French photographer shoots U.S. sports for personal project

French resident and 'sports fanatic' Thomas Savoja wearing his newly purchased BG stocking cap. (Photo by Lori King)

Part 2/2:
This is a continuation of a question & answer interview with French sports photographer Thomas Savoja. To read his answers to the first two questions, please scroll down to the next blog post.

Q: You mentioned you were doing a personal project here in America. What is your project, and why are you doing it?  
A: I am a guy driven by passions. I love traveling. I love sport. I love writing and telling stories and obviously I love photography. So I have found out a way to conciliate all these passions in a single project, which is kind of Sport Road trip concept I am experiencing right now. The idea is to travel in the U.S. off the beaten track, attending sporting events at every possible stage (HS, college and pro) - to take pictures of the games and what is around. Then I will write illustrated articles about what I have seen and experienced; about the big and little stories behind the games; and ultimately I will share these experiences through various media with my fellow countrymen who have the same kind of interest but cannot travel for various reason.

This is quite a lot of work and investment as I am doing everything from the credential management to the logistic aspects to the photo shooting and editing to the writing and the publication online or on paper magazine. But this is a great pleasure at the same time at every level of the process.

Q: Any other insights you'd like to share?
A: I think I have now built through the years a strong relationship with your country. Each time I am traveling here, I am feeling pretty well, somehow like home. But like in every passionate relationship, there have been obviously ups and downs. I travel first in the U.S. with my family when I was a teenage in 1985. I can still remember each and every moment of this trip on the East Coast. Growing up as a young adult I take my distance with America maybe because some aspect of your society have been difficult for me to understand. Then in my late 30s come back to my teenage love - and photo and sports play a role in that.

Maybe my Sport Road trip idea will give the idea to replicate this principle in France and organize your own trip to discover my country and shoot typical French sporting events. If so, please get in touch with me. I will be delighted to help you!

To view his American sports photo gallery:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tsavoja/sets/72157638037341303/

Dear Thomas:
   I plan to take my family to Europe, including Paris, in about two years. When I do I will look you up! Maybe I'll get lucky and you'll have a contest for me to help judge then. 
   It was nice meeting you, and good luck with your Sport Road trip idea!
Sincerely, Lori

Q&A #1: French photographer shoots U.S. sports on his own

 Part 1/2:
At Toledo area sporting events, particularly college games, we local photogs can spot an unfamiliar face in the press box pretty quickly. We assume the 'other' guy is from the opposing team. But remember what happens when you assume...

  I was shooting a BGSU football game last month and there was a young guy I didn't recognize, so I asked him where he was from. In a very distinguishable French accent, Thomas Savoja said he was from France. I then asked him why he was at BGSU. Turns out he's an engineer traveling in the United States for a few weeks to document American sports.    

  Interesting, right? So I got his business card and shot him an email with a few questions that my inquiring mind wanted to know. 

  Because his responses were a bit lengthy, I will break the interview up into two parts. He also agreed to send a few of his photos, and I will share them when I get them.

   I hope you find his verbatim answers as enlightening as I did.

Paris sports photographer and engineer Thomas Savoja. (Photo by Lori King)

Q: It says on your business card that you're a sports photographer from Paris, France. What is your photography background? 
A: Well, you always have to be careful with what the business cards says ;-) As far as I am concerned, my initial background is actually engineering and even if photography has always been part of my life, I never consider it as a real business. This means this is not my primary job but more an additional activity. You know, this is very challenging in France to start a serious business from photography itself so I have tried to develop a more global approach where photo is just a side.

My father brought me my first camera when I was eight and since that time, I never really stopped shooting. Urban landscapes were my primary focus. Then I fell in love with Asia, which offers so many picturesque places! This has given me many opportunities to spend time wandering out there with a backpack and a camera. My best souvenirs are probably the Bagan plain in Myanmar, the Thar Desert in Rajasthan and the Silk Road in Uzbekistan.

