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Riding on the edge between Photojournalism and Documentary Photography, professional photographer Greg Knobloch of Hiram Georgia pursues his art and craft every day, often under extreme pressure. After all, his work is seen and used by literally thousands and perhaps millions of people as he documents the daily struggles and successes of research scientists, politicians, doctors, adults and children– people from all walks of life. Greg is the only contract photographer for the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) here in Atlanta. Technically he works for Computer Sciences Corporation but in reality he spends his working hours serving the CDC. While his bio-medical coworker usually concentrates on Microbiology using photomicroscopy, Greg concentrates on recording the people and events surrounding world health-oriented scientific research.

People– it’s people doing  things that I shoot mostly. These research scientists, doctors and support personnel are a very dedicated group of altruistic people whose sense of mission is amazing," says Knobloch. "They could have chosen much more financially rewarding jobs in the private sector but they find their rewards in serving humanity and working with their collegues here at the CDC. It is my job to record and depict– in whatever way I can– the daily goings-on there.

Those "daily goings-on" are often in the forefront of national and international news as scientists work feverishly to prepare for the next big epidemic of diseases such as influenza. A Google search on Greg’s name will quickly bring up a wide variety of his work for important organizations such as the United States Department of Health & Human Services and the CDC NCEH National Center for Environmental Health. 

Here we see Greg’s photo of Secretary of Health & Human Services Mike Leavitt looking at the H5N1 virus on an Electron microscope. This is the notorious "bird flu" strain. Greg is called upon daily to photograph dignitaries, visiting scientists and doctors, and people from all over the world who take part in researching, fighting and preventing a variety of diseases. Sometimes he photographs new medical devices developed by CDC doctors and scientists in the course of their studies.

People often wonder if Knobloch is at personal risk since he (like so many dedicated CDC employees) works with scientists in close physical proximity to some very potent diseases. The answer is "no." He stays outside the "high containment" areas and shoots his photographs at a safe distance through glass windows and walls that separate him from the activity inside the labs.

The number of requests for photographs coming from both inside and outside the CDC can be overwhelming with just two photographers available. According to Greg, they could easily use an additional photographer to handle the work load, so assignments are carefully scrutinized and prioritized.

One of the most interesting projects I’ve been involved with was the Pan Flu Epidemic Exercise," says Greg. "This was an exercise that concerned the CDC’s response to a serious Influenza Epidemic. It’s not really a question of ‘if’ an influenza epidemic will occur, but ‘when’ and the CDC works very hard with extensive planning to best be able to deal with such a serious outbreak. Much of what I covered occurred at the Emergency Operations Center which was visually very interesting. There  is a beehinve of activity.

In the course of Greg’s work, his photo duties provide opportunities to create a wide variety of visuals using whatever light is available on location. That is the photographer’s first duty, to observe the light available and make quick decisions as to what equipment is needed to compensate for any short-comings that the environment may pose. 

Sometimes he has the oppportunity to use flash equipment, but for many purposes he uses available light and a high ISO setting on either his 12 megapixel Nikon D2x or his Nikon D200 camera. 
Both feature Nikon’s advanced matrix metering (which emulates the Zone System) and an 18-200mm vibration-reduction (VR) lens. He says he can get good usable results up to ISO 1600 on either of these higher-end SLRs, depending upon how the picture will ultimately be used.  Using vibration reduction lenses allows him to take sharp pictures with very slow shutter speeds, as low as a 25th of a second hand-held.

In this presentation bar chart photo he has taken the opportunity to use only the light from the presentation projector to maximize the impact of the presenter’s subject matter. All of us discover sooner or later that flash photography doesn’t work in this situation. This image was used for a CDC print publication.

As we began this story, I mentioned that Greg is both a photojournalist and a documentary photographer. Both of these career definitions fall under the broader field of editorial photography. Editorial photography consists of photographs made to illustrate a story or idea within the context of a newspaper, magazine or other form of publishing. Photojournalism is a more specific subset of editorial photography:

According to the Wikipedia,

Photojournalism is a particular form of journalism (the collecting, editing, and presenting of news material for publication or broadcast) that creates images in order to tell a news story. It is now usually understood to refer only to still images, and in some cases to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (such as documentary photograpy, street photography or celibrity photography) by the qualities of:

• Timeliness – the images have meaning in the context of a published chronological record of events.

