Advice to new (photo)journalism grads
Posted by Tim Gruber | Filed under career, journalism
As a fresh graduate from OU I found Will Sullivan’s post on his Journerdism blog to be an entertaining and informative read. You might need your earmuffs for a few of the points, but you can’t fault his enthusiasm.
Just a taste of what he wrote:
Your coworkers / your environment matters a lot too.
Surround yourself with people that inspire and encourage you that you can learn from.
That’s the exact reason why I felt like my time at grad school was so valuable.
Toxic environments will destroy your life faster than Crystal Meth.
Avoid them like the plague. This isn’t your high school boyfriend that you may think you can ‘fix him and he’ll be a keeper.’ Maybe you can sometimes, but by the time you do you’re finished fixing it, you’ll be going to be bitter and old. Get out as quick as possible and read the No Asshole Rule if you’re stuck in a toxic environment or if you see one forming
Awards don’t really matter. (But they really do.)
They shouldn’t. But if I’ve got dozens of resumes with similar previous experience, skills and portfolio between candidates, someone who’s won half a dozen awards for their work versus someone who’s won none will probably get them put in the ‘to check out further pile.’ Outside of ladder climbing, winning awards just feels good. Recognition for hard work is important. Just don’t stress about it too much, because awards are so random and subjective depending on the panel of judges. (Watch as many contest judging events as you possibly can and you’ll learn this quickly.) One thing to remember: You can’t win awards if you don’t enter. I’ve judged a couple dozen contests, and I gotta say, sometimes people win just because there wasn’t really any competition and they paid an entry fee, so someone has to win.
We all know firsthand how dreadful the contest game can be.
“You need ‘Fuck you’ skills. Like a hand with a raised middle finger, you need to have a bunch of little fingers of skills in many different areas like flash, social media video, writing, audio, programming, CAR or whatever, but one area that you’re really awesome in (the middle finger). So if things are really bad somewhere, you’re awesome at that skill and you can say, ‘fuck you’ and move on.” (Kinda like FU money.) But recently, I unveiled a new theory while rappin’ with some Mizzou j-students: It’s a little risky to put all your eggs in one basket. So I’m thinking, “Peace out” skills are better. (It’s also less vulgar than ‘fuck you’ skills.) So my advice is: Be familiar with as many aspects of journalism as possible — have a little of your fingers in everything — but have two disciplines that you’re really awesome with. Hence, the “Peace out” sign. When it comes time to say “Peace out” it’s best done with the body slightly askew, throw the peace sign rapidly in a downward motion sideways, cock your head, scrunch your lips, blow out your cheeks and enlarge your eyes. Practice in the mirror before actually doing this on the job, to make sure the effect is totally perfect. You don’t want to be “That guy who was really great in Flash and Video Animation, but when he left he awkwardly poked himself in the nose and make a farting sound with his mouth. What was his deal?”
Check out the other 28 great points on Will’s blog and add your own while you’re there.
Only thing I might add is thinking of yourself as a brand.
Tags: career, contests, marketing, selfpromo
Can films change the world?
Posted by Tim Gruber | Filed under video
The Guardian asks do films really change the world? Do films about changing the world make any money?
Of course the same can be asked of documentary photo projects.
I’m no longer even sure that documentary films affect the world in a different way from fiction or that people are interested in how fiction differs from investigation.
You watch films in the dark and emerge blinking from the cave, your life mysteriously altered. You feel different afterwards - more alert, more informed.
‘You should never know quite what you are getting into with a film,’ says director Stephen Frears. ‘And that means you can never be certain what you have got or what effect, finally, the film will have.’
Frears is a doughty defender of the power of feelings in films. He believes that what people remember in films are not facts, but emotions.
Go check it out.
Tags: documentary, video
WordPress woes
Posted by Tim Gruber | Filed under wordpress
I updated my blog to the latest version of WordPress yesterday afternoon, which caused some major issues with the theme I was using.
After trying everything I knew(very little obviously) to get things back I resorted to a completely new theme.
Everything should be back the way I left it before the upgrade. Fingers crossed.
Tags: wordpress
Freelance photography and self promotion
Posted by Tim Gruber | Filed under freelance
If you’re looking to enter the world of freelance photography or are already in that realm this post by art buyer Heather Morton is for you.
We work in a world of paradoxes and conundrums: Send an email blast vs. no one reads emails. Send a nice promo card vs. it will get chucked. Get face time with an AD or AB or PE vs. no one has any time to meet with you.
Every interaction that you and your work have with an agency is a potential to sell or unsell the experience of working with you, don’t let that go to waste.
Tags: freelance, marketing, promo
The Newspaper Disease
Posted by Tim Gruber | Filed under journalism
Roger Black on The Newspaper Disease:
As with the federal government, it won’t help to keep doing more of the things that aren’t working. It won’t work to keep cheapening the product. To use Gordon Bethune’s line about a similar problem in the airline business: “You can take so much cheese off the pizza that nobody will eat it.”
Read the rest of the article here.
Tags: journalism, newspapers, quotes, state of newspapers
World Press Interviews
Posted by Tim Gruber | Filed under interview
Listen to 22 incredible photographers talk about their winning work from the World Press Photo contest. Nice job Travis.
Tags: contests, interview, world press
Pixar’s Brad Bird on Fostering Innovation
Posted by Tim Gruber | Filed under inspiration
A nice read on fostering innovation.
The first step in achieving the impossible is believing that the impossible can be achieved. … “You don’t play it safe—you do something that scares you, that’s at the edge of your capabilities, where you might fail. That’s what gets you up in the morning.”
[Jobs] realized that when people run into each other, when they make eye contact, things happen. So he made it impossible for you not to run into the rest of the company.
Pixar basically encourages people to learn outside of their areas, which makes them more complete. [and more creative].
We have all this amazing machinery—how do we use it to make exciting things? We could go to Mars in this rocket ship!” It was, “We don’t understand Walt Disney at all. We don’t understand what he did. Let’s not screw it up. Let’s just preserve this rocket ship; going somewhere new in it might damage it.
Tags: innovation, inspiration
Playing with photography
Posted by Tim Gruber | Filed under inspiration
Joachim Ladefoged on his bodybuilding project states:
For me it was more like playing with photography. It was about telling a story in a photographic way, not about saving the world
Photo by: Joachim Ladefoged
Tags: inspiration, quotes
Writers Vs. Editors: A Battle for the Ages
Posted by Tim Gruber | Filed under journalism
I enjoyed this article.
Maybe writers and photographers aren’t so different after all?
Writers are sensitive souls–generally intelligent and hardworking but easily bruised. Treat them right, though, and you will be rewarded.
Tags: editing, journalism
The Death of the Newspaper. (gulp)
Posted by Tim Gruber | Filed under journalism
Before coming to grad school I thought newspapers were the only home for me and the only place I’d want to be.
I’m not so sure about that anymore. More and more I’m starting to think of life outside of newspapers, which feels weird sad to say.
I have a lot of thoughts on this, but I need to get some photos off to the big brown box from a shoot today.
Fading to Black and Praying for Papers are two blogs that look at the state of (sad)affairs in newspapers today.
From The New Yorker article Out of Print:
Only nineteen per cent of Americans between the ages of eighteen and thirty-four claim even to look at a daily newspaper. The average age of the American newspaper reader is fifty-five and rising.
Traditional media just need to realize that the online world isn’t the enemy. In fact, it’s the thing that will save them, if they fully embrace it.
Thanks Marcus Yam and APAD
At the Kentucky Derby last weekend.
Tags: journalism, newspapers, state of newspapers
