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|| SportsShooter.com: News Item: Posted 2005-04-27
Liberal Arts, Humanities and General Education
The importance of developing more than just a photographic education
By Jim McNay, Brooks Institute of Photography
Photo by Paul Myers
Jim McNay speaks with a group of students at Brooks Institute who will be going to Argentina as part of a documentary class project in May of 2005.
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In school, beginning photographers concentrate on honing their photographic skills, perfecting their technique with cameras, lights and computers. This is as it should be.
Along with the photography courses, the others called general education, liberal arts or humanities often get short shrift.
The Cosmic Joke here? Once students are out of school, it is the non-photographic courses that might determine their success as photographer-because these classes teach about the world.
Consider a new graduate who, because of their student portfolio and a couple of in-depth projects, is offered an assignment to shoot a new education project in Timbuktu.
We can start with where is Timbuktu anyway? Is someone pulling my leg? I thought this was just a mythical place? This is a joke, right?
And then do I fly east or west to get there? Do I need a visa? Is the government friendly to visitors from other countries? Are the people friendly to photographers? What is the economic system? The political system? And so on.
Maybe a few more mornings attending that international relations class might have been a good idea. Where are Professors Costigan and Briggs when we need them?
In the great Humphrey Bogart newspaper film, "Deadline, USA" editor Bogart speaks to a job-seeking new journalism grad. The kid wants to be a foreign correspondent somewhere in the Arab world.
The veteran Bogart, struggling to keep his newspaper from being sold from under him, humors the rookie. He asks if the grad knows the political and economic system of the country he wants to cover? No? Then of course the youngster speaks Arabic? No, but he speaks a little French. Not very helpful.
Let's move the conversation to this country. Photographers who want to work in Washington, DC, or even in their state capital might want to know something about politics and the political players they hope to cover. If the Minority Whip of the Senate walked into the room, would the photographer not only recognize the person and their position in government, would the photographer know the person's name‹and how to spell it correctly? (Is that Daischel? Dashell? Daschel? From North Dakota? South Dakota? Somewhere over there? Sheesh!)
If a photographer wants to photograph archeological digs or do anthropological photographs, they might be well served to know where they would live during these stories, how they would get there, what the resources are to survive on the scene.
While in school requirements posed by the non-photography courses sometimes seem like annoying gnats.
More often than not editors with cool assignments have a wealth of choices when it comes to photographers who can cover these sought after stories and projects. When they select someone, editors are often looking beyond the photographs in the portfolio. They're looking for someone with curiosity, with passion for the project, someone who may have some language training, maybe even in a language relevant to the region the photographer wants to visit. Editors want someone well-read, with a clear interest in the world.
In school, the sweep of this kind of intellectual exploration is in the general education courses. Once out of school, those classes often emerge as the most impactful part of one's education, whether obtained in school on or on one's own.
Bottom line: Read, go to your GE classes, read, explore non-photography topics from time to time, and read.
Photographers, particularly those in school or seeking to break into the photojournalism field, are welcome to send ideas for future columns to Jim McNay at jim.mcnay@brooks.edu.
Questions about getting started in photojournalism that might be answered in future columns are also welcome.
Related Links:
Jim McNay's Member Page
Brooks NPPA Student Chapter
Brooks Institute of Photography
Related Email Addresses:
Jim McNay: jim.mcnay@brooks.edu
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