Haiti Photos: Creating Art Out of Horror

Dirck Halstead's Digital Journalist is down but not out. After Canon withdrew financial sponsorship, it looked as though the online magazine would have to pull the plug after more than a decade of covering photojournalism, and that the December/January issue might have been its last.

The staff is still searching for corporate funding -- and accepting financial contributions from readers via its homepage Paypal button. But it has forged ahead with its February/March issue, now online with photographic coverage of the Haiti earthquake by Damon Winter of The New York Times and Shaul Schwarz of Reportage/Getty Images.

"We chose to profile their work because not only have they produced memorable images," writes Halstead, "but in a way they have created art out of horror."

Our executive editor, Ron Steinman, takes issue with those who object to seeing the many shocking images from Haiti in print and on Web sites. Also from Ron, a Q&A session with freelance American TV cameraman Tim Cothren, who was working in Haiti for the German TV channel N24.

Jim Hubbard, who has been one of the leading advocates of teaching children to take photographs of their environment – "participant photography" – writes that there is no better time than now, nor place than Haiti, to provide citizens with cameras in order for them to document the rebuilding of their shattered country.

E-Bits Editor Beverly Spicer scoured television broadcast and online media to get a comprehensive take on events in Haiti. She presents multiple links to photo galleries, video and news reports.

And there's lots more, including an update on the publication's highly regarded 2010 Platypus Workshops for DSLR Video Journalism, Multimedia and Filmmaking.

"This year, we are switching to the Canon 7D DSLR," notes Halstead. "This camera is a breakthrough for filmic video."

There is only a week left to register for the Las Vegas workshop, April 2–11, at the Flamingo Hotel. It precedes the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Expo, April 12–15, at the Las Vegas Convention Center, which videojournalists are advised to attend.

Other upcoming Platypus Workshops:

Prague, Czech Republic: July 9–18.

Rockport, Maine: July 25–August 3.

Workshop info here.

The Digital Journalist here.