Even as newspapers struggle with their position on the internet, news photography is starting to find its legs online on a few key sites.
For example, my local paper just started a new photo blog. They're calling it Lens and it can be found on NY Times.com. The photography is predictably top shelf since it's the Old Grey Lady, but right now it's the design of the site that really stands out.
The blog is made with smooth-moving flash, allowing viewers to instantly see new images and new posts without waiting for the additional content to load. Also, Lens offers a fullscreen option, which eliminates all other onscreen distractions for the modern-day photophile. The overall feel is slick and expensive, which makes it somewhat surprising that the advertising is minimal and unobtrusive.
So far it looks as the Lens staffers are plucking a lot from the* Times*' greatest hits like James Estrin's five year-old human interest story, Fred R. Conrad's large-format contribution to the older incarnation of the Lens blog, and Stephen Crowley's behind-the-scenes at an Obama photo-op, which was a big hit on the photographer message boards a few months ago. Even Todd Heisler's homage to the plastic chair is made up of archived photos. However, it appears that they'll be adding their Pictures of the Day to keep things fresh.
It's a safe bet that this blog will be worth bookmarking judging by the usual quality of work on NYTimes.com: Right now, Todd Heisler'sOne in 8 Million is my favorite photo column on the web. Each week he offers a new multimedia story from an everyday New Yorker and each week it's beautiful. On the other side of the world, The Times' war photographer Tyler Hicks has been producing stunning slideshows detailing the struggle of American soldiers in Afghanistan, the best of which was An Ambush and Comrade Lost.
In the southern hemisphere, regular correspondent Moises Saman has been doing exclusive reporting in remote areas of Peru and Colombia, including this work Inside Peru's Cocaine War. While I'm at it, I can't help but mention my all-time favorite multimedia piece The Fallen, Paul Fusco's moving photographs from the train that carried Bobby Kennedy's body across the country, which premiered on the NYTimes.com last summer.
NYTimes.com isn't the only newspaper site posting good pictures on engaging blogs. Alan Taylor's Big Picture blog on the Boston Globe has been a hit among photographers and fans alike for a while now. The photos run nearly a 1000 pixels wide on targeted topics, making you an instant expert.
The Guardian does a weekly post called My Best Shot, asking photo greats about their favorite frames. On the come-up is the the Wall Street Journal, which just started printing front page photos above the fold just over a year ago. Now they're hiring a lot of next-generation photojournalists for exclusive coverage and running large edits on the web. It's mainly consists of well-picked Pictures of the Day, but with stories like Dominic Nahr's Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt work it's worth a look. (Disclosure: Bryan Derballa freelances for the Wall Street Journal).
With Lens added to the growing number of evolving sites on the web for displaying quality photo-journalism and the recent release of the new Times Reader, the New York Times seems to be on the forefront of web news experimentation. Someone over there understands that the web can be a resource to layout and format instead of a hindrance.
I love a printed photo as much as anyone else. My bookshelf is dangerously close to toppling under the weight of collected monographs. I'm not beyond ripping out one of my own photos from a magazine or newspaper to send to mom or hang on the refrigerator. But my voracious appetite for photography exceeds the tangible. I'm thankful the newspaper blogs for providing scores of powerful photos beaming across my brightly-lit screen to satiate the photojournalism nerd within.
First photo: Todd Heisler/New York Times, Lens
Second photo: Moises Saman for The New York Times, Inside Peru's Cocaine War
Third photo: Dominic Nahr for The Wall Street Journal, WSJ.com Photo Journal
