Last Weeks Cover

door110

Hello Dear All,

Its not a montage as such...Its a printing I did.
So not photography and not much computer manip
(apart from some colour balance..blar blar blar).

also, here's some new stuff from the gallery. I hope
you are all OK, and I'm sorry I haven't been around
for a while.

All the Best to you all.

Dan.

Here are the links:

The cover image:
http://dan.mediaobjects.co.uk/p6278580.html

The Actual cover:
http://dan.mediaobjects.co.uk/p6279633.html

Some new stuff:
(the downfall)
http://dan.mediaobjects.co.uk/p6429663.html

(That's all folks)
http://dan.mediaobjects.co.uk/p6429665.html

(Disney's version of The Elephant Man)
http://dan.mediaobjects.co.uk/p6429777.html

There is more new stuff on the gallery. But I think
that's more than enough from me for now. I don't
want to bore you.

Cheers,

Dan.




http://dan.mediaobjects.co.uk/

damonff

Hi Dan...I love the Iwo Jima/Bush(Saddam) montage. Brilliant. The white flight cover is also very nice.

door110 wrote:

Hello Dear All,

Its not a montage as such...Its a printing I did.
So not photography and not much computer manip
(apart from some colour balance..blar blar blar).

also, here's some new stuff from the gallery. I hope
you are all OK, and I'm sorry I haven't been around
for a while.

All the Best to you all.

Dan.

Here are the links:

The cover image:
http://dan.mediaobjects.co.uk/p6278580.html

The Actual cover:
http://dan.mediaobjects.co.uk/p6279633.html

Some new stuff:
(the downfall)
http://dan.mediaobjects.co.uk/p6429663.html

(That's all folks)
http://dan.mediaobjects.co.uk/p6429665.html

(Disney's version of The Elephant Man)
http://dan.mediaobjects.co.uk/p6429777.html

There is more new stuff on the gallery. But I think
that's more than enough from me for now. I don't
want to bore you.

Cheers,

Dan.




http://dan.mediaobjects.co.uk/

door110

cheers Damon
Thanks as always for your support.
I'm glad you liked them.

Dan.

wxwax

Great stuff, Dan, thanks for sharing them with us. It is rather instructive to see how a spare image is filled-up by the type of a cover. Must be an interesting challenge, to make a strong design while keeping in mind the space needed for the type.

I can't explain why, but there's something about this one that I really like.

http://dan.mediaobjects.co.uk/p5515488.html

door110

Thanks Sid
yes the challenge as you pointed out is that
neg space or type area. I have to consider that
all the time, from taking a photo to the final montage.

Sometimes it is a REAL challenge...But it somehow always
get published every week...I don't know how..but it does.

Thanks Sid for stopping by.

All the best,

Dan.

(The god pictures montage is one of my personal best).

DJ-S1

Dan, how does the process work? Do you make the cover or is there a graphics dept. doing that? I'm just curious if they are constantly asking you "move this a little", etc. or if they just take your work as is and work around the openings you leave.

Also, what is the time frame like? Obviously someone is writing the cover story and creating the headline; how much notice do you get of the story line and title before you have to submit your finished image?

mercphoto

Ethics

door110 wrote:

Its not a montage as such...Its a printing I did. So not photography and not much computer manip
(apart from some colour balance..blar blar blar).

This reminds me of a story I read recently, I think in digital photo pro magazine or something, about ethics in photography. It was the first time I had heard the term "photo illustration". The guy who wrote the article teaches a photo ethics class in college, and the response he gets from the students these days troubles him. They seem much more willing to accept altered images and see no problem with that.

So where is the line? At what point is a manipulated image something that is no less harmful than a political cartoon, and when does it cross the line of being manipulative of the public?

The problem I see is that photographs are fundamentally different than cartoons, painting, drawings, etc. We are used to them being a capture of what is in front of us. We know that drawings are just that - drawings.

