

cropping th e work of the photographers on his staff. "1 think a crop is an opinion," he says, "and th at opinion should be expressed like a sentence. You should express it with careo" He thinks the photo grapher made a decision to crop th e scene in the camera when the picture was first made, had another chance to adjust that when th e picture was scanned and th at th e picture editor should take th at into account when the photo finally reaches his desk. Burrows says he tr ies, "hopefully to get th e photo in th e paper as close to the pho-

Assoclated Press Gulde loPhotolournalism

lhe look: Composilion, Stvle, Cropping tographer's vision as possible. The more That leads to a selection of phot os and a yo u can get th e ph oto grapher's vision into discussion of crops and both of th ose discussions make the photographer and pieth e paper," he says, "the more it will encourage the ture editor equal photographer to partners. But, OuCille says, "if reach out to tell the story." th ere is a close "It gives th e call on a picture photo grapher (selection or th e responsibilicropping), th e ty," Burrows ph ot ographers says. "T hey are get veto rights the visual jou rover the picture nalist who was editor." OuCille at the scene." says lt IS a rare At th e Washday when th at ington Post, piepolicy doesn' t ture selection carry through . and cropping are As a side note , OuCille says all a collab orative effort between of that talking the ph otogracan be beneficial phers and the in other ways. photo editors. Often, th e "W hen a phophotograph er tographe r comes was the paper's back from an only represent aassignm ent and tive at th e scene. we are at the T he reporter light table," had gathered th e OuCille facts by phon e explains, "1 or from a news don 't grab his The face of Tennessee women's basketball team coach PatSummin release. Wh ile and the NCAA 1090 are all that is needed lo lell the story 01 a news con- talking about film and say 1 ference inthis 2000 photo by AP pootoqrapber Mari< Humphrey. the phot ographwant thi s one, and thi s one and this one." Instead, OuCille says, "a conversation begins with what did yo u see, what were yo u trying to achieve, what is th e story we are trying to tel1?"

Assoclated Press Gulde To Photoloumallsm

er's coverage, things will come out that will enhance or change th e reporter 's imp ressions. Ou Cille says, in that case, the picture editor is the condu it for the newsroom to 31

The look: CompOslUoD, StvIe, Cropplng get that information. And, everyo ne benefits. Edit ors and ph ot ographers are talking about the effect of television , advertising and magazines on newspaper ph otographic sty les. They see a blurring oí the hard edge th at used to define a photograph. Kenn y Irb y, th e visual journalism group leader at the Poynter Institute in Sto Petersbu rg, Fla., sees continuing evidence of that blurring, particuiarly in magazines, and wants to make sure journalists don't begin to ease their standards because they think readers aren 't eoncerned. "What 1 am most concerned about is that there is a pereeption that viewers have come to accept the manipulation and don 't believe what they see anyway." Irby, and others, think newspapers, for th e rnost part, try to hold th e line on manipulation , but man y magazines routineIy alter pictures, or in sorne cases, even ere-

ate pietures from the parts of several pietures. "If yo u are talking about the magazine industry," Irby says, "it is happening everyday. It is ehallenged everyda y. Every magazine you look at, from Vibe magazine to Time magazine, has had eovers greatly manipulated." It ean be National Geographie mo ving pyramids to make a better fit for a cover, or Life magazine taking the pole out the middle of John Paul Filo's famous picture of the young woman screaming over the body of the dead student after the Kent State shootings, It can be Time magazine' s alteration oí the poliee mug shot of O .J. Simpson wh ieh made him appear more menaeing, or even the cover of an issue of H arper's Bazaar which Ieatured a portrait of Prineess Caroline of Monaeo. That last one, the Harper's eover, seems innoeent enough but looks can be deceiv-

AP electronic photouraphvethicspolicV This is the poliey adopted by The Assoeiated Press in 1990:

Electronic imaging raises new questions about what is ethical in theprocess 01 editing photographs. The questions may be new but the answers all come[rom old ualues. Simply put, Tbe Associated Press does not alter photographs. Our pictures must always tell the trutb. The electronic picture desk is a highlysophisticated photo editing tool. It takes us out ola chemical darkroom where the subtlepn nting tecbniques, such as burning and dodging, have long been accepted asjounalistically sound. Today, these terms are replaced by "image manipulation "and "enchancement. " In a time when such broad terms could be misconstrued we need to set limits and restate some basic tenets. Only the established norms 01standardphotoprinting methods suchas burning, dodging, toning and cropping are acceptable. Retouching is limited to remoual 01normal scratches and dust spots. The content ola photograph will NEVER be changed or manipulated in any way. 38

Issoclltld Press GuldeTa PIIall /auml llsm

lbe look: ComposWoD, Stvle, Cropplng

"Wha! I am most concerned about is that there is a percep!ion tha! viewers have come to accept the manipulation and don't believe what they see anyway." - Kenny Irby, Ihe visual journalism group leader al Ihe Poynler Inslilule in SI. Pelersburg, Fla.

AnoclalBd Press Gulde lo PlHltolournallsm

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lhe look: Composltion. SIVle. Cropplng

Conceptual has been defined as whimsy and fantasy, and documentary as reportage and observation.

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Issoclalld Preu Bulde To Pboteloumallsm

l he look:Composilion. Stvle,Cropping

APphotographer Eric Gay used a wide angle lens to show the patterns of the cracked earth, and a dog helps lo break up that pattern, in a picture illuslrating the effect of a drought in spring 2000 near China Spring, Texas. Gay shot what was lhere, not setting up a piclure, and waited torthe right moment.

Conceptual has been defined as whimsy and famasy, and documentary as repo nage and observation. Burrows th inks this new style of illustration photography will only slowly begin to creep into news pages, destined more for the feature sectio ns. "1 think newspapers are pretty conservative in th eir app ro ach in the news pages and that is justified." But he sees that being tested, "A ph ot ographer is always reaching to make bett er, more visual pictures," Burrows says, "stretching the envelope, while editors are trying to slow that mo ve." Burrows is concerned about this possible Associated PressGuide lo Photoiournalism

confusion, not wam ing to '''disturb the reader with gimmicks in th e news pages. y ou have more liberty in the featu res department, changes come more easily th ere than in th e news pages. Featu re sections are more wide open," he says, "and readers now sense the difference." Beasley isri't so sure th at whimsy and Iantasy are the best description for conceptual. And, acknowledging that this view might not be popular, he's not even sure there ever really was documemary ph oto graphy. "1 really th ink that documemary ph otography never existed," he says. "1 think that everything you have seen that we have 41

lhe look: Composition. Stv18. Cropplng what 1 see. This is how 1 fee! about it." Again, ir isn't that the photograph isn't telling the truth, it is just telling th e truth of what the photographer wanted to relate. The sense of "sryle" isn ' t new to news rnentary." photography. AP photographer Rusty Kennedy says H e explains, "What I' m talk ing about is not taking things and inventi ng something, W. Eugene Smith 's sty le is time!ess and has like photo illustr ation. We are not creating been an example to many photojournalists. "1 think in the beginning, most people th at things th at don't existo We are talking 1 knew who were serious about photojourabout th e interpretation of things that do . ." nalism wanted to emulate people like W. exist Eugene Srnith and the photo-essay concepto Beasley says he isn' t advocating settin g You got a seed of an idea and tried to develup pictu res, just acknowledging that by including or not including something in the op ir, and you tri ed to have a set of pictures with at least one really strong one." frame, or using sorne othe r techn ique to "Many of th e th ings he did, like th e rural highlight or minimize sorne aspect of the doctor, you could have used those ideas on picture, it is not a straight piece of docuanyone," Kennedy says. "Real dramat ic mentanon, "Go ahead and organize the elernents," black and white photography." "1 think that you have to be careful when he says. "You can do the things that give you are talking about having a style," Ind ipeople the sense of what you are seeing. It is not that what you are seeing isn't related anapolis freelancer Mary Ann Carter says, "because the job of a photojournalist is to to the reality, it is." tell a story and communicate. lf you forgo This emph asis on compo sition and conthat goal for the sake of a style, you're not tent , coupled with the new ideas and techniques that photojournalists are being doing what is important." Cárter explains that "it's OK to have a exposed to , is leading to more photographs style, like using a blue gel or using an becoming visual staternents, with the extrernely wide-angle lens, but if your style imprint and input of rhe photographer in precludes you from being a communicator, each picture. That is to be expected, Beasley feels, and maybe it is not such a good style for a phoit is truthful to what happened. "You want tojournalist. Sometimes you have to adapt people to live in the picture, " he says. "If your style to the story you are covering," she says. "Photojournalists have to be able someone is jumping for joy, you want the reader to feel that joy. You want the reader to shoot a lot of different things - spo rts, news, and features." to feel wh at you Ieel." According to She warn s there is a danger to adapting a Beasley, the photographer is saying, "I'rn here and 1 am your eyes to this, and this is sty le that has no flexibility. "One day you

labeled as documentary is either photo graphs without meaning or, if you really look at it, since there was a person there who decided to organize these panicular elements in a panicular way, it is not docu-

42

Issoclatld Pr8ss Gulde lo PbllllJoumallsm

lhe look: Composillon. Stvle. Cropping may be shooting'something where a blue gel or a wide-angle lens is fine, but the next day it might not work at all." Des Moines Register directo r of photography Jo hn Gaps III feels he adapts his style to the circumstances of the coverage he's

do tha t for myself," Gap s says, using "a tight er lens, a wider lens, a different angle." But on a breaking news assignment, "when th ere is a lot flying and I'm right on deadline," he says, "I try to get what an edito r would want to see. Then, when I've got

The style 01legendary photojournalist W. Eugene Smith inspiresAP photographer Rusty Kennedy who used Smith's black and white essay technique on this portraít 01a homeless woman in Philadelphia. It was part of a larger group 01pictures he did in 1974 on that community before homelessness was a national topic. Using available light and working at slow shutter speeds, Kennedy's picture captures every detail and tells the story 01 the woman's tough existence.

involved in at the mom ento "By now," he says, "1 have two different ways of shooting: when yo u take pictures for yourself, and when you take pictures for someone else." O n a sports assignm ent , "1 always try to Associated Press Guide To Photojoumalism

th at clear, I say, 'How do 1 see things?'" Gaps' early photography also was influenced by the work of W. Eugene Srnith , and several ph otographers frorn th e region where he atte nded college. "W. Eugene Smith was everything, but also Rich Clark43

The look: Composlllon. SlVle.Cropplng son, j irn Richardson and Brian Lanker in Topeka. 1 got expose d to that gro up' s photography a lot because my college profe sso r wo uld invite them up for lectures." Daugherty boils his style down to one

t ry not to put th em in situations that denigrate them or belittle thern." She says she takes a simple approach. "1 think yo u have ro treat people the way yo u want to be t reated." She calls t his "a gent le determin an.on."

Cart er also is expo sing herself to ot her ways of forging the visual makeup of her pictures, "T he way I'm t rying to lmprove my eye overall is that 1 took a drawing c1ass, and 1 st udy the tech niqu es of art ists," she says, "and 1 loo k at ph oto graphers who are not photojourn alists. Using a low angle and strong backlighling, AP photographer John Gaps 111 caplured lhe Iragility 01 And 1 t ry to a young boy with his father in Somalia in 1992.The lwo were lraveling to a c1inic tor medical look at photogtrealment lorthe child. raphers who are thing - sirnplicity. "1 dori't like to introbetter than 1 am and see what they are duce to o many elements into a picture." doing and t ry to spark my mind in th ose At the risk of bein g called single-minded directions." in that respect, D augherty says his ph oto gShe says t hat t he drawing c1ass has taught rap hy mirrors the app ro ach he tr ies to take her the theory of getti ng into a right-brain in life. "1 do n' t like to have too many loose mode . Carter expla ins that yo ur brain operends, in my work , and in my life. A good ates in two sections, with the right brain picture is generally a single subject, not a handl ing art istic functions and th e left lot of loose elernents ." brain handling logical functions. "Photog raCa rte r says she defin es her style as a per- phy is a right-brain activ ity, Ir's creative," she says, "and the c1ass was based on getting sonal approac h to th e peopl e she ph otog raphs. "My style is to respect people and into the right-brain mo de. If 1 can do that, 44

Assoclated Press Gulde To Photolournallsm

lhe look: Composilion. SlVle. Cropplng ir should help my photography." means picture s th at are interesting to look AP photographer Susan Ragan credits ato T hat's the simple definition. her art studies withgiving her a sense of J. Bruce Baumann, of the Evansville, comp osition . "Frorn my art background, 1 Ind., Courier and Press, sums it up with a think about compositio n and beauty and no-frills explanation. "If something doesn 't balance that may not be so evident to other photographers." Ragan's training includes a Fine Arts master's degree in drawing and painting. She didn't take up photography until she had several years of art trammg behind her. "Maybe that made me sensitive to different pictures," she says. "1 think 1 have a sense of Like Gaps on the oppositepage, Eric Draper 01the APused lhe techniques 01 a low angleand a composition and dramatic sky bul ina Iighlersitualion-a youngsler playing basketball in a rural New Mexico lown in 1998. The piclure was part 01 an essay by Draper on the wide open spaces 01 lhe Southwesl. light from that training." Ragan need to be in a pictu re, it shouldn't be says, for instance, "1 know when there is Rembrandt light on someone from the art th ere. You accomplish that by where you training I've had." stand and what lens you use." The use of smash closeups, isolation with Nighswander says that beginning phot olong lenses, strong lighting techniques and journalists should start with the basics of different perspectives give pictur es a differ- composition. "There is no dou bt in my mind that one of th e first thi ngs a young ent look. Sorne of th ese techniqu es are rooted in paintin g, others in the styles of photographer needs is a command of these visual devices." avant-garde photo graphers. Old sty le, or new, good comp osition Th ose "visual devices" are th e concepts Assoclaled Press Gulde To Pholojournallsm

45

lhe look: CDmPDsiliDn. Stvle. Cropping

Visual checklist Ohio University School 01 Visual Communication director Larry Nighswander has compiled this checklist lor the photojournalist.