I came to action shooting relatively late and even if the material has a predominant role there, this is really an area where I enjoy permanently improving my skills. Why this sudden interest for shooting sport? This is mainly because I am myself a sport fanatic. I was a tennis player for 30 years and I am still playing soccer in a French Federation League each Saturday. I started shooting my team and step by step I come to shoot more important events.

My focus when I shoot sports is obviously to be able to catch the ultimate moment of action. This is a nice quest but to be honest, I am always frustrated to miss nice shoot opportunities because of a bad choice of positioning or a lack of concentration. Luck is also a key factor in this area.

In Europe, I shoot every kind of sports even if I tend to specialize myself in American sports (Yes US Football is also played in Europe). Otherwise, it goes from soccer to rugby, handball, volley ball, ice and field hockey but also tennis, boxing, fencing, track and field, and so many others.

Each year in France I am organizing a contest for the Best Football picture of the year. The winner is announced at the halftime of the French championship final and I have the chance to get some nice jurors coming from Sport Photojournalism in the US. Maybe you can be a member of the Jury for this year's contest!

Q: How do you compare European sports to American sports? What are a few major differences and similarities?    
A: That’s a good question. I think that the main difference is the position sport occupies in the society. If I look at the way French society approaches sport, it is actually very far from a center of interest. I would even say that a certain elite has traditionally contempt for Sport in my country. Here in the US, this is really something central in people’s life. For instance, I am absolutely fascinated by the way sport is treated in High School. This is so impressive compared to what we are doing in France. I would have loved to be part of this!

I am also very enthusiastic about college sports despite recent scandals that may have tarnished a little bit the model. I had the opportunity to discover many campuses through the country and I have been very excited about the spirit there and values behind sport.

On the other end, sport seems also one of the main entertainment drivers for people here. In the US, when you are an adult, it seems almost exclusively considered as an entertainment or a business. In Europe this is more an activity than many people want to practice by themselves on top of looking at it on the TV. My impression is that in the US, when you are an adult it is very difficult to play sport as an amateur but maybe I am wrong.

The most popular sport in France is obviously soccer, even if the current image of the national team is extremely bad because of the behavior of some players which have been very selfish and unprofessional these recent years. This is there a difference with the American sports where college is often a mandatory step before turning pro. In Europe, uneducated young kids coming from poor family background are making it to the pros without education and it may become a problem for them to manage the transition.

The behavior of the fans is also totally different in Europe. Here they are much more “hardcore” in the sense that they are coming to the stadium not for the fun of it but really to cheer and support their team. The good think is that atmosphere may be crazy, the bad is that there is too often problems inside stadiums which lead to unsecured atmosphere.

If I take, for the example of Paris Saint Germain my favorite soccer team I am rooting for since I am a kid, 2 guys died in our stadium the last 10 years because of violence. This is not acceptable. The new owners have taken measure to change behavior even if the direct consequence is that the noise and ambiance in the stadium is much more quiet that in the past. A lot of core fans complain about that but security has no price.

Follow Thomas on Twitter: @tomasino22
View Thomas' American sports photo gallery:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tsavoja/sets/72157638037341303/

The Owens Outlook newspaper: Then, now and the future

This is the Prezi presentation I recently did on the state of the Owens Outlook newspaper. Revamping the Owens Outlook is a work in progress, and we have lots and lots of work to do! As the new adviser, it's my job to make sure this work gets done, but at least I'm not alone. We have a small staff who are as committed as I am. When Owens lost the print edition of The Outlook about 4 years ago, the online newspaper went out of sight and out of mind. I think it's safe to say more than half, if not most, of the students/faculty/staff at Owens have no idea we have an online newspaper! What a shame! So, it's my ultimate goal to try and change that. I want the student staff of The Outlook to own it, and be proud of it. But they can't possibly do that without knowing what they are doing. So, let the training begin. Here's my adviser manifesto:

Dave LeBelle: sharing The Lesson with others

Nice video on features:

Dave LaBelle | The Lesson from Francis Gardler on Vimeo.

Intro to PJ students practice what they've been preached

   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 phones certainly are, but he has an iPhone!
Can you really tell that these two photos are from a cell phone? I can't.

Parth's blog post on cell phone photography.

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.