Intro 2 PJ students finally get to shoot their first assignment

   Scholastic photojournalists – it’s finally time for you to practice what I’ve been preaching for the past two months.

   You, as Intro to PJ students, have prepped for this moment by doing the following assignments:

1.     First, you learned about social media, and then set up your social media accounts with Blogger and Twitter.

2.     Then you learned what news is. You studied an issue of the Toledo Blade, and had to indentify the many parts that make up a newspaper - like the flag, jumpline and pullout quote. You also viewed Poynter Institute’s What is News NewsU tutorial.

3.     Next up: Ethics, law, copyright and the First Amendment lessons, which included learning the NPPA Code of Ethics and taking the SPLC First Amendment quiz.

4.     To break up the book learning, you got to shoot an assignment with your cell phone cameras.

5.     You also learned how to write concise, accurate photo captions. In this block of instruction you were introduced to the AP Stylebook. By the way, I think it’s very cool that the AP has a paid service to their style quizzes, which you tackled together as a team.

6.     And lastly, we went over your camera controls once again. Sure, most of you have already taken B&W 1, Digital 1 and Color Photography, but unless you shoot every single day, figuring out equivalent exposures can get a little rusty.

   This week you finally get to shoot your first real photojournalism assignment – features. So, get out there and knock on your beat’s door and give them the coverage it deserves! Don't forget to let them know they can then read all about it on your blogs!

http://parthspjblog.blogspot.com

http://damiontree.blogspot.com

http://tjtripod.blogspot.com

http://nicolegreen4.blogspot.com

http://yustakyusaocc.blogspot.com

                                                                  ___________________
Below is a screen grab by Intro 2 PJ student Parth Pitroda. It's his homework assignment on cell phone photography.
    I find it interesting that Parth believes cell phone cameras are substandard to DSLR photography. Sure, the cheaper phone cameras certainly are crappy, but he has an iPhone! So, can you really tell that these two photos are from a cell phone? I can't.

Parth's blog post on cell phone photography. (PHO245 photos by Parth Pitroda)

My video story on local musician Earl Cookie

Just thought I'd share my latest video on Toledo busker Earl Cookie. I initially was concentrating on video, but after the fourth meeting with him I realized there was a good story there, so I also wrote a story and shot stills. The stills and video were both shot with the Canon MarkIV DSLR. The video was produced using Adobe Premiere Elements 11, which I prefer over Final Cut Pro/Express. Premiere Elements 11 is also WAY CHEAPER! There isn't a big leap from shooting stills to video. Both require a knowledge of camera controls and composition. The most significant difference between the two is sound. You have to have good audio, both with the interview and the music. And you have to understand how a timeline works. One other concern is not to duplicate your material. I tried not to put the same information in the story that's in the video. The story was published in the Toledo Magazine page in the Blade this past Sunday. Here is the video:

Owens Outlook newspaper student staffers have heart, guts

  Every time I walk into an Outlook student staff meeting on Thursdays, I am filled with pride at the dozen or so eager faces sitting around the table.

   They don’t have to be there. Consider the following obstacles these student staffers face:

·      Only the editor-in-chief and managing editor are paid

·      Most don’t get class credit for the extracurricular task of working for the school online paper

·      Most are inexperienced and untrained writers, photographers, designers, and editors who aren’t connected by a strong journalism curriculum

   As the new student media adviser, I consider the latter issue to be a big problem. It’s a shame Owens doesn’t offer a journalism course anymore. I often daydream about the pool of talent we could draw from if we only had a strong journalism major that offered basic print/broadcast/social media/digital journalism courses, as well as classes on media law/ethics, and newspaper design.

   With that said, we should at least be taking advantage of what we do have: business, English, commercial art (CRT) and photography courses. But at this point there isn’t a system in place that allows the Outlook to collaborate with these diverse courses.

   One of my primary goals is to get as many instructors of these classes on board as soon as possible. The business classes could help with advertising; the CRT students could design both the hard copy and online editions; the English students could write something for a real-world publication. All of these students could pad their portfolios and be more employable in the long run!