Does Ibe photograph have techntcal excellenceil O Sharp locus

O Good contrast

O Correct color balance

Does the photograph have composltional creativityil O Dominant loreground, contributing background O Introducing disorder into an ordered situation O Introducing color into a monochromatic scene O Rule of thirds composition O Framing O Selective focus

O Reflection O Panning O Juxtaposition O Decisive moment O Linear perspective O Silhouette

Does the photOgraph have aov editorial relevaoce or merltil 1) Is the photo active or passive? 2) Is the photograph of something no one has ever seen before or is it a unique or interesting photo of something everyone has seen? 3) Is the photo style and the writing style consistent? 4) Does the photo communicate quicker, stronger, better or more eloquently than a simple sentence could describe? 5) Does the photo have visual content, or stop short at story elevation? 6) Does the photo go beyond the trite and the obvious? 7) Does the photo contain essential information to help the reader understand the story? 8) Does the photo have enough impact to move the reader? 9) Is the photo clean, interesting, and well-composed enough to stand on its own? 10) Does the caption information answer who, what, when , where and why, along with other required information (e.g. age and hometown)? 11) Are both the photo and the caption information objective and accurate accounts of what happened? 12) Is the photo mindless documentation? 13) Does the photo communicate eflectively? Photos should either move, excite, entertain, inlorm or help the reader understand a story. 46

Assoelalld Press Gulde To PbOlOlournallsm

lhe look: Composltlon,Slvle,Cropplng

Among the visual devices a photographer can use is perspective. AP photographer MarkTerrill mounted a camera overthe arena f100r to capture ShaquilleQ'Neal peeking through the net while going lar a rebound in lhe 2000 NBA Finals.

that make a picture more interesting to look ato Ideas like the ru le of thirds, linear perspective, framing, the "decisive mornent ," selective focus, controlled depth of fie!d, perspective, and others should be in the photographer's basic "t ool kit." N ighswa nder has identi fied fifteen devices that have an effect on the look of a photojour nalist's pictures. If yo u take an extrernely creative photo, Nighswander says, and dissect it, "it can contain four or five creative devices. Each helps strengthen the power of the phot ograp h. " H e says no matter how much experience yo u have, these visual devices can make yo ur pictures bett er. "Every time 1 take a pictu re, these things click through my mind. I'm always thinking, which ones can 1 use?" Ca rte r says an easy way to improve a ph otograph's composition is to merel y change perspectives. That's one of the visual devices. Assoclated Press Gulde To Photo)oumalism

"You have to move aro und a 10t," she says. "You have to watch shooting everything from eye level." You can shoot "on a ladder, or on your kn ee, or on your belly" to get a different view . For instance, Carter says sorne of the pietures her children shot when th ey were growing up are interesting, just because they are shot fro m a different perspective. "When yo u give a kid a camera, th ey are goin g to sho ot everything at th eir eye leve!. That's yo ur knee level, and ir's an intere st. view . ," mg Ca rter says ph oto graphers should vary their perspectives as mu ch as possible. "Too many pictures from the same perspective mak es the reader lose interest," she says. In fact, she says, using any of the visual devices too often will dull the reader's response. Burro ws believes that knowing how th e picture is going to be used will help th e ph otographer get th e most mileage out of th ose creative tools.

41

l he look: Composilion. Stvle. Cropping

These three AP photographers use different compositional techniques lo draw lhe reader's eye. John Moore's 1996 photo 01workers preparing rice inlhe kitchen 01 anAfghan orphanage (top) uses lhe slrong shaft 01 lighl lo bring the reader lo lhe workers and their kettle. Eric Draper uses silhouette and framing techniques in a photo 01a 1998 mano huntin the Ulah back country (above right) and Laura Rauch employs a long lens to isolate the acnon al a 1999 rodeo (Ieft).

48

AssoclaledPress Guide To Phololournalism

lhe look: Composilion. Stvle, Cropping The first thi ng-that is important for the To give that smaller picture greater impact, Burrows recommends that the phophotographer heading out on an assignment, Burrows says, is "t o know what you tographer concentrate on the person's face are shooting for - Al, inside, secondary and have fewer , simpler elements. He says play, the feature section. You have to know the audience you're aiming for." He says you should make differen t kinds of pictures for different uses. "For instance, if you are shooting an assignment for a colurnn," Burrows says, "yo u rnight be shooting for a small picture. So you Framing the scene wil h a wide angle lens and working clase lo his subject, AP phoioqrapher David Guttenfelder madeIhis piclure 01 Rwandan refugees peering Ihrough Ihe hale in a rain would want to cover on a Uniled Nationslruck in 1996. Guttenlelder afien used Ihe wide angle lens and worked go for an impact clase lo his subjecls when he was inAlrica, but had lo change his style lo reflecl the different attiimage." On the ludes 01 people inAsia. other hand, "if that is important on a small picture so the you are shooting for the main picture on Al, and they'll use a fou r-column picture, reader's eye won't be confused with the you can shoot a looser photograph." clutter. However, if the newspaper doesn't generOn the picture to be played larger, a ally display pictures that size and that same looser composition works. "You still have to keep an uncluttered picture," Burrows assignment is going to be used slightly smaller, it could change th e composition of says. But he says that the elements of the picture don't have to have the same boldthe picture needed. "If it is a three-column instead, you have to shoot for a little more ness, the same impact, that is needed when impact," he explains. "The bigger the gener- the picture is going to be player smaller. al size, the more flexibility on the looseThe best of both worlds, Burrows says, "is to have the real impact in a large pieness. A small picture needs more impact." Associated Press Guide ToPhotoiournalism

49

lhe look: Composition, Stvle, Cropping ture. T hat's the maximum imp act." the same look as a 35 mm lens on a film AP photographer Harry Cabluck thinks camera, "that is closer ro the way th e eye sees a scene ." there is an easy way for ph otographers ro improve the imp act of pictu res. It's th e He doesn't think this preferred use of choice of the lens th ey'll use. one lens compro mises his ability to get the Cab luck says you can shoot /' t he same scene in a more readable manner by using a longer lens, even if you have to take a positio n farther from your subject. T he su bject will be crisper, because the depth of field is not so great, and the scene will be more pleasing ro the eye. AP ph ot ogra- AP photographer Jerome Delay combines a digital camera, a 24 mm lens and a style of getting clase to his subjectsand fillinghis frame to produce eye-catching photographs like this one of pher Jerome ethnic Albanian refugees as they leave their home in Kosovo in 1999. Delay doesn't think his Delay prefers ro preference lar the wide angle lens compromises his photography. use fixed focal length lenses. "I don't like zoo ms because best image. "If it doesn't fit in th e 24, I step th ey make peopl e lazy. You don't move, all back. If th ere is a wall, then maybe I don't of yo ur pictures look th e same." make th e pictu re. If the eye can't see the "You r perspective is different if yo u take picture, th e camera can' t either!" Another lesson from Cab luck's days at two steps forw ard or two steps backwa rd. Standing still makes for stagnant pictures," the Fort Worth Star- Telegram is "ro shoo t vert ically as often as possible and have a Delay says. Unlike Cab luck, Delay likes the look he camera th at is easy ro hold verti cally gets from a wide angle lens. Delay' s lens of because th e newspaper pages are vert ical choice, when the situation doesn 't demand and it is easier to do the makeup with a verthe use of a long lens, is the 24 mm lens on tical in mind." a digital camera . H e believes that gives him Cabluck says pho tog raphers som etimes 50

Associated Press Guide To Photolournalism

lhe look: Composilion, Stvle, Cropping forget who theyare shooting for. "The reader," Cabluck says, "that's who we are doing it for." Others say that too much of anything horizontals, verticals, closeups, wide shots

photographer needs to compose the story with different perspectives and focallengths to give visual variety to the story." It all goes back to the guidance the photographer had before shooting the assignrnent, Burrows says. The more the photographer knows about where the pieture IS gomg to be used, the better. That means good direction from the picture editor or section editor about the editor's intentions for the photo's play. After the photographer has decided on an approach to photography, Often, while chasing a story tha! goes on lor several days, photographers find it hard lo stay alert and used the and look for unique pictures. Not so for AP pholographer Eric Draper who followed Mark McGwire visual devices to on his chase to break the home run record in 1998. Because he paid attention when McGwire compose a plCwasn't at bat, hegot this offbeat picture 01 him cooling offin the dugout before taking the field. ture, the deci- should be avoided. sion has to be made whether to use the pieWhen assigned to more than one picture ture as a "full-frame " image, exactly as it on a given subject, Nighswander stresses, was made in the camera, or if the framing the still photographer "ought to think like needs to be altered. This decision sometimes falls on the pho a film director, making closeup, medium and overall views." This variety will result tographer, other times on an editor. When it is decided that a picture should in a visually appealing picture story. "[ust as a film director wouldri't shoot be cropped, sorne want the photographer to have and exercise that option. Others from one perspective and with one focal believe it is the editor's responsibility to length lens," Nighswander says, "a still

Associated Press Guide To Photojournalism

51

The look: Composilion,Stvle, Cropping make that decision. Carter isn't one of the reluctant ones. Nighswander says t he photographer "Most pictures can be improved by cropshould think about how the pict ure should ping," she says. "Sornetimes 1 will crop in look right from the start. "There are basithe camera, and it is the most pleasing, but cally three times rune times out you can crop the of ten it can be improved by picture: when cropping in the yo u shoot it, when you print darkroom. 1 or sean it, and think intelligent when you send cropping will improve the it to the back shop." readership of the While they are image." shooting, phoBurrows tographers thinks that too should be trying much cropping AP photographer Eric Gayused a long lens but framed the piclure lo on the picture to make a pieture that is as include some needed atmosphere while covering lhis 2000 memorial desk can take away from the flexible as possi- service, which marked the fifthanniversary of the deadly explosion at ble. "You can the federal building in Oklahoma City. photographer's always crop tighter in the darkroom or on the picture desk, but you can't crop looser," Nighswander says. "You cari't add information," once t he pict ure is made. "You really need to think, not only like photographers, but like designers," he says. Photographers should be aware of problems they can help solve by shooting with a variety of compositio ns. Nighswander says there's "nothing worse t han having everything shot from t he same perspective and in the same format (horizontal or vert ical)." That takes away an editor's flexibility. And he has a message to t hose photographers who are reluctant to think of thernselves as pictur e editors. "Every ti me you shoot, you are exercisin g your opi nio n as an editor."

52

message. "I'rn in favor of less heavy-handed editing," he says. "You don't have to put your finger on every picture." Burrows suggests that an editor talk to the photographer before cropping a picture. "The photographer had a special meaning when he took that photograph," Burrows says, "and you have to know the photographer and how he pres ents his pictures." He compares it to editing a story. "You have to communicate with the photographer about the crop. Learn to ask what the photographer wants to say with the picture," Burrows says, "and if the photographer has a definite opinion about the picture, it is up to the photo editor to judge if the editing will add or take away from the photograph's message."

Assoclated Press Gulde To Photoiournalism

The look: Compositlon, Slvle, Cropping Burrows says every ph oto grapher has dif- tent and display, because he says every day ferent Ieelings about the editing process. is a litt le different at a newspaper. "Sorne don 't care, ot hers like to talk about "1 try to keep an open mind on all th at because there are so many variables," he . th e cro pping," he says. N ighswander takes a simple, straightforward approach. "1 think yo u sho uld crop out anything th at doesn't add content or information or mood. T hat 's imp ortant ," he says. "1 know a lot of editors can 't understand th e imp ortance of leaving any kin d of open feeling. That's often what gives mood AP's Eric Risberg found a painter doing some last-minute work on a new entertainment complex wall before its formal opening. By notcropping too tightly, Risberg's photo gives you a leel for the to th e picture, facility whilealso drawing youreye into the picture with the weight01 the silhouetted painter. Somet imes a litd e space around th e picture can give yo u a says. "If 1 was too struct ured in my thinkfeeling, even if it may be subt le." ing, 1 might limit myself when 1 go to put Co nceptual irtiages, illustrations, feet cut my page together." Nighswander issues a challenge to newsoff, dominant foregrounds, subjectivity as a perso nal style. T he old rules don't always papers that are too structured when he apply any more when you're talking about says, "1 want to give my reader a variety of images. 1 do n't want the reader to be able style, composition and crop ping. to ant icípate what 1 will give thern." N ighswander is not so sure that getti ng "You can't get yo urself to where you are rid of the rules is so bad. He's for having guidelines, not rules, for dealing with consaying no to too many thi ngs."

Assoclaled Press Gulde To PholoJournallsm

53

G~AC!A

DI0~, J 54

Ihe Associated Press Guide lo Photojournalism

News:

SensilivilV, Thinking, Inslinel and CuriosilV

e

overing news assignments calls for a case of curiosity. Sensitivity. Sorne thinking. And instinct, Make that a lot of curiosity, sensitivity, thought, persistence and instinct. David Longstreath says a college professor opened his eyes to one of the main ingredients you need to cover the news. Longstreath saysthe professor asked his class, "What makes a good reporter?" The discussion went on for sorne time. Talk of equipment and training dominated the discussion. But, Longstreath says, "the bottom line was curiosity. That has always struck me." Longstreath says you can't go wrong if, as you approach a news scene, "you ask

yourself what is it about this that is inter. " estmg. Veteran photographers agree there is no way to be taught news coverage techniques. y ou really have to learn thern by going out and doing it. "Shooting hard news is like going fishing or hunting. You have to have patience," Longstreath says, "but you also have to have street smarts." There are no short cuts to learning the news business. "There are no tricks. You have to work at it. Like playing the piano, you keep practicing and practicing and practicing." AP photographer Mark Duncan says your aim should be to "look beyond the

Opposile page: A long night on stakeout duly came lo a head quickly lorAP photographer Willredo Lee as governmenl agents stormed a Miami house in 2000, lhen came running oul with six-year-old Elian Gonzalez. Lee only had a moment lo react, but his photograph shows lhe intensily 01 the momen!.

