 Things Never to Say To or About a Photojournalist  IT SHOULD BE OBVIOUS, BUT PHOTO PEOPLE ARE JOURNALISTS, TOO! | |||
 Do you have other suggestions of things not to say to a photojournalist, that might help enlighten our colleagues about how to make the best use of photographers' talent? If so, please feel free to email me here Thanks to Brenda Shoun and the staff of the Orange County Register, whose list of "22 Things Never to Say to a Designer" was part of the inspiration for this list! Home page: www.ronreason.com (more tips on newspaper design, graphics and editing). |
Following are some things that photojournalists would wish people
would not say to them, or about them, in the course of daily
newspapering. Thanks to more than a dozen correspondents who shared
these real-life sayings in hopes of creating a kinder, gentler
collaborative journalism environment! Compiled by Ron Reason www.ronreason.com 1. "Are you just a photographer, or do you write, too?" 2. "And this is my photographer, Bob Smith." (Said by reporter
introducing himself to the person he is about to interview.) 3. "We need to fill this page, get one of the photographers and tell
them to go find something." 4. "All we need is a head shot." 5. "Is there anything else?" or "You got anything better than this?"
(to which one possible answer might be: "Yes, but today we only edited
the third best.") 6.
"Is that person in the story?" 7. "Don't you have a picture of the person in the lede?" 8. Any reference making distinction between "the photographers and the
content people." 9. "At the baseball game tonight shoot me a vertical, I already have
the page laid out." 10. "The story's written. We just need somebody to snap a picture of
this guy." 11. "Here is what we'd like you to shoot for the lead photo. Now, for
the
secondary..." 12. "No, you can't come on the interview. The subject will never open up
with a
photographer around." 13. "Try to get a good picture. We need a centerpiece." Back to top of page |
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Updated January 2006. | |||