Scuttlebuttin'

So yeah, sometimes we here at MaxRes do update this here weblog-journal-thing.

Sometimes.

I entered three pictures in this year's Best of Photojournalism hosted by our friends at the National Press Photographer's Association (motto: "Try saying NPPA three times fast without messing up). Linkage to said pictures: here, also here, and...um..well, there is a third picture, but I don't have it on my site for some stupid reason. I'll post a link when I fix it. I would have wanted to enter more, but anything entered has to have been published in print somewhere, and most of what I do here at work doesn't make it past our little montly newsletter, so it's tricky. Such is life.

Annual report time is upon us, and we all know what THAT means for me. Or meant, as is the case this year. I've made my case as good as can be done, but I don't think I'm going to win, because I'm not in charge of designing the thing. Logos can be removed, pictures flipped, arms lopped off, backgrounds blurred, and more, all because something was "distracting," apparently. And wanting to run the pictures unaltered makes me a "purist." Mayhaps, but it's got nothing to do with me being an old-fashioned "dinosaur.*" No, it's more like, "this is what I've been tought for 3 years in school." If, say, the Post-Dispatch can get in trouble for removing a Coca-Cola can, why is it okay for us to reverse an image, remove a shirt logo to cover up said flippage, and then remove the guy's arm? And why are all decisions concering photos, text, and layout made by someone who has no experience in any of those fields? I don't mind SOME input, afterall, he's the Boss, and we don't want to make ourselves look stupid, but we ARE professional-types, trained to do this. I think we know what looks good. Finally, the exclusion of good pictures because of personal politics is really lame.

Complaining over.

You should all go see Jeff Coffin and the Mu'Tet. It's good. Really good. Kinda jazzy, kinda funky, kinda...something else, but definitely worth your time.

And, I've probably come to the point when I should wrap things up and get back to work. Sounds good to me.


Even when we win, he wins.
Dave





*This comes from a lecture at school, when some photo-type-man referred to shooters still using film as "dinosaurs." Or maybe "fossils." I can't recall for sure. Oh, and he didn't used the word photograph or picture. They were "intellectual property." Geez.