Working in the Digital Age

Photo by Insider 

     A great step in photojournalism is described in Working in the Digital Age Pt 1 by Professor Nordell as, "going somewhere and remotely sending the photos." Wireless Transmitters were a huge step in the advancements of photojournalism and digital photography. In his video Working in the Digital Age Pt 2, Professor Nordell describes the process of wireless transmitters as taking "a picture and the transmitter would take the digital image, send it to the cellphone which was connected to the Wi-Fi hotspot and it would send the image back to the newspaper." In the 1990's the process proved to be very difficult as "just the time to physically produce the photo and send it on telephone lines was an incredible 3 hours and 40 minutes, assuming the process went perfectly (which, it seldom did)" according to the article How Digital Technology has Changed Photojournalism. This article continues the history to say in the early 2000's photojournalists gained the ability to transmit images from their camera, to laptop, then to publication in minutes. Publishing directly to websites was also possible.

     This had a huge effect on photojournalism as it allowed for much more efficient publishing. There was no waiting for the film to make its way back. Within minutes a picture could be added to the newspaper or other media outlets right before being released. The effect of the wireless transmitters has blown up and has made photojournalism what it is today. The ability to send images within minutes is something seen at major conglomerates like Getty Images. In the video Behind the Scenes at the Winter Olympics with Getty Images, the continued developed of wirelessly transmitting digital images has enabled them to "capture all these pictures and send them out to the world very quickly." It is what allows the world to be continuously up to date.

    As Professor Nordell explains in his video Working in the Digital Age Pt 2 , he says wireless transmitters allowed for "an edge on the competition and these changes in digital photography really impacted that.” Media outlets have always been driven to be the first to get the story.  Companies like Fresco and Demotix allow for amateur photographers to be first on scene to take photos to then sell to publishers. Ideas like these have received backlash, when in reality similar outsourcing has always been going on.  Weegee was a famous photographer known for always being the first on scene of an event with his shutter speed camera.  When the shutter speed camera came about, photography was becoming more compact. Learning how to adjust springs and use its features were still complicated, but it was learnable.  It allowed for Weegee to quickly arrive to a story.  However, the big difference with the shutter speed camera and wireless transmission is that the shutter speed had film that needed to be developed.  Getting a story out was not as quick as using advance technology of a wireless transmitter.  In the video Weegee Tells How, he explains that by being the first to the site and capturing photos “after a while they will give you assignments… instead of waking up their own photographers during the night, they will call upon you." Weegee was able to capture, freely, what he thought would interest people. In the article Demotix: Inventing a New Marketplace, they explain that their method allows "an expression of the concerns of our contributors, of what they think is news." Both are very similar, but wireless transmission is a much more cohesive process. 










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