The Image Deconstructed

Spotlight On Scott Lewis

Oct 15, 2011

 

TID:

Scott, thanks a lot for agreeing to be a part of this.

We've known each other a long time, and we used to 
photograph in adjacent cities for competing newspapers. 
I never told you this, but I loved having you as "competition," 
not just because we were friends but because your work 
inspired me, and it always pushed me to become a better 
photojournalist.

One of the images you made while working at The News & 
Observer struck me, and it still resonates with me today. It's 
an image I wish I had taken, and I still can't pass a dunking 
booth without thinking of this picture.

mainscott

Can you tell us about the assignment you had that day? Was 
the dunking booth part of the original assignment or how did it 
play into things?

SCOTT:

Thanks Ross. During that time when we were working at competing 
papers , I'd see your work in contests I'd be happily surprised to 
see you producing such great work but alternately saddened to 
see that it rarely saw the light of day in the paper. It's a real honor 
to hear you say that I was an influence. I've watched you evolve into 
a really bold photographer with a strong point of view and if I or my 
work had any role in that then I'm humbled.

This image was a part of a Photo Column called Acts of Faith
that I worked on for two years when I was on staff at The 
News & Observer in Raleigh, NC. Each week we were 
responsible for covering some aspect of the faith community of 
North Carolina but mostly around Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill. 
Research, reporting, scheduling, photography, writing, etc. was 
done entirely by the photographer. 

The column space was heaven, really, as it allowed for you 
to direct a part of your photographic life and take some risks 
that would then come back to influence your coverage in other 
areas and in turn influence others at the paper. It was a great 
showcase for creative approaches to reporting and storytelling, 
that weren't controlled or influenced by others. As a result it 
opened up more conservative-minded  eyes at the paper as to 
what photographers could do, and how great they are at doing 
reporting in ways that challenged the status quo approaches. 

This photo column, this was one of like 5 or 6, was part of a 
wonderful overall team environment that eventually led the Editor 
of the paper to see photographers as the among most creative 
and aggressive journalists in the newsroom.

At first I didn't have any interest in the column but the Director 
of Photography at the time convinced me that it would be good 
for me to do and he was right. I discovered that not being religious 
at all allowed me a particular insight into seeing the faith process 
and understanding the value it held for those that were religious. 
Over time I discovered that what I was interested in were not just 
the oddball moments that are always interesting but the common 
threads among all faith communities that bound people together. 
A sense of fellowship, cultural identity, rituals, traditions, passing 
all of these down to children, doing community service, etc. all 
became themes that I looked for at each situation. The whole 
point, for me, was to have the images not be like the ones in 
the rest of the paper. I wanted to give readers a surprise in 
content and style and hopefully deepen their experience of 
the paper, and community. 

scottlewis01

It was my idealistic hope that each Friday it'd be someone's 
favorite thing to look forward to.

I always tried to find just one picture in each situation. One frame 
that was either meaningful, interesting or just plain quirky. 
This picture was taken at a little carnival as part of this church's 
bible lessons. Part of this section of the Bible talked 
about celebration and fun and they'd just simply included the 
dunk tank as a part of the carnival theme of their party. It was 
really nothing special or unique. I can't remember how I found 
out about the carnival. I could have found it by researching the 
weekly listing of faith events or I could have seen something 
while driving around, both of which were a couple ways I found 
out about little happenings like this.

TID:

I have always been curious - was this image pre-planned in your 
mind or was it more serendipity? 

SCOTT:

Initially my thought was that I'd say this was pure response and 
no planning, but the more I've thought about it there was actually 
a decent amount of planning that went into getting this picture. 
It's just that all that planning happened within just a few seconds 
in my head. After you've been shooting a while, I think you forget 
about what's involved in your shooting process and it becomes 
instinct so even though there was planning it still felt instinctual.

With the freedom we had in this space of the paper, I tried hard to 
transcend the obvious pictures or the kinds of pictures the paper 
typically publishes. In this case, I remember thinking there could be 
interesting possibilities as each person was dunked and thought that 
it could be kinda cool to just view this scene from within the tank. 
I'd say most of the images were just a blur of water (it required some 
combination of concentration and luck while shooting as I couldn't 
really see anything emerge within the tank, since it happened 
pretty fast and there was no way of predicting, dunk to dunk, how 
the person was going to react once in the water). 

scottlewis4

Most of the time it didn't make interesting pictures at all. 
The murky water made it hard to see and it was starting to look 
like it wouldn't yield anything. 

Initially I was hoping for a face or something clearly dramatic/fun/
curious. But then in this one frame her foot popped out from 
the center. If I'd gotten what I thought I wanted, like a face, it 
probably would have just be ok. But somehow, I think, the foot is 
more intriguing, more curious. If I can go this far, it's more immersive 
because the foot is an implication of a person and that makes it 
more mysterious or interesting than if I'd gotten what I initially 
thought I wanted like a face. For me this picture was only maybe 
a contender in color but once it was black and white and it toned 
up nice and dramatic it was clear that it was a winner. This picture 
accomplished what I was always trying for in the column space. 
Taking the ordinary, often mundane, activities of a faith community 
and transcending the literalness of the scene. Take the viewer into 
a different place either because of access or ideas.

TID:

This sounds a little obvious, so forgive me, but do you have advice 
on how to advocate for a picture like this running in a newspaper, 
or for a news organization?

The reason I ask this, is that I can easily imagine an editor telling a 
photographer they can't run this picture because it's too "abstract." 
With this, what advice do you have for photographers on advocating 
publication of this type of an image?

