Intro to PJ student is a journalist waiting to happen

This is one of several photos taken at an Owens basketball game by PHO245 student Lynn Redding, my student of the week.

    First I saw this photo. 

  It showed a kid from Kellogg College driving through the Owens defense, his feet off the ground in mid-stride. It was a wonderful sports moment frozen in time. And it was in focus! 

   “Wow! That’s fantastic,” I exclaimed.

   Then I started reading her sports essay on the computer screen. I winced as I read the lead sentence, which started out with the date of the game. 

   “Repeat after me,” I instructed Lynn, a student who was working on her sports assignment in class Wednesday. “I will not start a lead sentence with a date.”

    She repeated after me, then promptly deleted the date. And there it was - a strong, descriptive lead sentence that caught my attention right away.

   It read: Owens forward James Kelly quickly broke away from the pack and charged down the court to score the first basket of the night just seconds after the tipoff.

   “That’s your lead!” I told her. Then I proceeded to tell her she was a journalist waiting to happen.  

   In fact, it's already happening. She announced to me at the end of class that she was thinking about joining the Owens Outlook staff as a photojournalist, but she was "too nervous" to make the call.

  I asked her to consider two things: do you have the time, and do you want the job? If the answer is yes and yes, then don't let nervousness stop you from taking advantage of a great opportunity. All it takes for anyone to become a good journalist is journalism education, experience and confidence.

  When Lynn joins the Outlook she will be the second student from the Intro to Photojournalism course on the staff. Former PHO245 student Cathy Zeltner is currently the managing editor!

   To view more of Lynn’s sports coverage of the Owens v. Kellogg basketball game, go her class blog.

   I also want to take the opportunity to give kudos to the other students who posted their sports assignment on their class blogs. Sports is one of the hardest assignments in the course and they all did a great job!

The end of the semester is near, but learning never ends

Genoa Comets celebrate their victory as Northwood's Samantha Solaru displays her misery. (PHO245/Serena Ortiz)

Peak action by Cathy Zeltner

    The end is near, which means the students are busy wrapping up their final assignments.
    Their last individual assignment was shooting sports. They attended a sporting event, mostly soccer and football, and were required to capture images of the fans, coaches and, of course, action. They did a wonderful job. There were a few problems with slow shutter speeds and lens length choices, but that's what learning is all about! I displayed a few images I felt worthy of sharing. 
   We also welcomed guest speaker Enoch Wu to the class this week. He is a Bowling Green State University grad and a photographer with the Bowling Green Sentinel. He shared his new website with us, and talked about his transition from being a music major to becoming a photographer. Thanks for the visit, Enoch.
   The students are currently very busy preparing for their team project on the Cherry St. Mission. They are using their sports images to learn Soundslides, and will learn to edit audio with Audacity on Monday.
   They will be divided into three teams for the project: sound, caption writing and photo editing. Every student will shoot, but the teams will collectively produce the photo story with audio recorded at the site using digital voice recorders. It's a lofty project done in a very short time, but this team project introduces them to many skills needed in today's multimedia world.
    Please visit the student blogs by clicking on the student blog roll at the top of this course blog.