Story elements and more Halal photos and video

An ideal news article has three elements: Text, photos and multimedia features. Over the past few years I’ve been working to put together a toolkit that would allow me to produce each of those elements for Recordnet.com and The Record.

The first item in the kit was a MacBook Pro for writing text while out of the office, if necessary. Then a Pentax K200 digital camera was added for taking photos. This Christmas I was able to complete the kit with a Flip HD camera for multimedia.

My first test of the kit came Jan. 5, when I brought my cameras to the Andrew Jackson Jihad concert at the Plea for Peace Center in Stockton. It resulted in a blog about weeknight entertainment in the city that you can find here.

I discovered that producing the text and video for the blog was relatively easy, as I have experience with both. Taking photos, however, was a challenge that involved making a complicated connection between the light, the subject and the technology of the camera. It’s as much of an art as it is a science, and it gave me additional respect for the great news photogs I know and admire.

My latest photography test came last week, when I collected content for a LENS story about the Halal vending truck on Center Street between Acacia and Poplar streets. I took photos of the truck’s owner, Dock Mateen, in addition to shooting video that I intended to post on Recordnet.com. I also used the video as notes for the text of a story for The Record.

The photos were taken in the truck, where the brightest light source was a heating lamp. Most of the photos that I took without a flash were too dark for print, as you can see by the photo below at left. When I used my flash the photos appeared too flat, as seen by the photo below at right.

After shooting several unusable photos I found it was best to try and capture Mateen within two feet of the heating lamp. The orange light was perfect for adding depth and range to his features and bringing out his personality.

In the end I shot about 140 photos. When I returned to the office I deleted about 100 shots that were too dark, too light or blurry. The photo at right was selected to appear in print; you can find the story on Recordnet.com here.

There were a few other shots I really liked that didn’t make the paper or Recordnet.com, including the photo below.

I’ve got a few other stories planned in which I hope to provide each of the three elements; I’ll blog about my efforts as they are published.

I’ll close with this b-roll of Mateen cooking catfish in his vending truck. You can watch him discuss Halal and cook a chicken sandwich in the Recordnet.com video here.