Anxiety And Stuff :(

rexbobcat · Sep 4, 2012

I just got a job at the campus newspaper as a photographer. Yay, right? Not quite (see wut i did thar?) I've spent most of the last two weeks wandering around campus doing nothing but trying to find events to photograph, but when I photograph an event it's never relevant enough to be run (even though I'm given free reigns and don't have a clear idea of what IS relevant).

And on top of that I'm taking a photography class with a great professor, but the assignments are already scaring me into inadequacy since they're something I don't normally shoot. Like the first is fairly broad and is "city happenings", which is basically a way for him to get a feel for where we are with our photography. The only problem is that I'm at least a little beyond the noobie point, but I've already narrowed down my interests to things that I know I'm good at and things I know I'm not.

Apparently photojournalism is something I'm not good at. I mean, how do people do it? Sure, I can find some awesome candid moments, but applying technical knowledge with a journalistic approach seems impossible. Is it just mega-awesome timing or do PJs have ethereal photographic spirit guides who help them? fml, man

I wish people would stop being so vague. I always feels like they're just setting you up to disappoint them.

pgriz · Sep 4, 2012

First job - talk to your editor(s) and see what their priorities are.
Second, look at the past issues and see what was shown, and why.
Third, get a schedule of campus events that would be of interest to the readers of the newspaper, and get to those events ahead of time to get an idea of what is going to happen. Often the time before the actual event/speech, and just after would be the magic moments.

Photojournalism is being at the right place and the right time. Security often knows about things that are supposed to happen, so if you can cultivate a relationship with someone in that department, you may get a heads-up on interesting stuff.

As always, it's the prep work that will give you the shots you want. The technical side is pretty straightforward - get to the venue ahead of time and take some shots to establish your aperture, shutter speed and ISO level required. Scout out the shooting angles to minimize bad backgrounds. Introduce yourself to the principals of the events and take some closeup shots.

I wish people would stop being so vague. I always feels like they're just setting you up to disappoint them.

That's unfortunately, your own mindset. You need to reorient your thinking to expect success, and then doing the hard work to make that a self-fulfilling propecy. Each of us is our own worse enemy - there is some comfort in thinking that we're not going to succeed, so that when that happens, we can relieve ourself of the responsibility. But that is a false comfort. We DO have to take responsibility for how we determine what the goals are, how we do the preparation, and how we carry out our assignments. Things may still not work out, despite the effort - and we take comfort in that we did what we could to reach the point of success.

As for doing stuff that you normally don't do... that's called being out of the comfort zone. That's where real learning happens.

Jaemie · Sep 4, 2012

rexbobcat said:
...I've already narrowed down my interests to things that I know I'm good at and things I know I'm not.

Sticking with only things you are good at is the way to a safe and boring life. Bust out of your comfort zone and force yourself to master something totally new and challenging. You might learn some really cool stuff and find out you have an unexpected talent.

And just so you don't think I'm full of words but no action... I just got hired by a hot Seattle tech company (social gaming) as a customer support rep. I've never worked in tech, but I know enough tech basics and I'm geeky enough for my strong customer skills to get me the job. I've gotta learn a CSR program, SQL, and a few other programs, as well as CSR basics - I've handled customer issues for years as a hotel and property manager, but never as a CSR. Oh and, did I mention it's a Spanish position?! Geez.. Ya, I learned Spanish over the years and speak it fluently, but I'll be using it all frickin day in email and phone conversations! Sh1t! I know I can do it, but it's still all pretty intimidating. Hehehe... But I'm stoked.

SamSpade1941 · Sep 4, 2012

Years ago I worked for a news paper right after I got out of the Army as a "photo journalist", and trust me that job role was defined broadly because you did everything else under the sun at the paper as well. I found during my time there that most of the photos that I took that ended up in the paper were not awesome Life Magazine photographs. FWIW most of the people that worked with me, myself included did not have to have great photographic Jedi mastery. Huge chunks of the job when we actually got to shoot photos was being where we were told to be because we were sent out to cover what ever was deemed news worthy that day, You were supposed to shoot as many photos as possible while you were there.

The editor would go look at the contact sheet and the prints after developing and decide what actually made it to layout. It was more luck than anything else as to what you shot that got printed in the paper, no one was Tim Page. It was a smaller paper and we were shooting photographs of city hall meetings or bake sales. I am just thinking you are most likely over thinking all this, photo journalism is not at least in my past experience all that exciting most of the time and its NOT ART. Unless you plan on working for a large news service later and globe trotting you probably wont be getting lots of the earth shattering photo moments or touching human interest stories to preserve.

I would try and relax . Oh and don't over analyze it! You are going to end up being unhappy a lot that way as you progress through your professional life.

leeroix · Sep 4, 2012

some good info right there...

i get nervous as hell when i get outside my comfort zone, but when its done... what a rush.

JoshuaSimPhotography · Sep 5, 2012

It’s ironic as you posted a first world problems rap, when most photojournalism pics take place in third world countries.
Plus, photojournalism is all about getting a feel with the subject, being part of it, being patient. If you can’t grasp the photojournalism techniques, then it’s just not meant to be. Or You could always use ps

texkam · Sep 5, 2012

Move to Syria.

rexbobcat · Sep 5, 2012

SamSpade1941 said:
Years ago I worked for a news paper right after I got out of the Army as a "photo journalist", and trust me that job role was defined broadly because you did everything else under the sun at the paper as well. I found during my time there that most of the photos that I took that ended up in the paper were not awesome Life Magazine photographs. FWIW most of the people that worked with me, myself included did not have to have great photographic Jedi mastery. Huge chunks of the job when we actually got to shoot photos was being where we were told to be because we were sent out to cover what ever was deemed news worthy that day, You were supposed to shoot as many photos as possible while you were there.

The editor would go look at the contact sheet and the prints after developing and decide what actually made it to layout. It was more luck than anything else as to what you shot that got printed in the paper, no one was Tim Page. It was a smaller paper and we were shooting photographs of city hall meetings or bake sales. I am just thinking you are most likely over thinking all this, photo journalism is not at least in my past experience all that exciting most of the time and its NOT ART. Unless you plan on working for a large news service later and globe trotting you probably wont be getting lots of the earth shattering photo moments or touching human interest stories to preserve.

I would try and relax . Oh and don't over analyze it! You are going to end up being unhappy a lot that way as you progress through your professional life.

Yeah, I have kind of realized that photojournalism is, unless you are working for a huge publication, boring. It's just frustrating because I would MUCH rather know what to shoot instead of being sent out to find something. I'd be glad to go photograph a bake sale if they'd just tell me to photograph the bake sale. I hate open-ended tasks. It kind of reminds me of web design. If a client tell you that you have free reign of whatever you want to do, call them on their crap, because otherwise you'll end up creating something that is not what the client wanted.

This paper is strictly a campus paper. That's what sucks the most. We have a circ. of about 20k, but our campus is not like some mini-city. We rarely cover anything that is happening in the actual city, so we are stuck with very little content that the editors feel is newsworthy. I just haven't gotten it down yet. It's so funny how it's so much easier to do simple things when you don't have someone critically breathing down your neck. lol

I guess I just have to get acclimated to it.

SamSpade1941 · Sep 5, 2012

Look at it from the standpoint that you have the freedom to cover whatever story you want in the manner you want. Freelance if you will. That's something you most certainly don't have the latitude to do at a real paper as a rule. Make the most of it and have fun with it and learn what you can from it. I see that as a golden opportunity my friend that will not present itself twice. Capitalize on it!