Photographer David Burnett, who has covered major events such as the Iran hostage crisis in the early 1980′s, the Olympic games and damage from Hurricane Katrina, says he always has had trouble writing captions. It certainly hasn’t stopped him, however, from becoming a lead international photojournalist over the last four decades.

Burnett’s traveling show, “Measures of Time,” is an exhibit at the University Center for Continuing Education during April. He presented his work in the Georgia Center’s Masters Hall Monday night.

“It’s a new world,” he said. “We don’t know where it’s taking us in terms of shooting pictures.”

Monday afternoon Burnett, who said he became interested in photography as a member of the yearbook staff during his junior year in high school, talked with 15 photojournalism students over pizza in Grady College’s Drewry room.

A key to becoming a good photographer is staying up until four in the morning looking at others’ work if that’s what it takes, he said.

“You almost feel like you’re drowning in all the photographs,” he said. “But you have to flip slowly and take in all the fumes.”

Since 2003, Burnett has been working with a Speed Graphic – a news camera used in the 1940s and 1950s – to bring back the actual composition process of the photograph.

“You have to wait for the right moment, and that’s really the whole deal,” he said. “It’s a real adventure because you never know what you’ve got.”

With digital cameras, it merely costs time in front of the computer, he said. When he worked in Vietnam, it could take up to a week to process photographs.

“But there’s nothing wrong with digital cameras,” Burnett said. “Photographers like me are just trying to control the digital world. Very few, if any, know what’s it’s like to have dextol or fixer on their fingers anymore.”

The problem now is that images are ready before the story can be reported.

“Now that everything is live, news has become entertainment,” Burnett said. “You’ve got the anchors standing outside of a scene, saying, ‘I don’t know what’s going on inside, but I’m live.’ News was ruined that way.”

Photojournalists should strive to be well-rounded and find their own image, he said.

Burnett graduated from Colorado College in 1968 with a bachelor’s degree in political science. He worked as a freelancer and has traveled to more than 75 countries.

He co-founded Contact Press Images, a New York photo agency, and continues to freelance for magazines and advertising companies.

He said he’s still having trouble with the captions.