Wayne State Digital Photojournalism final projects showcase multiple skills

“This assignment was truly a culmination of skills, and I exercised them all to the best of my ability. After this assignment I’ve realized just how artful photojournalism is and the work people put in to doing it. For me the hardest part was still the photos, the technique. I now know that as a photojournalist you also have to create your style, your ‘way of doing,’ to create this common thread in your images and that thread is you. What you’re looking at through your lenses, what composition you’re using, how you’re using light, what moments you capture. You’re given the tools and the skills but once you’re out shooting it all comes down to you.” – Pulled quote from blog post of Kayla Cockrel, fall semester 2016 Wayne State Digital Photojournalism student.

   What a succinct way of describing what photojournalists do!

   It is certainly true that once you’re out there with camera in hand, whatever and wherever it is, it all comes down to you, the shooter: What lens you choose. What composition you see. How you evaluate light. What moment you capture.

   Kayla learned this through experiencing those important choices via the assignments given in the Digital Photojournalism class at Wayne State University in Detroit.

   I’ve heard grumblings from former students complaining that the course is too advanced. Too difficult. They come in on that first day thinking it’s basically a camera class, but find out as the course progresses that it’s much more than learning apertures and shutter speeds.

   Lessons include:

• What news and photojournalism is. This includes identifying all parts of a print newspaper, learning the history of journalism, and identifying eight news values
• The camera: Learning ISO, shutter speed, aperture; composition; reading light; capturing the moment
• Setting up and maintaining social media sites: Wordpress blogs, Twitter and Instagram
• Writing AP style captions
• Law & Ethics
• Collecting and editing audio
• Shooting feature, portrait, sports and photo story assignments
• Using industry standard software: Photo Mechanic; Photoshop; Adobe Premiere Pro CC; Audacity

  

Screen grab: Blog post by Morgan Kollen

Yes, it’s progressive. But because this is the only photojournalism course available in the journalism program, I stand by the curriculum. Because I understand this is a difficult course for the novice photographer, which most of them are, I allow them to turn in assignments late. This gives them time to soak in the information; reshoot weak assignments; give them confidence and time to get out of their comfort zones.

   Even if they will never use a camera again, they, as journalism and PR majors, will undoubtedly work with photojournalists, or manage them. Now they will have an appreciation of what photojournalists do, and what they need to get the job done.
    The final project is a culmination of all of the aforementioned lessons. I’m proud to say most of the students did amazingly well. Rather than have a strict rule on how it should be presented, they were encouraged to follow their guts, and hearts. Considering most of these students knew absolutely nothing about cameras and storytelling four months ago, I think they did a great job putting their stories together.

   This proves to me that I am on the right track in keeping the curriculum challenging, but giving them time and room to grow. Most students walk into class with a minimal digital footprint, and depart with a Wordpress blog showcasing a variety of photojournalism content. 

   Now, I present to you three wonderful, very different examples of their work. These are their final projects: 

Ryan Miller – a conversation interview format, shot in a difficult lighting situation:

Morgan Kollen – a poetic tribute to the City of Detroit:

Chris Ehrmann – a video story on his trip with fellow WSU classmates to Ghana in October:

The final assignment for the Intro to PJ class: The Sunshine Magazine

   This 24-page magazine showcases the photography, writing and newfound layout and design skills by the spring 2016 Owens Community College Intro to Photojournalism course students.
   With my guidance, each student was responsible for their own work, including the layout and design of their assigned pages, using only Photoshop and Word.
   These commercial photography majors were certainly out of their comfort zones when they were tasked with writing and editing duties, but isn't that why they were in that classroom for the past four months... to be challenged with building new skills?
   The explanation of the successes and pitfalls of the overall project, which took a month to shoot and produce, is in the previous blog post. This is a Steller iPhone slideshow of our visit to Sunshine: Click here for Steller slideshow
   Thank you, Sunshine, for inviting us in, and thank YOU for viewing!

Page 1

Page 2
(The Play button on Page 2 indicates a video shot by Caleb, which is not linked on this blog post.)

Page 3

Page 4-5
(Note: The trapped white spacing at the end of the third column occurred during the transition from Word to PDF)

Page 7

Page 8

Page 9

Page 10

Page 11

Pages 12-13

Pages 14-15

Page 16

Page 17

Page 18

Page 19

Pages 20-21

Pages 22-23

Page 24
(This last page is a sponsorship ad submitted by Sunshine)

NPR's Ira Glass: Good, creative work takes good taste and many years...

   This video offers great words of inspiration and wisdom for every journalism student out there who is struggling to find their place in this crazy world of storytelling.
    This is a stressful time for students, who are working hard to make creative work, earn good final grades, find jobs and internships, and discover their voices. So, when I first saw this video, posted on Facebook by Owens Community College photography professor Ruth Foote, I thought that this would be a perfect time to share it, as well. Yes, I used the word 'perfect,' which I've pretty much banned from my classroom, but in this case it's fitting, because students need this kind of inspiration to keep them going.
   Like Glass admitted, it took him a long time to find his place. Can you imagine if he gave up when things got tough? We wouldn't have This American Life! And that would be a damn shame.
   So, students, watch this video, and never give up!

Intro 2 PJ class goes on field trip for their final project: Team Photo Story

   Documenting the student team! My photos of a great bunch of students who were up for the challenge.
   After you open the story, click on the arrow to the right of the image to advance the story.
Thank you for viewing!
(Photos by Lori King)

Features, portraits and sports, oh my!

This is a blog post by Miranda, who used a photo slideshow gadget.

   The PJ course is more than half way over, and there is still so much more to do!

  First, I want thank one of the students for creating business cards for all six students in the class. Each biz card has the student’s name and blog URL. Passing them out to their sources and subjects will help to spread the word and keep in touch. I also want to give Miranda kudos for being the first to try out the photo slideshow gadget on Blogger. Miranda is not afraid to try new things, and that will aid her well. Good job, Miranda!

   So the feature assignment is behind us; the portrait assignment is in progress; and next up is learning how to shoot sports. They will use their sports photos to learn Soundslides, which kicks off the photo storytelling lecture. That lecture includes learning how to edit audio using Audacity, editing photos down from many to a chosen few, and marrying audio with multiple photos to tell a story. 

Yep, we're pretty busy!