Here are 3 new articles from Aaron Hockley

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• College Newspapers: Still Teaching Obsolescence
• My New Photo Book: Alcatraz Views is Now Available
• Square Photography: Learn the Square Format with Andrew Gibson’s New Book

College Newspapers: Still Teaching Obsolescence Posted: 29 Nov 2011 08:30 AM PST In casual online conversation, I recently saw reference to a daily print newspaper at Oregon State University. At first I recalled stories of college papers, and then it hit me: why the hell are college newspapers still being printed on paper? For years we’ve watched and talked about the implosion of traditional media outlets including the dead-tree newspaper. Whereas newspapers once served as the cornerstone of news both local and global, they’re now viewed as an ineffective means for delivering the news. The logistics of the print newspaper cycle, coupled with the economic realities of a world in which global news travels at the speed of the internet, make the traditional print distribution model obsolete and financially unsustainable. Note that I differentiate between the print newspaper and journalism. Journalism is a practice; newspapers are a delivery mechanism. Colleges ought to be focusing on teaching journalism and doing so in an appropriate manner which will best prepare students for life in the post-university “real world”. Teaching students how to produce a print newspaper is teaching them to be obsolete. Students should be learning electronic distribution through modern content management systems. Future journalistic success won’t come from print newspapers; the reporters who will become notable will be those who can publish quality work rapidly through electronic means while using social media tools for two-way relationships with their audience. That is what should be taught at colleges.

My New Photo Book: Alcatraz Views is Now Available Posted: 28 Nov 2011 08:00 AM PST I’m excited to announce that my new photo book Alcatraz Views is now available for sale. I’ve always been intrigued with the stories of “The Rock”; Alcatraz Views brings together a collection of my interesting photos of Alcatraz along with explanatory captions that provide insight into the stories behind the photos. With a history including time as a military fort, then a prison, and now a tourist attraction, Alcatraz offers a variety of photographic scenes and stories. If your holiday gift list includes history buffs or anyone who appreciates interesting photography, Alcatraz Views would be a great gift. Alcatraz Views is available either as a printed book or electronically for iBooks for viewing on an iPad or iPhone.

Square Photography: Learn the Square Format with Andrew Gibson’s New Book Posted: 27 Nov 2011 11:00 AM PST Andrew S. Gibson delivered a great book on photo composition earlier this month with his title for Craft & Vision called Beyond Thirds. In my review of Beyond Thirds, I noted that he did a great job of exploring both the how and why of photographic composition in order to create more powerful images. Gibson has released another book related to composition, this one simply titled Square. Subtitled “the digital photographer’s guide to the square format”, I found the book to be a quite interesting. Where Beyond Thirds provides a good 30-page overview of a variety of composition techniques, Square really dives into detail with around 50 pages devote solely to exploration of square images. The book flows in a smooth fashion, starting appropriately enough with the history of the square format and a look at the cameras and films which pioneered square photography. Given that most current cameras produce rectangular images, some time is spent in discussion of cropping to a square format and the best method for doing so. The meat of the book focuses on composition tips for using the square format, including a look at design, balance, shape, framing, and color (and the lack thereof). Because of the history of square images in the world of fine art photography, there is a good discussion of how the format can support a photographer making a statement or telling a story within the image. The changed shape of the photo means that the composition rules usually used in rectangular photography don’t always apply. One example called out is the rule of thirds, which often looks overly forced in a square image. Short sections are devoted to diptyches/triptyches, Holga lenses, and the current popularity of Instagram which uses a square-formatted image. Two case studies are interspersed; each features a photographer who has become prolific with square photography. The book contains three appendices for square post-processing. The first discusses cropping techniques. The second deals with creating vertoramas (stitching two horizontal images into a square vertical panorama), and the third explains how to add a basic black border to an image. I found Square to a great read, one which has me thinking a lot about creating more images in a shape that’s not native to my camera gear. I occasionally crop to square such as the image along with this post, but I suspect I’ll be doing it a bit more in the future. You can buy Square for only $5.00 from author Andrew S. Gibson. If you order by 11/30, use discount code square20 to save 20%.

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