Interview with a Photojournalist, Part 2
A couple days ago, I mentioned that I had joined the National Press Photographers’ Association and have begun taking advantage of their mentor program by reaching out to some working photojournalists for insight, feedback, and advice.
The second photojournalist I’ve contacted is Jud McCrehin. Jud is currently a news photo editor for USAToday with approximately 16 years of experience in the industry. Prior to working at USAToday, Jud worked at The Army Times and covered training and conflict in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Bosnia. Even though the NPPA offers a separate portfolio review service for members, Jud was nice enough to take a look at my work and offer some great feedback.
Our exchange was very similar in many ways to the last one but I particularly appreciated the honest feedback on my work thus far and the tip that Jud included regarding learning video. Not a bad idea, really.
Below you will find portions of our email exchange after my initial introduction:
Tags: interview, nppa, photojournalismJM: “I think you will like the NPPA. I’ve been a member since 1988 when I started college.
Yes, I would be happy to offer feedback to you on your work and tips on how to become a more marketable photographer.
Your images look very nice. There are a lot of them and a lot of them are very redundant. From what I can see in your work you shoot mainly street scenes and a lot of portraits. It looks like you don’t spend much time with your subjects, a quick click and you’re gone. It looks as if you are a tourist visiting a country and doing a very nice job photographing the population living day to day. One thing I would suggest is to spend some time with one interesting person and document their life. You need to focus and learn and document somebody’s life. Keep it simple and clean, that is where you are going to find the moments.
Some of your images lack emotion and feeling, even most of your protest images are flat in terms of emotion. I’ve seen all these images before, I want to learn and feel something about your subjects. I want to see an image that makes me stop and say ‘wow, look at that’. It is very hard to do, and the photographers who can do it are stars. I want to be honest with you, your stuff is good, but you need to grow as a photographer and a visual reporter. For being a ’self-taught amateur’ you are kicking butt.
Well, it is a tough time to break into journalism even as a freelancer, the economy and the internet are dragging print journalism to a new low and might kill it. I’m expecting layoff news shortly from USA TODAY. There are going to be some crazy tough times ahead.
If I were you I would keep my day job and continue to grow as a shooter. You don’t need to go overseas to get good images. Good images can be taken are in your backyard. There are interesting people and things in D.C. This economy is giving you a bunch of interesting people trying to make a living. Just keep that in mind, domestic is just as good as international images in my opinion.
Any specific questions that you would like answered?”
