PJ student turns a portrait assignment into real news value

This photo might not be a Pulitzer Prize winner, but it earned Shalisha Russell the Student of the Week title!

The following is a portion of a blog post essay written by Intro to PJ student Shalisha Russell:

"Toledoan Bonnie Burnside purchased a vehicle at Toledo Auto Finance. After having the vehicle for only five days, the transmission went out. She claims the dealership is being uncooperative and refuses to fix the vehicle. The only offer the dealership made to Burnside was finding a transmission and a mechanic.

She is protesting the auto dealer’s actions by showing up every day with her signs to inform the public about her bad deal, and to show the dealership she’s serious. Burnside says she'll be out there 'come rain, sleet or snow.' 

Burnside made this assignment easier to complete because she was so open to being photographed. I am grateful that I saw her. I couldn’t have chosen a better subject to be a part of my assignment."

 Russell wrote that essay and took the above photo for her portrait homework assignment last month. 

I can't tell you how excited I was to see a commercial art photography major in an introductory photojournalism class actually cover a real news story. In the two years I've taught this class, this is one of the first times an assignment had real news value. Sure, my students shoot real sports and features, but this story had an element of controversy that could make even a senior PJ major think twice about getting involved. 

This is what Russell tweeted verbatim the day she discovered her lemon story:

 "just saw the perfect subject for portrait excited. lori would've been a proud pj instructor for the way I hopped out of the car & interviewed a lady at a car lot who bought a lemon." 

Darn right I'm a proud PJ instructor! I'm also happy to announce she was recently hired as a part-time reporter/photographer at the Toledo Journal. For these reasons, I've chosen Russell as my Student of the Week.

To read the rest of Russell's blog, and those of the other PJ students, click on the student blog roll in the menu bar above.

Assertiveness is just one of many attributes of a photojournalist

PHO245 student Paul Murray works the room in the Sunshine Home. (Photos by Lori King)

Be assertive, yet respectful.

   While watching the students work during their team community project at Sunshine Home this week, I was struck by a single observation: BE ASSERTIVE PEOPLE!

   Being timid is a natural instinct in the beginning for most scholastic photojournalists. It seemed the students felt uncomfortable disrupting the working environment of the nurses and therapists working with the residents of the Sunshine Home, which serves people with developmental disabilities. There were several times I had to push and prod them to see and capture what was happening right in front of them, like when a resident was wheeling a laundry cart down the hall piled with folded clothes. Or when a therapist was holding hands with an energetic and social bed-ridden man in his 70s.

   “Shoot a close-up of their hands! Get in there!” I energetically instructed.

    There is no doubt photojournalists sometimes walk a fine line between shooting the need to know (news) and sensationalism (paparazzi). That’s a big reason why  photographer's rights, the First Amendment and the definition of news are covered during the first month, before they shoot a single photo.

   If you are there to tell a story, then you need to tell that story in the most truthful and thorough way. Sometimes that means getting close to your subjects. And sometimes that means being noticed.

    Learning to see everything around you and only shooting what is relevant is a learned skill that takes training (school) and experience (on-the-job). This team project satisfied both of those requirements.

   I’ve come up with a list of attributes I think the average photojournalist should possess:

• Be assertive, yet respectful
• Be curious
• Pay attention to detail
• Be ethical to a fault
• Be cautious of being manipulated
• Don’t be shy, yet don’t be disruptive, either
• Develop a keen sense of news and what makes a good photo
• Be well aware that there is always room to learn and grow
• Have an attribute you think I’ve left out? Please comment!

   Obviously, I can’t follow around students during most of their assignments, though sometimes I wish I could. Heck, even I, an experienced photojournalist, would benefit from following around another experienced photojournalist because there is always room to learn and grow.

Students will blog for more than letter grades

   The first block of instruction on the basic meaning of news ended today.
   Now that the students are aware of the major elements of a newspaper (headline, logo, cutline, etc.), the six basic news values (impact, immediacy, proximity, novelty, conflict and emotions), and the history of news, they are ready to add another tool to their photojournalism toolbox: blogging.
   They will create their blogs on Wednesday. Maintaining a blog in this class will be easy because of the mandatory posting assignments. The challenge will be writing weekly essays that keep your attention, and posting captioned photos that warrant your viewing.
   The beauty of blogging in a college class is that the student's homework assignments will earn more than letter grades. These scholastic photojournalists will gain experience by blogging for a real-world audience (you), which will help prepare them for communicating in the 21st Century.
   Social media is here to stay, so they better embrace it now, when they can make mistakes without being fired for them.