By Mark Pynes
Director of Photography
The Patriot-News, Harrisburg, Pa.
Photo editors from five states and the District of Columbia gathered May 4 at The Philadelphia Inquirer for the first Associated Press Photo Managers Northeast seminar. Speakers included Tom Kennedy, of washingtonpost.com, who spoke on photojournalism content on news websites; Jamie O'Boyle, a senior analyst with a Philadelphia-based think tank spoke on consumerism and how to recognize what readers need and want in their news; and Philadelphia Inquirer photographer David Swanson showed images and answered questions about his recent two-month assignment in Iraq.

Planning is under way for the 2005 APPM Northeast seminar. Contact Mark Pynes at 1 (717) 255-8488 or mpynes@pnco.com with comments or ideas.

About 30 photographers, photo editors and managers gathered for the all-day seminar hosted by Clem Murray, director of photography at The Inquirer and organized by Mark Pynes, director of photography at The Patriot-News, Harrisburg, Pa; Naomi Halperin, director of photography at The Morning Call in Allentown, Pa., and Pim Van Hemmen, assistant managing editor for photography at The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J.

O'Boyle, an analyst with Cultural Studies & Analysis, opened the morning session talking about topics as varied as cultural perception, what cues value and what drives consumer choice. For example there are assumptions Americans make that aren't necessarily held by those born in another culture:

• Authority or "bigness" in a company should be viewed with suspicion.
  
• All actions should be judged in a moral light.
  
• We should have as many choices as possible.
  
• Anything can and should be improved.
  
• The future should be better than the present.

O'Boyle also talked about how most businesses that lose market share assume there is a problem with the customer (reader) and not that there might be a problem with the product (newspaper.) He showed a chart that outlined the basic characteristics of the different stages in life that gives insight into what appeals to that 18-35 year old demographic and why newspapers are having trouble reaching them.

Kennedy, who is managing editor for Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive showed images and videos from the washingtonpost.com and talked about his work building up visual content on the website. He talked about visual content being the linchpin to a story. Most of the still photojournalism content comes from The Washington Post editorial staff or from the wires. His staff produces most of the video and sound content.

He talked about the ongoing work to improve coordination between the newspaper and news Web site and how, with shrinking new space, the Web gives photojournalism a good outlet for showing good work.

The afternoon eye-opener was a powerful show of images and spoken words by David Swanson from his two month stint in Iraq. He was on assignment for The Inquirer and Knight Ridder Tribune. During his time in country he spent two weeks on patrol with U.S. troops outside Fallujah and his unit got caught up in a firefight in which he was slightly wounded. Swanson talked about the logistics of his trip and his interaction with U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians.

The seminar ended with a panel discussion with Halperin and Van Hemmen, who were joined by Fred Sweets, senior photo editor/recruiting and training for The Associated Press. The panel talked about the need for photographers to forge closer relationships with other departments in the newsroom and asked those attending the seminar to share success they have had in their newsrooms. Those successes ranged from planning photo stories six to eight months out; weekly critiques to help photographers improve their work; photographers coming up with their own centerpiece stories and photos each week; in-house workshops on topics like food styling to help facilitate team building between photo, design and features departments and for managers to clear obstacles that keep photographers from making great photojournalism.