Case Study: The Poynter Institute

Industry:  Education / Photojournalism
Organization:  The Poynter Institute
Web site:  http://www.poynter.org/
Organization Profile:  The Poynter Institute is a school dedicated to teaching and inspiring journalists and media leaders. It carries forward Nelson Poynter’s belief in the value of independent journalism in the public interest. Founded in 1975 in St. Petersburg, Florida, Poynter Institute is beholden to no interest except its own mission: to help journalists seek and achieve excellence.
Application:  Photo Mechanic™ from Camera Bits
Application Summary:  Photo Mechanic enables students to efficiently browse, caption and manage digital images.

Photo Mechanic Transforms Classrooms into Newsrooms

Kenny Irby has been working with Photo Mechanic, a photo browser and workflow accelerator, from the very beginning. Kenny, a classically trained photojournalist and designer, first met Dennis Walker, founder & president/CEO of Camera Bits, at a National Press Photographers Association event and was inspired by his work on the beta version of the program. Kenny had transitioned from the busy Newsday newsroom to the Poynter Institute in 1995 to be the group leader for Visual Journalism, and once Photo Mechanic became available in 1998, he knew he had to get Dennis’ software into the classroom.

“I had used standard Kodak software while I was with Newsday, and it was always lacking in important areas,” said Kenny. “Photo Mechanic was such a relief. I have been continually impressed and pleased with the software, and it was shortly after using Photo Mechanic for the first time that I realized it could transform our classrooms into fully-functioning newsrooms by improving workflow.”

Challenges and Solutions

In the deadline-driven environment of photojournalism, speed and time are critical success factors. While workflow has generally improved with technology, the challenge of assigning metadata to images has continued to account for far too many man hours. “Metadata is just as important as the actual photos it’s assigned to,” said Kenny. “Without the proper documentation of who, what, when, where, why and how, images are virtually unusable. Photo Mechanic was the first, and is arguably the best, solution to instantly batch-caption images, drastically reducing time spent with organization and improving workflow.”

Another challenge for photojournalists is being kept in the idea stream of the newsroom as they work with their images. “That’s why Photo Mechanic is so important,” Kenny said. “The combination of Photo Mechanic and Photoshop creates the only darkroom the modern photojournalist requires, so they’re no longer removed, or kept in the dark, from the news frenzy that feeds good journalism. The software is an integral part of our courses – especially so in the summer when students produce a weekly Web magazine.”

For over a decade, Kenny has worked closely with Dennis to test, refine and improve Photo Mechanic, while several thousand students have had the opportunity to work with the software at Poynter and recognize it as the premier image editing and organizational solution. “Photo Mechanic’s features are unmatched,” said Kenny. “The drag-and-drop tool, the speed of ingest, the slideshow capabilities – they all remove the need for additional products. Many other companies have adopted these concepts from Photo Mechanic. While it can be imitated, it certainly cannot be duplicated.”