The daily lives of Brett, Julia & Data
Here are a few pages from today’s Sunday News-Times.
This page is a feature on a church in Bethel celebrating it’s 250th anniversary. In addition to the page itself, I put together the timeline at the bottom of the page (click on the image to see a zoom-able PDF).
This next page was a collaborative effort between myself and Mike DeSalvo for a story about what to tell your kids about the recession.
Here’s a page I put together for Sunday’s paper. The story is about a guy who witnessed a bunch of atomic bomb tests in 1958 as part of Operation Hardtack I on Enewetak Atoll in the Pacific Proving Grounds. I had originally planned a few more graphics, but space was at a premium, so I just put together three. Click on the image to see a PDF (you will be able to zoom in on elements with the PDF).
What I wanted to do (prototype, final version would have undoubtedly had some changes):
What I ended up doing:
Click on the images to see PDFs.
There are pros and cons to each, of course. The first has three bumping headlines (how big of a deal that is depends on who you ask, but this excellent Poynter Online piece debunks the severity of that issue), no dominant photo, and very little color. The second has a bad, blatantly staged photo of a guy with little mention in the story. The first has an instantly-recognizable, unique quality that tells the story far better and faster than the second. The second has a face and some color above the fold.
I don’t feel slighted or angry that the first didn’t run – it would have been a leap, and I can understand why it was turned down, but I do wish we didn’t feel obligated to play it safe every day.
What do you think?
In addition to our day-of coverage of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show at Madison Square Garden last week, a recap of which you can read about here and on The News-Times website, we ran a big feature on the show in Sunday’s paper. Here are the pages, which were designed by Mike DeSalvo. Click on the images to see a high-resolution PDF.
Well, I nabbed my first real photo assignment for The News-Times, and boy was it a good one.
Melissa Bruen and I were able to travel to New York City to cover the 133rd Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show at Madison Square Garden. There were about 10 dogs from our coverage area that released their contact information to the media, so we spent time following their progress through the show. One of these dogs was Stump, the 10-year-old Sussex spaniel that took home the top prize, Best in Show. One of his owners hails from Redding, a town solidly within our realm. We covered two other dogs (Ellie Mae, a white bull terrier, and Toby, a German shorthaired pinscher) that made it to their group finals.
I’ve been to dog shows for as long as I can remember, but never Westminster. The experience was certainly memorable, with some aspects of the show being what I had expected and others not so much. It was also both similar to and different from other dog shows – the dogs are the same, but the people and the atmosphere totally unique.
A slideshow of my photos from the show has been posted here, including several exclusive shots of Stump that were taken just minutes before he trotted out into the ring for Best in Show. I should also note that I am visible in the first shot of this slideshow from The New York Times. Due to the high visibility of my poorly-selected blue-and-white-striped shirt, I was also apparently on TV several times throughout the broadcast.
One of the most rewarding aspects of this experience was being able to get back behind my camera as a photojournalist and not just a hobbyist. I have been feeling anxious to shoot for a little while now and this was a great chance to do so. Hopefully, the powers that be at the office enjoyed my work and I’ll be able to be more and more active photographically.
As always, let me know what you think, which are your favorites, and which ones you dislike!
One final note, I have created a Twitter account. I’m not sure how I feel about it, but you can follow me @brettmickelson.
All of our newsroom staff has been asked to pick a few entires to submit to the Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists awards for 2008. These are the two I selected.
