Dispatches: Notes from the field - Supported by Canon

• Dispatches: Notes from the Field
  This month we have three dispatches by photographers Sean Gallagher, Justin Mott and Tarik Tinazay. In addition, we reprint a first-person account from The Associated Press by Jerome Delay who is a friend of Dispatches and The Digital Journalist. more>>
  by Marianne Fulton

E-Bits

• E-Bits: We're All Foxes Now
  In 1928, a campaign slogan for presidential candidate Herbert Hoover promised "a chicken in every pot." However, Hoover's memorable promise of prosperity preceded the stock market crash of 1929, followed by the Great Depression. more>>
  by Beverly Spicer

Commentary

• Remembrance: Light at the End of the Tunnel
  With all the optimism that now surrounds the war in Iraq, what the military refers to as "success" because of the recent surge, why have we not heard that old saw about Vietnam: "the light at the end of the tunnel"? more >>
  by Ron Steinman

Photo Journalism

• Notes for Aspiring Photographers
  "It's too bad. If this were a decade ago I would have said, 'give the kid an assignment' and sent you down the hall with something. Then I would have sent you upstairs to Life magazine; they would have made you an apprentice and you'd be on your way to a career. Now, I've got nothing to give you." more >>
  by Joshua Wolfe

• The Black Star Collection Lives On
  At a time when our images travel instantly from our cameras directly to clients and potential clients all over the world, some of us remember when image delivery was not so fast. more >>
  by Dennis Brack

• Nuts & Bolts:
  Less is More
  The Canon and Nikon SLRs, like many of us who have been involved in photojournalism for a few years, have gained weight. more >>
  by Bill Pierce

• Tech Tips
  I noticed that landscape photographers are often forced to use a gradient filter to compensate for a bright sky and relatively dark foreground. Why can't this be done digitally in camera?. more >>
  by Chuck Westfall

• Common Cents:
  Greenberged
  It's not as if we woke up one morning and editorial rates had imploded and contracts suddenly turned into one-sided suicide pacts. No, we did it one assignment and one contract at a time. Every time a photographer agreed to a lowball, rights-grabbing contract it became just a bit harder for the next photographer to make a good deal. more >>
  by Mark Loundy

Letter from the Publisher

• Welcome to the December 2008 issue of The Digital Journalist, the monthly online magazine for visual journalism.

Book Reviews

• Beyond Icons and the Art Market: Dorothea Lange as Documentary Photographer
  References to the "Great Depression" of the 1930s shadow us now as we face another great financial crisis. But what do we really know of that difficult time, before the ken of most now living? Statistics may defy our imagination but photography of the period conveys some of the harsh realities that many lived. more >>
  by J.B. Colson

• The Children of AIDS
  I do not believe that in America we pay enough attention to the AIDS scourge which is alive and destructive everywhere in Africa. The horror is such that many people probably take the tack that it is better not to see or hear the truth. more >>
  by Ron Steinman

Blog

• The Digital Journalist Image Galleries Blog
  more >>

Announcements

• Announcing the New 2009 Platypus^TM Workshops
  These workshops are acknowledged as the gold standard of Digital Video training. We teach high definition digital shooting and editing, with an emphasis on story telling. It is unique in the industry. more >>

• Dirck Halstead Lecture Series (pdf)
  
• Dirck Halstead Lectures and Workshops For 2008
  

Local Media in a Postmodern World

• Your Personal Brand
  One of my large-market televisions station clients made an interesting discovery while developing a unique hyperlocal news and information portal covering the community they served. more >>
  by Terry Heaton

Assignment Sheet

• Through a Lens Dimly:
  I Salute the Passing Parade
  I read my old newspaper everyday. I had worked there for forty two years.more>>
  by Dick Kraus

• Opinion
  This latest turn of events in the world of journalism is merely just another bump in the road to oblivion. more>>
  by Dick Kraus

• A Reporter’s Life:
  On Deadline
  Looking back on the year that is about to end, and thinking ahead to the new year and the resolutions we often make at its doorstep, I see a matter for discussion that grows out of the biggest news to hit our world in 2008. more>>
  by Eileen Douglas