Michelle Obama visited Gainesville, Fla. Oct. 22. I was not able to catch her appearance but after my midterm I headed downtown to capture the rally’s aftermath. The crowd gathered at the steps of the Hippodrome State Theatre.

The media’s portrayal of a candidate weighs on the public’s opinion, not only in print and online articles but in photos as well.

For example, this photo of Obama depicts him as a popular candidate through composition. It utilizes the rule of thirds and takes advantage of a nostalgic Americana feeling with the colors. Obama is often small in the frame, the rest filled with people in support of their candidate. The media at large seems to favor photographing Obama as an icon while more close-up shots of McCain in mid-speech are printed.

The New York Times’ slideshows “Election Eve: Democrats” and “Election Eve: Republicans” are an interesting juxtaposition of photo compilations of each party’s candidates.

As America heads to the polls today, media coverage will swell with images of voters and candidates. It will be interesting to explore the role of the media’s visual depiction of the candidates in retrospect.

A photo essay needs a beginning, middle and end ideally. This concept is something I’ve been having difficulty with lately. I shoot and shoot and want to show every detail and face and scene but I need to work on self-editing. The juxtaposition of detail shots and broad shots of scenes will shock the viewer’s eye and draw them into the story.

Tim Gruber’s American Trucker is a wonderful example of a photo essay really telling a story with style. The lighting and tones give the photos a signature and whimsy.

A more serious example of a narrative binding photos together would be Havana by Orlando Barr. It tells the story of a place, a city through its people and buildings. Notice the order of the photos, Barr organizes them in the temporal order of a day, a Havana day. He begins with a silhouette at sunrise and ends with a silhouette at sunset. The essay feels complete and the audience encounters a neatly bound narrative.

Lyttle’s comment and the recent presidential debates about the environment turned my thoughts to photojournalism’s role in shaping public opinion on environmental issues. In recent years concern for the environment has moved from the lab to the living room. Thanks to influences like Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth and celebrities making canvas grocery bags and hybrid cars a social statement, the environment has become a major beat on the pop culture pulse. 

Photojournalists have a tradition of calling attention to ecological issues. Eugene Smith’s Minamata photos directed the world’s eyes to the irreparable damage mankind can do to the environment and itself. 

Today’s generation of photojournalist continues to document and communicate ecological issues. Stuart Franklin’s Magnum Blog post: Environmental Photography does a wonderful job of outlining current environmental photography projects.

The Chartered Institute of Water and Environmental Management’s Environmental Photographer of the Year 2008: Changing Climates photographs are a testament to what awareness photography can draw to cause.

Highly commended entry The Last Tree?  by Junjie Lou is stirring and direct. The composition is thoughtful; the tree and its reflection are centered and surrounded by water which draws attention to its isolation. The factory yard in the background is in stark contrast to the organic shape of the tree. The gray tones contribute to the overall bleak and ominous message of the photo: climate change is detrimental, dangerous and real. The perspective is interesting because in two dimensions the photo is visually two distinct layers (a top and bottom). The top represents man and destruction, while the bottom symbolizes nature’s last stand against unbeatable odds. Lou probably stood on a cliff to take this shot which yielded a much more effective photograph than the alternative: shooting at the level of the tree.

Environmental photography is a frontier ripe with opportunity to effect change. The environmental concerns of the world are a call to arms for all photojournalists. Photojournalists possess the power to train their lens on the environment, sustainability and climate change and call the public’s attention to the only cause with the potential to unite humanity.

Composing a good shot means positioning yourself and your camera to capture optimal action. The camera settings should fit the lighting situation and the lens should already be chosen.

To improve your composition: get closer, one part represents a whole, utilize the rule of thirds and try to include elements like natural framing to add interest.

Here’s a PDF that’s easy to print and look over or take along for inspiration, check out page 2 of the National Geographic Xpeditions Photo Guide.

A musical trio takes the stage at the Real Big Deal Music, Camping and Arts Festival in Gainesville, Fla. Sept. 13.

I covered The Real Big Deal Music, Camping and Arts Festival, which grooved Gainesville Sept. 13 and 14 at the Alachua County Fairgrounds.  Festivalgoers were treated to performances from more than 60 bands and a unique taste of local flavor under the merchant and food tents. The unusual thing about holding The Real Big Deal in a college town was: it brought a festival to a crowd, not vice versa.

Concertgoers danced despite the heat.

Visitors trotted up and down the wide dirt track that stretched from the indoor stage, past the Obama campaigners, pipe merchants and camper shanty towns to the grassy fields of crowds at the other two stages.

Festivalgoers enter the fairgrounds and make their way past the tents to the stages.

