People Love Photojournalism

There has been a lot of talk about photojournalism in the past week - especially regarding the Chicago Sun Times laying off their entire photo staff.

The reasons for this layoff are beyond me, and I am in no way qualified to speak about the specifics of the Times' layoffs.

What I want to share is my experience today at the World Press Photo exhibition in Amsterdam.

People love photojournalism.

Why?

Because on a Sunday afternoon I watched hundreds of people line up to view the best photographs taken for the press in the last year.

Judged by the best in the business, including my friend Bill Frakes, this competition is now on tour showcasing the best of the best to thousands.

People laughed, cried and gasped at the amazing pictures at this exhibit.

They also paid for this exhibit - €8 to be exact.

Not only did they wait in line, pay and share their experiences with others, they were moved by the work of photojournalism.

So while I continue to travel through a city that should be underwater, maybe those newspapers that are financially drowning should take a look at the impact they are making on the public before they eliminate it.

See the winners of the 2013 World Press Photo contest online.

Check to see if the tour will be stopping near you.

Follow Bill Frakes online and on Twitter

Sideline Report: End-of-season editing

So the collegiate sports year is basically over, right?

I mean, lets face it, the Gators aren’t booking any hotel rooms in Omaha for a baseball comeback anytime soon.

So what does that leave us photographers to do?

Cleaning cameras only takes a few hours and while I have been accused of being a little obsessive, I’m not breaking out the alcohol swabs every day to make sure my Nikon logo is spotless.

A lot of the offseason involves pecking away at a keyboard and mouse trolling through the tens of thousands of photos that hit the cutting room floor before they chosen ones make it to press.

Editing through the Florida / Texas A&M game.

That sounds easy, right? Just select all and delete. Sadly, no.

We keep every photo taken at every game - just in case.

Just in case that right guard from that highly competitive non-conference football game against the Norfolk State Scuba Diving team happens to get in trouble with Jeff Driskel. Or that second baseman who no one though would ever go pro happens to make it out of the farms leagues and wins a World Series within two years of leaving Gainesville, Fla.

All of these could happen and in some various scenario have happened before.

We saw a prime example of this during the investigation of the Boston Marathon bombings. I bet the photographer that took photos of that boxing competition thought to select all and delete after that season, too. Now his photos became one of the backstories to explaining such a horrific day in sports.

So as the season ends the scanning begins.

Florida / Texas A&M photos in my library.

Scanning through every game, tagging every location, best plays, importing rosters, tagging key players and writing descriptions.

I manage roughly 450,000 images in my photo library at any given time - sometimes I do delete photos once I am 100 percent sure no one would ever need an out of focus, over exposed, blurry photo of my shoe during a gymnastics meet.

All of these are broken down by year, publication, sport and date.

The system of folders and projects in my Aperture library.

I use Apple’s Aperture photo editing software to manage and backup every photo I have taken in my career.

It’s like a time machine for a photographer.

So many of us document what we do, from Instagramming our food to snapping an iPhone photo of that sunset that one time after dinner.

What’s nice is that our smartphones actually live up to their name in being smart. They embed GPS information so you can see your photos on a map. They keep time, dates and even the exposure. If you want to nerd out, just import some of your iPhone photos to Photoshop and view the metadata.

Well, our big DSLR cameras are pretty smart, too. Virtually every bit of information besides who is in the photo is recorded automatically by the camera as we shoot each photo.

But it still has to be managed. That’s where the human element comes in. Although, I feel like a cyborg by the end of each summer - combing through 40,000+ photos from the previous sports season and 80,000+ photos total each each year.

Even at the consumer level, some of these professional techniques may help you stay little more organized and not lose some memorable photos in the process.

So here are a few tips that keep our heads on straight and our editors happy.