 The Owens Outlook newspaper, completely created by student staffers.

   It would be a great help if the instructors were willing to provide training through lesson plans, or at least offer incentives, like extra credit.

   At this point, I’ve been reaching out to Toledo Blade staffers and other area media to be mentors and trainers. Blade writer Matt Thompson shared writing tips during one meeting; and Blade sports reporter Don Emmons and art director Wes Booher has agreed to help.

   I am also training the students on a chosen topic every Thursday. Last week we covered interviewing sources, and this week we’ll go over writing lead sentences and how to put a story together.

   Despite all of these obstacles, our mission of going back to print is not insurmountable.  The editor’s have done a wonderful job recruiting their friends and classmates from the photography and commercial art departments.

   Currently, the small staff is cutting their teeth on the online edition. Yes, mistakes are plenty. Deadlines pass by. Stories are missed. But there is no doubt these students are willing to work together, and learn from their mistakes, which will allow us to move forward with our plans to publish a hard copy of the Owens Outlook beginning in Spring 2014.

Power of photography, speech freedom: topics for guest speakers at University of Toledo, Kent State University

 Next week is going to be a monumental week for college and high school journalism/photojournalism students throughout the Buckeye State.  

   Two very respected and influential speakers will grace our college campuses to talk about:

·      the powers of the photographic image

·      speech freedom “within the schoolhouse gate”

   The first to arrive is David Hume Kennerly, Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist who will speak at the UT Student Union Oct. 3.

   Kennerly’s lecture and slide show, entitled “Witness: the Power of the Photographic Image,” will highlight his worldwide travels and famous shoots, including Nixon’s farewell speech, Vietnam War combat coverage and RFK’s speech prior to his assassination. He is a Canon Explorer of Light, and won the 1972 Pulitzer for feature photography.

   Owens Community College photography students are encouraged to attend Kennerly’s free lecture. Owens Prof. Ruth Foote is working on scheduling a bus to transport those interested in attending. I will be on that bus!

   The second speaker is Mary Beth Tinker, known for her courageous victory in the 1969 U.S. Supreme Court Case Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District.

   Tinker will speak at the annual Ohio Student Media Assoc. workshops at Kent State University Oct. 1 as part of her national Tinker Tour.

   More than 400 high school students will get to hear Tinker revisit those years in the late 1960s, when free speech in schools wasn’t protected by the highest court in the land.

   Tinker was a young teenager then who refused to remove a black armband that she wore in protest to the Vietnam War. She took her school to court when they suspended her for her silent protest. Out of that court case came these famous words:

Students do not "shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate." - Justice Abe Fortas

    Not only will I get to hear Tinker speak, I am one of the many workshop presenters. My topic will be Ethical Dilemmas In Photojournalism.

   Is it next week yet?

On why PJ interns are a kick in the pants to veteran staffers

   Most photojournalism majors are required to intern at a newspaper during their scholastic careers.

   Internships are necessary for building strong portfolios, making employer contacts and gaining on-the-job experience. Internships are also their first paying gigs, though the pay is often below living wage. Some students intern multiple times, and even a year or two after graduation.

   When I was a PJ major at Kent State I did a yearlong internship my senior year at the Warren Tribune in Warren, Ohio. I was hired as a part-time staffer for $5 an hour, and worked 32 hours a week. I could have stayed there indefinitely since it wasn’t an official intern position, but after graduation I moved to Toledo and started stringing for the Associated Press.

This is a story/photo package I did in 1983 for the First Armored Div. newspaper, Ironsides.

   The Tribune was my first civilian news photographer job. Photo editor Rob Englehardt said he hired me for my military background. I had a weak photo portfolio, though I had a fair amount of writing clips that included my own photos, like the clip at left. 

