I was recently featured in NPPA’s new blog, “The Visual Student,” talking about my experiences during my internship at The Gazette in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Thanks Kevin!

(thanks to WhattheDuck.net)

Announced last night by NPPA:

Photojournalist and NPPA member Pete Souza has accepted the position of official White House photographer for President-elect Barack Obama, he told News Photographer magazine tonight.”

Souza met then senator Barack Obama back in 2005 while covering his first day in the U.S. Senate for The Chicago Tribune. Souza documented the freshman senator’s first year in the Senate for the Chicago Tribune, following Obama to seven countries including Kenya, South Africa, and Russia. Souza later went onto publish a New York Times Bestselling book, The Rise of Barack Obama, which documents Barack Obama’s rise to power. It’s a well done book!

Souza began teaching photojournalism last year at Ohio University. He’s returning to Washington today, where he left his family after accepting the job at OU, to prepare for his new job.

Congrats Pete!

In the past couple of days, there have been 3 major announcements in the newspaper industry.

1. Gannett, the largest U.S. newspaper publisher, is laying off 10% of the company.
2. The Tribune Company (owners of such papers as The Los Angeles Times and The Chicago Tribune) is undergoing “sharp cutbacks,” by “printing fewer papers and employing fewer journalists” across all 12 of their newspapers.
3. Scripps announced the Rocky Mountain News (their flagship paper and a very strong visual paper) and their 50% stake in the Denver Newspaper Agency are both for sale.

According to the big-wigs, the lack of success with converting from print advertising to online advertising is the problem. Well fix it!

Baron Sekiya, a recently laid-off photojournalist, equates the newspaper industry’s problem with the recent auto industry problem.

If I owned a newspaper, I would…

…concentrate on telling compelling stories, and the bottom line would naturally follow.

Judging started Monday for the 63rd annual College Photographer of the Year Competition. Judging for the largest college photography competition runs Monday through Saturday. Judges include Melissa Farlow (National Geographic Magazine), Travis Fox (Washingtonpost.com), Tammy Lechner (Freelance), and Steve Rice (Minneapolis Star Tribune). If you want to get inspired and see what today’s college students are producing, check out this year’s judging screencasts. And good luck to all those who entered this year!

Let me tell you about my crazy election day.

So, being a media photographer, I naturally was going to be photographing this historic election. Anticipating the madness of the day, I went to the Athens County Board of Elections on November 3 to check on the guidelines on photographing inside the polling places. There, I was informed by Debbie Quivey, Director of the Athens County Board of Elections, that in no uncertain terms I could not photograph inside the polling places, even though I was a credentialed media photographer (for The Post).

Now, I knew that she was incorrect, as you see photographs from media outlets all the time of people in polling places voting. I continued to push the issue, and Debbie Quivey gave me an advisory from Jennifer Brunner, Ohio Secretary of State, dated February 26, 2008, which Quivey said backed her position. An excerpt from this advisory is below.

The Secretary of State’s office is commonly asked whether the media must be granted access to polling places during an election. While it appears that statutory authority exists to keep the media from entering polling places…a federal court has effectively enjoined election officials and authorities from enforcing that statute against representatives of the media. The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Beacon Journal Publishing Company, Inc. v. Blackwell, 389 F. 3d 683 (6th Cir. 2004), stated that the media must be granted “reasonable access to any polling place for the purpose of news-gathering and reporting so long as [they] do not interfere with poll workers and voters as voters exercise their right to vote.” Poll workers must grant representatives of the media access to polling locations, but they must consider several factors in granting access so as to ensure voters are not disturbed or delayed.

Now, I wondered if Debbie Quivey actually read what she gave me. I proceeded to call the Ohio Secretary of State’s office, but got nowhere inside the phone tree. I decide to take my chances and get in on election day.

Election day comes, and I am kicked out of every polling place I try to photograph in, even though I identify myself as a credentialed photographer working for The Post, and have credentials visibly dangling from my neck.

Around 6 p.m. (polls closed at 7:30 in Ohio), I decide that I’m just going for it and photograph the polls (as I am legally allowed to do as a credentialed media photographer). I position myself at the door of a polling station within Ohio University’s Baker Center and begin shooting.

Immediately, an angry poll worker was running my way. She was getting bigger and bigger in my frame as I continued to fire way. I was thinking to myself, “bring it on.”

The poll worker angrily asked me what I was doing, to stop photographing and to put my camera away at once. I calmly explained that I was a credentialed photographer working for The Post, and showed her my press pass. She said no way, nobody is allowed to take photographs inside polling places, and that The Post was not a recognized media outlet (which is false). I asked to speak to her supervisor.

The head official of the particular polling place came up and told me that no, I could not take any photographs whatsoever. Furthermore, as she pointed to my camera, she said she said a camera that technological could zoom into people’s ballots. I had my 16-35mm wide angle lens on, and explained that I would literally have to be within a foot of a person’s ballot to “zoom in” on it. Besides, that wasn’t even the point.

