Photograph by Emilio Morenatti/Associated Press
There's been considerable chatter the last few days about the launch of the New York Time's new photography blog, titled....drum roll.... "Lens". Lens? Lame name. Really. The Gray Lady is spending considerable time and energy as of late to be more bloggy. They know where some of their lost eyes and dollars have migrated to and are trying to get further in the game. To this end they have also recently added a micro neighborhood blog focusing on two small communities in Brooklyn and New Jersey. The "Lens" blog delivers much of what you would expect from the NY Times. There are a great many repurposed "pretty" pictures of the poor and destitute mixed in with generic snaps of the Oval Office. Very "Family of Mannish" It's not that the work isn't good or that the photographers are unskilled. The site feels very traditional, dated, unsurprising, and for obvious reasons, weighted toward photojournalism. The pictures are okay in the hit or miss manner that many have come to expect from the New York Times. The blog strikes me as more of a failure of imagination than anything else.
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2 comments:
The nature of most news photos are bland; Its no different than wedding photos. When I was in the Army we called them "Grip and Grin" photos.
Go look at Chester Higgins, who must be at least my age,and you can see that their photographers can do good images. However, 90% of the work on a daily newspaper is just grip and grin.
AND whats weird is besides Higgins, Conrad is still there and he is older than me also. They definitely need to hire some people under 70.
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