• Objectivity – the situation implied by the images is a fair and accurate representation of the events they depict.

• Narrative – the images combine with other news elements, to inform and give insight to the viewer or reader

Given this definition, much of what Knobloch does is photojournalistic. However, he states that his job involves "documenting" the daily proceedings of the CDC. The Wikipedia defines documentary photography in this way:

Documentary photography usually refers to a type of professional photojournalism, but it may also be an amateur or student pursuit. The photographer attempts to produce truthful, objective, and usually candid photography of a particular subject, most often pictures of people. The pictures usually depict a certain perspective of the photographer.

That last sentence is important because typically a photojournalist records and depicts reality just as a reporter would without manipulating the images other than exposure, contrast and minimal enhancements to make usable declarative images of facts and events. On the other hand, a documentarian takes a point of view, inserts an opinion, depicts a concept or perfects the visual image to make a statement, even if it is nothing more than using Photoshop on an image to brush the hair out of someone’s eyes.

Pure photojournalists are expected to leave things as they are originally recorded in presenting images as close to the unbiased truth as possible (although philosophers would argue that every point of view is biased). Some photojournalists refuse to crop their images for fear that their objectivity might be compromised. Documentarians are not bound by such rules and can present the subject matter in its best light. You might say that a documentarian depicts events to illustrate a point of view. Given this idea, a documentary photographer is permitted to elicit a visual expression without clear boundaries. This means that photo illustration and photo manipulation are certainly permitted and encouraged. Adobe Photoshop is in!

An organization such as the CDC and its huge matrix of related organizations certainly need newsworthy photojournalism, but they also need to illustrate and explain what is happening in the worlds of health and disease and this is what makes Knobloch’s career a photographer’s dream.

So how did Mr. Knobloch find his calling in photography? Born in Bay City, Michigan, he remembers being impressed at an early age by his father’s enthusiasm for taking color family photos. In the late ’70s, Greg graduated with a 4 year degree in business from Northwood University in Midland Michigan. Eventually he served an enlistment in the  armed forces in Korea where he began practicing the hobby of photography with a Nikon F2. 

 Upon arriving in Atlanta he entered the Art Institute of Atlanta where he studied photography for 2 years. After graduating he became a photo instructor and taught part time in the evening for many years at AIA while assisting professional photographers around Atlanta and freelancing on a variety of projects. This led to a 15 year position doing tourism and travel photography for the state of Georgia.

About 7 years ago Knobloch submitted his resume on-line to Monster.com and landed a position with a company that had a contract with the CDC, during a time when the federal government began outsourcing certain positions. Today he works for Computer Sciences Corporation who holds the current contract with the CDC.

A typical day for me might start with a photo session of a group of visiting doctors from Thailand, or perhaps a meeting of legislators. Then I might cover a conference or set up in the studio for a photo of a lady at a table eating cereal with folic acid additives. During the day I might be required to take a number of people and face shots for use in CDC publications. I almost always photograph people, lots of them– scientists in labs, high profile doctors studying a variety of topics such as hepatitis. I might take a portrait of a medical officer, be whisked away to make anothrer group photo. The people I work with every day are cooperative, appreciative and are just plain nice folks.

Some of Greg’s CDC photographs are available free of charge to the public as part of the Public Health Image Library (PHIL). This extensive image collection is copyright free for the most part. It is useful to scientific and legal communities, health care providers, teachers, trainers, photo librarians and researchers, biomedical and public relations personnel, students and consumers. Just follow the link to a great image resource.

Photographers are always in need of portable light sources. For flash equipment Knobloch frequently carries 3 Nikon speedlights with him. He finds their built-in wireless controls a necessity. He usually uses one light on camera for fill, trying not to use it as the main light if at all possible.