Associated Pren Guide To Photolournalism

55

News: SenslUVitv, ThlnklnU,lnstlnct and Curlosltv obvious. Look for something more compelling with more emotion." Photographer Eric Risberg of the AP agrees. He says sports and news are alike in that "better pictures aren't always the main moments, but the moments after." Ed Reinke, an AP photographer, agrees with that approach. "In news, as in sports, reaction often brings the very best pietures. When the action is important, often the reaction is even more important." Risberg compares news to sports this way: "We alllook for the great play," he says, "but the best picture is sometimes after the great play happens, the reaction. By learning that in sports, you can carry that over to news. At news events, we often get the peak moments, but we should use the sports approach and look for the moment after the peak." Sports Illustrated photographer John Biever, whose early photography work was at the Milwaukee [ournal where he covered a wide variety of assignments, says he sees a lot of similarities between covering a sports event and covering a political campaign. "There are just similar moments in both," Biever says. "Either way, you are looking for emotion and the peak mornent." The AP's Elise Amendola says covering news is akin to playing in a spirited game of basketball. At the news event, like the basketball game, "a lot is happening. Sights, movements and sounds are swirling around you. It's imperative to focus on your images as you shoot," she says. "Try to relegate the sounds, movement and your emotional response to the background." As an aside, Amendola plays basketball

56

regularly. "1 like to play basketball," she says, "not only to keep in shape physically but to work my mind and my visiono Threading a pass through a swarming defense that leads a teammate to the hoop is good practice for my timing and for seeing peripherally." Risberg says the good photojournalist doesn't wrap up the coverage after the obvious pictures are made. The thinking photographer, he says, "will go back a few hours later, a day later, or a week later, when there are often different and good pictures to be made." Part of that is looking for solid topics. J. Broce Baumann of the Evansville, Ind., Courier and Press, thinks that contests, and the books that are produced showing contest winners, are making it too easy for photographers to follow someone else's lead instead of finding their own issues and subjects to photograph. For instance, Baumann says, if a big winner is pictures of poverty, severa! photo essays on the topic show up soon after. "Why aren't the 'photojournalists' in this country doing the research and going out and seeing what is the problem?" AP photographer Cliff Schiappa sees good and bad in contests. "1 think that there is good and evil in contests," he says. "Good in that it forces you to reflect on the past year and see if you have grown. The bad is that people copy what is successful and don't grow themselves. " J. Scott Applewhite of the AP's Washington photo staff enjoys a different kind of photo contesto Each morning, he checks

AssoclalBd Press Gulde lo PhotoJoumallsm

News: Sensilivitv, Thinking,lnSlincl and Curiositv ,-------------~~~ ~~~~-....""II

Sancetta of the AP says keeping on your toes pays off. "Ir 's so imp ortant when yo u're at an event to be alert, to keep yo urself so tapped . " in. Part of that alert ness is not talking yo urself out of trying something. You have to guard against that . "Experience is worth a lot in a ph otojournalism situation," says Laura Rauch of the AP. "But, if you are trying to be more creative sometimes, exper ience might hinder you because you rnight not try som ething ." In the back of yo ur mind, she says, yo u are thin kin g, "Oh, I've done th at before and it didn't work." Fight that feeling, she says. "Ir might wo rk today because you are better at it, If you've got th e time, sometimes it is better to push yo urself past what experience already tells yo u." Longstreath, based in Bangkok, often faces assignments thraughout Southeast Asia where tens ions are high and sto ries are often based on Billowing clouds01anli-personnel gas and police intenl on clearing the a historical perspective. slreets 01demonstralórs were just part 01 what AP photographer Beth Keiser taced asshe tried to cover lhe WorldTrade Organization talks in O ne of those situations is th e Seatlle in 1999. backd rap for Longstreath's ph ot o the newsstand to see how his pictures fra m of Cambodian despot Poi Pot after his an event the previous day stack up against death, th e work of ot her photographers who were "You have to have sorne perspective on th ere. histo ry to understand how irnporta nt this "It is nice to kno w if you did a good was," Longstreath says. "This was the last enough job to have yo ur pictures on page despo t of the 20th century , I wasri't taking one aboye the fold," App lewhite says. no for an answer, and I wasn't coming back When yo u are on an assignment, Amy until I had it." Associaled Press Guide To Ph010]OUrnalism

51

News: Sensilivilv, Thlnking,lnslinCI and CuriosilV

AP photoqraphsr David Longslreath knew it was"time lo go lo work," when he was escorted ínto a jungle hui lo view Ihe remains of former Cambodian ruler Poi Poi in 1998. "We walked inside and Ihere he was: says Ihe Bangkok-based pholographer. He only had a few minutes lo capture the scene before hustling back lo Ihe border lo avoid fig hting inIhe area.

Longstreath and his AP colleagues had been seeking an interview with the reclusive dictat or for more th an a year. And Longstreath was planning a trip to the area along th e Thailand-Cambodia bord er, where it was be1ieved Poi Pot was in hiding, when wo rd carne th at he might be dead. During a speedy five-hour drive th at followed, Lon gstreath and an AP reporter 58

wo rked the cell phon e almost continu ously with sources and government officials, first try ing for confirmation, th en trying to arr ange transit across the border. "Every fifteen minutes, we woul d call thern again," Longstr eath says. O ver th e course of the long drive, "we wo re th em down to the point where the y finally said 'Can you be th ere by a cert ain tim e?' When we got to the checkpoint where we needed Assoclated Press Gulde To PhotoJournalism

News: SonsltivitY, Thlnklng,lnstinet and CuriosilV to be, a sergeant there hadn't gotte n the word." . After sorne discussions, which grew heated at times, th e sergeant checked with higher-up s and soon the AP team was on its way. At th e border, Longstreath was put in a car with sorne local journalists for a short drive across on a dirt road th rough the jungle. "We drove abo ut 300 yards and th e Khmer Rou ge [PoI Pot's arm y] picked us up ," Lon gstreath remembers. "T hey were waiting for us." As they led Longstreath and a television crew down a path, "They were very nervous . They kept telling us, 'Dori't get off the path,' because it was heavily rnined." Lon gstr eath and the others carne into a clearin g and were led to a hut. "1 walked inside," he says, "and there he was. H e was laying on a COl. He had his famous fan with him . He was dead. It was like, 'OK, time to go to wo rk.' This took all of th ree minutes inside th e hut ." T here was automatic-weapons fire and shelling in the area and Longstreath knew he had to make his pictures and get back to th e border. "We were very nervous because there was clearly a battle going on down the road somewhere," he says. Lon gstreath and th e other journalists made a quick sprint for the border. Once he was back across th e border, Longstreath had his dri ver take him a sho rt distan ce to a gas statio n wh ere he set up his satellite ph one and laptop and filed his pictures. According to Appl ewh ite, paying attention and spotting something yo u want,

then b eing persistent enough to get it, is the key, "I'rn not a gifted photograph er," he says, "bu t 1 am persistent. I never go back empt y-handed. T hat has helped me more th an any other quality." Lon gstreath says sornetrmes it's tou gh to pay atte ntion. "When ot her peopl e are Amv SanCeRa: "Be talking or joking," he says, "ir' s kind lo lhe people lhal you work wilh , better to bear down and think, your colleagues or And look at lhe subjecls 01 your th ings, rethink pholos. The subyo ur approach jecls may be openand look again." ing a par! 01 lheir Eric D raper of lile lo you that th e AP agrees. "I lhey've no! shared see a lot of photographers misswilh oíhers." ing things because they are being social," he says, "and their heads aren't in th e story. " Draper says th ere's no • reason not to say helio. "I'lI meet and greet , other ph otographers," he explains, "but most of the time I keep my concentratio n, keep wo rk ing, keep my eyes peeled for a picture." And use every tool and techn ique in your mind -- or your camera bag - to help you make better news pictures. For instance, you no rma lly want to use i as fast a shutter speed as possible on news assignments in order to "freeze" th e action, But to show the fury of a fire fed by 80-

Photographers learn new lessons dailv

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Assocla18d 'mssGolde lo .hotolóum=a:;;IIO=sm =-- - - - - -- - - - - - ----- - - - - - ---=59

News: SensilivilV, Thinklng, InsUnel and CuriosilV

To show the fu ry 01a lire led by 80-mile-per-hour winds, AP photographer Doug Pizac used a tripod to steadythe camera and a slow shutter speed to emphasize the wind-whipped flames. Photographers not only have to know what tools they have at their disposal, but also how to use Ihemto help tell the slory Ihey are trying lo communicate.

rnile-an-ho ur winds, Doug Pizac used a long exposure to bett er tell th e sto ry, Pizac put his camera on a tripod, and made a half-second exposure to capt ure the int ensity. T hen he popped in a strobé to light the fireman. A case of using th e tools available -- a slow shutt er speed, a tripod and a strobe -to make an eye-catching, informative pieture. y ou have to use th ose tools wisely while facing a tight deadline, a seemingly imp ossible coverage situation, or circumstances that have you or your skills stretched to the lim ito And avoid letting those to ols

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overwhelm YO U. Applewhite says he always tries to keep it in perspective. "It's th e image, that's what counts . You can get bogged down with computers and lenses and cell ph ones. But, if you do n't have the picture, nothing else matters." The bottom line for Apple white? "W hen people put th eir quarte rs in th e newsrack and look at yo ur pictu re, th ey don 't care what it took to get it, lt either sings, or it doesn't." Reinke cautio ns that there are boundaries to watch in news that don 't exist in feature phot ography. "As for ph otojournalism, and Assoclated Press Gulde To PhotoJournallsm

News: Sensilivilv, Thinking,lnstincl and CuriosilV 1 emphasize th e word journalism, we make photographs from the circumstances we are given and we don't try to alter those circumstances."

yo u would want ir, but you live with it," Mell says, because you know at least it is an honest picture. Washington Post picture editor Michel DuCille says his staff faces the same kind of srtuation.

The simplest situation can be a test of trust. Wilmington, Del., News-fournal director of photography Jeanne Mell says her photo staff strictly follows a rule not to set up photos. But, every day, they have assignment s where the subject asks thern, "W hat do you want me to do?" The answer is for the person to do what he or AP photographer Robert Bukaty wanted lo go beyond news conterences and orcheslrated pholo opportunities when a giant ice slorm knocked down lines and power lo a wide area 01 Maine in she would be doing if th e pho- 1998. Driving Ihrough the darkened area he lound a house wilh a lanlern shining in a window. For the tour days since Ihe storm slruck, Ihe elderlycouple there had been using a battery-powered tographer wasn't radio, the lantern, a kerosene heater and a camp stove lo gel along wilhout electricity. standing there . But it isn't as simple as that . The subject "1 think that we need to recogni ze it," DuCille says, "and do all we can to get peoalready had it in his or her min d that the photographer is willing to set up a picture. pIe to understand what we do." DuCille And, that gets to the heart of the credib ility tells subjects he doesn't want them to "fake anything" for the paper's photographers. of the papero Because if people are around "If anything," he tells thern, "1 want you to whe n a picture is set up, they may think that almost any picture has been set up. go about your duties so 1 can capture the essence of what you are doing." "The public," she says, "just doesn't DuCille thinks we can win that uphill understand the concept of reality journal. " ism, battle to keep readers' trust. "The best thing you can do," he says, "is to be totally "Sometimes the pictu re isn' t as clean as Associated PressGuldeTo Photojournalism

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News: Sensitivitv.Thinking,lnstinct and Curiositv honest with yo ur subjects, with your readers, and be to tally honest as a person practicing journ alism." It's easy to get frustrated when circumstances don't wo rk out as well as yo u had hoped, but AP ph oto editor Bob Daugherty suggests moving along to the next item on the agenda.

you're fretting about something, you're not going to be in th e right frame of min d when the mom ent happens. You 've got to avoid getting down after mistakes." After yo u've had a ment al or mechanical lapse, Daugherty says, you just have "to come back and do what you do th e best." Daugherty tells a story to illustrate his point about being calm and making the best pictures you can. During a long-ago presidential campaign, Daugherty nervously looked around a rally and jumped every time there was an out burst of applause or a reaction in the crowd . Veteran UPI photo grapher Frank Cancellare, also on the assignment, A misty nighl and the harsh lighting al Ihe perimeter lence at a Tennessee prison are the tableau looked over and tor a photo 01anti-dealh penalty prolesters silently lighting candles while wailing tor a 1999 exesaid, "Kid, you cution. AP pholographer Ed Reinke relied on available light to helptell the story01 lsolation. cari't shoot the sound." Daugherty calls it sorne of the best "1 guess yo u have got to avoid getting down on yourself," he says. "1 have a thing advice he ever got. Do what you do best. Make pictures when th ere is someth ing to 1 run through my mind when things are going badly: Try not to worry about th at make pictures of. over which 1 have no control." H e says Hard news ofte n isn't pleasant. Many worrying about a change in plan or a mistimes you're working in an explosive take in shooting can hurt yo u latero "If atmos phere. Someo ne may have been 62

Assoclaled Press Gulde lo Pholojournalism

News: Sensilivitv. Thinking,lnslincl and CuriosilV in jured or ki11ed in an accident, people may have lost their liíe's work in a fire, or oppos ing gro ups may be emotio na11y charged. !t 's a heavy pressure, the pressure to make th e best possible picture, balanced wit h sensitiv ity toward the people in yo ur pictures, measured against the thin lin e of involvement by th e ph otographer. Des Mo ines Register director of photography John G aps III says it is important for editors to trust their staff, and let them know of th at trust, so the photographers don 't feel pressure to make something that rnight not rea11y be there, "If yo u start not accepting that they did n't come back wit h sorne rhi ng," Gaps says, "you put pressure on them to do sorneth ing that perhaps isn't as truthful." For the photograp her's part of th at understanding, Ga ps says they have to pledge to be truthful in their report ing. "You have to be faithful to what is truthfui, " he says. "A lways return ing to what is truthful, wh at has happ ened in the scene, wi11 sooner o r later result in a factual sti11 photograph." Gaps warns that yo u don't want to let tactics - lighting, lensing, etc . - get in t he way. "1 am going to let the scene truthfully happ en . I am going to truthfully portray it and th en I wi11 play to my st rengths," is what each ph otographer sho uld be saying, according to Gaps. And if a11 of t hat doesn't work, the editor sho uld accept t hat the photographer failed but failed while trying. Risberg says he depends on his instincts as he qu ickl y sizes up a news scene and Assoclated Press Gulde To Photojoumallsm

tries to find a middle gro und . "News is the most instin ctive thing for me. It is rea11y cha11enging. You can't rea11y prepare for it. You've got to rely on instinct." Risberg also advises, "When I' m do ing news, I t ravellight and don 't shoot too mu ch film. I try to think, and not get caught up in the evento I distance myself." Draper also subsc ribes to th e travel- light approach. "Usua11y when I'm out, " he says, "1 don 't carry a camera bagoInstead, I car ry

Allhough AP pholographer J. Scott Applewhite was in posilion to cover lhelanding 01 the presidential helicopter in New York in 1999, he was ready to react wilh a wide angle lens when he saw a member 01thelocal policesecurity line brace himsell against lhe rotor wash.

two camera bod ies ready to go, read y to fire at a11 times, with enough disk space so I'm not caught sho rt ." H e's ready, he says, "just in case I see sornething to grab a sho t of." That way, nothing wi11 get away fro m him. "1 don't want to be surprised," he says. "Mornents happen so quickly and once they are gone, t here is no way to get th em back." "H aving yo ur camera ready gets yo u in th e ballpa rk, " he says, "but yo u also have

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News: SenslUvilV, Thinklng,Instinct andCurlosltv

AP photographer Stephan Savoiamoved awayfrom the pack for an alternate angle and a good picture ofpresidential candidate Sen. John McCainduring a 2000 campaign stop at a town meeting in Newberry, S.C.

to be rnent ally ready." Many photograph ers subscribe to the th eory that there 's a spot called X in any news situation. If yo u can figure out wh ere that spot is and manage to be there, you've got the key picture, "1 tend to cover a lot of territo ry with my eyes," Draper says, "and I ask a lot of questions, too, to get to the bott om of the story." Draper wants to know what the story is, what is important. If he can quickly figure that out, he' s got a good start on finding th e 'X .' Sometimes a photographer has a pretty goo d idea where t hat spo t is but aut ho rities

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might have a different idea. Draper was on assignment in Macedonia ph oto grap hin g refugees fro m the war in Kosovo as t hey were being bused to an airpo rt boarding area. As he was bein g ushered away by airport police, because they thought photographers had made enough pictures, D raper says, "1 saw this face in the very last window. It stopped me in my trac ks." T he police were sho uting for Draper and ot hers to leave. But Draper hung back, even though they were sho uting and pulling on him, and made his picture, "A ll of this stuff was going on behind me whi le I was making the picture," he says. "1 had to hold on as long as possible to get the moment. " Draper only had an instant in w hich it all carne rogether. "It happened pretty qui ckl y and I knew I had something powerful.' Wh ile covering a demonstration in Kansas City, Schiappa wo uld make a few frames then get chased away by police. "T he poliee started manhandling the pro testors," he says, "and 1 dove in with the wideangle lens." Schiappa was ordered away from that spot, and eo mp lied, but quickly moved to ano t her. "If they tell you to get lost," Schiappa says, "go to another spot until yo u get told to get lost again." D ou g Mills covers the White H ouse, politics, and a lot of major spo rting events for th e AP. Every day, he pushes himself, no matt er what the assignment, to t ry for a different picture, "Yo u've got to have the spirit t hat it will wo rk," he says. "You've got to pu t

Assoclated Press Gulde To P otoloumallsm

News: Sensilivitv, Thinking,lnstinct and Curiositv

AP photographer Eric Draper had to fightthe distraclion 01police ordering photographers to leave when he spotted an Albanian refugee and his child on a busin Petrovec, Macedonia, in 1999. Draper was able to make only a few Irames.