SCOTT:

That's hard because, at least in this case, I didn't have to make any 
argument at all. This week the editor was in the office when I was 
editing the shoot on a Saturday and he walked by the screen and 
just calmly said "that's the one." And for the photo columns the 
edits were often pretty easy in the "argument" sense. Photographers 
were often left to make a lot of the editing decisions, within reason 
of course, since they were really the most invested in the space. And
over time, the photographers that worked on the columns earned the
respect of the other editors. The photographers knew they had to be 
responsible and the editors learned to give the photographers some 
freedom to explore and take some breaks from the routine approach.
Even though there was all this freedom, it was always a collaborative
effort. Sure, this picture is a bit abstract for a daily newspaper 
and would be much harder to get on the front of a Metro section or 
even Page 1.

In advocating for an image like this, you have to be careful. You 
have to make the right case, for the right picture at the right time. 
If, for example, you're covering a contentious school board meeting 
and make something abstract and more arty or interpretive, you might 
end up wasting a lot of time arguing for it. Photographers can have 
a tendency to fall in love with their ideas and their insecurity can 
make them impatient about seeing it published, which can seem 
like either complete validation or rejection. When it's not 
published, some photographers can lose sight of the big picture. 
Publishing or not does not take away that you made the image. The 
reaction to your favorite shot not being published should be to 
motivate you to find a way to get an edgier or more personal style 
to have the same literal news "meat and potatoes" content as a more 
literal image. Bring a distinct vision to each situation and eventually 
it'll start to find it's place, but never sacrifice the basic need to tell 
the story of the news in front of you. 

scottlewis2

It's actually inappropriate to run pictures like this when the news 
story, the reason you are there, is of a more literal "beginning-
middle-end" or decisive moment nature. There's a time and 
place for these kinds of pictures. Just because you made an image 
like this does not mean it's the best or right image to publish at the 
time you made it.

If you make the wrong case, at the wrong time with the 
wrong picture, you'll lose credibility and then when you do make 
the right picture at the right time, your advocacy will fall flat. You
will end up "the photographer who cried wolf" and your editors 
won't want to follow you in your reasoning. If you want to push 
the envelope or the status quo, you have to be careful about 
how you go about it. Photographers must be articulate advocates 
for their work and the story. It can't just be about your vision. 
For that there's the gallery wall. Publications have an obligation 
to tell stories to their readers and photography is an integral part 
of that process and photographers need to be sophisticated enough 
to know when and where to make the case for getting more creative.
But of course you're never going to get photographer and editors always
in agreement about if you've got the right picture, at the right time with
the right case. 

scottlewis3

If you can't get the photo editors behind you then there's little to 
no chance they'll go to bat for you with even more literally minded 
word editors. When working as part of a team, you need to show 
respect for the demands on an editor and not make their job harder 
by wasting time on the wrong effort. It doesn't mean you shouldn't 
challenge an editor's thoughts, that's part of our job as the 
front-line, in-the-field component of the storytelling. However, it's 
important to know when the argument is worth the effort. There will 
be another opportunity.

TID:

in closing, can you talk about how you approach situations like this 
in general? What advice do you have for photographers in seeing 
outside the proverbial box?

SCOTT:

I don't want to sound cliche but there is no box. The proverbial 
box, as it is, is all manufactured limits placed by us or others. If 
you spend your time thinking that you need to work outside the 
box then I think all you'll see is the box. You'll judge yourself by 
the box and whether you thought far enough outside of it or not. 
You'll end up over thinking the simple and under valuing your 
instincts. For me, it can be like food. Sometimes the best, most 
perfect thing in the world is a beautiful piece of fruit, untouched 
by any crazy cooking technique but paired with an amazing and 
surprising piece of cheese or glass of wine. For example, I just 
saw this video (http://pdnpulse.com/2010/12/pdn-video-pick-dan-
saelingers-popsicles.html) on pdn that was about nothing more than 
melting popsicles but it's done so creatively and beautifully that it's really 
satisfying. It's really wildly creative but it's also really really simple 
without being overly styled or heavy handed or pretentious. 

It's just cool as it is.

mainscott

My advice to other photographers is to trust and believe in your 
view of the world. What do you find interesting and how are you 
going to tell the reader about it? The most important accomplishments 
for a photographer is that a reader or viewer walks away with a new 
appreciation for something familiar or that their previous understanding 
of the world has been challenged and even changed. I think young 
photographers have a tendency to rely on gimmicks that are visually 
cool or make the image look unique. But stripped of the easy to employ 
techniques the images need to have value in and of themselves. Cool 
techniques are fine to use but their role should be to reinforce an 
already powerful moment. Over time technique fades and meaning deepens.

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While lost and unfocused in college, Scott Lewis discovered the power of photography and never looked back. After getting his Masters of Arts from the University of Missouri, Scott had the opportunity to establish the photographic vision and approach for a new weekly magazine-style newspaper, named Fox Valley Villages 60504 for the zip code it covered in suburban Chicago. While on staff there Scott was awarded with the NPPA's Region 5 Photographer of the Year; the POYi Community Awareness Award and several awards for picture editing and Best Use of Photography. Scott then brought his approach to community journalism to North Carolina as a staff photojournalist for The News & Observer in Raleigh, eventually moving to the Northeast with his wife in 2005. Among many other awards, he has also received a First Place in the World Press Photo contest and was a 2005 recipient of a Getty Images Grant for Editorial Photography for a project on the evolving range of expression, belief and community in the increasingly diverse spectrum of faith in the U.S.

Now based in Philadelphia, where he lives with his wife Caroline and kiddos Ari and Margot, Scott, 42, works for a diverse set of clients and subject matter.

http://www.scottlewisphotography.com/

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Next week on TID, we'll take a break from examining one image, and
discuss the mentality behind a collection of images from the conflict
in Libya by Greek photographer Angelos Tzortzinis

tease

As always, if you have a suggestion of someone, or an image you 
want to know more about, contact Ross Taylor at: [email protected].

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