Connect the dots
Currently listening to: Micah by Russian Circles
So much of communication, especially today, is about control and access. RSS feeds allow people to pick what they want to know about. Twitter lets someone share information for others to access. Journalists are having to adapt to this model and thus carry an approach that is more conversational apart from the old model which simply addressed the audience.
But what specifically do these changes mean for the photojournalist?
Last week I drove up to a saw mill that was closing after over fifty years of production. A lot of different angles could of been taken on the story. Many employees have done the job for over twenty years and are either planning on retiring early or trying to get a late start in another career since the mill is the last one in the county. Others mentioned how they disagreed with the parent company’s decision to close the mill while others talked about how close the community of workers at their job was.
Seeing as the text story carried enough factual information, I knew it gave me the leeway to create an audio slideshow that let the respective mediums do what they best – create an emotional connection and humanize the story. From how deeply a worker felt connected to his coworkers as well as a candid conversation where employees gave a coworker a hard time about the Chicago Cubs not winning a World Series for over a century establish the “characters” as real people. I personally felt like the images could of done a better job of connecting with the audio with more interaction between workers reflected along solitary moments but I feel like the quality of the audio makes up for things in the story.
Capturing moments are still an integral part of photojournalism and always will be but pairing an intimate image with a subject talking through it is even more valuable. It brings the story alive. It connects the content with the audience. Using a single medium can limit how much information the viewer can get from a story, let alone relate to it. As journalism grows into a social experience between the creator and the viewer, the opportunity for “connecting the dots” to create stories that communicate thoughts, ideas, and emotions on a deeper, richer level definitely exists. We’re just left with discovering a steady business model . . .