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News: SensilivilV, Thinking,lnSlincl and CuriosilV yo urself in t he frame of min d to keep tryEven the details of how it wo uld hap pen ing." were kept hazy. Mills went to the stadium hours early to Sometimes t ha t extra work pays off, sornetirnes i t get a head start doesn't. on what he knew would be "If yo u want a crowded situato make an im age no one n on . Organizers else has, yo u had issued pho have to be w illing to take a tographers tickchance," Mills ets for a panicular area, but says. He keeps a Mills quickly men tal scorecard figured out t hat and he pushes himself by a bett er pictu re knowing that could be made from across th e taking a chance aisle. A series of has paid off a conversan ons who le lot more with var ious than it has failed. "This one ushers and secudidn 't wo rk rity pers onnel, sorne conout, " he'll say, "but I' ve paid te ntious at To make lhis picture 01Muhammad Ali with the Olympic torch at the 1996 Games inAtlanta, AP pholographer Doug Milis lirsl had lo contimes, finall y my dues and next time it wi ll vince securityguards and ushers he should be allowed in a position that paid off, and had been declared off limits. they said M ills work." There are two good exam ples of it paying could use the spot he had scouted. But not wanti ng to tip his hand to th e off, bot h by Mills, but each from different other photographers, he had to hide out situations. The only thing that links them is that Milis took a chance in each instan ce first. "1 hid aboye the last row of seats," Mills explained, "on a grate over a big and it paid off. exhaust fan. 1 couldn't see most of t he • At the O lymp ic Games in Atlanta in 1996, Mills was assigned to the O pening show and 1 waited and waited for the right moment." Ce remonies and his panicular assignment Several times durin g th ose hours of waitwas to make a picture of the O lympic torch being lit as pan of the festivities. The ing, Mills questioned himself on whet her he was doing t he right thin g. "1 just tried to final torch carrier had been kept a secreto

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Assoclated Press Gulde To PhotoJournallsm

News: Sensiüvitv, Thinking, Instlnct and Curiositv stick to my hunch," he said, "thinking that me to get off th e carpet, I'm going to stay even if it didn' t wo rk out perfectly I'm still here." going to have a different picture." Just th en, out of th e comer of his eye, he Mil!s' spot was directly between th e spotted a memb er of the president's securiarena track and the location where the cere- ty detail in the hal!way. And, a mo ment monial llame would be lit. H e knew wholater, he spotted th e president peeking ever carried th e torch would have to pass around th e comer into the roo m. him. H e kept thinking, th e cauldro n "is "1 glanced over and th ere he was," Mil!s aboye my head, not theirs (the other phosaid, "standing three feet from me and he tographers). Whatever happens has to come didn't saya wo rd or acknow ledge that 1 past me." .,. When that mom ent carne, Mil!s moved into th e spot he wanted, but anot her guard told him he wasri't allowed th ere. Milis pleaded his case and final!y got th e word he could stay. Moments later , the gamble paid off and a very fragile Muhammad Ali moved towa rd th at spot with the torch and Mil!s was able to make two or three frames. • Sticking to his spot paid off for Mil!s in another venue, the White After moving from lhe camera platformlo make a different picture 01 H ouse. First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, Doug Milis 01 the AP saw Presidenl What started as an ordinary Bill Clinton peeking into theroom, assignment too k on an air of mystery when the meeting was started by was there. 1 lifted my camera and an aide, H illary Rodham 'Clinto n without the presi- who was standing nearby, signaled to me not to make a pictu re. 1 figured , what are dent th ere. Normal!y, everyo ne waits on him to start . Milis immediately wondered if they going to do, yell at me?" there was a crisis brewin g or if sorne other Mil!s made sorne pictures and the president soon walked past him and took his news was going on th at had detained him . spot at the head table. Milis had his differIt was so out of the ordinary that Mil!s wo rked his way around to an aisle, normal- ent pictu re and taking th e chance had put one up on his scorecard's win column. Iy off limit s, to make a picture of Mrs. After al!, he says, "if you stick wit h the Clinto n speaking, since that could turn out to be a good il!ustration for the story. pack, you might as wel! be a pott ed plant. Mil!s rhought to himself, "Until they tel! You 're going to take a bunch of average

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Associated Press GuideTo Photojournalism

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News: SensilivilV, Thinking, Inslinel and Curiosilv

Reacting lo his instincls paid offforAP's Bob Daugherty during a 1979 visit by lhen-President Jimmy Carter to Bardstown, Ky. During a parade, Carter got out 01 his car to work the crowd and Daugherty decided against wading inta the crowd. Instead, he held his spot on the photo truck and was rewarded when Carter thrilled the crowd by climbing anta the hood.

pictures with a bunch of average guys." Years earlier, while covering a visit by then-President Jimmy Carter to Bardstown, Ky., Daugherty fought off the urge to wade into the crowd and a few minutes later made a classic campaign picture from the photo truck. Daugherty says it had been abad day on the road. No good chances to make any pictures. And it looked like it was getting worse. A few blocks into the parade, Carter got out of his car, Daugherty says, but "his back was to uso My first instinct was to jump the truck. Try to get into the crowd 68

and get clase. But 1 stayed the course , 1 stayed on the truck." Carter quickly got back in the car, traveled a short distance, then got back out of the caro "He got out and hopped on the hood of the car," Daugherty said, and the photo truck was in the perfect position to make a clean picture as the crowd reacted. "Ir was not until then that 1 realized that 1 had made the right decision to stay with the truck," he says. "Sometimes you have to give up one chance, and then you get a better one if you stay with your plan." Daugherty says actually making the pieAssocialed Press Guide To Pholojournalism

News: Sensilivitv, Thinking,lnSlincl and Curiositv ies in"my bago 1 figure 1 can't do much ture was "very simple. 1 chose one camera and one lens, an 85 mm . It gave me sorne without a functioning camera." atm osphere, and it gave me th e speed to Reinke says he often is asked by a lesspr epared ph otograph er if he has any spare over come sorne bad light. " The picture is batteries, He is quick to reply, "Yes, 1 do. one of D aughert y's favorites. Reinke says any job is goin g to go bett er And th ey are all charged." But he's less inclined to share. It 's a sore poinr for him if yo u're prepared. "T he peopl e who plan best from the get-go make the most out of the situatio n. 1 can' t think of a situatio n th at planning . . . IS not gomg to lmprove your chances." "Pictures of tornadoes, for exampie, are made by peopl e wh o have film in their camera. That's no time to be trying to load. A fire, a convention, 1 really can't think of a single situation," Reinke says, "where planning won' t pay off. Not one. Sometimes you have to alter th ose plans but you're in a Being alert paid off lorAP photographer Marty Lederhandler when, while heading lo an assignment in 1994, he spotted several sidewalk Santas much better position to alter a coming lo Ihe aid 01a bicyclisl who had been struck by a van on a busy plan yo u have already than when Manhattan slreet. yo u have no plan at aH." Preparation is an everyday th ing, he says. and he has little patience for someone who isn't prepared, too. You never kn ow when yo u' re going to Feeling comfonable with yo ur equiphave to hit the ground running. He checks his gear quickly every day. "1 never leave ment is also important , Reinke says. A few gear in the car or in th e office, so 1 handle years ago, as digital camera techn ology was changing, Reinke was given a new camera it at least four tim es every day, at least from my house to the car, and from the car on th e eve of the Super Bowl. Promises of better technical quality for his images, and to th e office, and back again. I' m always a more respo nsive camera , were eno ugh for checking straps for wear, and the general him to use it. H e regrets th at decision now condition of the gear." and vows never to make th at mistake again. Reinke says something as simple as hav"1 will never forgive going to a Super ing adequate batteries for an assignment can Bowl and having a brand new camera in be the difference between success and failmy hands that 1 had never to uched," ure. "1 always have a spare ni-cad in my bago 1 always have a set of fresh AA batt er- Reink e says. H e had violated one of his Associated Press Gulde To PhotoJournalism

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News: Sensitivitv. Thinking, Inslincland Curiositv ow n rules on being prepared, this time by not feeling comfortab1e with his camera. "1 rnight as well have ga ne out there with a Kod ak Instamatic, 1 know better tha n that. At least now 1 do." That daily preparati on should include reading the newspaper to know what is

store. He set the scene in his mind - "A man is in the store. H e has a hostage." He th en looked at the options -- "Police could sto rrn the buildin g. H e cou ld sur render. He could com e out shooting. H e could come out with the hostage. H e could kili himself in the store."

AP's David Longstreath golhis equipment ready, inelud· ing setting up his long lens on a tripod, and stayed alert as a two-hour Oklahoma City hostage sítuatíon unwound.

going on in the world, and yo ur com rnunity, Not just the sports pages, but the local section so you' ll know the to pics and peopie if you're sent to the city council meetmg. Lo ngstreath, after covering several news events, carne up with a mental game he plays. It's called "What if?" It's a scenario developrnent exercise he runs thraugh to help him make a rder out of chaos at a news scene. It helps him calculate his options. "As the years go by, yo u add experiences to yo ur data bank . It 's kind of a mental game yo u play where yo u try to anticipate what is going to happen ." Longstreath used the exercise while covering a hostage situation in a convenience

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By studying the situation, Longstreath was gett ing his game plan in hand and deciding how to cut down on the chances of missing sornething. H e ran through a list in his mind and then to ld himself to get a lon g lens ready . "1 better use this lens. If this thing gets going, the adrenaline will be pumping, so get a trip od." He took that precauti on so his pict ures would be rack steady despite the excitement. And, he wanted to have lon g glass to use without being burdened by it if he needed to move quickly. Wit h the lens on a tripod, he could leave it easily and move with the situation, "If 1 needed to move fast and use a short lens," he said, "1 wo uldn't want to carry it (the lon g lens)." Assoclated Press Gulde lo Photojournalism

News: SensilivilV. Thinking,lnSlincl and CuriosilV H e got him self ready, "set up th e f-stop and shutter speed to allow for motion and for depth, put in a fresh roll of film, and waited." "Two hours later, the gunman ran out the door," Longstreath remembers, "and 1 pulled closer to the camera , hitting th e but-

"andsimply say 1 am open to capturing whatever happens in Iront of me. Every journ alist needs to go to a scene, an event , a happening, and take back th e essence of what was th ere." "1 th ink th ere is a difference between anticipation and preconceived notion," he

When the gunman burst out the tront door, Longstreath was ready and made the photos as police sharpshooters tired on the suspect.

ton. When 1 saw him raise th e shotgun, 1 had no doubt they were going to take him out ." As Longstreath watched and kept making pictures, "the poli ce shot him. At four frames a secon d, 1 got 19 frames of him before he hit the ground." The whole incident had come to an end in a few seconds. Longstreath's tho ught and preparation put him in the position to make dramatic pictures of th e brief, but violent scene. T he "what if" exercise had paid off. And, because of thi s situation, he has more information for his "data bank." D uC ille thinks you should be openminded in sizing up a scene. "1 try to clear my mind," DuC ille says, Associated Press Guide To Photojournalism

says. "You go and ant icipate because you know th at something is going to happen. You put yourself in a place where you think it will happen. Anticipation is the key word." H owever, DuCille warns, "If you go in with precon ceived notions, you are going to bring back pictures th at are aH about yo u and what was in your head." "That's why stereotyp es flour ish," he says, giving an example . "You show up in the black community with a camera. You are looking aro und for kids spraying in th e fountain in the sum mer. You are stuck with stereotypical images that say 'ghett o' when th ere could be a thousand other thi ngs that can be said if you had only 11

News: SensltivilV. Thinking, Inslincl and CuriosilV opened your eyes to look and see what is goin g on." DuCill e says Tom Hardin, who was the director of photography at Du Cille's first newspaper job in Loui sville, summed it up well. H ardin, DuCille says, told him "photography is 90% anti cipati on and 10% pressing the button at the right tim e." DuCille says he has always followed that as a guide. Lik e the instinct for news, experience is the best teacher. Lon gstreath says those first times at an accident scene or othe r new s events are tough. They' re crying. Their child is on the ground. T here is only one way to learn ho w to deal with that , and that is "to be there." While based in Oklahoma City, Lon gstreath was tested on that toughn ess. And, he was tested on two fro nts. O ne was how he would cope with the evento The other was ho w he would cope with having his efforts overshadowed by the wo rk of another photo grapher. Within minutes of the explosion of the federal building there, he was on the scene. "I got there about 15 minutes after the blast ." "The first thing I saw, my first visual memory of that day, w as blood in the gutter," he remembers, "and I thought ' T his is going to be bad.''' Longstreath made his phot os of the victi rns and the collapsed 12

bu ilding, then raced to a working telephone to transmito Later, a local amateur ph otographer, Charles Po rte r, carne into the office with the picture of a fireman carrying a baby. That picture would beco me the icon of the Associaled Press Guide To Pholojournalism

News: Sensitivitv, Thinking, Instincl and Curiositv pictu re," he says. "It cou ld have happened before 1 got th ere, It could have happened after 1 got there. If it had been there and 1 had been there, 1 would have mad e it ." Longstreath says, "1 had to let it go at that point," and he r-----------"'TIT----, kept wo rking the story for th e next several rnonths. "The thing that ran through my mind at the end of the day was that 1 went up that street and into the insanity. 1 stepped over to rsos and limb s and everything else. 1 did the best possible job 1 could have event and Lon gstreath 's efforts, with what 1 saw. 1 had to let it go." while heroic, wo uld be overshadowed. Longstreath has reconc iled th at o ne T hat can be to ugh to swallow. But aspect but he says he 'll never forget what Longstreath was pro ud of what he had he saw that day. "Ir's never very far from do ne and did not feel that his efforts had the surface," he says. "Every April it is a been dim inished. sad day when 1 remember where 1 was and "1 was at that com er. 1 never saw that what 1 was doing and the people who died.

As photograpjler David Longstreath of the AP approached the scene of the federal building bombing in Oklahoma Cityin 1995, the ñrst thing he saw was blood in the gutter and he knew "t his is going to be bad." Over the next several minutes he made pictures01the worst domestic terrorism in U.S. history andthen broke away to transmit his images to the world.

