My thoughts

So in my web journalism class this evening we watched a presentation Mike Rosenblum gave in London and started commenting on a statement he made. Then I made a statement and I think it was starting to get blown out of proportion... We were talking about video and multimedia, and Rosenblum said that it's so easy a 9 year old can do it.

I agreed...

To an extent. I do believe anyone can do this job if they really wanted to. I don't think it's entirely easy to do though. Today, it is easier in many ways,  everything is smaller, and very very accessible, and that's a major problem newspapers are having. I would never ever discredit my art, my work, and my passion. Simply put, anyone can do this. But, not everyone wants to. Not everyone wants to invest the loads and loads of time and loads and loads of money that it takes to get good at something like this.... And that's just talking about the technical half!  

Further, Rosenblum was talking to a bunch of seasoned journalists. Seasoned journalists that, as he stated, are scared to make a change. That's why he said a 9 year old can do it. NO, not everyone has the same ethical standards and creativity a good journalist has. And, much of that does take lots of training or lots of self motivation. But still, anyone can do this. Hell, I'm doing it right now, and I'm nothing special. Do I believe in natural abilities/ pure raw talent? Yes. Do I believe I have any? No. However, I always wanted to sing, but i'm completely tone deaf. I do believe with more than the three voice lessons I took and more self motivation, that I would have been able to sing. Probably not well, but i would have been. Any one can do it, but they might not be very good at it. 

I know pee wee football dads making home videos and using final cut pro. Good for them. My mother blogs, makes photographs, and owns a mac book pro. Go mom. There are soccer moms with more expensive cameras than me. Although that one can be frustrating, power to them. Everyone should embrace this amazing technology in front of us. Play around. Have fun. Because we have made it so accessible that anyone can do it. It's not an exclusive thing anymore. We've made it this way.

It is frightening because this is my profession. And I would never talk politics with a politician or ask to race Michael Phelps in the water (now in a car, that's a different story).  I am looking to make a living off of this and hopefully, some day, support a family. However, people need to get over that it is so accessible and stop sitting and complaining that the newspaper world has gone to hell and do something different and better ( I don't have any answers to this.).... But not everyone wants to. Many want to get paid for the same old thing they've been doing for 10/20 years. They had their plan. I don't blame them either. They worked hard to be where they are at. I spent my early career years (they're still really early who am I kidding), sticking to my guns. I'm a still photographer. Period. But, I didn't really know any better. It wasn't until I invested the time and money and blood sweat and tears to become a multimedia journalist.

 And when the next big thing comes along or if still ever completely dries out, I'm going to be right there trying to learn the next thing. But, that's the generation that I have grown up in. Technology changes faster than you can really get good at it sometimes. Who knows what the future has in store. We all need to get paid.. yes yes. But I love what I do, so I'm going to find a way to do it. 

Anyone can do anything, but not everyone wants to. Plain and simple. 

I'll stop ranting, but there's so much more i want to say. 

Can't we all just... tell stories? :-)