May 2013
1 post
3 tags
Freelancing
Quick story from Taylor: When I was back in Missouri for the holidays, I found out that my cousins (my adult cousins, mind you), thought that freelancing meant that I worked for free, and that all I did was sit in my pajamas and wait for someone to call me (which is only a half truth).
The real truth is that when we were all photo babies, we were taught that if we worked hard enough, got the...
February 2013
1 post
7 tags
Portfolios
The perfect singles portfolio follows a formula, right? Feature, news, spot news, portrait and sports action. We have some thoughts on that, and chances are, your current body of work looks like something as follows: Photo of a candlelight vigil: Soft, flickering candlelight, people embracing in tears and high ISOs. You gotta ‘in’ that shit. People freaking the fuck out at a sports event: Could...
November 2012
1 post
3 tags
In Your Bag
The contents of Taylor’s bag plus Leroy cat
Have you ever seen another photographer on an assignment and wondered what kind of heat they were packing? You haven’t? Well, too bad, because they want to tell you about it anyway. Photojournalists love selfies, and they love talking about their gear, so it only makes sense that they would be all about making “In My Bag” blog posts, which is...
July 2012
1 post
3 tags
Senior Portraits
There comes a time in every teenager’s life when parents want to cherish how awkward their children are at seventeen. For a photographer, this means not only dealing with a tough client, but also their stage-mom parents standing off to the side. If you thought your editor was bad, just wait until you have a hormonal teenager giving their opinion on your work. You’ll never hear a positive comment...
June 2012
1 post
3 tags
Photo Editors
There is a mystical land just beyond the copy desk, hidden away and kept secret. It is said that great sorcerers work there, day in and day out. All who enter their domain fear them. They are the photo editors, and you shall bow before their power.
Seriously though, working with photo editors is like being across the table from the best card player in the world. What the hell are they thinking?...
April 2012
1 post
4 tags
Personal Projects
A photojournalism professor once said that in order to be a truly successful photographer (and not go insane), you worked to put food on the table, and then you needed to find something that lit your hair on fire. I think this analogy had something to do with burning passion, but I’m not sure. At the time it was moderately terrifying. I’ve mostly blocked it from my memory. I digress....
February 2012
1 post
4 tags
POYi Chatroom
(sweet-ass chart courtesy of Janna Dotschkal)
OUT OUT OUT OUT OUT OUT OUT
The POYi chat room is a terrifying place. It might as well bear a sign proclaiming, ‘Abandon Hope, All Ye Who Enter Here,” or “Abandon All Rules of Grammar and Spelling.” Seriously, can any of you guys spell? For more fun, visit poyichatroomheroes.tumblr.com. If you look carefully, our writers make...
January 2012
1 post
2 tags
Camera Apps
The digital age has certainly transformed photography, but the best (and also possibly the worst) weapon in the digital world’s arsenal is the camera app. The app that finally does it all: exposes, captures, and edits… In seconds! Why would I get out my gigantic camera with all its complicated buttons when I can snap a photo, send a text or two, check my email and then tweet said photo?...
December 2011
1 post
5 tags
Funemployment
Well, this sucks. You didn’t get that job/internship/grant, or you got laid off and are looking at a lot of changes. You have a few months of uncertainty on your hands, and luckily for you, Shit Photojournalists Like is here to make it all better. We have plenty of suggestions for how to handle your downtime. 1. Give up. 2. Just kidding, don’t do that. That would be stupid. 3. Don’t give up,...
November 2011
1 post
3 tags
Cigarettes
This may not be applicable to every photographer out there, but I’ll be damned if there isn’t a photog out there who hasn’t been sitting around waiting for a subject and thought, “I would look so fucking cool if I were smoking a cigarette right now.” If Dennis Hopper could do it, so can I. Journalism and cigarettes were once synonymous with each other, and a glorious time it was. Everyone...
October 2011
1 post
3 tags
The 'Death' of Photojournalism
This will prove to be a slight departure from our usual programming, because WE’RE MAD AS HELL AND WE’RE NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE To be completely blunt, photographers have a tendency to freak out over the slightest developments in the industry, whether it be for better or for worse. What can we say? We’re just a passionate bunch. Whether it’s a Hipstamatic photo story placing in POYi,...
September 2011
2 posts
2 tags
You Know You're a Photojournalist When... →
This blog post from the Chicago Tribune has been making the rounds lately, for good reason.