The drowsy heat set a relaxed tone for the weekend; campers and concertgoers did their best to follow suit, donning Woodstockesque regalia and flashing lyric-tattooed limbs. I focused on the tattoos as a visual theme for some of my photos. Extreme close-ups abounded, I only included one detail shot here.

Tattoos told a story at the Real Big Deal Festival.

A concertgoer moves to the music.

Dan Svonavec, 22, beat the festival heat by losing his shirt and showing off his body art.

The nature of a music festival makes it an easier beast to tame photo-wise. People are more relaxed and less likely to shy away from a camera. The alcohol’s flowing and the scent of marijuana wafts thick through the air, this brings me to the ethical issue: how can I take photos without taking advantage of people? Basically, they’re in public and I always made it clear what the photos were for and asked for their name and consent respectfully.

A merchant displays his wares, animal shaped glass pipes.

The Real Big Deal served up a watered-down taste of big festival spirits. Music lovers and festival novices alike found the unassuming fest perfect for a weekend of relaxed entertainment. It was an exciting photojournalism exercise and my photos will be published. The natural light made it easy to work at an ISO 100. The tone and mood of the photo essay were easy, I was telling the story of a small town of young people welcoming a chance to host a festival in their own way.

"Big" Dan (left) from Winter Haven, Fla. said the festival was "more than expected."

 I will post the multimedia presentation I created after we publish it on The Fine Print’s Web site.

Sharpening your powers of observation is a great way to become more self-aware. Having a visual style and knowing what appeals to you are essential to a photographer. Self-editing and analyzing images is a great way to understand what comes naturally. Are there repeating shapes or colors that echo and catch the eye? Have you captured an intense or impossible moment?

Photographic artist Sandy Skoglund designs her photos with meticulous attention to detail and the results are usually other-worldly. Skoglund’s work didn’t appeal to me at first, it felt too “done” and far removed from what I wanted, reality. The more time I spend in the studio the more respect I gain for Skoglund though. My ideas have become less rigid and I’m starting to appreciate her point of view.

Scour the Internet, blogs, books and magazines for images, collect them and people watch. Catalogue a visual library in your mind and you’ll pull from it when you need to.

Is it enough to know how a camera works and have an “eye”? Of course all the pesky business of actually being a journalist comes in somewhere; ethics, accuracy, timeliness and the constantly looming threat of deadlines. So where are all these hybrid photographers/journalists finding support in their schizophrenic professional world? The National Press Photographers Association, of course.

The NPPA was founded in 1946 and has proven itself as a resource, advocate and creative outlet for photojournalists at any and all stages of their careers.

I found this in the history section of the NPPA Web site. It’s an excerpt from the first issue of National Press Photographer, published in April 1946, 

“We’re no longer going to permit ourselves to be relegated to the position of unwelcome, but necessary, stepchildren of the Fourth Estate. We’ve got a voice, finally, and we’re going to make use of it. No false modesty. No muffling of that voice under a barrel. We’re going to yell so loud — when the occasion demands, and not just for the fun of hearing ourselves shout — that those in this country who have been injuring us with scant courtesy will begin to realize that here is a new force to be reckoned with.”

Becoming an NPPA member is a eureka moment when a lot of messy dangling questions get neatly tied up. For example, where can I get an internship? How do I enter contests? Where can I find quality work? There are megabytes of opportunities on the Job Bank page. There’s a mentoring program and a member directory that connects you to other photojournalists.

According to the NPPA Web site all members receive a “monthly copy of News Photographer magazine, The Best of Photojournalism Yearbook and 2 Volume Television Winners’ DVD, regional publications, access to the Job Information Bank, discounts on all NPPA programs and eligibility to enter all NPPA contests.”

The NPPA’s prestigious contests are great additions to resumes and portfolios. Each month, from the first to the fifteenth, there’s an “open entry period” for the NPPA Multimedia Contest. According to the NPPA Web site, “The rest of that month is for judging by other NPPA members.”

We’re well into the judging phase of September and the official winners will be announced Oct. 1 so keep checking the site. I recommend you take a look at the August 2008 1st place Individual Audio Slideshow Winner The Repairman by Christine Baker; it’s simple work, neat work and good work.

You can enroll in News University’s Lessons from a Contest: Inside NPPA 2008: Still Photography and Web Sites where, according to the Web site, Kenny Irby, Poynter’s Visual Journalism Group Leader and Director of Diversity, will lead a “conversation crew” in discussing:

• Trends from the 2008 contest entries
• Ethical issues that arise in this year’s entries
• How multimedia storytelling is affecting photojournalism