PHOTOGRAPHY FOR NEWSPAPERS

[Music] as editor of the central high school bugle i come across a lot of stories news stories yes and other stories stories behind the paper and what's in it for instance there was a certain photograph we ran on our front page it was shot by peter willis the story behind this picture is a story about books every year thousands of new books appear in the bookstores and on the shelves of our school and public libraries books that make their readers laugh books whose readers cry in sympathy with characters in distress books which thrill with mystery and suspense and books that give useful information but how do we choose books that will interest us from the thousands on the shelves that's the angle to the story about this photograph made by peter willis you know we had to publish our first issue without pictures peter had applied for the job as staff photographer and we had let him borrow the staff camera but the results were pretty bad i hadn't been able to use any of them somebody lost his head here you needed glasses to look at this when it was so blurred this one must have been taken from the next county and this one oh brother you can see why we couldn't publish any of those maybe i shouldn't have counted on peter he was ready to give up but everyone has to get started somehow so i told him that he could keep the camera and try again then i asked him why didn't he get some good books on photography even if books could help make pictures peter said how could he find the right ones well besides book lists and card catalogs there's the librarian to help he was only half sold on the idea but well he decided to give it a try and the librarian did the rest you know people who work in libraries treat each person as if he were their best paying customer yet it's all free she showed in the book lists and guided his choice hmm for the advanced student of photography pete could see right away that he wasn't ready for that book and this fancy effect shots at home fun maybe but no good for shots for the bugle this is it beginning photography simple clear fundamentals peter was beginning to see that librarians and book lists can really be helpful at home peter carefully studied beginning photography with the camera right there it was sort of like studying but on his own he paid particular attention to diagrams charts and other reading aids which emphasized the author's main ideas from this book he learned that he must master the mechanics of the camera and he learned that when you choose your books carefully you can get more out of your reading a couple of weeks later peter came into my office with some more pictures he had taken these turned out much better his beginning book had taught him something about exposure and focus he had the mechanical operation of the camera under control but as i told him his composition was weak there was no layout no no center of interest in this otherwise good picture of our school peter came up with an idea how about a book on composition but where to find it why not try the art teacher that's a thought then i offered him a novel i thought might interest him it was an exciting tale about a young press photographer and might give some of the feel of news photography i began to have hopes for peter he was eager to learn he knew what he wanted and he was going after it the way he went to see miss edmunds the art teacher he was not only getting the information he needed about photography but he was learning how to locate books and other subjects such as composition and learning also that many people can help you choose books to read that night found peter deep in the novel and i do mean deep an interesting novel can put the reader right in the shoes of the leading character ambling down the street looking for human interest shots for the sunday supplement there's one ought to be good for half a page so peter casey willis gets another feature shot and peter casey willis knows all about developing pictures he gets the finest quality prints from his prize negatives well it is fun to read good novels and a dream to realize that dream peter would have to read for understanding as well so into the book on composition it looked difficult but by the time he finished it the next night he found it wasn't so hard to read after all because miss edmonds had suggested a book that suited his purpose he found a lot of ideas that interested him then he found a bibliography of other books on composition and on art so peter took his new list of books to the library checking the card catalog to see what information the cards contained about each book i ran into him there while i was choosing a few books myself he was not only finding books that would help him understand photographic composition but he was broadening his interests from photography to composition to art learning to use the camera was no longer his only object in choosing books to read he was finding that books on many subjects can be interesting and worthwhile i showed him i was using the newspaper book review section to find what experience professional readers say about the new books many magazines also have reviews on books in their fields peter noticed an item about a movie based on that novel i had led him to read yes books can prepare you for all sorts of experiences seeing movies traveling getting jobs and incidentally when you like one book by a certain author you're pretty sure to enjoy his other works well as you already know peter did become flesh bulb peter for our paper but the surprising part of this story is that peter's broad interests in books on various subjects have led him to two jobs on the bugle besides being our photographer he writes a column about books take this one the books in our library are a tremendous source of value however it is not always easy to choose books which are best suited to the reader's needs a few simple rules will help you choose books wisely first decide on your purpose in reading you may read for pleasure or you may read for specific information you may read to understand ideas or to broaden your interests with your purpose in mind choose books which are easy enough for you to read but not too simple the knowledge of others will help you books are evaluated for you in library lists and in book reviews and newspapers and magazines bibliographies in some books lead you to other volumes on the same subject as you come to know books you'll find pleasure in exchanging reading experiences with your teachers with your librarians and with your friends yes peter has come to use all these aids to choosing books and now he enjoys helping others choose interesting books to read why he's even recommending them to me you see what i mean [Music]