I would add:
You love working weekends because that’s when the more interesting assignments occur
You shudder at the phrase “building mug”
Your diet has turned into cigarettes and to-go cups of coffee
Instead of saying “National Geographic” you say “Nat Geo”
...
6 tags
Gear
I was recently informed by a fine art photography student that having expensive gear means that you’ve lost sight of the true “art” of photography. This managed to make me laugh condescendingly and get extremely pissed at the same time.
I’ve determined that when it comes to gear, there are three types of photojs (because lumping people into broad categories is fun). Let’s discuss, shall we?...
August 2011
3 posts
4 tags
Grain
Sure, we love owning that full frame tack sharp beast that cost us $2500+ - because that badass baby can shoot at ISO 32,000! No wait, it goes up to 64,000! Time to crank up the grain for that “I was there for real and it was gritty man, totally gritty” feeling. Doesn’t matter if the light is decent, we are going all the way for 64k. Why stop there? Can it go up to ISO 128,000? Why yes, it can!...
5 tags
Bios in Third Person
We all know that having a website is vital to staying afloat as a photographer. It’s also very important to have a bio page on your website, just to give your potential clients a little taste of what kind of photographer they’re hiring. The greatest thing about the bio page is that even though we so carefully craft that page (and search through a thesaurus for hours for adjectives that can replace...
3 tags
July 2011
1 post
3 tags
Collectives
When we hear the word collective, several scenes come to mind: people living together, working together, eating together, and having dirty, dirty sex together. So naturally, a photo collective is all of those things, too, right? A photo collective is formed when one awesome photographer is BFFL with other awesome photographers, and they decide to take things to the next level (this is...
June 2011
3 posts
3 tags
Camera Bags
High-quality, journalistic photo of writer clutching her four-year-old bag and remembering all of the good times they had together.
Congratulations. Your saving, scrimping, and eating nothing but high-protein granola bars for the past year has paid off. You have a brand new camera, but something is missing. That’s right, you require a bag to house your precious.
Your needs are very...
2 tags
Shooting From the Hip
How do you take photos? As a photojournalist, chances are that you peer through the viewfinder, find the right exposure, discover a sweet-ass background and wait. And wait. And maybe wait a little more.
Hell, let’s get fancy and refer to this process as “composing a photo.” You waited for that picture, and you probably got it. Good for you, right? Give yourself a pat on the...
2 tags
roavl asked: So I actually want to be a photojournalist. I'm currently kind of a freshman at a college I don't want to stay at. Should I try to transfer to a school in NYC and talk to a shit load of PJs until one offers me an unpaid internship? Should I follow my plans of doing college, then the Peace Corps for a year or two, then grad school, then trying to become a PJ?
Should I just...
Should I just...
May 2011
3 posts
5 tags
Brand Loyalty
Choosing your camera brand is a little bit like getting married. You agonize over making sure you’ve chosen the the right one, spend the big bucks to make the big leap, and if you choose to divorce aka “switch”, there’s hell to pay (as well as a few thousand dollars).
We’re of course talking about the big two DSLR brands here: Canon and Nikon. (Wait, you use...
3 tags
Contrast
Sure, we like the metaphoric and compositional contrast and all that bullshit, but nothing gets us going like a photo where the histogram looks like a football goalpost. What’s that you say? There’s no detail in the shadows? Who cares? Those inky blacks and hyper-saturated tones look bad-ass. That guy’s face has turned into a black blob? Well, that’s just my artistic...
1 tag
Vignetting
What’s the best solution to a shitty photo? Vignette that bitch. Camera technology has strived to eliminate the in-camera vignette, and you know how photographers have responded? They fought back. Fear the vengeance of the vignette.
If you can’t afford a full-frame camera, don’t worry about it. Just throw it into Photoshop and slap on a vignette on your own. Just remember to...
April 2011
1 post
2 tags
In Memory.
Let’s pause for a snark-free moment.
As it says in the tagline, photojournalists are assholes. If you’re following this site, hopefully you realize that in actuality, photojournalists are passionate, driven people who just happen to have a lot of hang ups.
We try to steer clear of actual news here, but this is too important to be ignored. A tragedy occurred in the photojournalism...
March 2011
2 posts
3 tags
Photoshop
As a photojournalist, it’s our job to tell the story as it happened. We do everything right the first time: exposure, composition, color balance…you name it, and we don’t fuck it up.
