Photography

Job Description—Photography Department Head
This position involves assigning staff to writer/production/photography teams, keeping track of the process, running staff photo critique sessions, maintaining equipment and training staff to use it, and helping staff evaluate the quality of their work.

Job Description—Photography Staff
The job of the photography department is to provide photographs that accompany the articles both in the printed magazine and in the web version.  The magazine has its own 35mm camera that is used by the photography staff.  Staffers may also use their own equipment pending approval from the photography head. 

Specific Duties—Photography Staff
The photography department takes pictures and works with the writers and production staff to illustrate articles.  They set up shoots, take the photos, process the film, and make suggestions about cropping and image manipulation.  The photography staff should scan “hard” photos or upload digital photos to the appropriate folder on the magazine network via FTP.  Login and password are available from the photography editor.  Staffers are also responsible for writing photo captions (cutlines).

Communication—Photography Staff
The photography staff communicates with the production department and with the writing staff to arrange assignments.  The photography and writing staffs should meet as early as possible to discuss ideas for the magazine cover.  They also work with the business department to pay for getting pictures developed.

Training—Photography Staff
The magazine used to pay for basic training for the staff through the University Mini-courses. This has been discontinued, but could be set up by the department head early in the semester, pending magazine budget.  Currently, staff is trained during classes (regular meetings) by veteran staff.  DoIT also offers free training in Photoshop.

Additional Comments—Photography Staff
The introduction of writer/production/photography teams has resulted in better communication, and the quality of work has continued to go up.  However, photographers and writers break down into “stories” during meetings to discuss photo ideas.  Deadlines can be a problem as the photography staff must correctly estimate the time needed to complete a shoot, edit photos, and, if necessary, re-shoot a subject. 

Purchase of a digital camera is being considered.  Film is slower than digital – it generally takes two to three weeks to take pictures, develop them, and scan them into the computer.  Funds have been acquired through the Polygon Engineering Council to purchase a digital camera.