The Platypus Concept

For the first time ever, I read an entire story about a television photojournalist in my National News Photographer Assoc. (NPPA) magazine.  

I usually just scan over the stories involving video shooters because, well, I'm a still shooter; I only want to soak up the information I deem beneficial to me. But that philosophy doesn't apply anymore. 

Newspaper photojournalists these days are now shooting and editing video for the web, as well as continuing to lug around our bulky Canon Mark IIs on each shoulder. Not only are we shooting digital stills and capturing video, we're also recording audio using wireless mics and digital voice recorders. So now we're broadcasters, too. 

You couldn't have convinced me five years ago we'd be multi-tasking this much. At first, I was hesitant to grasp the platypus concept, but I have to admit: I like it. It wasn't long ago I was excited to be shooting with a digital camera and transmitting from my car via a lap top. Now, we Blade photogs can add skills in Soundslides, Audacity and Final Cut Pro to our resume.

Learning how to shoot video and capture audio has been a challenge for an old newshound like me, but I've accepted that challenge for two reasons: 1) I don't want to get left behind, and 2) I teach Intro to Photojournalism at Owens Community College and am tasked to prepare the next generation to take my place.  

The following video is an example of what I'm talking about. It's a recent story about the fear of rising crime in Toledo due to fewer police officers on the street.  I shot it with a Canon FS100 (yes, tv photogs make fun of our baby video cam) and produced it for the Blade website. 

Happy Mother's Day

This video is dedicated to my mom, Linda. 

I shot the video, recorded the audio and 

produced the movie this past week. 

I hope she likes it.

About lives lost and job losses

This post goes out to friends of mine who are dealing with not only job loss, but a mobilization to Iraq. Beck is one of the 75 unemployed officers being forced to hang up their uniforms and badges due to the economy. On top of that, her friend, also a police officer, is being deployed overseas for 400 days. The kids will be in turmoil for a long time, and I feel so bad for them. 

Despite their on-going strife, they still attended the Toledo Police Memorial Ceremony today to honor fellow officers killed in the line of duty. 

They didn't let their own despair overshadow the meaning of today's memorial. Maybe they were even feeling fortunate to be able to still attend such a somber, yet necessary event.  At any rate,  I hope Beck can remember the good times when the bad times seem to dominate. 

   Beck is on the right in this photo.

Photo Drop Outs

     I posted the grades for my Black and White 1 PHO class the other day. Out of 11 registered students, I only had to give grades to 4, because the others quit coming to class early in the semester. Needless to say, I handed out 7 Fs. 

     I don't understand the mentality of students who sign up for class, pay the tuition, but not show up. I get that quite a few students at a community college sign up for a basic photography class thinking they're going to have "fun." It takes about 3 weeks into the semester for most of the dropouts to realize it's more work and math than they bargained for. The B&W classes at Owens are not about simply learning how to set cameras on auto and point and shoot. Students learn the fundamentals of photography; shutter speed, aperture, ISO, reciprocity, composition, lighting, etc. And they get to process and print in a traditional darkroom. How cool is that?

     In today's economy, students should be making the most out of their college experience. If they don't want to complete the class, why don't they drop out and save their money and GPA? It's a competitive world out there, and Fs don't look good to employers. 

     In the end, giving grades to four out of 11 students was easy workflow, but hard for me to understand.

Scanner Disconnect

“Sorry, we can’t give you that information…”

May 3rd, 2009 at 2:27 am by Barrett Andrews under News

When we hear garbled information on the scanner and don’t know exactly what might be going on where, we used to have a number to call for Toledo Police and Toledo Fire.

We would get information like the nature of the call (a shooting or pedestrian struck, for example), the cross-street (we may hear “Lagrange” but not hear “Austin Street”), or if it’s actually newsworthy (depending on if crews were canceled en route or if a detective’s on the way).

Not today.

We heard the code for dead body, a report that “children heard fighting,” and a fire crew asking dispatch to “keep police coming.”

Was it all the same call? We don’t know. When we called the number that connects us to the non-emergency number, we were told neither TPD nor TFD could release information to us anymore.

When I asked the supervisor why, she explained that it was because of layoffs and subsequent reassignments. I called the mayor’s spokesperson, who called Toledo police chief Mike Navarre, who, in turn, called me.

“That is a service we can no longer provide,” he told me.

So what’s my beef? This is a pretty minor change, all things considered, right?

Not in my eyes.

The dispatchers weren’t told to hang up on us if they were too busy to talk (which is what other jurisdictions do); I would understand that. They were told not to release information. Any information. Nothing gets to the media.

The problem is, we cannot legally broadcast scanner reports – and, ethically, it’s dangerous because we can’t always guarantee we heard the details right or we’re only listening to one call.

So we used to call those numbers to confirm, say, a shooter is on the loose or a road is closed – information we immediately pass along to you for your safety. As of today, we can’t get those sort of details confirmed in a reasonable amount of time.

In addition to that, these same dispatchers are the ones who are told to call us in the event cops need help finding a missing person or want other information broadcast. Will they still be able to take the time to call us with information the department wants released? I have a feeling they will.

The fact that a 30 second phone call has become too much of a burden for the Toledo police and fire communications bureau creates two worries in my mind: either this is going to be quite a dangerous situation for the entire city, or they think this is a great reason to keep the media out of the loop.

Either way, it’s putting your safety at an even greater risk.

The Unemployed

   Thousands showed up to a job fair hosted by The Blade and WTOL today. They stood in line for hours, and I felt almost guilty flaunting my employment status as I stalked the long line with two Canon Mark IIs and a Canon F100 video camera mounted on a tripod. 

   It was no secret I was a news photographer. A few job seekers hid their faces when I came near, but most were quite pleasant and seemed eager to share their resumes with hopeful employers inside the Lucas County Rec Center. Now that's optimism!

   I began my morning at sunrise documenting the last shift of Jeep workers on Stickney Ave. Bankruptcy temporarily took their jobs away. So, between Jeep workers losing their jobs and job seekers turning out in the thousands, well, I'm feeling both lucky and sad. 

   What is happening? We are all on the verge of experiencing a 21st Century Great Depression. Hold on to your savings, cuz it's gonna be a bumpy ride...