Assoclated Press Gulde To Photoiournalism

13

News: SensitivilV. Thinking,lnSlincl and CuriosilV

Aminer relaxes with a cigarette before telling waiting relatives that several miners had been killed in an explosion. For this picture,AP photographer Rusty Kennedy used a long lens so he wouldn't intrude on the private mornsnt.

Everything changed for me.April Iv, 1995." explains, "1 made the picture with a lon g lens from sorne distance. 1 didn 't have to An ot her kind of pressure is the need to int rude on him. 1 was able to make ir, but be sensitive to yo ur subjects, AP photographer Rusty Kennedy tells of he was never aware of m e." "Phot ographers sometimes get abad photographing a coal min er resting for a name ," Kenned y says, "and we earn it. mom ent after finding ot hers dead in an explosion oThe min er, wh o had gone into Sometimes it's a real ugly scene when we the mine with a rescue team, was gathering intrude." Even when ir's not a sensitive situation his th oughts before tellin g the families of the trapped men that the min ers had been like a funeral or accident , ph otographers killed. It was a quiet momento Kennedy can intrude on a subject's personal space. It 14

Associated Pless Guide lo Photo¡ournalism

News: SensilivilV. Thinking,lnslincl and CuriosilV can be during the arrival of a celebrity at an opening, ~r a famous person ality going home from the hospital , or someone on trial leaving a courthouse. "Too often , we have th at 24 mm lens on the camera," Larry Nighswander of the O hio U niversity School of Visual Communication says, "and we've got to get in tight, 1 dori't think we do it intentionally to int rude on people, but 1 know if 1 do th at I'll have a dominant foreground. But, someti mes you have to think, is that wort h intruding for ?" N ighswander thinks the number of peopie covering an event can affect ho w close a ph otographer will approach a subject. Sometimes, he says, "if you are going to have one large turnout, yo u' re afraid yo u 'll get blocked, so everyone goes wide and gets in tight ." Fro m outside th e pack, "all yo u see is a sea of ph otographers. If we could all back up a few steps and make some room, we could use al aS mm lens and get a better picture." N ighswander doesn't see that happening soon, tho ugh. "We're all insecure and we' re all afraid we're going to get beat ," he says, so the wide-angle lenses stay on th e cameras. Daugherty questions what he calls "driveway journalism," staking out a newsmaker's house. H e's concerned that th e presence of ph otographers and other news people at a subject 's home is an unfair pressure on th e persori's family. "They aren't accused of anything, but unfortunately, when yo u show up at a mari's house, an innocent man until proven guilty, never mind what it might do

AssociatedPress Gulde lo Photojournalism

to th e man, think what it does to his family in th e community. T hat 's where 1 have a little problem. I' rn not shy, but it doesn 't tak e mu ch to put yo urself in his place. It could be me. y ou are in front of one family' s home creating an atmos phere that doesn 't normally exist there." Reink e says he's changed over the years. Cove rage of a bus crash, and th e aítermath

Bob Daugherty of the APcallsthis "driveway journalism,' staking out a person's home or office when they are in the news with no regard to guilt or innocence. In this picture by photographerJuana Anderson, suspected spy Felix Bloch is surrounded by photographers and newspeople in a park near his Washington home.

of the accident that killed two dozen yo ungsters, was to ugh for him. "When you have two kids of yo ur own, a story like that begins to wear on you." "In th e beginning it was a great deal easier," Reinke said uf his early days in th e business. "W hen my camera was in front of my eye, 1 was going to squeeze the button until somebody stopped me or 1 had eno ugh." That's changed for him though. "1 think that my tendency now is to not 15

News: SensitivilV.Thinking.lnstinct and CuriosilV

Sitting near a rose she placed on a Long Island beach, a woman moums lhe loss of friends who were crew members on a TWAplane thal crashed in 1996. AP photographer Mark Lennihan used a long lens sohewouldn'l disturb the woman.

invade privacy as rnuch as 1 once rnight have. "1 really felt grieved out at the end of it [th e bus crash coverage]. A full week of cerneteries, churches and funeral hames, and so rnuch rnourning. 1 I¡ad come to the end of rny line on what 1 could take," he says. "The answer is to take a few days off and ha Id rny own kids and think about how fortunate 1 arn. That helps. Still, 1 think that grief is one of the rnost difficult things to pho tograph," Reinke says, "and each ph otographer has ro draw their own personal lines on what space the y will tread on and where they'Il stop. Should 1 have or not? You need ro rnake th ose decisions on

16

y our ow n."

Whil e covering a rnining disaster in eastern Kentucky, Reinke talked quietly with the trapped rniners' farnilies at th e scene. "Ir was a case of gett ing ro kn ow the farnilies," he said. Reink e had worked to secure their trust by being open with th ern, asking when he could rnake pictures, and being helpful when the y needed a hand with sornething. Later, th ey invited hirn into th eir hornes, ro the church services and ro th e burials. And, even after he had gained th eir trust , Reink e still was respectful of thei r situation and rnade pictures in their hornes and at the funerals only when the farnilies felt cornAssoclated Press Gulde To Photolournalism

News: SensilivilY, Thinlling, Inslincl and CuriosilY

Knowing when to make a pieture and when not to is as importanl as knowing lhe meehanieal aspeets al lhe eran. While eovering the vigil lar lrapped miners in lhe mountains al Kentueky, and the subsequent funerals when reseue attempts preved lo be futile, AP photographer Ed Reinke talked with the lamilies and built a trust with them.

fortable with him being there. Reinke says the decisions come quickly, almost autornatically wh en the scene is unfolding in front of you. "T he breaking spot news, like Stanley Foreman 's pictures of th e kids falling from th e fire escape," are handled by instinct. "H e didn't have any

Associated Press Gulde To PhotoJournalism

choice but to mak e th ose pictu res. You make thern because it is happ ening so fast, yo u don't have tim e to think about it." The tou gh decisions, Reinke says, are "the ones yo u have tu sort out in your mind. "

TI

Features and Portraits: Seeing the World Around Os Features. Seeing something th at others dori't see. Brin ging a slice of life to the readers. Making something special out of the ordinary. Something close to th e news, but with a t wist to 11. Som etimes it can be a single picture. Something from down the street shown in an int erestin g way. Som ething that makes you chuckle. Other times, a feature can be a package of ph ot os, A look at a troublesome situation in your t own or on the other side of the world. It can bring a topic wort h studying or something more whimsical int o your home. And, po rt raits.

A straight headshot, almost passpo n style in presentation. O r a more complex picture such as an enviro nmenta l portrait, a picture show ing something about the person's life or wo rk . Both types of ph ot ography bring a different look to a newspaper filled with news and sports pictu res. Ed Reinke calls feature ph ot ograph y "seeing the world aro und us." Reinke, who is one of those ph otograph ers who can go out and bring a good feature hom e when ot hers struggle, says, "I'rn not sure it's an insight into life. It 's that I'm willing t o watch things unfold ." Reinke is patient. "I'rn willing to wait three or four hours to mak e a good pictu re of a mundane scene. With planni ng and

Opposite page: Robert Bukaty saw a notice about theannual Milbridge Days in the Maine town and tucked it away. Months later he pulled it outand checked outlhe 1999 cod fish relays, where teams dress in joul weather fishing gear and carry a 20-pound fish over a 30-yard course. What resulted was a keeper 01 a photo tor Bukaty.

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Features and Portraits: Seeing the World Around Us Othe r times, he works on stories that aren't so ha rsh but are just as informati ve - a travel piece on Vietnam, or Cam bo dia 25 years after the end of the Khmer R ouge reglme. Eit her kind brings to readers a differen t part of the world. "The best ones seem to be the ones you n ever tho ught wou ld be out there," Amy Sancetta says. In her role as a n ational photograp her fo r the Associ ated Press, Sancetta so me times takes a look at th e lighter side. Other times she h andles essays on more serio us topics like child labor. Ir does seem strange at times to her to make th at kind of swit ch. "In sorne ways it does seem a little surreal," she says . "Y ou are out in a field with a é-year-old pick ing beans w hen two days before I was at a yo yo factory. You need to be able ro pretty quickly ch ange gears and lock int o your subject ." But, she says, if you keep yo ur aim on the human aspect, whic h is rea11y w hat it is a11 abo ut, it wi11 work. "Ir is a11 abo ut peopie," Sancetta says. "You are m ovin g fro m one situ at ion w here you show your humanity to ano t her situation w here you do." Longsrreath look s around w hen he is on news assignmems. H e t ries to find a pict ure that is aw ay from t he hard news situatio n Among the essays AP pholographer David Longstreath producesfrom his base in Bangkok are sorne based on lhe but th at sti11 is a good image that can be lougher side 01 lile, This photo 01 a Cambodian child, infect- t ied to a story. "You give thern the bread ed withthe HIV virus and abandoned al birth, is froman and butter," h e says. "But at sorne point essay Longslrealh did in 1999 at a facility in Phnom Penh. you have to look beyond that ." H is photo of a young st reet urchin in Bangkok, often does Ieature packages on C alcutta is just that kind of picture. While topics that aren 't so pleasant. But, they are covering the fun eral of M other Te resa, important stories that need to be toldo

patienc e, you can make a silk purse out of a # sow's ear." Or at least a humorous picture of sorne h ogs coolin g off in a mud hole to go with the day's w eather story. David Longstreath, from his location in

8U

Associated Press Gulde lo Photojournalism

Features and Portraits: Seeing IheWorld AroundUs Longstreath spotted the young boy making his way to the church where the viewing was being held. India is "one of the most difficult places I have ever worked," Longstreath says. "But aIso one of the most visually stimuIating. The coIors, the smells, the sounds, the people. It really comes at you at 300 miles-perhour." Thar's what makes his picture of the young boy so special. General-" ly, he says, any. . time you raise your camera you draw a crowd. But just The sighls and sounds come al you al 300 mph in India, says photographer David l.onqstreaíh 01 the AP. Bul,lar just a mament while covering lhe funeral 01Molher Teresa in Calcutta, for a rnornent Longslrealh was able lo isolale lhe mourning slreel urchin with his handtul 01 Ilowers. that day, eyes Iock into the eyes of the youngster. Longstreath was able to isolate the young"There was a mist that was falling early ster who had caught his eye. The picture is better because of its simplicity. The readers' in the morning. He was just there. He

Associated Press Guide To Photojournalism

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Features and Portraits: Seeing the World Around Us ...- - - - - - -....- .....- -....- - - - - -.. looked lost. It was obvious," Longstreath says, "he wanted to go pay his respects. H e had this smalI bouquet of flowers." Longstreath says any on e can look at the yo ung man and know, "w hile he may be poor and desperate, he is stilI a human being. It was his feeling that thi s person (Mother Teresa) was very Important to him. You have to see it through his

tha t catch es yo u." Reinke, who has a knack for

slice-of-life fea-

tures, says ph oto graph ers should make feature plctures that peopl e can relate to, so th ey 'll say, "1 remember when 1 did th at when 1 was a kid ." "Feature pietures realIy elicit a respo nse fro m th e publicoYou have to realize th at most people never get th eir picture in the newspaper, and when th ey do, a eyes, too." It happ ened Afeature picture with a good story pegoJusI what a lot 01 picture editors good percentage quickly. "1 don't are asking foroAP photographer Mark Duncan silhouetled a bridge engi- would rath er neer against the backdrop 01 Cleveland'sTerminal Tower asshe pracnot," he says. remember ticed her cli01bing techniques with colleagues. "When we can shooting more than tw o frames. That was alI 1 needed. go out and make pleasant pictures of peopl e There was no reason to work the situatio n doing things that are int eresting, it's a plus any harder. Wh en 1 saw it through the for the people we serve." But Alex Burrows isri't so sure of the viewfinder, 1 knew it was the moment 1 needed." light, stand-alone feature picture's place in Those subtle moments are th e difficult th e newsp aper. "Newspapers should try to ones to catch, but the ones that realIy pay get away fro m stand-alones and make pieoff, he says. "Ph otographing out-of-control tures pair up with sto ries mor e," he says. Editors at his newspaper, Tbe Virginianemotion," like at a fune ral or disaster, "is Pilot in N orfolk, "have come to th e conclueasy to do. The subtle emotion is the on e

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Associaled Press Guide To Phololournalism

Features and ponraits: Seeing the World Around Us sion that this is not what we want to do ," he says. "We want to have pictures run with sto ries." Burrows' paper "rarely has o ne o n the cover," and if ir plays a standalone feature at aJl, "ir's usuaJly inside." When Lar ry Nighswander was the pieture edito r at The Cincinnati Post, the staff caJled feature pictu res "t he citizen of the day." "T hey like to take an average Joe and make him a star for th e day," he says. "Something fun ny, outlandish, a juxtaposition , a relationship or a lifestyle that people aren't aware of. You're giving a reader a chance to be a star for th e day. Those are the ones that people cut out and put on their refrigerator, not the news pictu re but the quiet featu re. People like to step back and just enjoy their comrnunity ." But J. Bruce Baumann of the EvansviJle, Ind. , Courierand Press says, "It just can 't be a pre tty picture. They reaJly don't have any place in newspapers. T hat 's not to say there areri't good feature pictures to run," he says, "but th ey need to express sorne kind of informatio n that is useful." "There are so many things th at can be photographed that are connected with real life events in the'community," Baumann says. "Kids jumping over sprinklers or dogs with funny sunglasses create a credibility problem. How can someone (the photographer) be take n seriously?" Reinke's picture of a farmer painting his barn in rural Kent ucky showed a typi cal cou ntry scene, a chance to step back and enjoyo The ph oto was made interesting by the cho ice of angles and lenses. But, it didn't just happen . Associated Press Guide To Phot%urnallsm

H e says he found ir the way he find s 90 perc ent of his featu re pictures. "1 was d riving down a ro ad and saw a new barn wit h a ladder, but there was no one aro und. 1 knew someo ne was going to paint that

Picture edilors debate the usefulness 01 standalone fealure pictures. AP photographer Ed Reinke. whohas a knack for the slice-of-life look at the lighterside of our world, thinks they have a place and saw lhis scene while driving near his home in rural Kentucky.

barn, so I went on 15-20 miles and had an iced tea. Then I carne back down the ro ad and the farm er was painting." Reinke talked to the farme r about his new barn, got the man comfortable with him being there and "about two hour s later 1 made the picture just the way I wanted

. " n.

