rustwire.com publishes work of Intro to PJ students

   Nothing makes an instructor prouder than seeing the work of our students get recognized.
   I'm happy to announce my PHO245 students from last semester worked well together to create a powerful photo essay on arson in Toledo that was recently published on rustwire.com.
   It wasn't a big investigative piece into the arson problem. The joint student community assignment was intended to teach them the basics of storytelling with a purpose. They learned how to plan, organize and produce a photo story using an added element of audio.
   The community photo story project is always the highlight of each semester, and this project on arson was even more special because it was published!
   Thank you rustwire.com for giving our students a real outlet to demonstrate their hard work!
   The story: http://rustwire.com/2013/02/11/burned-a-photo-essay-on-arson-in-toledo/.

Students finish production of Burned, a photo story on arson

This photo was taken at one of the arson sites by PHO245 student Amarrah Smith: http://amarrahsmithocc.blogspot.com

Amarrah paid attention to the little things.

Cell phone pic of students producing the Burned project using Soundslides.

   Last week the class finished production on their final project: the team photo story on arson for rustwire.com.
    The editing and sounds teams worked diligently on the painstaking process of marrying three minutes of audio with more than 40 photos of arson sites and abandoned homes scattered throughout Central Toledo.
   The caption writing team gathered arson statistics for the essay they will write. They discovered that Toledo is ranked #4 in the nation for arson fires, according to FBI.gov.
   This team project was real-life journalism. Armed with a short list of confirmed arson sites provided by Toledo Fire Dept. Lt. Matt Hertzfeld, we ventured into urban neighborhoods for two hours one morning last week and knocked on the doors of neighbors who lived next to targeted houses.
   Besides shooting photos at the scenes, the audio team had the added responsibility of searching for witnesses who watched the houses near them burn by the hand of arsonists. The team encountered three different types of witnesses:
· A woman who wanted to tell her story and wasn’t afraid to be identified;
· A man who absolutely didn’t want anything to do with it. In fact, he initially admitted the house next to him was destroyed by arson; then he changed his story when asked if he would be willing to be interviewed.
· Two men who wouldn’t stop talking but refused to be photographed or give their names.
    Watching the students work their multimedia magic in class this morning was amazing. Dave Cantor and I gave them little bits of advice, but for the most part these students did all of the work. It is fundamental students are given hands-on assignments like this because it allows them to make their own content decisions for this real-world project that will be published on a reputable website like rustwire.com.
     Don't expect the students to answer the burning questions of why arsons happen and what the city is doing about them. This project was simply meant to wet their appetites for storytelling: This is an introduction course, after all. PHO245 students don't spend a lot of time on any one subject, especially something as deep as arson. I can only hope that this multimedia project inspires them to advance their skills later on down the road.
     In class next week we will present our story, entitled Burned, to co-founder of rustwire.com Kate Giammarise. I can't wait to show off the skills of these six scholastic photojournalists.
     And that’s a wrap, folks.

Students turn their cameras to homes destroyed by arson

   When students signed up for the Intro to Photojournalism course this semester, they had no idea they would be shooting Toledo-area homes destroyed by fire, but that's what they'll be doing Wednesday morning.

    The class is going on a field trip to document houses targeted by arsonists. Arson is a big problem in the downtown area, and the students are doing a photo story on the problem for rustwire.com, a website dedicated to urban blight and beauty.

    The students will not only shoot photos of the destroyed houses, they will also interview neighbors of a few of those houses. Because this is an introduction class, the students won't be 'investigating' the why of the arson problem ... just the what and where.  The intent is to get their feet wet in the photojournalism biz, and to generate discussion on documenting life around them.

    Next week, back in the classroom, they will collectively produce a photo story that will be published on Rust Wire. This team project is a great way for students to learn how to work with other people, and then work together. It's practical experience they couldn't possibly get by reading a textbook.

    They prepared for the project by learning how to:

• shoot a photo story;
• select and edit photos using Photoshop;
• collect and edit sound using Audacity:
• marry the photos and sound together using Soundslides, an audio/slideshow software.

    The students work in teams throughout the process. All of them will shoot, but then they are divided into teams. One team will capture and edit the audio; a team will write the captions and design the title and end slides; and another team will put the show together using Soundslides.

    The team project began two years ago, and it's so beneficial to the students that it's a mainstay of the course. It's also a great way for Owens to contribute to the local community. So far, former students have covered the Sunshine Home, Cherry St. Mission and Bittersweet Farms.

    The URL link to the arson story will be posted on this blog when it's published on Rust Wire.