Why photographers aren't writers....

Here's an AP cutline sent today and posted by the Freep.... not picking on the Freep. Could have been any paper.
"Former Pittsburgh Steelers running back Jerome Bettis, left, and Tiger Woods embrace on the 18th hole after completing play in the Pro-Am day for the Buick Open golf tournament at Warwick Hills Golf & Country Club in Grand Blanc, Mich., Wednesday. (CARLOS OSORIO/Associated Press)"

Would someone tell me who is on the left and where exactly the embrace is?

 

Frankly it looks like they're lining up a putt or whatever.

With AP, you really have to rely on your judgment and not what they write. Simple stuff, like describing somebody as "chipping" out of a bunker, when that's not typically what you do from there. Etc.

 

Note: This has been fixed on the home page, to show they are lining up a putt. However, when you click on the link for a larger photo, the original cutline still remains...\


Nice job all around.....

 

Even though newspapers are paying AP to write and send correct material.

This has to be the only product in the United States that's sent broken to the users, who are just expected to fix it.

 

Come on guys, you know what you're getting. Anyone who uses AP cutlines in the paper (or on the web site) deserves what they get. Someone use a fraction of your brain and write your own cutlines. It's pretty freakin' easy. I started at a paper no too long ago and was stunned to watch them just cut and paste AP cutlines onto the page. Even if the information is all correct, surely you can write better cutlines than AP. You can use cutlines to be creative, provide information that's not in the story, have a little fun, etc. Come on guys, just takes a minute to write a cutline.

That is all.

 

They don't let photographers write cutlines at my shop. We, the reporters, have to write them, and 99.99% of the times, it's a responsibility we really could do without.

 

That's what happens when newspapers hire people with no initiative. In their mind, cutting and pasting AP cutlines IS the job.

 

When I've been at dailies I always re-wrote AP cutlines. That's half the fun.

 

When I was at a place where I (not the photog) wrote the cutlines, I bitched and moaned and grumbled (well, I wasn't there, I don't know what the picture's of).
Now that I'm at a place where the photogs (not me) write the cutlines, I bitch and moan and grumble ("that's so boring," or "he has no idea what the story's about").
Either way, I guess I can't win. 

 

This is a bit odd, considering how long I've been around. But I've never worked at a place where the photographers wrote cutlines -- except in extremely rare circumstances where they participated in the process for some big photo spread or something -- and I've never been at a place that cut-and-pasted AP cutlines. From the under-20,000 place to the million-plus place, the desk always wrote the cutlines. I kind of assumed it was that way everywhere, surprised to find it isn't.

 

I think a photographer should, for sure at a sporting event, get a copy of the roster and should be able to ID properly every time. It's an example of pure laziness on the photog's part. As for AP, yeah, they aren't known for great cutlines. Ugh.

 

Maybe, but AP photographers DO and SHOULD have to write cutlines... they dont have to be perfect, but Jebus,,, they should somewhat accuratly reflect what is going on... chipping out of the bunker is one thing... confusing Tiger Woods with Jerome Bettis and a non-existent arm around the other is another