Wait, who am I kidding? Isn’t that what Photoshop is for? Did you shoot on 1600 ISO with tungsten white balance in broad daylight? Never fear, because a real photojournalist doesn’t...
4 tags
Scarves
Word on the street, and in our inbox, is that photojournalists love scarves. And who can blame us? Throw on a pair of skinny jeans and a colorful scarf and, as reader E. Beercroft says, the scarf will “instantly… both identify you as a photojournalist and remove you from the pool of suckers known simply as ‘photographers’, especially ‘art’...
3 tags
Selfies
The purpose of this post is twofold: 1) to make fun of the selfy and 2) to seek fame and fortune by revealing our identities. Like we said three weeks ago, photojs love shameless self promotion.
The selfy. We all do it. Don’t act like you don’t walk past a mirror while on assignment and consider taking a frame of that handsome devil looking back at you. All those photojournalism...
February 2011
10 posts
3 tags
Camera Tilt
photo by the legendary Aleksandr Rodchenko
Tired of taking the same old photograph? There is a solution, my friend, and what a solution it is. TILT YOUR CAMERA.
THIS IS A NEW AND INNOVATIVE TECHNIQUE THAT HAS NEVER BEEN DONE BEFORE.
We are embarking on an age of diagonals and slants. No longer is it acceptable to take pictures in a strict horizontal or vertical fashion. Photographers want to...
3 tags
Name Dropping
Have you ever met someone famous and NOT told other people about it?
“Yeah, I met Melissa Wiley at CPOY last year. She said I should apply for Nat Geo, but I’m just not sure.” Pretension: our greatest friend, yet our greatest enemy.
It’s a bit different for photojs because if we meet a famous photographer we suddenly fall under the delusion that we’re going to get...
3 tags
Changing the World
It only takes one photo to change the world. Just one photo to make a difference. I’m no more noble than any other hard working photographer, except for the fact that I’ll tell you that I’m working for a cause, not a paycheck.
I am not just some fashion photographer or commercial wannabe who takes pictures for money. I risk life and limb to make the picture. I’m going...
2 tags
Photography Contests
As most of you assholes probably already know, the almighty POYi competition started this week and World Press is in the works.
Photojournalists around the world have spent hours sifting through the dump folders in each of their five hard drives, all in the hopes of finding the perfect image to submit to esteemed photography contests.
Something about contests put photojournalists into fucking...
7 tags
Majoring in Photojournalism.
Basically, if you don’t get a major in photojournalism, you clearly aren’t a real photojournalist. Without that $100,000 piece of paper, how will anyone know that you are a real photojournalist? Students of Ohio, Mizzou and Western Kentucky are the true story tellers of American photojournalism.
But what these students love more than their worthless majors, is talking shit on other...
1 tag
Follow us on twitter →
You know you want to.
3 tags
Poor People
Is it any coincidence that four of the major academic photojournalism programs are offered within close driving (or even walking) proximity of multiple trailer parks and pockets of known methamphetamine use?
Misery loves company and photographers are happy to provide that company. They’ll wallow with you through your darkest hour and when you’ve lost your job, been evicted from your...
3 tags
SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION
C’mon now, why the hell do you think we all have Twitter, Facebook, Sports Shooter or Linkedin accounts? We say they are for “sharing” our work, but honestly, we’re just looking for another venue to talk about ourselves. Sure, we may be looking for the occasional ‘critique,’ but we all know we’re getting more hits from non photographers than anyone else....
4 tags
Being the Designated Party Photographer
Having a little gathering of friends? Maybe a birthday party? Awesome! We’d love to come! Just don’t fucking ask if we “could snap a few pictures.”
Just because we make a living from photography doesn’t mean we’re available to photograph all of your social occasions. Seriously, god forbid we would want to come and enjoy ourselves. We work several eighteen-hour days of photographing the most...
January 2011
29 posts
4 tags
We Interrupt Your Daily Dose of Vitriol for an...
From a reader:
“asking your advice, opinion, etc.. i am a freshman photography major at a fine art school, wondering what the eff i am doing. wondering why there is so many haters. wondering if i am living a pipe dream. wondering if i am wasting my time. worried i am wasting my money. even faculty at school say that “photojournalism is competative, are you sure you are ready for...
