EPJ Mulitmedia Critique II

Tom Nagel

April 8, 2011

Electronic Photojournalism

Individual Photojournalist Multimedia Critique

Benjamin Krain is a staff photographer at Arkansas Democrat­-Gazette, and his name is on the short list of a Google search for photojournalist. His website, www.benjaminkrain.com, is much like what my classmates and I are creating in EPJ class. That is a means to present our portfolio and be contacted for work or otherwise.

Being that the website is a presentation of himself and his work, he has created an interesting way via Flash, I believe, of including audio with his images to make a multimedia piece.

His website includes well arragned and content driven galleries. His portrait series called “who” focus on the many walks of life in Afghanistan from child laborers, to soldiers, to opium addicts. This gallery is an interesting contrast to his photo essay “Reconstructing Afghanistan”, which tells the story of that war-torn country.

Yet, back to his presentation of self in a portfolio website, I’ve been considering what could be called a cover letter to a resume or personal statement. As far as I’ve imagined, it’s important to compose honest and effective words and find a proper section to put it under along with “contact” and “about me”Making light of the fact that photojournalist is a humanist who must self promote for a paycheck, he’s called this resume section “hype”. The multimedia is where he’s presented a personal statement as a four part audio interview of himself. A voice is asks him questions and we hear Krain, who has a charming voice, respond to and describe why he is photographer, how he works, and his opinion on things like deadlines and good advice.

Humorously, the background to the interview is a photo of what might be a toy shelf in the third world or perhaps a carnival shooting gallery. In the photo, an image of Scooby Doo is repeatedly painted on wood blocks that line four shelves. I think shooting gallery because some of these block have been knocked over.

I imagine that Krain, who expresses excellent ideas in his interview, is commenting on the job interview process from the perspective of the interviewer. What stands out from all the possible candidates, or in the case of a Google search, is Krain’s responses to questions and his ability to articulate thoughts more profoundly than 100 Scooby Doos.