Annalog

So early in the afternoon and yet, so little to do. Sometimes I welcome slow afternoons. Once I’m out in the car though, I feel totally different. Every car trip becomes an adventure, something to reflect on later in the day, and time to think about potential images.

After the past few days, I look forward to going home and reading, sitting in Mugged and getting a cup of lemon ginger tea, and going through some of my photographs from this summer. I think I need some time to reflect on the work I have done and how to make it better. (more…)

Over the past few years, daily newspapers have been becoming more focused on doing in-depth, long-length feature pieces. Wire services are replacing newspaper bureaus on hard news stories all over the world. There is an increasing amount of attention paid to the subsections of papers, such as the Travel, Business, and Health.

An article of note: In an article in the science section of The New York Times, “Mirrors Used to Explore How the Brain Interprets Information,” Natalie Angier writes a beautiful lede, referencing myths and Shakespearean drama. The article, at first read, sounds a bit like a book review: beautifully woven, elegant yet not flowery language. (more…)

I photographed a change of command ceremony in Simon’s Town today. The captain of the ship went through the ceremonial motions when he handed command of the ship over to the new captain. After the speeches had ended, the old captain got into a row boat and was rowed around the frigate he had commanded, so that his crew could say goodbye. (more…)

After nearly a month of celebrations, Nelson Mandela will turn 90 years old tomorrow, July 18th. This afternoon, at the Winchester Mansions Hotel in Sea Point in Cape Town, FW de Klerk, the president of South Africa directly before Nelson Mandela, delivered a birthday message for Madiba. (more…)

This coming semester I will be teaching a class called “The Picture Story.” It is the second part to former photo editor Salgu’s “Introduction to Photojournalism.” In the first few weeks, students will come up with a story idea and begin to meet and develop relationships with sources. Over the course of the semester, each student will make images and collect audio. In the final weeks of the semester, each student will put the finishing touches on their final project which will include multimedia.

Photographers have the power to tell stories in their pictures, but, in the words of New York Times columnist Errol Morris, “Not Every Picture Tells a Story.” The lesson to learn is how to do it most effectively. Sometimes a story requires only one image, other times a series. The viral use of multimedia in everyday news coverage has added yet another element to sensory journalism. The task before all young journalists is to learn how to tell a good story through sound, images (video and stills), and words. (more…)

Last week I covered a rally outside of City Hall on Main Road near the Cape of Good Hope. Picketers carried signs calling for the removal of guns from communities. The rally didn’t last long, and it was about the size of most protests on campus in Berkeley. A couple of the protesters held advertisments for the Cape Argus from late last year. “Man With Toy Gun Shot Dead.” (more…)

Jean, Alicia, Chelsea, and I set out on Friday morning (our day off) to climb Table Mountain. I think I agreed without knowing what I was getting into. We set off around 11 a.m. from our building near Parliament and took a cab to the foot of the mountain. (more…)

Last week, Nikon released the D700, a camera in between the D300 and the D3. That morning, a Nikon certified salesperson came into the office to give us a demonstration of the camera and to let us play around with it. For the time being, though it is a wonderful camera, I need nothing more for my work than my D200. I don’t want to own anything more than a good understanding of light and a quick eye.

All this new, ever-changing technology makes me miss my film camera and Tri-X 400. I wish I had brought it with me. It has always made me slow down, stop relying on the screen so conveniently place on the back of the camera body. (more…)

One weekend in the end of June, I drove to George, four hours east of Cape Town, with two other journalists to cover the funeral of three toddlers who had been murdered. Is it really appropriate to write about something like this? I have had time to reflect on that weekend. Maybe to write about it a bit more objectively.

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It’s a dark, rainy Friday morning here in the Western Cape. I woke up thinking it was still early morning. The started off quietly, and I woke to do laundry in my building. It may be a quiet day in Cape Town, but up north in Zimbabwe, the run-off elections have begun.

The day is finally here. According to Reuters on The New York Times, the runoff election between incumbent president Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai started slowly this morning. Down here in the the center of Cape Town, everything is quiet. The main headline of the paper this morning read: “Mugabe defiant to the end.” (more…)