Pithy Dispatches from the Thinking Man's Photog
Joined April 2008
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28 Aug 2022
Some of y’all have never worked all day to make a person you don’t like very much look like an expert on a subject neither of you know much about and it shows.
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I'm old enough to remember when TV journalists were considered kinda cool.
"Murphy Brown" ended all of that in the early 90's, of course, but in recent years, news crews are more often met with spite, derision and ridicule...
Maybe it's my giant foam cowboy hat.
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Jun 14
Things Heard in a TV Newsroom…
“The stinky cheese people won’t play ball.”
“FIRE! Let’s get as close to it as we can!”
“Ed’s cutting llama boy!”
“Highway‘s jammed! Why isn’t he there yet?”
“Yvonne can’t do the homicide, she’s got a write day.”
“Audio sucks… turn it up.”
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Jun 13
“You go to crime scenes, stuff like that?”
“Sure do,” I told the waitress, “Homicides, hurricanes, holiday parades….”
“I don’t think I’d have the stomach for that.”
“Yeah, some of those floats are pretty ridiculous.”
Don’t think I’m getting those lemon wedges I asked for.
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Jun 12
A large swath of the country is enduring triple digit temps.
You know what that means.
Photogs wearing floppy hats, reporters clutching big thermometers and anchors fighting heat exhaustion as they step out on the weather patio to close out the show.
It’s a jungle out there.
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Jun 11
Doc asked if I thought my job had left me emotionally scarred.
Told him I’d coped with the drive by shootings and cadaver searches, but then I told him what it was like to get man on the street interviews outside shopping malls.
He was shaking pretty badly by the time I left.
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Jun 9
I just watched a local newscaster spend three minutes explaining how it gets hot in the summer.
We’re writing our own eulogy.
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Jun 1
In recognition of Pride Month, we here at the Lenslinger Institute would like to say that the only orientation we have any real problem with is vertical video - and we're working on that.
As for the other thing, you do you.
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May 30
HOT TAKE: If your station is still doing stories on Summer Safety Tips, you’re part of the reason local TV News is dying.
8 year olds walk around with all the world’s knowledge at their fingertips. People don’t need us to explain how to splash water on their face.
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May 27
TV News Crew Karma Check...
Count up all the New Years Day babies you’ve put on TV and divide it by the number of times you’ve waited at a roadside memorial for grieving teens to arrive.
Now forget all that math and find a way to help somebody.
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Lenslinger retweeted
May 23
We'd like to take a moment to remember one of WISH-TV's very own. Steve Sweitzer died May 21, 2026, surrounded by his loved ones. For more than three decades, Sweitzer led the station's photography team as chief photographer and news operations manager.
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May 19
Did you know?
Every time a person bends at the waist and does that crouch-walk thingie past a TV camera, a photog finds a battery.
It’s science. Look it up.
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May 15
Feeling’ cute, might tweak a few photogs’ schedules, figure out some sports coverage, fix an MMJ’s microphone and quietly reflect on my once adventurous TV News career.
Happy Friday!
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May 14
Dynamic Duos: Reporters And Photographers - Behind The Lens youtu.be/KF9ZYfwiskg?si=s0WX… via @YouTube
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May 7
Went to a new restaurant the other day. On the wall, a TV showed the newscast of another local station.
The top story was an amalgamation of floating wide shots, held together by random jump cuts. The second was a string of talking heads, most unfocused.
Ruined the whole meal.
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May 6
“OK, in the next News Olympics event, crews will spread out in the city, thwart the ruling class, lift up the sick and shine a righteous light on pockets of resistance!
I’m kidding. Slap a look-live on last night’s package and get outta here. We’re de-lousing the parking lot.”
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May 4
Me in 1989: “I just want one of those new betacams, learn the long end of the lens, figure out that shutter thing they do with the chopper blades...”
Me Today: "See if any bystanders can shoot video of the space aliens with their phones! Make sure they sign releases!"
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Apr 30
You meet some real fruits in this business. Or maybe he's a vegetable. I dunno. We didn't talk politics.
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Apr 24
The FULL episode of Behind The Lens featuring Stephen Lynch airs NEXT week. For now, here's a clip in which we talk about how much we both enjoyed our time at FOX8 WGHP-TV...
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Apr 21
A recent study shows more journalists than ever are suffering “burn-out”.
Hmmm... I’ve spent three decades arriving early, doubling back, chasing sound and making slot remember my name.
I ain’t had time to burn-out
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