Unlisted players on a roster

Had a photo editor get in this conversion with me:

SE: I can't run this photo. Give me another one.
PE: Why not? It's an award-winning photo.
SE: Because he IDs the girl from the opposing team, but doesn't ID the girl FROM OUR FUCKING HOMETOWN.
PE: Are you going to be hard and fast on this?
SE:

I don't give a shit how good the photo is. If it doesn't help tell the story, stick it in your ass.

Heard a story of how a photog brought back a photo of a hometown soccer player cheering wildly after scoring a goal for her soccer team.

"But it's a great photo!"

The fucking team lost something like 8-1.

 

It seems like every time I talk to our photographers, who are for the most part good people, I get the idea they think the whole world revolves around them.
Is every photo department like that?

 

My photographers at my new paper are very, very competent. They've never once had a problem with IDs or assignments. So long as they've got a copy of the budget, I know they'll do a good job. There might be better photographers out there, but I'd sacrifice a little talent for a better co-worker and environment almost every time.

 

Some program salespeople at the schools are like that, but 99% of them give the program away for free to the press.

 

I just wonder why all these people complaining about photogs (and they are a pain at times) don't sit down when they start working with them and lay out expectations and requirements of the job.

My mom used to always say to me: "I shouldn't have to tell you to do XYZ." But in reality you do with everyone. Then if you've made your expectations clear on ID'ing all kids, picking up rosters, etc. you have recourse if they don't follow what you want. We're in the communications business people, let's communicate with one another before we whine about them on a message board...

SB

 

I don't understand our photographers sometimes. At a state tournament game a couple weeks ago, one of them, of course, needed me to track down information for them and then proceeds to ask me if I'm staying the entire game. Nope, it's scoreless at halftime, I've done all I can here.

(Wow. First post after months of reading. Drinks on me.)

 

And that works for about three weeks, then it's back to the way it was and the endless cycle of pain repeats itself. We have only one photog so we do a lot ourselves. Even more fun are the days that he just gives himself off and doesn't tell anyone.

 

Photogs usually are good, I've found.

The bad ones, though, the ones who will only give you ass shots from wrestling and forget IDs, they suck.

 

Bad photograhers are no different from bad reporters.

Also, our jobs are largely dependent on the reporters' abilities to communicate what a given story is about. You have no idea how frustrating it is to find out after the fact that someone's been working on a great story you would have loved to have collaborated on, only to discover that they left any consideration of how to art it to the very last moment, when they opted to run file art of the mayor and city council.

On top of that, it's MUCH harder for photogs to get permission/resources to do any kind of enterprise work photographically. When we do, it's frequently just posted to the web site, instead of being treated like it's worth being in the paper.

I don't deny that most of you are telling God's honest truth about your photographers, but don't forget that their job can be a pain as well.

 

People who bring back pictures are shooters.

People who bring back relevant pictures with proper IDs are photojournalists.

 

My photog usually does well with IDing people and what they're doing. The one time she doesn't is with sports (which admittedly isn't her strong suit). If I've covered a game, however, I'll know the players and I can describe the moment if she's given me some clue about what happened. I can live with the occasional phone call to the coach to ID a person in her case.

With her other photos, she gives me name, age, home town, what they're doing and why it's relevant to the story. I usually end up just transcribing her cut lines.

I agree with UTshooter about bad photogs. I had one whom the editor at the other paper in our group found. I'm glad he stopped taking photos for me after almost a year. It's pretty bad when the editor can take better photos than a photog.

 

Add a few miles to the mileage report to cover it. This isn't rocket science here.