As I mentioned earlier, Greg is taken with his Nikon DSLRs (Digital Single Lens Reflex cameras). Once he figured out that he can use a high quality SLR with an ISO of 800 to 1600, a VR (vibration reduction) lens and slow shutter speeds in low light, he stopped taking along a tripod. He also uses constant aperture Nikkor F2.8 zoom lenses. He relishes the instant feedback that digital cameras provide to insure that he gets the shot every time. He hasn’t used a film camera in quite some time.

Greg’s personal work shows his passion for macro, pet and abstract photography. For him, its not just a career, its a lifestyle. He enjoys using Photoshop masks, layers and curves to bring out the subtle changes and nuances that make up fine art imagery. Here are a few of his personal favorites:

Knobloch takes his self-assignments seriously. One of the CDC influences apparent in Greg’s work is his fascination with macro photography. When time permits he explores the worlds inside worlds, especially insects. His equipment includes a lens-mounted wireless  Nikon R1D1 close-up speedlight system which can comes with 2 Nikon R-200 speedlight units, but can easily hold 3 or more flash heads with colored filters attached to enhance definition and add color to various parts of tiny subjects. As you can see from the center column of photos above, Greg has several cats which provide him an endless treasure trove of interesting imagemaking opportunities. Using his exacting flash system and proper exposure, he can bring out every detail in the cat’s fur without causing an over-powering glow in the animal’s eyes.

I’m sure there will be many changes in photography over the next 50 years at an ever-increasing pace.  Sensors for digital cameras are bound to change quite a bit.  Currently, it appears that if current ISO ranges are to be maintained, pixels on digital sensors can’t be made smaller for increased resolution without generating increased noise. I would expect to see new and improved sensor technologies evolve.  Nikon seems likely to introduce full frame sensors soon. If I were able to do things better in my job, one thing that comes to mind is archiving and organizing the photography.  I’m hard-pressed just to keep up with day-to-day assignments and back-up the images.  Being able to catalog all of the image files so that they could be readily retrieved according to category and subject is a luxury I wish I had.

Greg takes time from his busy schedule to keep up with technology. He recommends the following resource links for those who aspire to better themselves in this fascinating art and craft:

I would like to thank Mr. Knobloch, the CDC and the Public Health Image Library for their cooperation and resources in making this article possible. All healthcare images shown here are in the public domain.

All images in the personal work section of this article are copyrighted by Greg Knobloch with all rights reserved. If you have questions or comments please leave them below. Thank you!

Richard Nichols, ArtonDisk.com  ? July, 2007 by Art on Disk Corporation

Looking forward to the summer . . . Metro Atlanta has been kinda’ chilly lately. We love the beach and the ocean and wish we could live near there.

These images were made from a photo of vacuum hoses at the local carwash down the street from our home. The original image was made with my new Canon PowerShot SD1000 camera.

The abstract image above has been run through Alien Skin’s Xenofex’ Classic Mosaic filter.

This second image was enhanced with Flaming Pear’s "boss emboss" filter and then reprocessed with a plugin called Mezzoforce Ice.

This third image is a close up taken from the second image.

Norma and I have recently acquired new Canon PowerShot SD1000 7.1 megapixel point-and-shoot cameras which are about the size of a business card. These miniature technological miracles measure 3.375 x 2.125 inches.  The tiny cameras hit the market in Atlanta (and perhaps in many other cities) in early March, 2007. They are similar to earlier Canon SD500 and SD 700 models but feature several improvements. A more complete professional review of this camera can be found by clicking here, although I don’t think the author used the camera long enough to become accustomed to the size and camera controls.

Its features include extremely low light sensory capabilities (up to ASA 1600) and its slick shape. It is squared off like a pack of cards with no contours or lumps when the camera is turned off just a small rectangular flat box that fits in a shirt or blouse pocket. I don’t believe that it has image stabilization electronics like the SD 700.  For this reason we have purchased monopods which seem to solve most of the camera shake issues that often plague high-pixel-count digital camera users.