Baum ann thinks that may not be a good investment of time. "Rarely wiJl a phot ographer just 'find' a picture. That kind of aimless, directionl ess phot ograph y doesn't have a place." When you look at salaries and car expenses, Baumann says, "ir's a

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Features and Portraits: Seeing Ihe World Around Us waste of resources to have them go out there without any dir;ction." He says photographers should find a good topic, research it, then shoot it. "That offers a lot more opportunity for pictures with content. "

raphers' resourccs." "It is all in the planning," he says. To help with that planning, the Free Press picture desk maintains a tickler file of events that are coming up, and on slow days, they can dip into that file to come up

~~~TIITI with an idea that at least has sorne peg to an event of community mterest. Or, they try to think of something firm to work on instead of just crUlsmg. "You 've got to go out and do a .-,.~ weather pieture," he says, if that is the news of the day. But on a blistering While at a Bath, Maine, shipyard on another story, AP photographer Robert Bukaty made this hot day instead striking photo 01 a worker dwarted bya ship's screw. Bukaty made the picture and pegged il to of heading for a the ship's launching later inthe week. A good eye lar an interesling angle and the righl choice 01 swimming pool, lenses gave the picture drama. The news peg earned lt space in newspapers looking lar a íeature he says, "How with a purpose. about something Rob KozloH of the Detroit Free Press on the hottest job in the city? Working on agrees with Baumann. "It trivializes what atar crew on the street or in a hotellaunthe photographers are doing for the paper, ' dry. It is the kind of picture that has to he says. "T hat may be a little harsh but I have information, has to have a purpose." think it is true . They are journalists, too, Reinke thinks there is a place for feature out gathering information for the readers." pictures without always having a news pego "I don't think pictures have to be prize "I want everything in the paper to have winners to be good. Making pictures for importance. To have a reason to be there,' KozloH says. "I dori't want it just to be a that day's edition is what we are paid to do, found situation. That is a waste of photog- a nice picture on a slow day."

ti.

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Associated Press Guide lo Photoiournalism

Features and ponraits: Seeing Ihe World Around Us Jeanne Mel1, the director of photography :ti th e Wilmingto n, Del., Neus-journal, agrees with Reink e that those "slice of life" pictu res have a place. "1 real1y enjoy th e fact that sorne of th e newspaper's ph otographers can come back with something yo u hadn 't planned on to real1y make th e paper zing." "1 think th e paper would be realIy bo ring if we didn 't have standalone features," she says. "Features are a good way to reflect th e community." And , a way to "get pe0pIe into th e paper who woul d not normal1y be pan of it." Rusty Kenn edy also enjoys features, but he especial1y likes longterm projects th at have sorne depth, the kind of feature ph otography that Burrows and Baumann advocate. Kennedy once spent "a couple of rnonths, maybe ten hours a week," visiting a group of homeless shelters and ph ot ographing th e peopl e who lived in th em. Kenn edy says th e project started almost by accidento "1 was down in that area on For a 1974 series 01 portraits01 the homeless in Philadelphia, AP's Rusty Kennedy worked on the essay astime permitted. The result was striking ano ther assignment and saw the photos inciuding this one 01anolder man with his dinner, a bowl01soup. peopl e sitting outside. They sho utabout th at." ed to me to 'take my pictu re' and 1 started Kennedy brought pictu res with him to talk to them. T hey were int eresting peoeach time he visited, but "they never wer e pie. 1 sta rted going down th ere, start ed real1y inte rested in seeing the pict ures. wandering around." The project, which was shot severa! years More the attention of me having interest in thern." T hat project "made ten good pieago, was an eariy glimpse at a grow ing tu res. That was one of th e favorite things national probl em. "T hey were homeless," that I've done. It had sorne depth. So much Kennedy says, "before people real1y talked Associated Press Gulde To Phot%urnalism

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fealUres and Portraits: Seeing the World Around Us

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Features and Portrails: Seeing Ihe World Around Us

ehaRuinu uears Covering the lull spectrum olchildhood

Associated Press Guide To Photojournalism

One day, she's photographing the struggle 01 children working to help support their lamilies. Alew days later, she is making pictures 01 youngsters preparing lor a recital or taking part in an Easter egg hunt. Amy Sancetta says, "You do need to pretty quickly be able to change gears and lock into your subject." But she linds that change 01 pace isn't difficult lor her. "Shitting gears isn't all that hard lor me because it is all about people. You're moving Irom one situation where you show your humanity to another situation where you do."

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Features and ponraits: Seeing the World Around Us of what we do is for the mornent." Eric Risberg also preférs the feature package. Risberg uses much of his time preparing himself for the assignment. "1 appro ach them with lots of research. 1'11 go out, spend a day, try to find out everything 1 can abo ut the subject. And 1'11 keep going back after the initial shoot to fi11 in any gaps." Risb erg tries "taking a second, or a third , or a fourth look at things" to round out his stories, He used this approach for a package on bik e messengers. "It start ed out where 1 just hung out at the office and saw them dispatched, taking that time to understand the operation, meet people. Then another day 1 actually did the job o1 got on a mountain bike and rode with the messenger and 1 got to see the little alleys and st reets." "It was a success because 1 was involved," Risb erg says, "and that also is true of the sailing package," a set of photographs on a San Francisco-area entry in the Arnerica' s Cup competition. For that package, Risberg sailed with the crew four times, inc1uding one sail where he wo rked as a grinder on the boato "1 didn 't make any pietures that first day, 1 just took-notes and did what they do, and came up with ideas." Risberg went back out again three times, making pictures on those t rip s. "For that package 1 wanted a un ique view of what they were doing, the boat and the men. " Risberg wanted one picture that captured the who le sto ry . "1 thought 1 could do that by putting a camera on top of the mast looking do wn, but 1 couldn't get it to wo rk. So, 1 agreed to be at some risk, and 1

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was hoisted up to th e top in a bosun's chair." Risberg had one hand on a guide wire and one hand on a camera, bur despite the danger, he thought ir was more than worth it, "That picture sum med it up. It showed you a different view of the boat, and got

Near the top of Ihe rnast, Eric Risberg ofthe AP hung on to a safety line with one hand while holding his camera with the olher lo make this 1986picture of a racing yachl.

th e point across about all of th e men it takes lO run a boat like t his and the teamwork involved." Essays may be done on many topics. Essays can even be do ne on different

Assoclated Press Guide To Photolournalism

Features and Portraits: SeeiDg IheWorld ArOUDd Us

.. aspects of a single subject . A hospice for AIDS victims in no rthern Thailand was Longst reath's first picture package after he transferred to Bangkok fro m a' post in O klaho ma City, Longstreath heard about th e hospice and checked the bureau' s files to see what had been done on it, "T hey had done this particular hospice before," Longstreath says, "but the pictures were more of the mo nks who ran the place, not someth ing central to an individual patient the re." It was a troublesome story. "Once they got to the hospice, there was no hope left."

Associaled Press Gulde To Pholoiournalism

,

He spent th e first couple of days at the hospice gathering . . lmpresslOns without making pictures. After that visit, Longstrea th says, "1 wrote a lot of my thoughts, my impressions. 1 spent the lon gest time thin king about this." 89

Features and Portraits:Seeing the World Around Us T hat helped him clarify th e therne of the aim Ior," she says. "When 1 do go out, 1 try sto ry , which he not only photographed but to have spo ts th at 1 head for - a park, a also wrote. "When 1 went back to ph otopool. O nce 1 looked up in th e phone book graph it," he says, "1 had not a shopping list a place th at makes ice to make a feature to but a clearer idea match th e hot of what it was weathe r story." like, what 1 was "You can . " drive aro und seelllg. and never find Longstreath ended up shootanything," she warns. "It's nice ing for tw o days. "1 reme mto have sorne ber thinking 1 goals, or you 'l! needed to shoot find yo urself more," he says, real!y frustrat"b ut then 1 went ed." Fo r her multith rough the film and realized that picture feature 1 had what 1 projects, needed ." Sancetta keeps a N ot al! feature running list of asslgnments are ideas she has shot over a lon g gotte n from a period of tim e, variety of places. or have an exot "Pan of it is just ic dateline. being int erested There are th e in thin gs," daily needs to Sancetta says. "If fil!, like Reinke's 1 ever think of barn pain ter, anything, 1 write and others , Even it down. O r if 1 '--------' see something in then, a little You can't help but smile when you look al this tealure picture by Paul tho ught goes a a book or magaSakuma 01 lhe AP. Arriving early tor a 1993 sumo tournament in San long way. zine that sets off Jose, Calií., Sakuma captured the mock battle between the youngster an idea, 1 make a Sancetta says and a wrestler weighing more than 500 pounds. ., . 1t s someu mes note of it." easier to have an idea in th e back of yo ur Sancetta has been doing these feature head, even when cru ising for a daily feapackages for several years and says the hardest pan is coming up with the idea. tu re. "1 try to have something out there to 90

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Features and ponraits: Seeing theWorld Around Us "But I just carne up with another list wit h off. Re was a really wacky guy. He was game for it!" thirty ne; things," she says. "Sorne will wo rk out . Sorne won't, Sorne I'll do. Sorne An other picture story of Sancetta ' s was I wo n 't end up doin g." on a Vermont summer camp for dogs and One example of Sance tta's work is a look their owners. She calls the pictures and text at the man who invented th e pink flamingo she wr ot e, "one of the silliest sto ries I ever did." lawn orn amento Sancetta read a one-paragraph story, "a T hese two examples turned into fun looks at sorne not-very-seriou s topics, but tiny blurb," about th e company in an inflight magazine while traveling to another Sancetta got back a stack of clips from each package. "¡ got assignm ent. The back dozens and story had only a dozens of fullsingle picture of page clips fro m th e owners, but around the it piqued her count ry ," she mt erest. "I called them says. Different up ," she says, papers used different combinaand arranged to tions of the go to th e factory to meet with th e story and pietures, but "it got ow ner and his wife. "I w ent used again and again and again." out and talked . " 11;:.;..;....::11 "There is a to th em, saw how they make AP photographerAmy Sancetta surrounded Don Featherstone, the ere- place for all of th ern, and heard ator 01 the pink flamingo lawn ornament, with his lavorite product lor a it," she says. his story." The whimsical1998 portrait. Fealherstone created the pink American icon as "N ewspapers are a young designerIresh out 01coliege more than 40 years ago. doin g everystory "just kind '' thing they can to keep the readership int erof grew from th ere." ested," and Sancetta thinks that these lightThe key picture in the essay was of the ow ner surrounded by his products. An off- hearted featur es help balance the bad news beat portrait of sorts. Sancetta says she was that is part of our wo rld every day. able to make that picture by developing a While Sancetta does lots of research, good rapport with him . "T he reason I was when she can, on many of her to pics, she able to get D on Feathersto ne to climb int o also likes to go with th e flow as she makes her pictures. "You have to think about this enclosed area and be covered by pink flamin goes was because we had such a great your story," she says. "How yo u are going day togethe r," she says. "We really hit it to go at it. But you have to be open to Associaled Press Gulde To Pholojoumalism

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Features and Portraits: Seeing,the World AroundUs what's going on aro und you. You have to leave yourself open fo; things that you .. " can ,t antIcIpate. "Part of shooring a story is being surprised yourself," Sancetta says. But she also says yo u'lI have a bett er chance of winning a subject's trust if you can show th at you've got sorne knowledge of who th ey are and what they do. "You need to be able to roll wit h the changes," she says, "but you sho uld know something about yo ur subject , You sho uld find sorne way to relate to yo ur top ic that sho ws yo ur subject you are interes ted in them. That just makes th ern wan t to share with yo u more." And the payoff is often times like that fiamin go portrait of hers. Jerome D elay of the AP 's Paris sta ff warns t hat yo u have to be open to wh atever happens. "D on' t go in with a list of ph otographs," he says. "You must not control the situation but yo u do need to put your· self in the sit uation ." Patience, he says, is th e key. AP photographer Geo rge Widman agrees with Sancetta that you need to have sorne idea of where you wa nt to end up . H e says his feature hunts are "a mix, cru ising and som ething on my min d. It 's lot harder to find a feature when yo u have noth ing on yo ur mind." Widman says he also tries to think of a peg .. "What 's the weat her? What' s the news? Ir's not always easy to make a feature t ha t has any relevance." But his pictu re of a homeless man standing ovcr a steaming grate to keep warm a few days after Christmas was extrernely relevant. "The key is the date," Widman says. "Campaigns for the hom eless always stop á

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after Christmas .? " H e remembers "it was a really cold day, and these guys are still there, They didn 't go away with th e Ch ristmas wrappings." Widman made a picture of one man and "1 talked with him, tried to get him to go to a

Coming on the heels 01Ihe Christmas season, thls portrait 01a Philadelphia homeless man keeping warm over a steam grale drew a 10101inlerest. George Widman 01 the AP pholographed Ihe man, Ihen triad lo lalk him into going to a shelter on a verycold day,

shelter, bu t he refused." Widman said it was a tough shoot. "1 used a 180 mm , at a 60th wide open, and 1 was shaking because it was so cold." But the picture wo rked and was widely displayed. "It was very early morning light, gold light, and th e business person walking by in the background put it all to geth er for me." Assoclated PressGuide To Photojournalism

Fealuresand Porlrails: Seeing lhe World AroundUs Elise Amendola 01 the AP's Boston bureau photographed an annual evento a census 01 homeless peopie in the city during the Christmasholidays, bu! it turned out to be a better story

than usual when lhe estranged brother 01a man in her pictures came lorward and sought her help in locating his homeless sibling.

Sometimes a simple featu re assignment turns into a good news story, too. An annua l event in Boston involves the mayor going around with wo rkers taking a census of homeless people. AP photographer Elise Amendola had done th e assignment before when it pop ped up again on a cold December day, Assoclated PressGuldeToPhotolournallsm

T his one turned out a little differently, though. While makin g the rounds with th e mayor, Amendola photograp hed a horneless person in front of a festive Christmas signoShe put out that one and two others. It seemed like a pretty rou tin e assignment. Th e next morning, a newspaper in the 93

Features and Portraits: Seeing ~he World Around Os Boston suburbs, th e Wor.cester Telegram, ran the picture of the man in front of th e slgn. Amendola got a call in the office from a Telegram reader. H e told her that th e man in the picture was a long lost brother. "Can yo u help me find him?" he asked. T hey arranged to meet the next ni ght, Amendola took him to where she had made th e pieture but the man wasn't there. After asking othe r men in the area, it didri' t take long to find him . "We found him within 45 minutes," she says. T he homeles s man didri't recognize his brother for a couple of seconds. But, when he did, they hugged, and it was an emotional scene. Amendo la stood a few feet away and made pictu res of the reunion. It was "that kind of moment where you have to stay focused and calm," she says. "You are anticipato ry , but you must remain dispassionate . You have to do that, or you can' t shoot." She warns, "You can't get caught up in the m orn ent." T he reuni on sto ry got wide play and the family had ano ther a few days later with national television there. The intimacy of th at first reunion had been 1091: th ough. It was, "so much bett er wh en it was on e on one. So mu ch mo re real," Amendola says. Weeks after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, John G aps III was assigned to do a feature on ir. Gaps want ed to make a picture showing the effect of the oil on the fish and vegetation under th e surface. H e thought back to a picture he' d seen in college of a diver entering the water. It had been made by

