What To Do With Your Free Time
In most of our viewing area, it is now officially the period of time arbitrarily known as "the weekend" (in French, "le weekend"). I would like to point out to you that customarily, you are supposed to have more "free time" on le weekend. "Free time" may be defined as time spent diddling at your computer doing things that you are not supposed to do in front of your computer during le week.

Some cautions are in order, however.
First of all, we all know that bad things happen in the world. That they do so dependably is of use only to religious doomsayers, who can always predict dire consequences with the confidence that they will come true eventually (for instance, it was foretold that Tennessee would be punished by God for voting against Al Gore, and darned if God hasn't sent large numbers of highly destructive twisters to Tennessee this week to do just that). Virtually no one else actually likes it that bad things happen in the world with such appalling regularity. (No, certainly not photojournalists.) My recommendation therefore when looking at the POY photo-essays is not to click around within them in a haphazard or frenzied manner, or to try to view them all in one visit, but to look at them carefully just a few at a time—even if that means you don't get around to them all. (I'd suggest beginning with a very careful look at the superlative work of Magazine Photographer of the Year Tamas Dezso. That, folks, is photography. If you miss the man who fixes the bicycle spokes, you're looking too fast.) Otherwise, your sense of pity for the victims of the bad things that happen may go from being focused and specific and well up into being vague and general. And that is not what is wanted. Photojournalism is not generic, it is never generic, and it is not intended to be perceived as if it is.

Anyway, I hope you can spend some time with a few of the photo essays this weekend, if you actually do have any of the aforementioned "free time"—it is known to be elusive.
Posted by: MIKE JOHNSTON
1 Comments:
I worked for Gassers in the late 90's and it was with deep sadness that I learned of his death.He was a great person to talk to with a vast depth of knowledge.You could ask him just about any thing and he could give you a straight answer with no bs.
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