A photographer’s thoughts on citizen video
Cory Bergman December 10th, 2006
Lenslinger, a TV news photographer, blogs about Yahoo’s launch of “You Witness News,” the portal’s new citizen news video initiative. He writes:
Aesthetics don’t seem to matter much to the millions of viewers watching their neighbors re-enact the forbidden dance on YouTube. Nor will proper camera management mean a lot to the private citizens who will capture the next global calamity from every possible angle. Lastly, proper cinematography won’t be on the minds of news executives who will, if they’re smart, be way too busy shoving these myriad of images on-line, on-air and in your face.
No, the only ones who will balk at the new ‘phonajournalism’ will be self-important schlubs like me, who’ve spent the last fifteen years perfecting their grasp of the heavy lens, only to have their once captive audience discover the freedom of phoning it in themselves.
3 Comments Add your own
1. Echy | December 10th, 2006 at 7:56 pm
I disagree. With all the money people are spending on HD they will not tolerate poor quality video for long.
2. Allen | December 10th, 2006 at 9:37 pm
I never thought I’d see the day when Lenslinger would give up. It’s a sad day.
3. Media Blog | December 10th, 2006 at 10:18 pm
This from the guy who thought I was an idiot to suggest newspaper-produced video could disrupt television news.
But I don’t think either extreme lenslinger has taken in the last couple of weeks is correct.
There’s no competition for lenslinger coming up from the bottom, but there will always be a place for quality.
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