Hey there, I'm a news photographer, and spent a few weeks down there ( www.tobymorris.com ). In a nutshell it is a mess. For the first 2 weeks or so after the hurricane, my advice would have been to bring food, ice (everyone was desperate for ice) clean water, etc. Towards the end of my stay, those things weren't much of a problem anymore. The big problem now is that people have just lost everything, and I do mean EVERYTHING, especially in places like Pass Christian, Waveland (the worst disaster area I have ever seen), parts of Biloxi and Gulfport (you will hear people taking about "South of the Tracks" in those towns, which is where the storm surge just trashed everything) and, most disturbing to see, the peninsula area south of New Orleans where Port Sulpher, Venice, Empire, etc were. If you are going to those place, I would bring things like tissue paper, clothes and shoes, and mostly just supplies for helping people clean up the mess, cleaning supplies maybe, but also things like axes and shovels and the like. A lot of people are going to need to replace more dry wall than you can shake a stick at, perhaps you should just target a couple of families and do what you can for them with the amount of supplies you can bring. I dunno. Having seen it first hand, i feel that these types of services would render the most aid to those who have returned to their homes. Also, I know you guys are Christians and all, but me and my assistant made a very nice gentleman in Slidell who had been working on cleaning up his families trashed home very very happy when we gave him a decent bottle of red wine. Cheers and good luck
well, i don't usually pipe up about this kind of stuff, but i sort of feel like this is the one area where i might sort of actually know what i am talking about. I have been a newspaper photographer (for the NY Daily News, Cox, and briefly for Gannet), as well as the usual freelance type stuff for Newsweek, rolling stone, etc, and now i am a photo editor at a daily newspaper, and well, the thing about this la times guy is simply that he must have gone a little crazy over there. I mean, altering photos the way he did, in a journalism context is simply not done.not only can you get straight canned for digitally altering photos, you can get the boot for asking someone to do something specific for you that they werent doing already (except in the case of portaits and 'illustrations' which are strictly labeled as such').
The thing about Cosmo and scientologists is that they are most certainly not journalists, their only goal is aesthetic appeal, and therefore, anything go's.
So, in a word, the thing that this guy did is just simply not done, ever, if you do do it, and your caught, you will be fired, and worse, blackballed from newspapers for at least a decade or two. Basically this guy is going to have to switch careers now (wedding photographer?).
This in and of itself is a pretty powerful insentive not to fake photos. Since basically being a newspaper photographer at any medium size or up daily newspaper is sort of like being in the NBA, and are so heavily prized it is insane (ie, i recently had to hire a new photographer, and i got three resumes, about 50 of which were all really good).
But I digress, on a final note, I will say I understand why he did it, The pressure for photographers on a prize assignment such as this one to file good photos can be immense, and if you don't cut the mustard, there is some chance that you will be recalled and put back on traffic accident/kid feature duty -and when you have spent your life preparing to cover some huge, historically significant assignment, this can be pretty a most terrifying concern.
Ok, im going to stop now, but i could go on to how part of the problem is that there isnt the sort of money in print journalism anymore that always someone more time and energy to produce quality work, and instead shifts the focus to filing photos seconds before your competitor..
bla bla bla, ok, im going to shut up.
cheers
Slashdot Mirror
Hey there, I'm a news photographer, and spent a few weeks down there ( www.tobymorris.com ). In a nutshell it is a mess. For the first 2 weeks or so after the hurricane, my advice would have been to bring food, ice (everyone was desperate for ice) clean water, etc.
Towards the end of my stay, those things weren't much of a problem anymore. The big problem now is that people have just lost everything, and I do mean EVERYTHING, especially in places like Pass Christian, Waveland (the worst disaster area I have ever seen), parts of Biloxi and Gulfport (you will hear people taking about "South of the Tracks" in those towns, which is where the storm surge just trashed everything) and, most disturbing to see, the peninsula area south of New Orleans where Port Sulpher, Venice, Empire, etc were.
If you are going to those place, I would bring things like tissue paper, clothes and shoes, and mostly just supplies for helping people clean up the mess, cleaning supplies maybe, but also things like axes and shovels and the like. A lot of people are going to need to replace more dry wall than you can shake a stick at, perhaps you should just target a couple of families and do what you can for them with the amount of supplies you can bring. I dunno.
Having seen it first hand, i feel that these types of services would render the most aid to those who have returned to their homes. Also, I know you guys are Christians and all, but me and my assistant made a very nice gentleman in Slidell who had been working on cleaning up his families trashed home very very happy when we gave him a decent bottle of red wine.
Cheers and good luck
well, i don't usually pipe up about this kind of stuff, but i sort of feel like this is the one area where i might sort of actually know what i am talking about. I have been a newspaper photographer (for the NY Daily News, Cox, and briefly for Gannet), as well as the usual freelance type stuff for Newsweek, rolling stone, etc, and now i am a photo editor at a daily newspaper, and well, the thing about this la times guy is simply that he must have gone a little crazy over there. I mean, altering photos the way he did, in a journalism context is simply not done.not only can you get straight canned for digitally altering photos, you can get the boot for asking someone to do something specific for you that they werent doing already (except in the case of portaits and 'illustrations' which are strictly labeled as such'). The thing about Cosmo and scientologists is that they are most certainly not journalists, their only goal is aesthetic appeal, and therefore, anything go's. So, in a word, the thing that this guy did is just simply not done, ever, if you do do it, and your caught, you will be fired, and worse, blackballed from newspapers for at least a decade or two. Basically this guy is going to have to switch careers now (wedding photographer?). This in and of itself is a pretty powerful insentive not to fake photos. Since basically being a newspaper photographer at any medium size or up daily newspaper is sort of like being in the NBA, and are so heavily prized it is insane (ie, i recently had to hire a new photographer, and i got three resumes, about 50 of which were all really good). But I digress, on a final note, I will say I understand why he did it, The pressure for photographers on a prize assignment such as this one to file good photos can be immense, and if you don't cut the mustard, there is some chance that you will be recalled and put back on traffic accident/kid feature duty -and when you have spent your life preparing to cover some huge, historically significant assignment, this can be pretty a most terrifying concern. Ok, im going to stop now, but i could go on to how part of the problem is that there isnt the sort of money in print journalism anymore that always someone more time and energy to produce quality work, and instead shifts the focus to filing photos seconds before your competitor.. bla bla bla, ok, im going to shut up. cheers