3 tags
Shooting portraits at F/1.2
Photojournalists love to shoot with their sexy fast prime lenses, wide open at f/1.2 or f/1.4. What, you think I’m going to spend that kind of cash and then just go all “f/8 and be there?” Fuck no. My lens says f/1.2 on the barrel and that’s where it stays. Locked down, baby.
All the best portraits are shot wide-open. That way you get to flip through hundreds of identical...
4 tags
Burst Mode
Is shooting between 7 and 10 frames per second ALL THE TIME necessary? Probably. You need to get that perfect shot, and shooting single frames might cause you to miss. But that’s not why we do it. We do it because it looks awesome, sounds awesome, and it feels like we’re shooting a machine gun.
Hell, you’ve got Dual Digic 4 Processors. Use ‘em.
4 tags
Judging Amateurs
Photojournalists judge amateurs. We judge you ALL.
Especially today, when you amateurs can pick up a DSLR and try to pretend you are a professional. You throw up a cookie cutter template blog and make a nice logo that says “So & So photography!” You do free “shoots” for friends. You take low-grade photos at parties and put up a album that says “Party Shoot...
3 tags
B&H and Adorama
Photojournalists love buying expensive shit. B&H and Adorama is filled with expensive toys that make any photojournalist’s heart go pitter patter. Loyal fans wait through the many Jewish holidays to be able to order their purchases online. (No shopping on Shabbat!? Oy Vey!)
But these Hasidic Jews at B&H really know how to seal the deal: Let’s bring these idiot...
1 tag
Layering
Photojournalists are the biggest fucking over achievers. They can’t just take a simple dead on photograph, they have to show that they can shoot through and around random objects too. Windows, mirrors and doors can also be used as cliché framing devices.
While many photojournalists boast about having the skills to create a beautiful complex image, many readers are left thinking, “Why...
3 tags
Gaffers Tape
All photojournalists know you’re not legit unless you have gaff tape covering all your fucking gear. We spend $20 a roll on that stupid shit and waste 90% of it by putting random strips all over our lenses and cameras.
Sure it’s awesome for it intended uses-ya know, like holding a bounce card on a flash or keeping a gel over a strobe, but do we use it like that? Hell fucking no....
3 tags
Showing off
Oh I’m sorry, overloading? There’s no such thing. If it was practical, we would carry a wheelbarrow with us full of equipment just to show those normal people with a compact camera how and what a real professional looks and carries. We have want to contend ourselves at any cost. Even if it means we’ll probably have a bad back by the time we’re 50… or 45. In some...
4 tags
Multimedia
Just kidding. Every self-respecting photojournalist hates the shit out of multimedia. We pretend to act like it’s “exciting” and “cutting edge” but really we all know deep down that it’s a pain in the fucking ass. Instead of focusing on making compelling images, editors expect us to get “nat sound” and use our time that we could be out finding...
3 tags
File Size
The bigger your file size, the better. If you’re not shooting in raw, have less than 18 megapixels and your memory card isn’t double digits, chances are you’re not doing it right. Never mind that you’ll end up filling your hardrive with rejected photos - when you head out into the field, you’ll know that yours is the biggest. If it isn’t well, you left your...
3 tags
Cursing Like Sailors
I think this is pretty obvious based on all prior posts.
Example of recent instructions from a photo editor during a calm, pleasant conversation: “Shit. Just knock that shit out. Nobody cares about the fucking ‘important’ people there We don’t need photos of those assholes. Just get a kick ass shot of the real fucking event and we’re golden.”
3 tags
International travel
Because any asshole can make a photo in his neighborhood. It takes a professional asshole to make a photo 4,000 miles away.
2 tags
Apple Products
Apple products. How many of us can honestly they haven’t had a wet dream about a 17 inch MacBook Pro with an i7 or an 12 core Mac Pro on a 30 inch Cinema Display? And yes I do need a Macbook Air and a fucking iPad in addition to my laptop. I don’t care if you think they’re useless. I’m a photographer. I “think different”.
—
Sent from my iPhone
2 tags
Lens Flare
Image from toothpastefordinner.com
Most of the time a lens flare doesn’t add any storytelling aspect to a photo, but who cares?
Does storytelling matter if a picture looks fucking sweet? I say hell no! If it makes the picture look fan-freakin-tastic, then why not always shoot into the sun or a light bulb or a strobe? Why are serious journalists always hating on it? Throw away your dumbass...
