Rosemary Pennington | March 29, 2008
Students in the School of Journalism have heard a lot about the convergence of news media this year from professors and guest speakers alike. They heard more about it Friday. |
| Photo by James Brosher |
| Cincinnati Enquirer videographer Amie Dworecki (MA ’06) likes to blend still photos with her videos. "But I don’t always have time." |
"The students would invite hotshot photojournalists from the area to speak," said Kelly, M.A. ’88, Ph.D. ’90. "They were wildly popular."
Kelly said he hopes the Spring Photojournalism Seminar will develop that same popularity and become an annual event. The professionals Kelly brought to campus to kick off the seminar are all IU alumni.
"This is about networking as much as it’s about seeing these journalists’ work," he said. "It’s about alums having the opportunity to give back to their old school. And, hopefully, our students will meet these people and be able to stop by the newspapers these people work for and see how it all works. When I did this back at Southern Illinois University, we had several students who were eventually hired by the people they met at the seminars."
Amie Dworecki, MA ’06, a photojournalist and videographer for the Cincinnati Enquirer, led the first workshop.
"I spend about half my time shooting still photography and about half my time shooting video," Dworecki explained as she prepared to share her work. "It’s usually my call. I can usually decide when I get there whether this is going to be story that will work better with still photos or one that would work better as a video package. I have a lot of freedom in that regard."
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| Photo by James Brosher |
| Kathy Anderson, B.A. ’80, of the New Orleans Times-Picayune, talked about how journalists have covered the devastation and rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina. She chatted with associate professor Jim Kelly, left, who organized the seminar, and IDS photographer Jacob Kriese. |
"I really like to use still in my video work if I have the time," she said. "But I don’t always have time. That’s the one big difference I’ve discovered between the academic world and the real world. Here you can shoot something and have maybe a week to turn it around. A lot of the stuff I do I get done in about an hour."
But it wasn’t the time aspect of Dworecki’s work that caught senior Megan Baumgartner off guard — it was Dworekci’s talk of video.
"I was surprised at the emphasis on video," Baumgartner said. "I found J210 (Visual Communication) intimidating as it is. I already knew it was going to be competitive to find a photojournalism job, but this makes it seem even tougher."
Working in a converged media climate was one of the points of Dworecki’s talk. In the tough job market, a photojournalist has to be able to do everything: shoot still photos, shoot video and report.
"To find a job, you really need to be able to market yourself as someone who can do multimedia,” Dworecki said, “someone who can do still photography but also videography. I think one of the reasons I got hired was because of my skill set because I can do all of that."
Freelancer Mary Ann Carter, B.A. ’74, picked up that theme in the afternoon.
“Gone are the days when you could say ‘I’m a still photographer. That’s all I do,’” Carter said. “My freelance jobs are drying up; video is where it’s all gone. You have to be able to adapt to convergence. And the bottom line is you’re still going to be a visual storyteller. That’s not going to change, just the medium.”
Junior Ethan Cirmo said he wasn’t bothered by all the talk of convergence. He said what “intimidated” him was the discussion of contracts and copyright that followed Carter’s presentation.
“I don’t know much about business,” Cirmo said. “I took an economics class and didn’t like it. But it’s a side of things you need to understand, so it was good to hear about it. I hate it, but you can’t do the creative work you want to do without money.”
And Carter, who has shot for publications such as Sports Illustrated, The New York Times and Time, said she has found a way to meld the two.
“I love what I do,” she said. “I can’t imagine doing anything else.”
The daylong seminar capped off with Kathy Anderson, B.A. ’80, of the New Orleans Times-Picayune talking about how journalists have covered the devastation and rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina.
Saturday, some students attended a morning session where professionals critiqued their photo portfolios.
