Jérôme Aoustin Photography

When was the last time that you sat down and read the newspaper? Actually held one, opened it, folded it? If you have children or grandchildren, do they read it? Clearly, it’s not an upward trend. The ink press landscape is rapidly changing, and the clock is ticking for this old institution. It’s been a shame to see century-old newspapers disappear overnight last year, and it’s unfortunately just the beginning. How did we get here?

Yes, the Internet. Little by little, it became much more than a simple archive of past information. Tools were created to syndicate news as they were happening, and soon you were able to read them in quasi real-time. People do not live in the present anymore, but in the now. Remember the cellphone revolution? It connected people. That’s a positive way to look at it. It also enslaved many, who see being “disconnected” as a strange oddity. Even the term, disconnected, has a negative connotation, as if there was some sort of technical error in need of a fix. “What, you don’t have a cellphone?!” I heard it many times during the period where I chose not to carry one with me. People look at you like you’re an extraterrestrial. Well, there’s another revolution occurring right now: Twitter. Brace yourselves. You now have flocks of people “twittering” (or communicating) their every move on the Internet using their regular computers, or cellphones, or blackberries… Literally, some will twit everything they do as it is happening to them for all to see. It’s a truly fascinating sociological experiment, if you may call it that way. There is no more time off, nor do people expect to have any. It all happened in a few years. Do you really think it is possible to go back now? Buying your newspaper at the newsstand, sitting down and reading it at your own pace, uninterrupted? Everything is going faster, even our most primitive needs: the food, the sex, the sleeping. Everything needs to be optimized, efficient, productive. Does it make people happier? Or more stressed?

Even if people were to change their ways… the ink press has been fatally wounded and is now bleeding dry. Their largest sources of revenues, such as classified ads, went irrevocably to the Internet. Paper has a high price, too, estimated at 40% of the total newspapers’ costs. It doesn’t take a genius to see where the future lays. The oldest newspaper still in circulation, the “Post-och Inrikes Tidningar” from Sweden, was born in 1645. As of January 1st, 2007, it is published exclusively online. While many people, and I include myself, will be nostalgic of such a change, it also shows that there is hope for newspapers. If the oldest one can adapt, surely the newer ones can. If only they were willing to take the necessary measures to be profitable again.

Those changes, while dramatic, are also bringing new and unprecedented chances to the right visionary, or should I say, opportunist. They are not only affecting the ink press but also the television industry. Both now need to converge to the same medium, the Internet. This translates into a huge new market where newspapers and news broadcasters will be pinned against each other. My company, PNG Laboratories LLC, is at the heart of this revolution, when it provides means for newspapers to broadcast events in real-time on their websites. Most newspapers do not understand the urgency of their predicament yet, which is troubling. Some very large ones were even in plain denial of the situation until very recently. I couldn’t sell something I do not believe in. While it’s natural to think that we are somewhat instrumental to the demise of the ink press, we really aren’t. Our software, on the contrary, is here to help newspapers rise once again.

Indeed, newspapers are very unique. They are local. They can capitalize on it to offer local programming to smaller communities, while the television industry has historically been more focused on the regional, national or international programming (well, in the US, not so much, but I digress). There’s a new job out there and in high demand: the video journalist, or VJ. This journalist can do it all, and alone. Shoot a piece, edit it and transmit it back to the newsroom, live or delayed. No more need for an expensive camera crew. The beauty of it, virtually anyone can afford the equipment. If you have a video camera and a laptop, you’re ready to go. This brings a whole new set of issues: anybody can now be a journalist. The Internet encouraged it. It has never been so accessible. Scary times for professional journalists. Nevertheless, I am hopeful that citizens will recognize the importance and necessity to have well-trained journalists to deliver their news. The ever-growing mass of information that is being thrown at us needs some sort of order. I feel that this new accessibility, promoting healthy competition, will ultimately raise the bar of journalism, not lower it. It is our role, as citizens, to make it happen.

May 22, 2009

It all comes down to being at the right place at the right time. At my company, PNG Laboratories LLC, we create a software enabling anybody with a standard laptop and a video camera (or even a simple webcam) to stream any event in real-time to a worldwide audience. Our target market ranges from journalists to event planners, and more recently schools have been soliciting us to broadcast their graduation ceremonies. One of them, Sarah Lawrence College. This famous school happens to be located 5 minutes from my home, so I naturally proposed myself to help set it all up.

Rahm Emanuel, the current White House Chief of Staff and also ’81 alumnus of the college, was going to be the keynote speaker. This was a great opportunity for me to get some nice shots since I was going to be standing in a prime vantage point. I was graciously allowed to bring my camera to the event, so I started to prepare myself. Such an opportunity doesn’t happen often so I wasn’t going to mess up my chances to get sharp and well exposed photographs.

Shooting from about 25 meters, I had no choice but to use my 100-300mm telephoto lens. While it was happening outdoors, it was also under a tent. Hand holding the lens at 300mm was out of the question under such lighting conditions, so I had to bring my tripod. This is when I regretted not having a remote shutter release cable… having to manually press on the shutter button could cause some unwanted blur, so I would have to be extra careful with it. There was too little time for me to order one online and no local stores to pick one up. I would have to do without it. I started reading about guide number formulas to see if my flash would be of any use at such distance. At ISO 800, it apparently would… I felt reassured and started packing.

The day arrived. After I finished to set up and test all the PNG equipment, I was left with more than enough time to test my own. I was hoping to be able to shoot at 1/60s, f/5.6, ISO 800. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I could shoot at 1/90s, f/8, ISO 800. I was close enough to use the 5D instead of the 350D which was also giving me an advantage in term of noise and overall picture size/quality. At 300mm, the depth of field can be quite shallow and I’m glad I shot at f/8. I decided not to use the flash, which really wasn’t necessary. I was now all ready.

