My Day

In Pictures...

You know..I wish I had taken pictures yesterday. We (as in staff members of our local high school newspaper, the Irish Eyes) were given an exclusive behind the scenes tour of the Times Picayune downtown bureau by the local newspaper's online editor, Lynn Cunningham.

The Times Picayune is a descendant of an old newspaper, the Picayune, which was named after an old Spanish coin that was worth less than a cent. While competing papers sold for a dime, the Picayune sold only for a Picayune, thus reigning in terms of circulation.

We met the managing editor, layout editor, and an online reporter among many other staff members.

To me, the highlight of the trip was entering the Photo Studio, a shrine of David Gransfeld's spectacular photographs. Gransfeld, a colorful aged man, talked to us about the art of telling a story with just one click of a button.

There are three elements of a good photograph, he said. "Content, form, and...surprise."

We watched a slideshow of images captured by Times Picayune photographers during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Saint's victories, and other local happenings.

I wish I could show you some of his work, or even the ancient typewriter in the upstairs lobby, or the mini escalator that wasn't working which I nearly fell off of while climbing, or even the stacks and stacks of papers in the cubby of one of the writers.

But, I didn't bring my camera, because I wasn't sure of whether photography would be permitted. After all, it was a regular work day for them.

The online edition of the Times Picayune, at http://www.nola.com/ ,is easy to browse and provides readers with up to date news feeds.

Cunningham said the online edition helps determine how many people are interested in a certain news story by counting how many times the story is viewed, the one thing the traditional paper cannot do.

It almost made me want to become a part of a real local newspaper for the rest of my life.

Almost.