A new year always means a presentation by the Seattle Times, celebrating their Pictures of the year and Videos of the year. Predictably, this year's event wasn’t held in person, so instead of arriving extra early to make sure we get a good seat, we settled down on the couch to watch the show. The video is available online.
Because of the past year's news events, the event's tone was more subdued than usual. All of the photo and video journalists were given time, which meant none of them went into as much depth as usual when only two journalists are in the spotlight. The changes worked well for an online program.
The whole world was scrambling with what best practices would be at the beginning of the pandemic, and the Times' staff were no different. The editors were able to procure a lot of PPE for the staff, and the photo and video journalists were able to find creative ways to continue with their work. They shot through windows and doorways as well as across yards and streets. The consensus was that they missed being able to get close to the subjects, and it was harder to make a personal connection with people.
The staff also had to learn as they went during the protests. They needed to keep safe while also diving in to find the story.
Sports photography was also different. There were no fans in the stadiums and journalists weren't allowed on the sidelines. Not only did the need to almost always use long lenses change the look of a lot of the photos, being in the stands meant the angle was different. While it allowed them to isolate specific players, it was harder to give a larger context. Of course, shooting from above meant the empty stands weren't in the background of the photos. Apparently, the piped-in crowd sounds were nowhere near as loud as having people in the stadium, even though it sounded loud to viewers at home.
Drone photography was highlighted as something they were trying to do more of. It was emphasized that the drone was always flown according to the laws, such as always to the side of people on the ground. What surprised me is it was a relatively low-cost drone, but one that was still able to capture somewhat good photos.
As usual, there was a question and answer session. There were only a few photographers who ended up joining that segment, but it eliminated the perceived need to have each person answer every question. This time, questions were moderated by a member of the Seattle Public Library. That ended up a good thing since she did a good job at filtering out the gear-related questions which show up every year (and seem to be pretty much the same).
Having a remote event changed the feel of the presentation. In addition to not having the reactions of the crowd, the image quality was quite a bit lower, due to the technical limitations of streaming video. Fortunately, we had seen the photos through the year, in the end-of-year magazine, and on the Pictures of the Year site. The Times did the best they could given the circumstances, and it turned out well.