Being able to control image-making in very low light situations is one of the greatest feelings .  .  . fireworks, moon shots, images on the beach at night, night portraits– it’s all good. Insofar as memory goes, one 2 gigabyte flash media card will hold about 800 images at the highest quality setting, or up to 20 minutes of 640×480 video. So far this camera seems to make fairly sharp photos with strong color and good contrast as long as the 3x optical zoom range isn’t exceeded. Digital zoom photos (from 3x up to 12x) degrade in quality (become pixelized and bear artifacts) rapidly, but can make useful photos at magnifications up to 12x. There is no camera raw setting.

After working with photography for many years, I have grown weary of hauling so much equipment around and in my experience, it seems that cops will often stop photographers but not snap shooters. This camera allows me to take it everywhere strapped to my belt next to my cell phone. At any moment I can take visual notes, document computer troubles, create raw material for Photoshop-based photo illustration purposes and make small good quality videos (with sound) of important events.

This camera is a continuing visual education machine– it gives both Norma and me the never-ending opportunity to stay in "photo composition practice." The camera turns on in less than a second, focued and ready to record. Its user-friendly feature set and excellent interface provide us with practice machines that produce amazing output quality.

Anyone interested in digital photography will find this camera an interesting and intriguing bit of image creation technology.

Image made at the Atlanta Journal Constitution 2007 Auto Show.

Back during the Easter Season this year we were approached about creating a rental product/service catalog and e-commerce web site for a new unique service company, EventDrapery.com, guided by Marina Miller here in Atlanta. This project required the creation of a searchable database of products, an electronic forms system, a shopping cart, the usual "about us" and "FAQs" modules and many "behind the scenes" pages, documents and web tricks. A sales-oriented website can involve hundreds and even thousands of considerations. This article is a detailed case study designed to let you peer inside one of our more complex projects.

If you haven’t already tried it or want to see it again, click once or twice on the play button in the drapery video above to see the drapery set itself up from scratch. Those clip-joint drapes are actually 12 feet tall. The Macromedia Flash video you see is made up of four kinds of photographic efforts: The flame retardant drapes were shot on location with an 8 mega-pixel Minolta DimageA2 camera. I used four Dynalite 1000x professional photographic strobe units with white umbrellas to evenly light the large area of at least 144 square feet.

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Your photographs can quickly evolve into drawings and paintings if you learn the basics of using image-editing software, filters (plug-ins) and image layers.? In this weblog article I combine video tutorials and images to show you a few of our preferred methods of producing photo illustrations and sketches from digital pictures.

These four web-based Flash lessons are not about complicated procedures.? My goal for this first attempt is to get people who are vaguely familiar with image editing “off the ground” and into the fascinating world of crafting expressive illustrations using Adobe Photoshop or Photoshop Elements.? Experienced Photoshop users might enjoy seeing how we work, even if they left us behind years ago.

You will need to have your speakers turned on.? Your web browser might need its Flashplayer capabilities updated to version 9 — your computer will let you know if there is an issue.? Because this is “streaming media,” please allow time for the lessons to load (usually 10 to 45 seconds) after you click the links in order for them to begin playing. We used Camtasia Studio 3.1 screen recording software published by Techsmith to create these lessons.

The webcasts are indexed so you can watch small parts, then come back later to pick up where you left off.? Let’s start at the beginning:

Lesson 4 ends with an 85 image slideshow of illustrations we have made using the methods we describe here.? I have tried to keep these first screencasts uncomplicated because we need a foundation to build upon.? There’s no better place than here, and no better time than now.

I cover some useful procedures and secrets that I use every day in my work.? Photoshop isn’t difficult to learn but it has so many options that an aspiring digital image maker may easily feel overwhelmed.? You should find a simple system that works and stick with it.? Don’t try to learn everything, just focus on the tools and commands you need to achieve your desire.

Please bear with me because these are my very first screencast tutorials.? Any constructive feedback you wish to give by leaving your comments will be appreciated. Please report any technical issues you encounter.

Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly until you learn how to do it well.
— Steve Brown

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