   I wasn’t much of a threat to the full-timers at the Tribune. They were confident in their skills, considering they didn’t have to deal with any of the social media stuff and high tech equipment we use today. A photojournalist’s life was easier back then. Once you mastered those dinosaur film cameras, well, the average citizen couldn’t compete!

    Over the years the Toledo Blade has hired dozens of interns.  I don’t remember most of their names but I certainly remember the impact they’ve all made.

   Our current intern is Jeff Smith, a recent graduate from Central Michigan University. He is the epitome of the 21^st Century photojournalist. He blogs, tweets and Instagrams.

   So why do I think interns are a kick in the pants to us old timers? Because they have a fire in their bellies that sometimes is only smoldering in many long-time staffers. They are hungry for a job; to make a difference; to be a part of a visual team that feeds off of each other for inspiration and story ideas.

   Interns are idealistic. They haven't yet been jaded, and everything is new and fresh to them because they haven't shot the same events year after year after year after year!

   The enthusiasm of interns can either be contagious or threatening. It's up to each veteran photographer to choose how they want to handle the new kid. Contagious or threatening? I've felt both ways.

   We should do our best to feed off of each other. We can't deny they inject enthusiasm into the workplace, while we teach them camera skills and ethical/legal values we've honed over the years. 

   Reciprocity at its best.

Intro to PJ students now staff photographers for The Outlook

 The Intro to Photojournalism class is small, as it usually is, but it will make a big difference in the Owens community this semester.

   For the first time since I’ve been teaching this course, it’s been arranged that every student will be official staff photographers with the Owens Outlook online newspaper (it helps that I’m the new adviser).

   During the first week of class each student chose a campus beat to cover for the semester. They introduced themselves to the deans/chairs by hand delivering a letter that explained the beat system.

   Taking that big leap from concept to reality wasn’t an easy task for most of them. Here are some of the reasons why they aren't yet comfortable with their new roles as scholastic photojournalists:

·      Invasion of privacy. One student admitted he felt “nosy.”

·      Most don't like news. They don’t read, listen or watch it, and now they are the news.

·      At this point in their young lives most everything they’ve done at Owens has been for homework. Now their work will be published, making it very public and very real.

   To be fair to all involved, they will be trained before snapping a single photo. Lessons will include writing AP style captions, interviewing subjects, and how to be ethical and legally fit. This is the journalism part of photojournalism.

   As staff photographers for the Outlook they won't be limited to their beats, either. In fact, TJ Barney has already shot his first assignment for the online college newspaper. Before he shot Fall Fest last week I gave him a crash course on caption writing. He admitted to writing down names of his subjects with "shaking hands," but he said it got easier.

  So, if you see a bunch of students running around with cameras, press passes and shaky hands, just ignore them so they can do their jobs.

Lesson One: To understand news is to be a better citizen

   Welcome Intro to Photojournalism students!

   Get ready to stock your photography portfolio, extend your social media reach and improve your writing skills.  

   Lesson One: What is news? This lesson seemed to freak a few of you out, considering half the class admitted to not reading, listening or watching the news...at all. Don’t worry! It’s normal to feel skeptical about learning the news business.  News is a gigantic concept that's hard to wrap your head around because there is so much of it, and it’s often negative. But news, despite all of its ugliness, is what keeps our society going. To be informed and engaged in your local community is to be a better citizen.

   In this class you will not only learn what news is, but you will actually generate real visual news. Each of you will have your own beat on campus, and you will cover the students and faculty in that beat for the entire semester. Your photo stories will be worth more than a grade; you’ll be working for the Owens Outlook newspaper, as well.

   Fear not... you’ll mostly cover ‘soft’ news (nothing heavy or controversial; mostly educational and informative). So, tomorrow you will choose your beats (technology, nursing, automotive, culinary, etc.) and then get started on your new, exciting adventure of being scholastic photojournalists!

