Let me share some thoughts very near to my own heart, the capture and delivery of news images. If I asked you to bring to mind a classic news image; the collapsing towers in New York; the little girl running for her life from a napalm strike in South Vietnam; the baby falling through the air from a high rise building in flames; or the images of a baby whale and its mother killed and winched aboard a Japanese whaling mother ship in the southern waters of Antarctica what would you say?
Each and every day brave men and women risk their lives and reputation to bring you news images. But it doesn’t stop there. You too have the opportunity to contribute to the news media. News happens everywhere and gives you a fighting chance to shoot classic images that not only hit the headlines but puts nice neat dollars in your pocket. You don’t need highly fancy cameras either. I would wager if you captured Bin Laden in his lair with a cheap disposal camera, fitted with a glass milk bottle lens, you would have the major TV networks and news agencies around the world offering you a fortune for your images. That is an extreme example I admit, but it does serves to remind you of the window of opportunity news photography offers.
Oh yes, there is catch. You need to understand how the news media operates and their image expectations. You have to do your homework. That was one of the reasons I wrote my new eBook, “The Camera on the Frontline,” as a practical guide to would-be news photographers in a part time or career role imbued with the urge to shoot news photos.
News photojournalists live and work in a condition of intense competition, danger and discord, risk life and limb and face the wrath of their illustration editors and you the viewing public. By the way, I’m not talking about the paparazzi here, the leeches of the image industry; that is another story. News photographers are much more than picture takers. They are photojournalists, visual reporters, who record our social fabric, history and relate visually to the moment; any given moment I might add, of the day. If you take a small leaf out of their book you are well on the way to becoming something to be reckoned with when you get behind your camera.
Memorable news images are powered by a range of visual elements, but far ahead of the rest is the element of emotion. Emotion plays a huge part in the acceptance and rejection of a news image in the media. Without emotion in some shape of form, humorous, sad, anger or anguish whatever, a news image will likely fall into the news room’s rubbish bin like a spent autumn leaf.
Let’s have a look at some of the visual power triggers that make news images (and your own personal pictures) resonate and unique.
1. A news image must tell a story… need I say more!
2. A news image must have visual impact. It has to grab you by the nose and pull you along.
3. A news image must stir something inside you; trigger a response a feeling, a reaction, recognition.
4. A news image must ‘live’ even though it might be a passive subject. Something in the image must ‘click’ with viewer
5. A news image must capture imagination and hold it long enough for a response, favourable or otherwise.
6. A news image must be candid, not a contrived wish washy, line-them-up-against-a-wall and ‘shoot them’ image. No news editor wants a group shot with a power pole sticking out of someone’s head, as the news paper’s ‘front page’ visual.
7. A news image must be adventurous, ‘man biting a dog’ approach, something different to the norm, something that gives the image ‘sparkle.’
8. A news image must be unique in its own way. The subject may be old and presented a hundred times over, but dished up in a visually appetizing way that is refreshingly different.
9. A news image must appeal to more people that you and your mother, (with respect to mothers).
Remember you have access to news images 24 hours a day. There is no excuse for not viewing them constantly. What you have to do is find some time, take a deep breath and sit down observe and thoroughly analyse them, a great learning resource for you to study and learn from.
Here is a little irony for you. You have a news gathering course at your fingertips. Follow the leads offered on your newspapers’ pages and moving images on your TV screens. Devour the experience. News gathering is a tough uncompromising business but it has plentiful rewards and hectic challenges.
It’s an occupation like no other, throwing down difficulties, problems and intense disappointment.
You have be like a well oiled-duck and let the trials and tribulations slip over you as you labor away. If you want to taste the ultimate news gathering experience, try combat photojournalism. But that is another story I will keep for later.
Keep focused
Roger Jeakings ©
Meet frontline cameraman, Roger Jeakings. He began his news career as a military photojournalist in Southeast Asia. An experienced infantry instructor, with rifle and light machinegun marksman credits to his name, Roger had little difficulty exchanging a rifle for a 35mm camera. His first combat news assignment covered the Commonwealth’s counter insurgency operations against Communist guerrilla actions in Malaya and Borneo
Since then he has kept in close contact with his news media colleagues covering the conflict Iraq and Afghanistan. They have generously contributed some of their images and thoughts to his newly released e-Book, “The Camera on the Frontline.”
Author: Roger Jeakings
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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