The Cole Papers, Digital '95, April 1995

Photographers find new media still need pictures

The minutes ticked by; the natives grew restless.

As the wait for the start of Digital '95 grew longer on a rainy March morning, it became comfortingly clear that while technology races ahead, some things never change: No matter how many computers we use, press-related events likely will never start on time.

And Bay Area traffic will get you every time. Chris Gulker, the lead speaker at the conference, sponsored by the National Press Photographers Association, finally made it downtown to the San Francisco Marriott, where the three-day conference and trade show was held March 2-4.

Just that week, Gulker had made the leap from publishing to supplier. He moved to Apple Computer from the San Francisco Examiner, where he had been instrumental in digitizing the production process and starting the paper's Internet-based Electric Examiner.

Yet to come, he told the assembled group of visual journalists, is the "paradigm shift" for which newspapers are preparing. While we may be aware that images are made, transmitted and reproduced digitally, our readers don't particularly care if an image was recorded on film or on a PCMCIA card.

"The real paradigm shift will happen when we disconnect the network of delivery trucks, when digital data is displayed digitally," he said. Referring to readers, he said, "New possibilities are created when their screens and our screens touch."

The power of good editing is a strength that stretches across the two models. It is the core competence of the publishing industry -- we can both create and edit content.

Editing is the step that ensures consistent quality, Gulker noted, and that need will not disappear as we move into new technology.

New technology was available throughout the conference, as speakers had access to the Internet via a network that the Nppa installed and had running in under a day.

Four rooms and 23 computers were linked via Ethernet. A T1 connection to the Internet, supplied with the help of San Francisco-area 'Net provider GeoNet, let participants show off their on-line projects.

Mostly it worked, but when it didn't the live demonstrations showed both the potential and the numerous pitfalls of the digital-to-digital world. "Connection refused by host," sluggish response times at popular World-Wide Web sites and a variety of other occasional errors served as reminders that however "way cool" this all may be, we still have a lot of work ahead of us before we park the delivery trucks.

A large number of speakers had electronic projects to show -- which was itself a statement. Gulker, for one, took his audience on a tour of sites in Kobe, Japan, where information about February's devastating earthquake was posted within hours of the tragedy. (During the event, the Examiner mirrored the sites so that people could access them without straining Kobe's weakened infrastructure.)

On-line sources in Kobe posted eyewitness accounts, information about what to do and where to go for help and, eventually, images. The result was immediate, powerful and very different from print or broadcast coverage of the event.

At the other end of the content spectrum, Gulker talked about sixth graders who were publishing on the Internet through their school. Inquiring minds can read about "My Dog" and "My Vacation," and even experience some multimedia content.

The point of this exercise was to demonstrate two important factors as we look at the emergence of new forms of media:

The barriers to entry have fallen. Many people -- from professors in Japan to middle-school students -- can be publishers to the world.

The most effective sites aren't newspapers shoveled on-line or onto a CD-ROM -- the exciting products are new forms of communication that use similar elements (like still photos) in different ways.

Understanding and acting upon these factors is key to understanding this new medium.

"We can take strong content and bring it into a new medium," said Gulker, who is now managing a new group at Apple called Publishing and Media Markets. "But if we stuff the newspaper into the new medium, success will remain out of reach."

Rick Smolan, known for his series of Day In The Life Of books, showed his latest adventure -- a photo project on Vietnam that has been published both as a coffee-table book and CD-ROM. Smolan involved a Japanese TV production company in the project, which gave him motion video for the CD as well as an accompanying video that will be broadcast later this year on PBS.

Quality elements -- strong images, powerful video -- were still important, but the end-product is not just a coffee-table book on disc. The underlying structure takes advantage of the strengths of the digital display medium.

In breakout sessions, newspapers demonstrated what they have done with on-line publishing.

The News & Observer of Raleigh, N.C., showed projects that expand its NandO on-line service to take advantage of digital-to-digital delivery. The paper talked about a political/politician profile project that will be used in-house by reporters, and will be offered as an add-on to subscribers to The Insider, a daily political fax publication.