Intro to PJ blog to include KSU's Teaching Multimedia class

   This blog was created for Intro to Photojournalism students in 2011. It is a great social media tool for documenting course objectives and highlighting student achievements.
   But that's about to change.
   Beginning Aug. 26 this blog will be shared with students from my Teaching Multimedia course at Kent State University. The Teaching MM course is an online graduate-level class for high school English and journalism teachers/advisers across the nation who want to learn more about using basic multimedia tools in their classrooms and with their student journalism publications. This will be my first time to teach that course.
   I actually was a student in that class in 2009. It's where I learned how to blog and tweet. Needless to say that class fundamentally changed how I communicate with students. In fact, my primary blog, Lori King's Blog, was one of my homework assignments! Teaching MM students will also learn how to capture and edit audio, produce a Soundslides project and shoot a video story.
   I will also be sharing the @intro2pj Twitter account with that class, as well.
   I'm confident students (and myself) in both courses will benefit by learning from one another.
  
  

See you in August!

This course blog will resume the week of Aug. 19, when school resumes for Fall semester. Can't wait!

How to prepare a competitive photojournalism portfolio

The Blade's Dave Zapotosky viewing a student portfolio.

   It’s that time again. Hundreds of student photojournalists are scrambling to find summer newspaper jobs. Despite the dismal job market paid internships still exist.

   This blog post focuses on helping PJ students prepare a competitive portfolio, which is the most important tool in landing an internship.

   A portfolio is a visual showcase; a collection of work that basically defines the skills and interests of the applicant. Seriously, in about 1/125^th of a second a photo editor can tell whether the photographer is a good fit for the newspaper.

   Many newspapers, including the Toledo Blade, hire summer interns. The hiring process for this summer’s Blade intern began in January, and by the end of February Jeffrey Smith from Central Michigan University was selected out of 70 applicants.

   So what helped the chosen one rise to the top? What made him so special? He had the best portfolio.

   A good portfolio includes three vital components: Great photos, strong captions, and a good organization and delivery method. 

   As I recently watched Blade photo supervisor Dave Zapotosky and photographer Andy Morrison go over this year’s crop of portfolios, I asked them to share their concerns and tips.

   Let’s start with the photos, the heartbeat of the portfolio.

        The Photographs

·    Offer visual variety. Include your very best selection of sports, news, features, portraits, and at least one photo story. Editors want their new hires to hit the ground running, even though they expect them to be a little green. Stating in your cover letter you can handle the work isn’t enough. Demonstrate it. Spread the love. For example: 20 photos of portraits aren’t as convincing as five portraits, five sports, five features, and five spot news. Also include a solid photo story. Be very, very choosy in your selection.

·      Don’t overindulge your college life. Editors aren’t too impressed with shock value: images of drunken students depicting wild nightlife; sexual ambiguity for the sake of it (performing drag queens); and nudity. Know the newspaper’s readership. Our newly-hired intern’s leading photo on his website is a man walking goats past a cornfield – our Midwest flavor.

·      Show off your technical skills. Do you have a firm grasp of lighting? Do you know your camera controls? Is your use of motion and depth of field evident, appropriate, overdone?

·      Do not over process your photos in Photoshop! Instagramish, over-processed, hyper contrasted, super saturated photos and sun-flared pictures will not earn you extra points. Less is best. Crop, tone and color correct. Shoot it right and edit tight.  

The Captions

·      Include complete captions with every single photo! Captions explain what the photos are about. Make them super easy to find. Andy and Dave were very frustrated when they couldn’t find captions or had to apply effort to find them. This is a deal breaker!

·      Ensure your captions are complete. This is the journalism part of photojournalism. Answer the 5 Ws and the H. Watch your spelling and grammar. Complete sentences. Use present tense when explaining the 5Ws.

The Delivery

·      This is still evolving. In days gone by, we’d submit a page of 20 slides with a caption sheet. Now there are blogs, websites, CDs, flash drives, Dropbox.com, and who knows what else.

- Dave prefers a CD or flash drive that includes two folders: one for single images and one for the photo story. This allows him to simply drag each folder into Photo Mechanic and view all of the photos at once. He said he doesn’t want to open a lot of folders (one for portraits, one for sports, etc.), considering how many folders he already has to open. When he’s ready to read the caption, he clicks on the Information icon.

