I was totally blown away this morning in my photo editing class. We were reviewing one another’s video work and the quality of the videos produced by my classmates — some of them are undergraduates — was just amazing.

At the beginning of the semester, I was upset that the size of the class is way too big for a graduate course, which I still hope the college can do something about for future students. We had to split the class into two sessions -  very inconvenient for both the professor and the students. However, the popularity of the class indicates a certain amount of need, and the need is compatible with the desired skills that a photojournalist should acquire before entering this field. I was sorry for the oversized class, but I was surprised to find out that after a whole semester’s struggle, we beautifully survived. So many talented work evolved and my eyes grew wide with excitement. We also took advantage of this opportunity to team up with some undergraduates, which personally turned out to be a pleasant experience. Check out some of the videos here, here, and here . View with full screen mode, please!

It might not yet be professional or perfect, but for someone who learned the techniques for the first time, this is a promising start. I used to keep myself away from video, because as a photojournalist, I’m always longing for sharpness, high quality images and the “decisive moment,” which cannot be well represented in videography. But time has changed, technology has made high-end video cameras cheaper and cheaper while the public has shown increasing interest in video stories in recent years. If still photography is more or less a product of the print era, video seems naturally existing for the digital era. Needless to say, traditional print journalism is facing a historic challenge nowadays (some website even began to make fun of how to recycle newspaper boxes). The following picture from Boston Globe now vividly reminds us of a nostalgic print era.

The convergence of media has made the distinctions between broadcast journalism and photojournalism disappear quickly and being able to make videos seems to be a must-have skill for young photojournalists who want to pursue a career in any related field. Some journalist in Scotland was even suspended by the organization he worked for just because he refused to shoot video. We do spend a lot of time getting familiar with all kinds of digital toys in class, and I believe many print journalism majors have to learn how to use these tools as well.

The photojournalism curriculum seems highly concentrated on teaching the digital tools, which I hope will benefit graduates. However, I’m still nervous about entering the job market as the program has only two weeks left. Maybe I’m not the only one puzzled by the question of mastering the tools versus mastering the art of storytelling. In my heart, it’s the latter that matters more, so I’m not a big fan of becoming a jack-of-all-trades. But since the importance of video and other tools are so overwhelming, to spend time and money on it seems an inevitable choice for most of us. The problem lies in how you balance the time invested in the two parts. Now I find myself stuck in the trap of learning the tools instead of pursuing the stories. In Chinese, there’s a word called 本末倒置，roughly translated as “to put the cart before the horse” – that’s what I’m feeling one month before I’m graduating from this program.

When I was reviewing my multimedia portfolio with a professor, he told me that the potential readers wouldn’t be interested in why my classmates wanted to become photojournalists, or how the economy has affected students’ lives, etc. (Those are the multimedia pieces I did over the past three months for in-class exercises.) I know it might not be of enormous interest to others, but it’s the only thing I got so far. Just like most of the students, we have three different shooting classes this semester, which requires us to constantly move around. The courses also require me to learn QuarkXpress, FinalCutPro, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, Audacity and InDesign… to name a few (phew!). So when will I have time to follow an in-depth story that is exquisitely produced by the new media I’m not yet familiar with? We did some simple topic just because we want to spend time on getting familiar with tools, and now I know a little bit about every new tool, just I’m still not confident enough about my ability to produce a high-quality multimedia story.

This morning’s peer work review somehow gave me some hope. Although we are fledgling photojournalism students without rich experience, there’s such energy and potential in most of us. The choice between learning all the tools and concentrating on the basics is still haunting me. Maybe you will have an answer?