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MV lirsl camera;' Alex Burrows: He had lo borrow a camera lor college and gol his first camera, a Nikon F, alter getting oul 01 school. He slill has it, displayed in his balhroom al home. The bathroorn serves as Burrows' "museum" and has several ilems lrom his career.

larrv NighSwander: "My first camera was an Argus C3 boughl al a drug slore wilh lip money Irom delivering Ihe Fosloria Times-Review."

Garv Kemper: "1 earned it selling seed packels. When I had sold enough lo win somelhing, I chose a simple Kodak box camera." partially submerging a camera, using a fish tank as a shell. Gaps thought this might work. "1 went to the pet store and bought an aquarium, and carried the thing for four days. 1 tried it once and it didn't work because there was too much oil. So, a couple of days later 1 was out on an island and it looked like a better situation. 1 got down in the water and balanced the aquarium on a rock ." "1 had to get the camera as far back as possible from the glass to work," Gaps says, "since the tank's glass worked much like a ground glass in a large-format camera . 1 was actually shooting the glass." Gaps used a 24 mm lens and made a series of exposures.

Associated Press Gulde To Photolournalism

Features and Portraits: Seeing the World Around Us Gett ing a.usable density on the film was Reiñke explains that "ours is to int erpret tough. "It ;'as overcast," he says. "That was what we see int o a mood or feeling. You have to choo se whatever lens and film that a prerequisite for doing it to get th e expoallows you to do th at." sure in a usable range. 1 tilted the camera down for an exposure readin g in the water, "Feature ph otography is a prime way to then up to meter the sky, and 1 split the step back and enjoy life, th e quiet difference. It was about a three-stop ran ge." mornents," says N ighswander. "In our rush Gaps sho t the scene of underwat er life and to report the news, we sometimes overlook men working on the shore at f1 6 to get the what th e reader wa nts, Every edito r in depth of field he needed. Even with al! of that work, there was some disappointment. "It wasn 't exactly what 1 wanted, but 1 didn 't think it was going to get any bett er," Gaps says. Reinke says there are no rules for feature photography when it com es to equipment or film. "It's whatever the situation warrants," he says. As a general rul e, Reinke tries to mak e the picture at th e slowest possible film speed, but sometimes he'll use an ASA1600 rating in the fog, "to bring up the contrast AP photographer Rusly Kennedy used available light from a nearby window and exposed lar the highlights lo give texand give the picture a certain effect ." lure lo a portraít 01artíst Carolyn Wyeth. Aslow shutter Nighswander says th at when he was speed helped accentuate thewispy cigarette smoke. shooting daily, he used long lenses to keep from being spott ed. "1 found myself using Am erica needs to evaluare th at." telephotos SOpercenr of th e time," to conWhil e featu res sometimes catch peopl e unaware, the portrair is besr made when trol th e depth of field for cleaner pictures, and rnost importantly for obtaining candid the photo grapher and th e subject are wo rkpictures. "As soon as the ph otographer is ing together. spotted," Nighswander says, "the spontaneReinke says there's been a big change .ity IS . gone." since he starte d nearly thirty years ago. "In the early '70s when 1 started at a newspaSancetta agrees you use what you need, per , we didn 't want to ru n pictu res of peoand thinks the simple approach is th e best. pIe looking int o th e camera." H e explains "1 try to do things as simply as possible. y ou can gizmo yourself right out the win- that "that's different now. 1 like to have do w." them look at me right rhrough the camera, Associated Press Guide To Photoiournalism

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Portraits can take on a variety 01 looks. Differentphotographers have different styles and use differenttechniques. The resulting photographs each draw your eye in different ways. Elise Amendola used sidelighting to highlighl the cigar smoke of Boston Celtics executive Red Auerbach (above right). Wyatt Counts sometimes steps back, as in the this portrait 01young actress Anna Paquin (above left)while sometimes he uses a wide angle lens and gets in close with his subjecllike in his portrait 01the personal barber lo the British royal family (Ieft).

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Other times, Counts changes his perspective to bring interest to his portraits as in this photo 01 actress Nicole Kidman (Ieh). Again varying his style, Counts used a more straight-on approach in a portrait 01Alexander Lieberman with paintings he has done (bottom). Amy Sancetta used a globe as a prop and a high perspective to clean up the background and emphasize the size 01 a youngster whose essay on hopes and dreams ("1will save the world with my super goodness") had been included in a book (below).

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Features aud ponraits: Seeing Ihe World Around Us liked the photo. Counts had a relaxed subto talk to me through tire' came ra, to talk with th eir hands toward me." ject, and soon had his picture, too . Sancetta's portrait of a scient ist doing New York freelanc e photographer Wyatt Co unts involves his subjects in making the research on the effect of light on people's picture better. "Rather than for ce a setup m oods is a simple, st raightforward picture, on a subject, 1 ~~~--~-~---~~~~----, But , by using the light availt ry to get th em to g,ve me as able to her, much input as Sancetta m ade possible," he an eye-catc hing plcture. says. Often, Counts says, it When she first works best arrived at the w hen you end assignme nt , th e up "assisting" scientis t had the subject. already enlisted For a portrait the aid of a volof artist-author unteer to model his invention Lau rent de Brunhoff, who a ha t with a cont inues the ligh t built into character Babar the rimo Sancetta the elephant that made a few was created by fram es of that his father, setup, with th e - - = "'-='-' scientis t "helpC ounts first T o iIIustrate a story on a scientist studying the effecl 01 Iight on people's in g" the volunthought of getmoods, Amy Sancetla 01 lhe AP had lhe man wearthe specially rigged teer with the ting one of D e helmet. sa ncená made a simple portrait but, by paying attention to lhe Brunhoff's details, also made an excellenl illustration torthe story. headgear. That books, o r a wo uld have been Babar poster, to use as a prop. But he was the picture to make several years ago. But, afraid that might be awkward. San cetta wanted to more closely tie the sciSo he brought a pen to the photo session entist to the helmet witho ut the awkward and talked wi th the artist about what it is set-up look of the two-person po se. like to draw Babar. D e Brunhoff then T o show t he effect of the light bui lt into qui ckly sketched a likeness of Babar on his the helmet 's rim, Sancett a first had the scihand, using the thumb as the trunk. entist turn on the battery-p owered light , C ou nt s made a test exposure on Polaroid then turn off al! of the ot her lights in th e film and gave it to De Brunhoff, who real!y room. The result was a wel!-exposed pie-

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Features and Portraits: Seeing theWorld Around Us tu re of the.scient ist's face, but th e shape of To quickly establish a working relat ionthe safari-type helmet was lost against the ship with the subject, Sancetta simply asks dark background. th em to explain wh at they do. She says th at Sancetta solved that problem by putting gets thern talking and relaxed, while at the th e scient ist on a stoo l in an open doorway same time giving herself ideas for pictures. with all of the hall lights on behind him. But, Sancett a mak es an irnportant point The halllights provided """'..,.....",._-_-~~~~~~----__,_-~-___ th e separation needed to bring out th e helmet witho ut losing th e effect of the light built into the brim of the hat o Sancetta also could have provided tha t separat ion by lighting the backgro und with a strobe set to put out at least a sto p less light than th e face was getting from th e fluorescent tube. If she had inte nded to use th e pictu re as a color illustration, she could have also put a gel on the strobe to AP photographer Robert Bukaty wanted to make a portrait Ihat would reflect the basic elements 01 the Iife 01 young entertainer Slaid Cleaves. He took Cleaves out to introduce a color to the lhe misty parking lotaftsr the late show and perched himon the lender 01his wellbackgro und, perh aps balwom 1974 Dodge Dart. ancing it with th e fluoreswhe n she tells of her last step before makcent of th e helrnet fixture. But , since th e picture was intended priing the picture, "I trace rny eye around the rnarily for black and white use, th e hallway outside of the frarne, slowly around the comer to see if it wo rks, or if I've left lights were a simple solution that worked well. unwant ed dead space. If yo u do that, it will "My sty le is to surround people with th e tell you if the picture is not balanced. I' rn things that distinguish th ern from other real!y conscious of wha t space is open and people," Sancetta says. "When yo u go int o what space has something in it. For sorneo ne's enviro nment to shoot a portrait, instance, if I have an open space on th e left, there is something around the subject that I try to balance it with an open space on makes thern specia1. Every one has sornethe right. You can balance empty space the thing that is a symbol of what they do." sarne way you can balance busy space."

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Features and Portraits: Seeing the World Around Us looked down on him . There must have been 600 keys. It made a nice picture, no dead space. He 's surrounded by the keyboard." "It's a good example of looking for a different angle for a portrait instead of being eye to eye with the subject," she says. For the most part, none of th e pictures required anything fancy. Just a kn owledge of how to make light and composition work to th e photographer's advantage. And, to give the reader something more interesting to look al. While Sancetta 's picture of th e JI--¡ scient ist is an interesting illustratio n, sometimes edito rs are just ~_"'i1 looking for a good one-column ...._~ picture to go with a sto ry. T he simple headshot takes sorne care, th ough, to make sure th e pieture is a good one and can be easily reproduced. The first item is to find a neutral background, one th at wo n't distraer or isn't too dark . A busy background pulls the reader's eye away from the subject. A dark background makes it difficult to separate th e subject from the backFor a zany 1999 portrail 01 l ampa Bay Devil Rays marketing vice presi- drop . dent MikeVeeck, AP photographer Ene Gay took a high angle and If you 're stuck with a busy backVeeck reclined on Ihe leam's logo on Ihe field. Veeck is lhe son 01 ground, try to bring the subject famed baseball wizard Bill Veeck, no stranger to crazyslunts lo help fill sorne distance away from it, and the slands soIhe offbeat pose wenl well wilhIhe story, use a wider aperture on yo ur lens to th row th e background out of focus. on the ground, you can stand on atable." If you have no alternative to a dark backFor a portrait of an organist, Sancetta checked with the subject, the n took off her ground, use Pizac's method and try lighting shoes and stood on top of the organ . "I the background with a strobe, or moving a

Sometimes you can't move the subject to make a better picture. If the subject can't move, then it's up to the photographer. Sancetta suggests changing your perspective on sorne assignments to give th e reader a different view. That isn't difficult, she says. "You can lay

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features and Portraits:Seeing Ihe World Around Us nearby lamp into position to give a rim-lit quality to-the subject. Fill th e subject's face with a strobe set to put out slightly more light tha n your rear illuminatio n. This will provide the separation you need for good reproductio n in th e newspaper. H ave the subject sit, if possible. And, have th e subject move forwa rd to the edge of th e seat, so their shoulders dori't sag. Or, have the m face you with their arms crossed. That is a re!axing pose for many people. Then, photograph th em from a slight angle to get the most pleasing "look" to the picture, That front light can be managed to minimize the "flash" look. Use a strobe bounced off a ceiling, and a reflector card or your fingers to "kick" light into th e subject's eyes and the shadows of his face . The best lens for simple portraits is in the 85 mm-lOS mm range. This gives a workable image size on 35 mm film wit hout the photographer having to be on top of the subject. It also lets you th row the backgrou nd out of focus by using the wider apertures. No matte r what kind of a port rait you want , you should first master th e basics of the simple headshot. Th en, by adding elements, you can make th at headshot more sophisticated. Even Sancetta's picture of the scientist uses the basic rules of the simple headshot to achieve a high leve! of quality. Counts says that is impo rtant. "My basic thought is to start with the simple picture, then start adding elernents," he says. Co unts starts tight , then pulls back slowly

Assoclated Press Gulde To PhotoJournallsm

watching as the elements are added. y ou add an e!ement to give th e reader sorne identification with the subject. You

New York freelance photographer Wyatt Counts does a 101 01 celebritiy portraits, oñen in a sterüe hotel room. Counls tries different, sometimes offbeal methods to put sorne interest in his photos, but hemet his match in comedian Bill Murray who assisledin carefullytrashing Ihe room in1996.

haven't really taken away from the simplicity of the basic headshot, only improved on it. y ou put the subject int o a setting th at will provide greater identification for the reader. Now you have elevated th e simple headshot to an enviro nmental portrait. If you look close!y, the simple headshot is still in there. A clean view of the subject, conceived like a one-column, but deserving of more space. The photographer has made a versatile picture that fills any need. 101

Sports: Peak Aetion and Telling Reaetion ports photography. Dreams of the Super Bowl, the Olympics and the World Series. But reality is often a high school football game, the college team down the road , or Little League baseball in the summer. All of those events, from the biggest to the smallest, are.important, though, since surveys show a large number of newspaper readers get the paper for the sports section. Peak action, or telling reaction, is what you strive for. A different picture, if you can. Not just settling for the obvious. The picture you want is simple, Ed Reinke says. "It is the peak, story-telling action. It's just that simple. There is peak

S

action, then there is the story of the game, but the picture that works best is the one that incorporates both. That's the journalism part of sports photography." "le s not good enough to make a picture if it doesn't mean anyt hing. There was a time, when I was starting out in the early '70s, when it seemed you could aim your camera at second base and just wait for the play to happen," Reinke says. "Now you're looking for peak action and the picture that tells the story. Sports is no different than news in that the best product we can offer is the perfect marr iage of the action and story." The key is simply paying attention.

Oppositepage: Peak action is one of the mainstays 01 sports photography and AP pholographer Dusan Vranic has captured thal moment with this picture from the Euro 2000 soccer championships inthe Nelherlands.

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Sports:Peak Aelion and Telling Reaelion e

Rusty Kenn edy tells of watching a struggling pitcher in actionrand looking for something odd that might give him a pieture in a dull game. Fearing he would miss

don't look for the odd picture. Sometimes newcomers will make a better pieture because they aren't locked into that formula journalism." Preparation is important, Sports Illustrated photographer John Biever . . says, as lS gettmg to the event early so you can get settled and take a moment to find out what l S gomg on. Biever is known for arriving two to three hours before an evento He says it helps him to relax and size things up . "Sorne guys walk in during By not going to his long lens too quickly, freelance photographer Jeff Zelevansky caplured lhe the national scene and told more of lhe slory of lhe reaclion by players and fans lo lhe 1999 pertecl game anthem," he lhrown by New York Yankees pitcher David Cone, kneeling. says, adding "1'd something if restric ted to the-narrow view be catching up the whole game and it just wouldn't work for me." of the camera, "1 watched wit hout having the camera to my face and 1 spotted his hat AP's Eric Risberg says you have to fight falling in front of his eyes when he'd have a the pattern of going to a sports event , no hard follow-through. Then 1 trained the matter what it is, and working Irorn habito camera on him for a few pitches and caught He says the best appraach "is to not always it," Kennedy says. He had his different pie- go to the same place. Try other spots for ture. variety. By moving around a bit, it helps He warns that it's easy to fall into a rut you keep your enthusiasm and interest up covering baseball, or any sport. "We are because you're looking at it fram different perspec tives." sometimes in a form ula kind of thing, and

