The photographs in The Sun print and online editions are just a sampling of the work done by the photographer. Many voices are heard and choices made in the preliminary stages of production. Decisions get made on the prominence a story will have on the page, its importance in relation to the other stories, and how much space it will be given. Sometimes the quality or aesthetics of the photographs get lost as space considerations come into play.

A little while back I spent some time with First Mariner Bank Chairman and CEO Edwin F. Hale. The reporter interviewed him while I made photographs, and then I made a few quick portraits. According to the request this was going to be an important story dealing with Hale and his leadership of the bank in the face of some rough seas. He seemed very honest with us, as far as I know, and talked candidly. He did not seem to be to bothered by my work and what I asked him to do when I made the portraits.

The story appeared below the fold (cropped) with one photograph on the front and none with the jump. When I saw this, while getting my standard 44-ounce ice-cold beverage at my local convenience store, I sighed and went "Oh well."

Sometimes that is all that can be done. But it is unfortunate that the time and effort put into the situation, get a little lost. He could have been difficult or uncooperative, but instead he was nice and welcoming and free with his time. It disappoints me more for him than for myself. The reader possibly loses out in the end.

Of course we now have the pictures in "the files" as we say, which really means saved in the computer system and archived on CD, for possible future use. But that has never really held water with me, because that does not mean they will ever be used, and they will not be used in the context with which they were made.

In any case, I was not a part of the discussions that happened concerning this page and the other stories and elements with which it is made. But I'd like to have know, and wish I did not wake up to so many surprises.  

Picture selection, as I have stated before, is just as important as the making of the photos and editing of the stories. With picture selection nuance and subtleness can be brought to prominence. It should be left to the reader whether or not they "get" a photograph. If 1 of 10 people get an allegorical element or a visual metaphor, than so be it. It is the richness an added level of intellectual content can bring to an image that should be celebrated and held for example. No one gains from meaningless glimpses into the obvious that arouse little thought other than "Oh, that's nice."

It can also be said that the photographs and the story do not necessarily have to say the same thing in exactly the same way. They need to be in tandem thematically, not lock step, and each must be allowed to breath and express itself in its own.

Not long ago it was my pleasure to photograph author Stephen Dixon after he retired from Johns Hopkins University after a nice and storied career. He and wife Anne welcomed me into their home and we had a very nice time. I enjoyed our discussion of typewriters and their repair (I have an IBM Selectric III) and his dislike for computers. I did not make a lot of photographs, but felt I nailed it with a certain one of him putting paper into the typewriter he currently uses.

I like the way the paper and his head seem as one, and the white-framed entryway to the next room mimics the paper. The pears in the foreground and the stacks of paper added nice details. Overall, it is a picture with visual interest, and a little mystery, that will capture the reader's eye and keep it to slowly explore and peruse a little longer.

A second photograph will show Dixon's face and provide the satisfactory content demanded.

So once again I feel I have made a photograph that steps to the next level and makes a statement and will have impact on the page. The passive image does little good for anyone, reader, subject or maker.

The decisions about which picture gets published can be anticlimactic. Sometimes heated. Many times, in my experience, a mystery. I want to be part of the decision making process, not just a button pusher providing images like a service. And in the process of my job as a photojournalist I try to make challenging, aesthetically charged images that have impact and meaning. But in the process of selection the challenging images often get lost in the noise.

People, consciously or not, often gravitate to the common and known and away from the unusual or challenging. It takes mental effort to not fall quickly for what I call "The Hallmark Effect." That is what happens when, faced with choosing between images, people often reach for the one that can be related to on a comfortable level because it contains archetypes welded to our psyches. Think of distinct footprints in the wet sand, fuzzy kittens with balls of string, soft clouds with streams of glorious sunlight, the sun silhouetting a puffy dandelion. Thus as some try to push the "usual" aside, others are reaching hungrily for it.

I was not surprised to see the page, with great design treatment, with an alternate photo I included almost knowing forthrightly the preferred one would get lost in the haze of Hallmark.

It is not that the page looks bad. It doesn't. It looks very, very good and I think there are some nice touches. The reversed "L" in the box, the headline filling the space and touching photo and story, highlighted words in the subhead. A 6-column picture never hurts.

But like the little flourishes in the design, I tried to add elements that take the photograph beyond the obvious, beyond a plain page with words, headlines, photos and graphics. In my mind there is no difference between wordsmithing, designing and photographing in that stressful effort to be different.

It would be great to bring a chair to the discussion table, carve my experience and thoughts on these very issues into its well worn wood.

The page looks good. Really good. There might have been a chance for greatness (so I believe, right or wrong.)