My Portfolio

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The Hardest Part

Blogging is a pretty simple endeavor, but I don‘t have to tell you that. (If you’re reading this, chances are you have a blog. Thanks for stopping by by the way. I hope you wiped your feet.) I quickly learned that making a blog is pretty hard. Not in the sense of setting one up or even finding stuff to write about. Those things seem to be coming at me pretty easily. The hardest part of blogging is coming up with a name. I spent exactly one week, after writing up my first articles, to come up with a title. And even then I didn’t get my title quite the way I wanted. “S(urrender) L(aughter) R(egularly)” may be what you see, but the full title is actually “S(urrender) L(aughter) R(egularly) - A student’s take on photojournalism.” Apparently there’s a character limit on titles.

Speaking of naming, another area I hit a snag was in the URL address. I wanted to keep it simple and just use my name. Imagine my surprise when I learned “SDulai” was already taken. There’s another “SDulai” and they blog no less! Well sort of; I checked it out and “SDulai” hasn’t posted since April 2005. The only post… about Calculus.

How Indian of them (I don’t know if they’re Indian, but it makes it funnier that way).

So just for giggles, here’s a few of the rejected names for this blog. I think I made the right choice.

Letterman said we couldn’t do a Top 10 list. Enjoy nine:

9. “Latent Ambience” Too pretentious

8. “Lens/Shutter: Camera!” Too fabulous

7. “f2.8” Too shallow

6. “Suitable for framing” Too cocky

5. “Distorted Edge” Too hair metal

4. “Typographical Journey” Too crafty

3. “Thoughts from behind the lens” Too pernickety

2. “ISO: ME!” Too clever

1. “Between the Lens” Too sexy

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In my mind I host a late night talk show...

Singer Ashlee Simpson has reportedly returned home to Dallas after she was hospitalized in Japan last week for collapsing from exhaustion… the tour will go on without her.

In other news President George Bush admitted to spying on US citizens. I’d like to take a moment now to say George W. Bush is the greatest man to have ever walked the earth.


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• funstuff

Finally found Flicker

After nearly a year of poking and prodding I finally got around to creating a Flickr account. (Keep trying MySpace friends.) As is usually the case in these situations, my fears proved unfounded. Flickr is a wonderful service. The layout is clean, the menus are intuitive and little touches like pulling captions out of Photoshop’s file info and simple copyright protections are a testament to how well thought out the service is.

The fear of going onto Flickr touches on many photographers fear of having their work be seen. This makes no sense whatsoever given the public nature of photography. In photojournalism especially, the purpose of the photographs we take are to been consumed by the public eye. Yet the fear of rejection persists. It’s a tough business and rejection comes with the terrain. We must recognize this and face it head on. Keep your head up and do what it is that you. Do it well and success will come.

Another major fear for some student photographers from showcasing their work online is the fear of having their work stolen. Flickr protections are pretty good and if you upload at a pixel count in the low hundreds even screen captures shouldn’t be an issue. Given that, realistically the odds of someone going to the trouble to steal from an unknown are slim. Rather, one of the benefits of Flickr is its ability to give even the lowliest of photographers a public showcase for their work. Editors and potential clients can find your work at anytime and strangers stopping by may help spread your name on word of mouth. It’s akin to an unsigned garage band releasing free MP3s on their website. The goal being to build an audience and keep them coming back in hopes of bigger things down the road.

Also a word of advice, reduce the quality to five and 72dpi, there’s not much bandwidth for uploads. In a completely unrelated note, new pictures will be online in January.


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Why blog, why now

For a few weeks now I’ve been considering creating a blog. Blogs can be a great way to share information and build communities of special interests. In a sense an extension of traditional column writing for news papers and the internet bulletin board. Plus in the increasingly competitive world of photojournalism it’s becoming more and more crucial for people like myself, who are hoping to get their foot in the door, to expand their skill sets.

According to a recent Associated Press report newspaper subscriptions are going down across the board. That and the consolidation within the industry coupled with unhappy share holders means fewer jobs to go around. A grim outlook to say the least. However there is a bright side. While traditional print journalism is falling, online readership has skyrocketed as a public has become accustomed to a “news when I want it” attitude.

What’s that mean to student photojournalist like myself?

It isn’t enough to know what result different apertures will give or how to prefect the art of composition. Today we must stock our repertoire with multimedia skills of sound, video and editing. We must understand principles of design to the degree of a graphic artist and have technical skills in web design and flash.

It’s a changing ever-evolving field, and yet we keep coming back. Apparently the heartaches, long hours, constant bleeding edge advancements and low pay aren’t enough of a deterrent.

Blogging is an extention of the “new journalism.” Editors expect photographers to bring more to the table than a great eye. They also want to know you can write and tell a story in words just as well as in pictures. Of course writing will never overshadow light and composition for a photographer, but when you’re trying to get noticed, every little bit helps.

As I already keep a journal, blogging seems to make sense to me. We’ll see how it goes. Until next time.


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My old video game reviews

NBA Street Vol. 2
Def Jam Vendetta
Grand Prix Challenge
Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Star Wars Jedi Knight II
Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner

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• sitenews
• personal
• funstuff

My old movie reviews

All About the Benjamins
I Am Sam
Arc the Lad
Auto Focus
Bamboozled
Band of Outsiders
Blade II
The Brotherhood of the Wolf
Carnival of Souls
Cold Creek Manor
Comic Book Confidential
Comic Book Confidential
Cowboy Bebop: The Movie
Cradle 2 the Grave
Dead Ringers
Down by Law
Down with Love
Eastwood After Hours
Elf
Eurotrip
The Eye
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Freddy vs. Jason
George Washington
Gigli
The Grey Zone
The Haunted Mansion
Hellboy
Highlander
Highway
How High
Irreversible
Johnny English
Kill Bill Vol. 1
Knockaround Guys
The Last Samurai
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Levity
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Man Bites Dog
Matchstick Men
The Matrix Revolutions
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
National Lampoon’s Van Wilder
Parasite Eve
Paycheck
Peter Pan
Queer as Folk - The Complete First Season
Rashomon
Real Women Have Curves
The Replacements
Rio Grande
The Rocking Horse Winner
Rules of Attraction
I See a Dark Stranger
Storytelling
Straw Dogs
Stuck on You
Sugar and Spice
Swept Away
Tears of the Sun
Tupac: Resurrection
Twisted
Underworld
Urban Jungle
Veronica Guerin

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• personal
• funstuff

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