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Sports: Peak Aelion andTellinoReaelion Like Kennedy, Reinke likes to watch the pitchers, hoping for something different. And it has wo rked for him, too. "T his was a simple matt er of knowing 1 could commit to staying on a pitcher, 1 was going to make a picture of the pitcher gett ing hit by a ball hit back through th e middle, and it took two games, but it made a great p ieture." Mark th at one up to patlence. Kennedy credits much of his suco cess at spo rts photography to using extremely lon g telephoto lenses (400 mm·gOO mm) to isolate his subjects. "1 always try to use th e lon gest lens possible," he says. "You have a good expression , and yo u throw th e backgro und out of focus, the subject really jumps out

coverage. If I'm alone, 1 will tend to shoot loose enough to not cro p something out of the frame that 1 want , and still blow it up to a good image."

at you."

H e says he was using long lenses before they became com mo nplace. "1 was willing to take my chances. It was wort h the risk to me of losing a few pictures along th e way to use the lon gest lens possible. I've seen a lot of real good pictu res ruined by being under-lensed." 1I look Ed Reinke a couple 01 games 01concentraíinq on the pitcher, but Using th e long glass helps Biever that plan paid off witha good picture 01 reaction lo a line drive. achieve the look he wants in his Lens selection also can be dictated at pictures, too. "What I've always tried to do," Biever says, "is shoot as tight as possi- time s by th e event and th e size of the crew ble and show as much emot ion in the faces yo u're wo rking with. "At a Super BowI or World Series, the of the athletes." He says that isn't a novel techn ique but is a good one he has adapted tendency is to be as tight as possible for his use. because there is no question that th e peak Reinke is a litt le more conservative in his action is enhanced by tightness in the choice of lenses. "1 think it depends on the shooting," Reinke says.

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Sports: Peak Aelion and Telling Reaelion "But, when yo u're alone, you can 't they dropped down in front of me." afford the risks yo u cañ take when yo u H e recognized that this wasn't a time to have team coverage," he says. gamble on a lon g lens. "It didn't matter Even when covering a regular season col- about my creative juices," G aps says. "T hat lege basketball game where he has another was the news." photographer working with him, his And Gaps' quick planning paid off. H is app roac h is also different. "That makes me picture of T itans back Kevin Dyson, reachfeellike 1 can use a 180 mm at the basket, ing in vain for the goal line and falling because I' m covered by th e other persono If inche s short as the final whistle blew , was I'rn the only one there, 1 generally wo n' t on front pages around the wo rld the next take that chance." mormng. John Gaps III was faced with a hard Sports Illu strated picture editor Pon er cho ice like that in the dosing moment s of the 2000 Super Bowl in At lanta's Georgia Dome. With the d ock winding down, the T ennessee Titans had to score on the next play or lose the Super Bowl. There were only a few secondsleñ in the 2000 Super Bowl matchup between the Tennessee Gaps saw there Hans and the SI. Louis Rams inAtlanta and John Gaps 111, then a photographer with the AP, knew Tennessee's only chance tor a win would be lo score. So he worked his way into a posilion was a lot going lo protect the goal line and gothis equipment in order. He was readythen when Titans running on with the Sto back Kevín Dyson thundered loward the goal líne makíng an unsuccessfullast-second lunge. Loui s Cardinals Binks believes that his choices have start ing to celebrate and the crowd getting evolved. When Binks was just beginning to cranked up . shoot sports , he th ou ght "you had to shoot But nothing else was as important to Gaps as making sure that goal line was cov- everything with a 300, then a 400, then a 600. After making an untold number of ered. rnistakes, 1 learn ed there was nothing "T here's no time fo r hero es then," Gaps wrong with having a wide-angle lens hangsays. "You sho uld just cover yo ur zone." "1 had two-thirds of the goalline covered ing around yo ur neck. It has helped me , that's for sure." with the 80-200 zoo m," he says, "and my Every sports fan has a favorite picture. wide angle on my second camera in case 10&

Assoclated Press Gulde lo PhotoJournalism

spons: Peak Aelion and Telling Reaetlon O ne of the classics is1-Iarry Cabluck 's pieture of Boston Red Sox batter Carlto n Fisk trying to use body language to keep a home-run ball fair in the sixth game of the 1975 World Series against C incinnati. Baseball historians call it one of the greatest baseball games ever played, and C abluck's pieture is the sym· bol of that game.

Cabluck' s .. . posmon was In eent erfield, just over the fence with an 800 mm lens. His primary assignment was to shoot every pit ch, hoping to get the hom e runs and key hits from a different persp ective. Cabluck says the assignment called for conce nt ration, sorne skill and a lot of luck. Wh en shooting, Cabluck says he watched and follo wed th e game, "just like being an outfielder. Wh at am 1 going to do if th e Assoclated Press Ruide To Photojournalism

ball is hit to me?" Cabluck was constantly refining what he was going to do in any . . . glven su uanon. Whe n Fisk swung th at bat and danced dow n th at line, Ca bluck moved with him, firin g frames that tell the story of Pisk's struggle as he watched the ball are toward

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spons: Peak Aelion and Telling Beaelion foul territory. H e then shot the jubilation as the ball stayed fair fór the home runo Despite mornents when Fisk was obscured by other players, Cabluck concentrated and stayed with him because he knew th at Fisk was th e story of that game.

base looks differeñt from those perspectives. Elise Amendo la took a chance on a different perspective at a golf tournament , and an unort hodox lens choice, to make a beautiful picture of Davis Love III winning the

AP pholographer Elise Amendola had spentthe final day of the 1997 PGA Championship fighling the rain and wind to just keep her cameras in operalion when, as sheneared thefinal green wilh leader Davis Love 11 1, a rainbow appeared. Amendola made lhe decision then lo not conc éntrate on a lighl picture of Love reacting lo his win, but lo go for lhemore visual approach with a wide angle view thal included Ihe arcover lhe green.

That kind of coverage can be extended to a Litt le League or high schoo l baseball game. Instead of taking th e safe position along the first base line, try shooting from one of the foul poles, or from just over the cemerfield fence. Even a play at second 108

PGA Champi onship. Amendo la, and others working with her, had battled pouring rain all day. "We were struggling," she explains. "[ust keepin g the gear dry was a problem." But, as she walked with Love, th e tourAssociated Press Guide JoPhotojournallsm

spons:Peak Aclion and Telling Reaclion ney leade¡;;up die 18th fairw ay, the skies access at th e event and Mart in was working began to brighten. "Walking towa rd his without one. That didn't slow Mart in down , th ough ; he takes makin g the picture appraach shot, 1 saw a rainbow emerging. It was beauti ful and 1 was hoping 1 could which shows the joy of victory or the agon y of defeat as a person al crusade. do something with it." When th ey got to th e green, Amendola "1 am very determined," he says. "1 put a I-----,,~~¡;;¡ --kne w other members of th e AP crew were already th ere and she had sorne freedom to take an offbeat position. So she took a spo t to Love's back and decided to go with • her wide-angle lens, alth ou gh she noti ced other photographers near her were using long lenses. "There was debat e in my mind abou t what lens to use," she says, "but 1 said to myself, "I' rn going to go loose and use this rainbow.''' Amendola said she wasn't sure she had a great picture. She had concerns about the techni cal qu ality and wh eth er the picture capWorking without a photographer's identifying vest, Dave Martin 01the AP tured th e mom ent the way she saw worked his way into a position away trorn the other photographers and It.

made this wondertul picture 01U.S. Ryder Cup teamcaptain Ben Crenshaw celebrating the squad's miracle comeback in the 1999 matches outside Boston.

He r fears were erased when she got back to the trailer where th e AP crew was wo rking and she got a big hug from the other members. "It all carne together," she ex"plains. "T he winning golfer, winning a major, the rainbow. It aH carne toget her so beautiíully.' For pure joy, it is hard to beat Dave Martin' s picture of 1999 Ryder Cup team captain Ben C renshaw celebrating after his team's drarnatic final-day comeback for th e win over th e Eurapean squad. An AP photographer, Martin was working at a disadvant age since organizers had limited th e number of ph ot o bibs for prime

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10t of pr essure on myself.' Early on in his career, he says, he was told action ph otographers were a dime a dozen but a ph otograph er who could capture reaction sets himself aboye th e rest of the field. Martin says he learns fram his mistakes - everything fram tripping over untied shoelaces to having his aperture get knocked off kilter in a post-game crowd on the field, to running sho rt of film because he didn 't reload at th e end of a game - and he's always checking these th ings as he moves to make his picture. "Every tim e 109

Sporls: Peak AClion and Telling Reaclion now, " he says, "1 try to-rernemb er every rnistake I' ve ever mad e and try to overcome it by checking al1 of those things." Manin had position ed himself along the rapes at the Ryder Cup final hal e. As the celebration started among Crenshaw and his tearnmates, Ma rti n fou nd himself in a shifting crowd alon g the rape. But he had a clear idea of where he wanted to be. Man in worked his way thraugh the crawd and got to the spot he wante d by not giving up. "1 think of angles," he says, "and I'rn cons tantly planning." Knowing what he wanted and having a plan in mind paid off. He got in a good spo t and made up the rest of the distance by holdi ng his camera out at arrn's length between sorne celebra nts and making th e picture. Martin 's laws: be det ermined, be ready , have a plan . And, always make sure yo ur shoes are tied securely . If the action o r reaction lag:;, follow Kennedy's example and look AP photographer Mark Lennihan stayed with a 1999 argument between for the actio ns of a player to give umpire AlIanza Marquez and New York Mets pitcher Dennis Cook and yo u a pictu re. Got an infielder caught the moment when the two had a meeting 01the minds, orat least blow ing bu bbles? An outfielder theirnoses and the bilis 01their caps. doing stretc hing exercises during the game? A catcher wit h dirt al1 over hirn, ety of pictu res, Over th e course of a season, or a group of bench warmers wearing their fol1ow Risberg' s suggestion and try to sho ot frorn several different perspectives, hat s at odd angles? Any of these wil1 make a picture when the action doesn't give you always looking for a different pictu re than o ne. yo u had from the game befare. Anoth er way of expanding yo ur spo rts T he key to good coverage is to see a vari110

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spons: Peak Aelion and Telling Reaelion coverage is ¡O look for subjects that will brate is a solid sto ryt eller. make inte resting photo essays. "1 was going for a goo d picture of the girl Susan Ragan saw sto ries in the sport s on the gro und, and the others danced pages abo ut a t hrough t he frame, " yo ung jockey, Sancett a says. Julie Krone, who "1 was lucky." was quickly rnaking a name for But that luck herself. Ragan resulted from contacted the sorne planning. jockey's agent and Sancetta had followed the pro pos ed a story. T he result was an sto ry of th e game, as well interesting look at as the action, a spo rt that gener...'o"'.....~\:'!Il!M She knew the ally doesn 't get player on the much coverage. But it wasri't as gro und was easy as Ragan's not o nly the pictu res make it top scorer , but also had caused look. Ragan found a turnover for that Krone, her team late despite her fame, in the game. was very self-conscious. "Her -=O:::J>'",,"''' The ot her team had co nfather is a photog• verte d t hat rapher and she's turnover for very conscious of the camera," • For an essay on jockey Julie Krone, right, APphotographer Susan the lead and spent several hours over a series 01 days with Krone, oíten not Ragan t he cham piRagan says. "It onship. took mu ch longer even making a picture. Sancetta knew "it was more important ro wit h her to break through that shell. T here get a good picture of the key player, than a were days when 1 had nothin g, but 1 kep t going back and finally she mellowed out." good pictu re of just any player." That 's Good pictu res can happen at any leve! of why she went for the dejection, rather than move on to the jubilati on . She moved int o spo rts. Amy Sancetta's picture of a high school a position ro make the picture and th e jubilation rou nded out the image. basketball player agonizing over a loss in Early traini ng, to focus on the details, th e state tourney while the winners celeAssoclated Press Gulde To Phot%umalism

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paid off years later for Sancetta as she followed St. Louis Cardinals slugger Mark McGwire on his chase for the home ru n title . Knowing they had a few games to get into a groove with McGwire, Sancetta and other AP photog rap hers on th e home run chase crew studied the Cards slugger to learn everything they could about how he handled the bat, how he reacted, what his habits were. An d Sancetta tried different shooting positions, to o, to make sure she'd have the picture she wanted when the big home run finally carne. Sancetta knew she would have to sit on a stool amo ng th e fans in the first row over th e wall on the third base line, but she had sorne say on which aisle to use. "1 had my choice of several aisles," she says, "so well before the games, when 1 first got there, 1 sat in those spots try ing to find where the third base coach would stand, where 1 might be blocked." O nce she settled on her spo t , she went th ro ugh her lenses to see which would give her the framing she wanted. "You have to know how McGwire swings th e bat for your timing on coritact," Sancetta explains; "as well as what he does after he hits it ." Ken Griffey ] r., another slugger who had a ho t year that season, "flips his bar down real fast, but McGwire likes to hold his bat up there and linger, linger,linger." T hat know ledge would alert her to pietures that cou ld be made as McGwire tied, then broke the record. And when the big home runs happened, Sancetta wanted to make as much out of Associated Press Cuide lo Photojournalism

the situation as possible. "1 wanted to not just shoot ir once," she says, "1 wanted to be able to shoot them tw ice which meant shoot ing two cameras at the same time." Each camera gave her a slightly different view, on e horizont al with the umpire, catcher and fans watching the ball, to o. The other was vert ical and much tighter. With a remote camera next to her on a

Amy Sancetta's coverage 01 Mark McGwire breaking Ihe home run record tookplanning. She had a plan lo make Ihe swing and reaction on al leasl two cameras (above), and Ihen lo lollow McGwire as he rounded the bases (opposite).

tripod, wh ich she fired with a foot switch, Sancetta hand held the other camera on a mon opod. She watched McGwire' s batt ing habits so much she not onl y kn ew how he would react, but even had a prett y good idea when he was going to swing. "When McGwire would make a move like he was going to swing," she explains, "1 wou ld push th e button on the camera in my hand and hit th e foot switch." N ot every swing produced ahorne ru n and Sancetta sometimes ended up with 113

Sports: Peak Aelion and Telling haelion

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nothing to show for her effons. But, she' d reload and be ready the next tim e. When the record-setting home ron carne on the final day of the season, Sancetta had McGwire on two cameras watching the flight of the ball from the plate. She also

yards, you know it' s going to be a pass play. That's just doing your homework, kno win g how the game is played." When Franco Harris of th e Pittsburgh Steelers scored a touchdown on the legendary catch known as th e "immaculate reception," Cabluck was wairíng in the end zone to make the picture as Harris carne toward him. The other team had just scored, and th e Steelers were a touc hdown behind and starting their drive a considerable distance from th eir goalline. "You have to think what is going to happen th at is going to be significant," Cabluck says. "The only thing that would happen to change the game would be a Steeler crossing th e goal line to score." You just cari't plan and study too mucho Doug Mills watched U.S. sprinter Michael Johnson closely as he ~ covered the U.S. squad's tri als 8......,~"""o..L.:l:Jw;.;"""'!Sí.i~=I::.~.:...::=..:..i~ -"'-"'d""""-~;;:;l