Issue 2, Vol 1 - April / May 2007

Are we all Video-journalists now? Interesting, high-quality frame-grabbing stills technology in cameras designed for filming are revolutionising photo-journalism. by Jon Mitchell Most people have been slightly staggered to see that the new 3MP+ HD video cameras are now capable - with the right software and know-how - of taking 16MP stills from the footage. This will inevitably lead to some fusion in the industries of photo production and filmaking. Though in what way? Will all pictures come from footage at some stage? At the moment it is hard to answer these questions, though we are of course, free to speculatge, as many have, some photo-journalists saying they hardly touch their DSLRs anymore! This is particularly true of photo news-service photographers like Reuters and AP, both of whom have long had an interest in TV. Events on The Dallas Morning News picturedesk show that the times-they-are-changing, as one famous singer once put it. Their footage is uploaded onto their web site as newspapers increasingly become TV broadcasters, as to make their information available using multimedia. While the newspaper industry is moving fast to adapt and profit from the Internet, some magazines will undoubtably follow suit. Even titles like The Economist will probably end up becoming a TV station of sorts. Other publications may not go down this route for one reason or another, so I imagine the traditional DSLR shooter will be here for some time, though may soon be working at a commercial disadvantage if film skills are not aquired. My approach to this is to learn off the Internet, which in a few days, I have at least some knowledge about (for me) a new area of photography. Others may prefer to go on a short-course to give them a basic grounding and take it from there. Books may useful, though perhaps a bit out of date given the rapid pace of HD technology. So while we may not be all video-journalists, it is clear many of us will have to adapt to this new video/still environment as soon as we are able.