It’s apparent to the few who come here that content has been pretty stale for the past couple of months.

With having to pay the bills as a web designer on top of marketing my video work, I’ve not had much time to blog on solo vj’ism.  Having said that, I’ve been left with a nagging question:

Have I bitten off more than I can chew by moving to video when I was a successful and accomplished still photojournalist and commercial editorial shooter?

Lately it has seemed as such.

Having to not only shoot content, but come up with story ideas, move past the creative blocks, try to deal with the technology of editing video content into a cohesive piece, and do it all as a solo vj has had me at a point of wondering whether to just give up.

I did a google search for the phrase “Is Photography dead?” which lead to a website about “Is Photojournalism dead?”and came across a profound quote from Margaret Bourke-White, a photojournalist of great reknown who made the statement that :

“While it is not necessary to return to the photography of 25 years ago, I think students of photography should work for a while with the view camera and do their own lab work”

The case she makes here is critically important in my opinion. A photographer is more likely to be familiar with the whole process, from the split second when the shutter goes ‘click’ to the hours a print hangs to dry after its baths of developer and fix (remember – this was written in 1958).

Now translate this into the 21st century of working as a solo video journalist and one can begin to see the difficulties, and in the process, the skills that develop, when making a concerted effort to do it all in this profession.

Despite the fact that these words were written 50 years ago, they are still applicable to the field of being a one man band video shooter and editor.

The downside of this is that newspapers have looked at implementing video – rather poorly in the majority of instances – as a cost cutting move, trying to squeeze more from less – and there eventually comes a point where quality suffers.  With the threat of pink slips ever present in the minds of staff shooters, the pressure to perform typically results in creative block and vision, resulting in a mediocre final product.  This in turn gives the detractors ammunition to support their case that still shooters should just stick to what they know best.

While the technology has gotten better, the average quality of having to do both stills and video is deteriorating. Giving still photojournalists video cameras is no substitution for specialized video shooters, but the question remains: What can be done?

I think the bottom line here is that as hard as many try, few will succeed in both mediums when covering an assignment.  One will be forced to choose one or the other.  There is an over abundance of talented still shooters in the market – but the demand and compensation for their skills has diminished.  The profession of solo video journalism is still very much in its infancy – but those who choose to put down their still cameras and pick up a video camera may very well have the edge over trained TV shooters – for the seeing vision of a still shooter brings a wealth of perspective that can translate to video in a way TV shooters are not skilled in.

Only time will tell if this is truly the case or not.

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