comunication breakdown

Posted by Tyler Tjomsland (Longview, United States) on 11 December 2006 in People & Portraits and Portfolio.

My least favorite thing to do as a photojournalist is write cut lines (captions). I disdain it from the bottom of my soul.
My second least favorite thing to do as a photojournalist is shoot really boring things, which are easy to disrupt. .
This round epitomizes both of aforementioned qualities that I dread. Firstly, this was shot at a Pullman town hall meeting. I was afraid if I moved around too much I would ruin the mood of the meeting, in reality it probably would have made no difference but I was not going to take the chance, especially since I walked in late, since I had to walk to town hall and got lost. While walking in late was mostly out of my control, it was still very much my problem. I made a beeline straight for the front of the seating where I figured the best shots would be. The writer, and also my ride was then behind me, also if I were to get up to bail, it would disrupt the room. Thus, I spent two hours on the floor shooting various lenses at these guys, while they talked about crap I did not understand, and my editor kept calling me wondering where his art was.
That brings me to my second point- I have no idea who the hell these guys were. This was especially pragmatic when I got back to my computer ten minutes before deadline to write the cut line and had no clue what I was doing.
Needless to say the cut line on the website was wrong, and the one that ran in the paper was slightly off as well. I just thank god our copy editor Nick Eaton saved the whole thing from going up in flames by fixing most of my mistake.
Today's lesson- whatever you shoot for a publication, take notes. Second, don’t show up late. Actually now that I think about it what I try to do is this: if you can, get there early and scope the place out asking whomever is in charge were you can be during the event.
Precision in this job is paramount. The best of us leave no angle un-shot, no person nameless, and always carry a map.

VFXY Photos | Listed on Photoblogs.org