Student Media Creates New Photo Bureau
Feb 13, 2004

Sarah Quint and Daniel Bickley begin work for the newly created Student Media Photo Bureau

Sarah Quint, a University of Idaho freshman, has been chosen to lead the newly created Student Media Photo Bureau.

Quint, a chemical engineering major from Portland, Ore., was selected unanimously by the UI Student Media Board at its Jan. 16 meeting. An Argonaut photographer since the beginning of the academic year, Quint was the lone applicant for the position, which the board created at the end of the fall semester.

“It’s a great opportunity and I’m looking forward to being a big part of Student Media,” Quint said. “Photography is my passion.

“My goals in this job are to get things up and running, get us off to a good start and give the photographers a chance to make something of themselves.”

Since taking over, Quint has hired five shooters. Her staff will work together to provide photographs for publication in the Argonaut, the UI student newspaper, and the Gem of the Mountains, the UI yearbook.

Previously, both publications had their own photo staffs, but last fall the Media Board voted to consolidate them into a single photo bureau. The decision to consolidate had been in the planning stages for quite a while, said Michele Kimberling, a member of the media board, the advertising adviser for student media and now the adviser to the photo bureau.

The Gem lost its entire photo staff, which consisted of two photographers and one photo editor. The Argonaut lost most of its photographers but will retain its photo editor position.

Daniel Bickley, a sophomore from Troy, Idaho, majoring in art and design, has been chosen to handle those duties.

UI student media editorial adviser Brian Beesley said the main reason for the consolidation is that student media photography is an entirely digital process and there are only four digital cameras for the students to work with. The scheduling for the use of those cameras is complicated and there has often been an overlap of pictures taken for both publications, Beesley said.

“There was a duplication of services, and it was not cost efficient,” Beesley said. “By combining them into a fifth media department we should save some money.”

Previously there hadn’t been a scheduling conflict with cameras because student photographers primarily used their own manual cameras. This changed, Beesley said, when UI Facilities and Maintenance shut down the Student Media darkroom because it had been considered not have adequate ventilation.

“Facilities management told us to close the photo lab even though we passed all their air-quality tests,” Beesley said.

Another reason for the photo bureau is to fix payment inequities between the two publications. Argonaut photographers had been paid for each published photograph while Gem photographers were getting paid a fixed stipend regardless of the number of photos they were turning in or the quality of work.

“Some (Gem) photographers wouldn’t turn in anything and some would,” Kimberling said. “They would get paid the same.” Under the new photo bureau each photographer will be paid $12 for each published picture, and $25 for a multiple-picture assignment.

Kimberling said the move is advantageous to the student photographers because they will have a chance to work for both the Gem and the Argonaut. This will lead to a diversity of work and strengthened portfolios.

Beesley agreed: “This will give student photographers more opportunity to work on the craft of photojournalism. They will benefit from having a department dedicated strictly to that.”

Brian Passey, the editor in chief of the Argonaut, said the photo bureau will increase organization and cohesion in student media photography. He also said the photo bureau will bring student photographers together. “Having been both Argonaut and Gem photo editor, I think the new system will bring a sense of unity to the student media photographers,” said Passey, a senior majoring in journalism. He is from Rexburg, Idaho.