- Include no more than 20 images in each folder.

·      Might be good to call and ask each editor how they prefer to view your portfolio. This will save you a lot of work and possible heartache.

·      If you have a website or blog, include the URL in your cover letter. Again, make sure your blog is easy to maneuver, and the captions are easy to find.
- Make your cover letters unique to each particular newspaper. Form cover letters are sometimes quite obvious. Make sure you study each newspaper before you apply. Again, this is knowing your audience. At this point in your collegiate career you should know what "do your homework" means.

      Well, that’s about it. Good luck to all students applying for internships!

      Here are more tips from working pros:

·      Tips by Peter Power

·      How to Make Portfolios by Mark Hancock

·      20 'Great' examples

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/.

Tutorial on retrieving a URL for Soundslides projects

   This is the Camtasia Studio tutorial on retrieving a URL for Soundslides using Dropbox.com.
For many semesters we were at a loss at how to upload the SS projects into blogs, but then I found this solution.
    It's not perfect...the html code would be preferable, but baby steps are better than not walking at all. Here's the tutorial I created yesterday so I remember the process in the Fall:


(If you're having a problem viewing this link on Safari, try Firefox.)

(Update as of Jan. 11, 2013: Soundslides now offers a hosting site for Soundslides project. Once you sign up for the hosting site on the SS website, you can retrieve the embed code, though it's not free. It'll cost $12 a month for the service.

 Bittersweet Farms Soundslides

This course will be in temporary hiatus until Fall semester

 Stay tuned: I will post the URL to rustwire.com when the Burned Soundslides project is published. To view individual student photo stories, click on the Student blog roll in the menu bar.
 After I post that URL,  this course blog will be in temporary hiatus until the start of the next Intro to Journalism course in August.
  Thank you for supporting this course.

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.

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!

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!

Students learn about reciprocity and the power of display

Reciprocity is a lesson in camera control

Take note of the blurry background in this image of a moving vehicle. This

effect is achieved by using a slow shutter speed and panning my camera with

movement of the vehicle. (PHO245/Jen Hannum)

By Jen Hannum

   I learned a lot about cameras and how they work while studying camera operations in my photojournalism class this week,
   Did you know that a fixed lens isn’t defined by whether the lens zooms or not? It is actually a lens that stays at its minimum aperture no matter what focal length you set it to.
   We also touched on basic compositional elements, as well as a reminder of how to control our shutter speed, aperture and ISO to achieve the creative control of our images.
   Reciprocity is the process of setting all the controls on my camera to capture an image with my desired creative outcome, which should be determined in my head before I even put that camera to my face.
   Camera operations is really all about knowing my camera and how to achieve the look I desire in my images, and not letting the camera decide for me.

Posted by Jen Hannum's Photojournalism Blog

 

   The above blog post is from PHO245 student Jen Hannum. I’m proud to highlight the work of Jen, who flawlessly demonstrated a technique called panning.  I posted it in its entirety because it’s the epitome of what's expected from a typical student blog post. 

   Students are expected to publish short essays on their blogs each week,  forcing them to strengthen their writing skills. This is also where they will display their photographic work the rest of the semester. They will learn basic layout and design principles, which is just as important as the text and photos they display. If a display is bad, then readers will be too distracted to care about the rest. A good display exhibits attention to detail and an understanding of good showmanship.  

  These are basic layout and design principles to keep in mind:

• No trapped white space
• People and objects, like cars, should face toward the copy, not off the page
• If a photo is on left, then use flush left or block text, and if photo is on the right, use flush right or block text
• Photo captions are flush left or block 
• Use photos LARGE

   From now on every student will display their photos on their blogs. These are their upcoming shooting assignments: feature, portrait, sports and individual/group photo stories.   

   You can find their blogs by clicking on the Student Blog Roll/Fall 2012 in the top menu bar.