1. Date everything: I said everything, not everyone! Each time you go shoot something, create a project with the date as the beginning of the name. For example: “2013-02-23 UF vs. Arkansas”
2. Create folders: Once you have the dates projects, organize them by sports. Most times this is intuitive. The Gators are probably only playing Arkansas in basketball on Feb. 23, 2013, but there could be something else going on the same time.
3. Rate your photos: Come up with a rating system. This will save you a ton of time when you want to go back. Often we are so concerned with deadlines during a football game, we shoot, we edit, we send off the photos and then forget about them. Well, sometime you’ll have to go back, and starring the photos 1,2,3,4 or 5 starts will help you determine what to keep.

Rating system of photos after the Florida / Texas A&M game in 2012.

I rate one stars as friends at the game, two stars for video and special projects (like focusing on one player for a feature story), three starts are good photos, four stars means I should send it out ASAP and five stars is a portfolio-worthy photo.

Just a few of these steps to help you manage your photos can make the difference between a very good Mother’s Day gift just days before when you realize that you should make a photo album and a disastrous night pecking at your computer to try and find that perfect photo from that time you cant remember at that place you have no idea about.

So as we recap each season and you view those best-of galleries and feature stories leading up to next season - remember, some of us have bloodshot eyes making lemonade out of our lemons that are photographs on the cutting room floor.

Have a great summer and happy shooting.

Reuters - Green Burial Cemetery

I had the pleasure of working on a story for Reuters for more than six months on green burial practices in the United States - focusing on the Prairie Creek Conservation Cemetery in Gainesville, Fla.

Check out the article profiling this new trend in burial practices and the blog post which includes more photos and a multimedia piece.

This story brought me to sources all over the globe, from Gainesville, Fla. to Washington D.C. to Sydney, Australia to find out more about how to take care of the dead.

I hope you enjoy the story as much as I did reporting on it.

Robert "Hutch" Hutchinson digs a grave by hand at the Prairie Creek Conservation Cemetery in Gainesville, Florida February 15, 2013. 

REUTERS/Steve Johnson

Nikon Riding Shotgun

After wrapping up an interview for a feature story for Reuters, I was driving back up to Gainesville, Fla. from Ocala through the small town of Anthony. This is just another reminder to always have a camera riding shotgun.

Happy shooting.

So you want to get started in photography?

There are many views from professionals about the rise in popularity of digital photography in recent years.

Some think that because DSRLs have become less expensive and still have the look of a "professional" camera that the value of what professional photographers do has fallen. I believe this is somewhat true.

There are a number of jokes and parody videos that make fun of amateurs (I too get a good laugh at these).

But on a more positive note, I believe that the rise in popularity of photography is a great thing for us "professionals," and I have one photograph that may prove it.

The Eiffel Tower at twilight.

When I visited Paris for the first time in 2011 I was thrilled to take photos of the Eiffel Tower. Yes, it is so touristy. Yes, it has been photographed millions of times by millions of people. But have I taken a photo of it? No. Thus, it was a mission.

The photograph turned out to be my favorite from the trip and made it into my portfolio. But what is most exciting about this photo was the time it was taken and how the shot was made.

The photo was taken at f/3.2 at 1/50 of a second just before the sun set over the city of lights.

If I were to auto expose or even auto meter the lighting for this shot the camera would have tried to expose to the lights on the tower - thus, darkening the sky and missing out on the gorgeous blue twilight.

So while many "professionals" may gripe over the "amateurs" I believe this interest in photography actually increases the value of our pictures - our outstanding pictures.

Out of the millions of people who have photographed the Eiffel Tower and the tens of thousands who did that day in Paris, I would find it difficult to find a photo that has the same colors as this exposure.

On a technical note: what should your first camera be?

The Nikon 5200 with an 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6 lens.

I recommend a Nikon D5200 with an 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6 lens from Amazon.com.

Why? Because this is an affordable kit at just over $1,000 that will give you a versatile lens to handle most beginning task at photography (kids, family, daytime sports).

It can also shoot 1080p HD video with a microphone input for those of you interested in the beginnings of a filmmaking career.

So you want to get started in photography? Go for it!

And work your butt off, because it is one of the best hobbies/professions in the world, but it also has one of the most interesting communities of professionals any "job" could ask for.

Check back on the blog for tips on shooting, travel and gear.