positive future for photojournalism as new income streams develop

[lowep]

Quite rare "positive!" BBC article here about the future of freelance photojournalism.

[louoates]

Nice article but a bit short on the "how to" aspects. My take on the subject is that for every door slammed shut one or more pop open somewhere if you know where and how to look. Photojournalism will never die, just morph into shapes not yet recognized by most. The technical quality of images is much less important now both due to the proliferation of good capture devices, including cell phones, and to the lessor resolution needs of the viewing devices. This points to many changes I can see now. It seems that the image capture is much closer in distance and time to the newsworthy event. Cell phone devices are instantly available and carried by nearly everyone. Quick fast news in pictures and/or video will trump scene composition and image resolution every time. How do you foresee a niche in this scenario? Beats me. But someone will be creative enough to find a way to make a buck out of it.

[lowep]

Quick fast news in pictures and/or video will trump scene composition and image resolution every time. How do you foresee a niche in this scenario?

how about story telling?

[Rob C]

Quick fast news in pictures and/or video will trump scene composition and image resolution every time. How do you foresee a niche in this scenario?

how about story telling?

Which you are going to sell to....?

I'm afraid that I don't buy the sporadic claims for a new beginning. The best has been and gone, and that's not a reference to the Golden Age per se , but to the outlets, the opportunities of making a good living and not a nail-biting nightmare.

It's writ large across the face of the big stock agencies. Where they used to make the individual supplier a fair amount of money, they now make themselves a reasonable living and that's about it. It isn't even the death of many outlets, it's the willingness of some suppliers to do it for nothing other than the imagined glory. That glory usually resided within minds that are supported via other commercial endeavours - the pro feels quite different emotions.

It's over. Period.

Rob C

[lowep]

Which you are going to sell to....?

Probably not stock agencies. I had in mind this freelance project that is also discussed here. It was funded by an online investigative newsroom.

[Rob C]

Which you are going to sell to....?

Probably not stock agencies. I had in mind this freelance project that is also discussed here. It was funded by an online investigative newsroom.

Hey, that first one's a damned fine link  - thanks!

Rob C

[K.C.]

...It isn't even the death of many outlets, it's the willingness of some suppliers to do it for nothing other than the imagined glory. That glory usually resided within minds that are supported via other commercial endeavours - the pro feels quite different emotions.

It's over. Period.

Well said.

It's been over for a few years.

[gubaguba]

CNN laid off a bunch of it's photo journalist.  Opting for free contact supplied by anyone.  The proliferation of cameras changed the market.

[Rob C]

CNN laid off a bunch of it's photo journalist.  Opting for free contact supplied by anyone.  The proliferation of cameras changed the market.

And, markedly, the quality of the content.

Rob C

[gubaguba]

Agreed. Mediocrity is my enemy.