caroyln cole: newspaper photog of the year and digital b&w?

carolyn cole of the la taimes has been names newspaper shooter of the

year check out her award-winning shots here:

http://www.poyi.org/61/npoy/index.php

 

two things

1- its a shame cole doesn't get more recognition for her work, which

is up there with the top magazine photogs (ok, obviously she gets

recognition from her peers, hence her award. but search photo.net for

her name and then look for nachtwey, and you'll see what i mean in

that she's not 'popular'). is it because she's a newspaper staffer

with a limited viewrship and not a high-profile agency shooter?

thoughts?

2- her above portfolio is balanced between color and b&w. as a

newspaper shooter, i'd assume she shoots 100% digital when on

assignment, for the quick transmission from the field back to LA. so,

do we think her b&w images are originally color digital files

converted to b&w in photoshop? and if so, what is the current view on

doing this w/r/t manipulating images and journalism ethics.

personally, i can't see a problem, in fact it seems perfectly

reasonable to me, but am interested in other viewpoints.

Responding to 1...Her work is excellent, but I wonder if we shouldn't be looking for African photographers covering the conflict. One thing I've found from my interest in Latin American photography is that when it comes to documentary work, the Latin Americans have a much better perspective than foreigners, even if they don't get published.

 

Regarding nubmer 2...Why should we care if the image becomes black and white because of the film or because of Photoshop? It's pretty much the same "manipulation" regardless of how it's performed. It might look different as a print, but that's not signficant here.

There probably isn't a single newspaper in the country that doesn't run black and white pictures that were originally digital or shot on color film. I really don't think it's an issue.

Questions about the ethics of converting pix to black and white are silly, in my view. They concentrate attention on a minor issue (abstraction) while ignoring the major ethical issue of journalism, which is what makes the news and how it is presented. Jeff's point #1 speaks to that -- perspective counts.

shes good, thanx for the link.

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1. maybe you should be her manager?

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2. i dont care. only the image matters..