“When capturing motion and stills for use in multimedia it is essential to record all subjects in wide, medium and close-up shots,” Mary Lynn Price told me recently. As a video journalist focusing on “one-man-band” reporting, Price uses all three perspectives to carefully construct rich reporting experiences. One great example is her “Conserving Shackleton’s Historic Hut in Antarctica,” which she produced in 2008 for “Women Working in Antarctica.”
“The wide shot is the establishing shot, the medium shot clearly shows the subject, and the close-ups give us the ‘wow’ factor,” Price explains. She uses all of these to her storytelling advantage throughout “Shackleton’s Historic Hut.”
Even though it’s only five minutes, “Shackleton’s Historic Hut” asks a lot from Web viewers with short, fickle attention spans. Price holds our interest by presenting as much information as many, slower-paced TV documentaries would in a half hour.
Photojournalists (and many other photographers, not to mention “regular ole people”) will be well aware of Wright, especially since she gained a broader audience with her recent book, “Learning to Breath.”
The reason I point portraitists to Wright is because regardless of what country she finds herself in (a lot), Wright focuses on the people—and does so with incredible, respectful sensitivity. But that can be said of many photographers. What’s particularly great for portraitists is that Wright often turns her surroundings into backdrop-like studio environments, and her images have an intensity and sense of calm that many portrait photographers would like to bring to a commercial session.
An important extra bonus is that Wright’s site is Flash-driven and well conceived, allowing one (you!) to just sit back and go for a quick, inspiring ride.
