Like Professor Miller said in class, I’d be pissed if I hired someone who took photos I could take. Photography is an art and with any art form there are techniques and methods which must be learned. Whether learned in class or self-taught, it doesn’t matter, but practice does.

Mark Briggs’ section on visual storytelling hits points that our speakers noted in class, as well as some of what Josh presented. Briggs quotes Colin Mulvany: “Photography is all about moment.” Anticipating moments were an important part of our speakers’ tips. Even though this often requires waiting around, the result is well worth it because the photo (hopefully) is one that publications will use because they are so striking and different. Briggs also encourages taking as many photos as necessary. Digital cameras don’t require dealing with filmstrips so it’s better to have a lot of photos to choose from then picking the best from a small bunch; the more options available the more likely to get a unique shot.

Something I’ve learned from all these numbers being thrown out is that a high amount of pixels is best. It makes the shots clearer and more defined, which is very appealing to the eye. Briggs says that most computer screen are set to 72 pixels per inch, so photos should be edited to best fit this resolution so that the photo is perceived clearly.

The Creative Commons project seems complicated. The way I see it, if you’re working for a publication you need to produce all of your own material. Borrowing another person’s photo for a story seems lazy and unoriginal, and I don’t see why anyone would want those adjectives attached to their name. If a logo of a company is necessary for a story photo, you should ask the company if you may use their logo in a creative way. For example, the below photo features the Starbucks logo that has been altered by Ed Levine, the topic person in a Washington Post article.

This is a creative way to use a logo, and since the Washington Post didn’t even actually make this, Levine did, then they can get away with it’s importance to the story but originality with a logo photo.