By Anna Valmero
INQUIRER.net
IF a picture paints a thousand words, how about a series of still images combined with sound?
During a forum with a group of Filipino photographers, international photojournalist DJ Clark says today’s photojournalists deliver stories using not one but a series of still photos combined with short video clips and sound to form a seamless narrative – almost like a movie.
This method, dubbed “streaming media,” changes how photographers tell stories.
By creating a series of still images and blending them with other content, such as audio and interviews, telling stories have become more interesting, he adds.
“Traditionally, photographers have been viewed as predators to people’s despair,” says DJ Clark in an interview with INQUIRER.net.
“Through streaming media, this traditional view has fundamentally changed. For example, in video interviews, the people in the story can voice their opinion about what’s happening in the picture,” he says.
Will this require photographers to become videographers?
Yes and no.
Says Clark, the photographer’s unique talent to capture highlights of events is the key talent involved in streaming media.
Aside from capturing stills, they get to capture videos to accompany the stills and help them tell a better story.
On top of that, photographers explore other content, such as audio to accompany the series of images. However, this does not mean that photographers do what videographers for television do.
“It is about producing a quality narrative material that people can view on a platform like the Internet,” the British photojournalist says.
He says that over time, people will chose to watch quality content on the Internet over nonsensical videos currently topping the charts of video sites, such as Youtube.com.
At present, the concern is how to let purist photographers embrace the change in approach to photography.
People can view image over and over and examine it carefully, while video has a timeline.
He says photographers should do both—have a series of still images that can stand on its own and can be part of the seamless streaming narratives.
“This will be the future of newspapers,” says Clark.
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