Examples cited in the article was a famous National Geographic cover with the Egyptian pyramids, where one pyramid was "moved" because it was the only way to get them all on the cover at the same time. Or a college in Wisconsin that added a black student's fact to a shot of white students to make them seem more diverse. Or the recent shots of John Kerry with Jane Fonda at an anti-Vietnam rally, which was composed from two separate and unrelated photos.

It was a good article. Made me think.

damonff

Photography is art...capture, manipulation or not...hype. It's all there. One shouldn't misrepresent for news photography...seems wrong.

door110

Deadlines

DJ-S1 wrote:

Dan, how does the process work? Do you make the cover or is there a graphics dept. doing that? I'm just curious if they are constantly asking you "move this a little", etc. or if they just take your work as is and work around the openings you leave.

Also, what is the time frame like? Obviously someone is writing the cover story and creating the headline; how much notice do you get of the story line and title before you have to submit your finished image?

The Magazine is a weekly, so the deadlines are very hard. I have a cover meeting with the editor on a Monday morning. He gives me two possible cover stories....(one of which nine times out of ten will be the cover. The other is back-up). There have been HORRIBLE times when both lead stories have been
pulled for legal reason. And that's the last thing you want to hear on a Tuesday morning a day before we go to press. So I have to work VERY fast
indeed. At first this was a real problem for me, but now I just step up a gear
by default.

When setting about the cover image I normally leave a hole for text either
left of top. Leaving space left is done so that when the mags are on the shelf in a newsagents people will still be able to read the title. (due to the way
most newsagents stack mags and papers).

Quark xpress, aside from PS, is probably the best computer program there is
and its how I put the image to the cover. I have to set coverlines and make
sure all is well. I even set the barcode. All this in two days.
Its a VERY tough job...But its very rewarding and certainly the best work
I have ever done.

Here's a thing for all of you...If ever your in London, around the Victoria area.
Glab a copy of the mag from a newsagents, turn to the contents page and phone the number at the bottom and ask for Dan. I would be more than happy to show you the world of the British media. If you have never seen it before
it will be an eye opener. I shouldn't really be doing this so don't, when and if you phone, say "Dan said it would be OK to take a look around". Just ask for me and I will come down and get you.

All the very best,

Dan.

gubbs

Dan, might just take you up on that next time I'm in London

DJ-S1

Thanks for the explanation (and the invitation). 2 days from concept to final product is nuts! At least you have control over the entire cover, setting that yourself must save some time in the long run. Nice work!

door110

cheers

DJ-S1 wrote:

Thanks for the explanation (and the invitation). 2 days from concept to final product is nuts! At least you have control over the entire cover, setting that yourself must save some time in the long run. Nice work!

I guess it does...and its a nutty deadline...but it gives me quite a buzz
doing it. You never know when, or how, you may slip up.
When you do the cover becomes media fodder itself....because we
sometime overstep the mark and start offending people.
But in the long run there's no such thing as bad press.

Here's something I did (for myself) this afternoon. I love having a go
at the big corps...this week its disney...they can be quite sick in there
subject matter "the hunchback" etc. So I try and take it on a step.

http://dan.mediaobjects.co.uk/p6505537.html

Thank you very much for stopping by.

All the best,

Dan.

wxwax

Brilliant stuff, Dan. And thanks very much for the discrete invite.

I've worked in American local TV news for many years, and am familiar with our version of the abbatoire of ethics, deadlines and questionable editorial decision making.

Your magazine obviously takes a strong point of view and doesn't pull any punches, which must be fun and frightening at the same time. It's enjoyable reading your provocative front pages. Do they take care of the type, or do they give you the copy to insert?

door110

hi sid
Its about 50 50 on the headlines..The Ed may have one which
he thinks is the way to go, or I may have one of my own.
I/we try not to pull any punches. That's the fun part of it.

American TV news, wow. I would love to try my hand in TV.
Now I bet that's an eye opener and no mistake.

Cheer mate.

Dan.