The commencement ceremonies started, and so did the live stream. Of course, I wasn’t there to take photographs so my main focus was really on making sure everything was going smoothly. However, it wasn’t an issue to also get some good shots of Rahm Emanuel. His speech was both funny and touching and definitely a great inspiration for all the new graduates. Actually, I recommend you to watch it. I took about 70 shots, most of them perfectly sharp. I also took advantage of the burst mode which I usually don’t use, which allowed me to better capture some moments, such as when Rahm Emanuel received his honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa.

It was a very successful event for both my company and I, and I’m looking forward to many more.

Further reading:
Rahm Emanuel ’81: Commencement Keynote Address

May 13, 2009

The New York Photojournalism Group I was part of was unfortunately shut down due to the lack of involvement from its members. Thomas Churchwell recommended us to join another one, “The New York City Photography/Photo Safari Meetup Group”. I’m glad I did. With over 2,000 photographers, it certainly is active. The following meetup was taking place in an event room at B&H, a store no photographer coming to NYC should miss. Peter Turnley, international award-winning photojournalist, was presenting his work from the last three decades, encompassing most of the major World events of that time period.

I was very eager to meet Peter and hear about his life experiences. Getting there on time proved to be a difficult challenge… my wife left me the car with an unexpected delay caused by an accident on the Bronx River Parkway. I only had an hour and 15 minutes ahead of me, which inexorably shrank as I got stuck in traffic due to another accident, then another. It always happens at the most inopportune moments, doesn’t it? Served me right for taking the car. Suddenly, with only 10 minutes left before the beginning of the presentation, everything cleared up. I found a parking spot a block away from the subway, hopped on, switched to the express and arrived in the event room just 8 minutes late. How quickly things turn.

While Peter’s amazing work clearly spoke for itself, I wouldn’t have minded not seeing any of his photographs and simply listen to his experience as a photojournalist. This is really what I came for in the first place. Beyond the events that marked him and shaped his vision of the World, a few common denominators: empathy, passion, sensibility. These values are reflected in his body of work and deservingly one of the reasons why Magnum’s director gave him and his twin brother David the boost they needed when they first started.

I was happy to hear Peter break the traditional compartmentalization of the photographer. While it is natural to be better in one area than another, there is absolutely no reason for somebody not to be great in many diverse areas, whether fashion, nature or commercial photography. The gap is not as large as some people make it seem to be. What really matters is what you put into it. I also liked his reference to Diane Arbus. While he admittedly said he wasn’t a huge fan of her work in the beginning, he also came to recognize the importance of her contribution to our society. Each and everyone of us has a different sensibility, a different filter that makes us see the World in our own unique way. As he pointed out, if each of the 60 people who were attending the presentation were to take one photo of the room, they would most likely be all different. So many angles and viewpoints, ways to capture the essence of the present moment.

This also led to subjectivity. The chosen moment to take a photograph… this very instant you decided to capture, it’s something that you’ve wanted to show, a feeling or emotion that you’ve wanted to convey. It can be quite subjective. It does make a lot of sense that looking at a photograph at different times in our life will evoke different feelings. We as human beings evolve and our sensibility to a photograph will most likely change over time. I think it could be a very interesting process to intellectualize or analyze the moment we decide to take a picture. Why do we chose to release the shutter at that particular time. What does it reflect upon ourselves.

Peter’s favorite pictures are those asking open-ended questions. Photographs rich in meaning, telling a story and able to stand on their own. He actually wishes that newspapers or magazines used them less as a support to editorials, but as a full fledge testimony of the event that needn’t any text along with it. I’d have to agree. The vast arrays of sometimes hidden meanings and emotions captured on a photo tend to disappear once we’ve coined them with an often too simplistic explanation. “A picture is worth a thousand words” is quite an accurate saying. There would probably be a smaller divide between people if an event was just viewed for what it is, and not over analyzed through our own polarized lenses.

Peter is also not afraid to voice his political inclinations, or debunk myths put together by recent administrations. Refusing photographers access to the coffins of soldiers who died in combat for the sake of respect alone proved to be such a myth. Censorship anyone? Acknowledging their deaths by making them public is a form of respect an overwhelming majority of their families much preferred, which is now possible once again. I don’t think the families of the people who died in 9/11 are offended when their names are read on this tragic anniversary.

Peter is a great storyteller and has many stories to tell. I could just write a thousand word post on a single story of his, but I wouldn’t want to simply recount it. It would be a disservice to his presentation to try to sum it up. One has to see it. What I can say is that I felt a strong connection to what he talked about and could identify myself to it on many occasions. If I ever needed more motivation to work on my photography, I certainly got my dose now and for a long time to come.

I was very happy to have the opportunity to talk to him further following his presentation, and share dinner with him and the organizers of the meetup, Michael Delugg and Sherry. Peter happens to be a francophile, with only Parisian as an accent. Student of La Sorbonne and the Institut d’Études Politiques, he had been a classmate of Nicolas Sarkozy. I enjoyed conversing about that period of his life with him as I miss France myself more often than not, and I would certainly like to reiterate it soon.

That evening was all I needed to get more fired up about photojournalism and work towards that goal. There aren’t many jobs out there who provide such a deep understanding and connection with our humanity, as an individual and as a whole. A very rich and exciting life, indeed.

Further reading:
Peter Turnley’s official website
“The Unseen Gulf War” by Peter Turnley, December 2002 (graphic content)