I whipped out the advisory from the Secretary of State which Debbie Quivey gave me the day before, and showed it the head official of the Baker polling location. She said that no, this does not say I am allowed to take photographs (which it does). I told her to call Debbie up.

She called Debbie, and Debbie, of course, said in no uncertain terms that of course I could not take photographs. I asked to speak with her myself. I explained that I was a photographer for The Post, and from the advisory she gave me yesterday, I had access to the polling location as a credentialed member of the media, as long as I did not interfere with the voters or voting process. She finally agreed that I had access, but that did not mean taking photographs. She did not want to see photos in The Post or in any other newspaper tomorrow, or else….

Furthermore, she said that she had security “down there,” and, in fact, security was “on its way.” She said if I took more photos….and then trailed off and stopped short of saying that she would confiscate my gear.

I thanked her for her time, and headed down to the offices of The Post to talk to the Editor in Chief. He called Debbie Quivey, and explained that as a media photographer, I am allowed to photograph within the polls. He told her that if she turned on CNN, you would see reporters reporting from within polls in Ohio. She hung up.

We were finally able to get in contact with a superior, and around 7:15p.m., I was allowed into photograph the polls. With 15 minutes left until the polls closed, there were not many people to photograph.

As a result, I am slightly appalled to announce that I was the only media outlet in the county to be allowed in to photograph the polls. I am stunned that none of the other media outlets in town did not fight for their right to cover the polling locations. I had to spend more time on election day fighting for my right to cover a historic election than actually covering it. What a day.

Both the McCain and Obama campaigns are charging the media for election night coverage.

According to ChicagoBusiness.com:

“A memo sent to news organizations on Tuesday by the Obama campaign says credentials will cost $715 to $1,815, depending on whether electrical and phone lines are needed and whether an indoor or outdoor seat is requested for the event, which is expected to be held outside the evening of Nov. 4 in Grant Park.”

According to SportsShooter.com:

“Workspace in the [McCain] Press Filing Center Workspace may be available for a fee. Space is limited and not guaranteed. The ESTIMATED cost is $695 per person. 

Workspace will include: Table space, Power, Wi-Fi, Cable TV viewing, Food and Beverage service throughout election day. And if you were dismayed by the Obama situation it’s much worse at McCain. There is NO option for free coverage. None.”

Comments from media photographers via the SportsShooter.com forums:

“This is an absolutely moronic decision given the fact that Obama has gotten such a free ride from most of the journalism world during his camapaign. Most of the major networks are all but campaigning for the guy, so you would think that he would issue them guest passes and send a limo to the airport for them rather than charge them a fee for access.”

“How long will it be before we see this on the local level? Can we soon expect mayoral candidates to begin charging members of the media for election coverage? What about covering a school board election. And why stop at election coverage? When will they begin charging fees to cover the presidential state of the union address? Your governor’s state of the state address? Mayor-attended ribbon cutting ceremonies?”

Interesting time to be a news photographer.

To all of my returning visitors, welcome back to my revitalized blog! In the past couple of days, I’ve moved this blog to a different server and have adapted it to become “Visual Musing,” my main blog. I’ll keep this blog up to date with my current work and thoughts.  Expect to see some posts soon on my independent study covering the national election in Athens, Ohio.  For those of you interested in seeing some (long overdue) India photos, look no further. And, as always, thanks for reading!

Hey everyone,

I’ve been back in the States for a couple of weeks now, and after readjusting to the daily grind here, I am beginning to edit through the 3,799 photos I shot while in India. This is going to take some time, but I plan on posting photos as I edit through the take, giving you guys a peak into what I experienced while in India. For my final products, I plan on editing for two different stories: one on the wedding itself, and one on family, and how the concept of family in India is vastly different from that of America. I plan on writing stories and designing either magazine or newspaper layouts for these projects. I also collected audio during the wedding, so expect a multimedia Soundslides project (example) in the near future as well.

Thanks for your patience, and as always, thanks for reading.

Hi everyone,

Back to technology, at last. Sort of.   We’re in an Internet cafe in  Navsari, but I cannot post photos now because the USB  and CD drives are welded shut, so I cannot transfer photos from my laptop to the computers.

The wedding was nothing short of spectacular.  Four days of  ceremonies, traditional singing, dancing, and eating.  I cannot wait to share some photos.  So far, I have shot over  2200 images on this trip, and have hardly begun editing.  Most of the editing will probably be done back in the States.

Today, we are leaving Navsari and heading to Surat to stay awhile at Gopal’s aunt’s place. We’re staying in Surat until the 9th, and then taking the train to Mumbai (Bombay) , where we will sight-see until we catch our plan that night.

Hope all is well, and hopefully I can post some more photos before I leave India.

Thanks for reading.