Looking at art that ran with a Best Buy Co., Inc., story reminded Grumpy Editor that some photos being used these days to accompany newsworthy events would have been tossed in prior years when sharp-eyed photo editors demanded top-notch, appropriate illustrations alongside texts.
With announcement that Best Buy will shutter 50 big-box stores and open 100 smaller ones, an Associated Press photo Friday used to illustrated one of the consumer electronics company’s stores gave no indication it was a Best Buy site --- or an electronics showroom.
Dominant on the page, the photo measured five inches by eight and one-half inches. It showed a woman, perhaps a cashier, pointing out something to a customer. But he is undistinguishable because her arm blocks one third of his face.
The caption identified the store as being in Mountain View, Calif. on Sept. 12.
At first glance the photo looked like it might be geared for a remodeling job.
The two people in the photo take up a small portion at the bottom of the shot which aimed at the rafters, four support columns to the Erector-set-type ceiling and the backside of a ceiling-mounted monitor.
There was no indication (other than a blue top the cashier was wearing) that the scene was in a Best Buy store.
Founded in 1966, now with 1,450 U.S. stores and 2,900 worldwide, imagine the number of interior photos snapped over the years showing customers examining merchandise or standing in checkout lines.
To that, add the number of exterior shots showing Best Buy “big boxes” identified by big splashes of blue and its name.
An example of properly capturing the atmosphere tied to the same story: USA Today’s art, another AP photo, with the text showed shoppers looking at a wall of television monitors at a Best Buy store in Brentwood, Tenn.
Comments