Captions

[Carmen Sisson]

My publisher and I are having a conflict over whether to write captions in
past or present tense. I say past, he says present. I understand that it's
his paper, and I am willing to write them in past tense to please him, but
for my own peace of mind and the future of our paper is there a rule written
somewhere? As the first chief photographer (we are a six-month-old weekly)
I feel an obligation to establish systems that not only work, but are also
CORRECT. Any input or does it even matter?

Carmen Sisson
Northport Gazette

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[george gryzenia]

Check out the Style Book written by the beloved wire service....I do
believe that present tense is most commonly used, and is industry standard
style.

You are describing what is happening, not happened, in the caption of the
photo. Makes sense to me to use, or to have used, present tense.~<g>eorge

At 11:06 AM -0700 5/6/99, Carmen Sisson wrote:
> My publisher and I are having a conflict over whether to write captions in
>past or present tense. I say past, he says present. I understand that it's
>his paper, and I am willing to write them in past tense to please him, but
>for my own peace of mind and the future of our paper is there a rule written
>somewhere? As the first chief photographer (we are a six-month-old weekly)
>I feel an obligation to establish systems that not only work, but are also
>CORRECT. Any input or does it even matter?

______________
George Gryzenia
gr...@voyager.net

[Tom Priddy]

>I say captions should be PRESENT tense,
>publisher says PAST.

There's no rock-solid, no-exceptions answer to that question. It depends.

However, generally speaking, the first sentence of a cutline should
describe in an active way what is happening in the photo as it was taken.
"Mark Lemke tags out a runner in Friday's game," "Chef Roy prepares a
dish in his kitchen," "Eddie Arcaro climbs aboard his favorite horse,"
etc. (A good photo, of course, will show _something_ happening, rather
than just people standing around . . .)

That may be your only sentence. However, if you have a second sentence to
add information for a full cutline, likely it will be past tense. "It was
Lemke's first game coming off the disabled list." "The chef worked in
Little Rock for six years before coming to Fayetteville." "Arcaro briefly
flirted with brain surgery before getting back to racing." And so on. Or,
you might say, "Arcaro is coming to Columbia Friday for the Gold Cup
race." (See, it depends sometimes.)

(An exception would be the caption to a mug shot of someone who died.
That would be all past tense. "Joe DiMaggio died Monday in Florida. He
was 86.")

My copy of the AP Stylebook (quite old) does not specifically spell this
out, but it offers examples that follow that trend.

Of course . . . if you can't gently convince the publisher to change his
mind, then you do it his way or find another job. (!) It's his signature
on the paychecks and he can write his own rules.

t.p.

+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
Tom Priddy MediaStream, Inc./PressLink Online
tpr...@KRmediastream.com Phone: 1-800-888-6195
http://www.presslink.com Extension: 4419

[Mark Lent]

Carmen,

I 've always been told that you write a caption in present tense. That being
said, I have also seen newspapers who use past tense as a "style" choice. My gut
feeling is present tense though. It may be worth your investing in a copy of the
AP style guide for answers to these types of questions. I have a copy and since
I'm local to you, will be happy to loan it to you until you can get yourself a
copy. (205)349-2212 x-145 is my work number.

I also wanted to tell the group that as a resident of Northport and a reader of
the paper that Carmen works for, I find it a refreshing change from the
Tuscaloosa News, which has at times ignored community journalism in our little
town, which is directly adjacent to the city of Tuscaloosa. The Gazette is a
good
example of how a small community paper can fill a void in the marketplace. Good
job, Carmen!

Cordially,

Mark Lent

Carmen Sisson wrote:

> My publisher and I are having a conflict over whether to write captions in
> past or present tense. I say past, he says present. I understand that it's
> his paper, and I am willing to write them in past tense to please him, but
> for my own peace of mind and the future of our paper is there a rule written
> somewhere? As the first chief photographer (we are a six-month-old weekly)
> I feel an obligation to establish systems that not only work, but are also
> CORRECT. Any input or does it even matter?
>