The political/legislative database links newspaper stories, political players, state government and service data, and other information that falls into the category of North Carolina politics.

NandO's sports server also has proven to be a "heavy draw," N&O folks reported. The paper has automated the input-to-on-line process so that electronic readers can access all the sports wire copy that moves, including that which does not appear in the printed newspaper -- without heavy staffing on the part of the paper.

An Atlantic Coast Conference basketball playoffs section that includes history and background has been a hit, as well.

In another breakout session, the San Jose Mercury News' Mercury Center demonstrated its continually developing on-line service, which is available both on America Online and as a WWW site. Merc Center was among the first papers to go on-line and remains among the most-watched.

Along a more "here and now" vein, photographer Jim Sugar's presentation looked at what digital imaging hath wrought. He reviewed National Geographic's infamous "moving pyramid," to grocery checkout tabloid Weekly World News' heavy use of the "alien," a UFOian visitor whose presence in front-page, true-life photos seems to help sell the paper.

"This is powerful stuff," Sugar said of digital imaging. "It's changed the way we see the world. It's just that simple.

"There's very little that digital imaging can't do. If you can imagine it, you can do it. And it is here to stay," he added.

In commercial work, Sugar said digital manipulation can save time and money and even make the photographer's job safer. No need to hang out of the side of a moving vehicle when the effect can be created with Adobe Photoshop and pieces of three more-easily obtained images.

An advertising shot of a plane -- its landing gear down, a few feet off the ground -- provided vivid proof that in the commercial world, reality is what you create: The plane never left the ground.

The technology is forging new types of business alliances. For example, Sugar has seen the rise of teams of photographers and graphic designers. However, he stressed, the technology should never bypass the human element.

"There is no substitute for good taste, for ethical judgment," Sugar said.

In the digital age, do we need to keep negatives?

This question set off a vigorous debate among panelists at Friday's session on archiving. The notion of no more negs created a bit of a buzz in the audience as well -- and brought more questions than answers.

Archiving is the part of the digital process where one is confronted with rude reality. It is not sexy, like cool new digital cameras. It doesn't wow, like flashy image manipulation. But without robust archiving, the whole digital process falls on its face.

At most publications, some double-digit percentage of images in an average edition are file photos. What is a file photo when there are neither physical files nor physical photos -- and maybe not even any physical film?

Every photo has links to story, data, and page layout information. How can these links and connections be retained, and used in the future?

And even if we can archive, are we archiving the right stuff in the right format at the right resolution? And what about the audio, video and other data types of tomorrow -- are we prepared to handle them?

These are tough questions, and no panelist nor audience member had the answers.

Love film or leave it, most Digital '95 participants seemed to want to get their hands on a digital camera.

During Saturday morning's digital camera session, the panelists -- led by Shelly Katz, an Nppa official and magazine photographer -- agreed that digital cameras are real today, they are in use today, and they will only get better.

The addition to the mix of equipment of a camera based on the Canon body seemed to generate a positive vibe in the audience. While Canon is partnering with Kodak, since last summer Nikon has been moving off with Fuji, which says it is making major investments in chips and image processing technology.

The ongoing trade-offs involve cost, capture quality and file size -- and technical specs tell only part of the story. The same CCD resolution doesn't necessarily give the same results.

Use of digital cameras is moving forward. In June, the Vancouver Sun and The Province in British Columbia will become the first major daily group to employ all-digital image capture.

That's when film will begin sharing the stage with the bit -- and maybe one day will exit stage left altogether.

-- Teresa A. Martin

Digital deli: As part of the theme to highlight interactive media, Digital '95 organizers built World-Wide Web pages about the conference during the conference. They're available at

http://sunsite.unc.edu/nppa/dig95.html

Photographers find new media still need pictures

From THE COLE PAPERS, April 1995, Copyright © 1995, All Rights Reserved.