News University

So, a lot of us are thinking about internships, about jobs and trying not to starve while doing something we love. I came across a website in my public affairs reporting class that could help us say 'yes' when it comes to the dreaded video/audio/multimedia skills question. It's called News University, and it offers free (and some paid) classes on writing, editing, design, and multimedia skills. Check it out; see if it helps.

Good luck on portfolios!

Lab Hours for the End of the Semester

Lab Hours:

Monday, December 8 - 3:30-6:30
Tuesday, December 9 - 9-5
Wednesday, December 10 - 9-5
Thursday, December 11 - 9-5
Friday, December 12 - 9-5 (3710 deadline)

Equipment must be turned in with your portfolio.

A Climate for LIfe

For those of us who salivate over the prospect of working for National Geographic, the International League of Conservation Photographers just published "A Climate for Life," which focuses on the preservation of arctic, fores/rain forest ecosystems. The animal and environmental photography is amazing--there's a particularly adorable photo of a seal, which I'll note especially for Mark.

The piece is rather long, but for those environmentalists among us, it's really interesting. Regardless, conservation is a really important issue, an issue that's just beginning to get the full attention it deserves.

Check out the ILCP's website too. It's got great photos!

Vincent Laforet

My attention was brought to a blog of Vincent Laforet, an advertising and editorial photographer based in NY. It's an interesting blog on its own, but he also lists other photography blogs and websites he visits regularly. Also, on his website is a short film photographed with the Canon EOS 5D MKII.

I meant to add that this article by Laforet, which was also the inspiration for his blog, is very interesting about the future of the media industry.

Stop Pan and Blur: Advanced Style!

I know we thought we all left this behind in intro (minus the few of you who nailed it at the Petit le Mans!) but these are AMAZING. Check these out and get inspired.

Incredible gallery

When I was doing my Day in the Life, I asked the photographer about some of the people who inspire them or they admire, and among other names he brought out a handmade, handprinted leather book that he said was one of his prize possessions. After looking through it, I can see why.



I don't know whether to call it documentary, or environmental portraits, or whatever you like, but suffice to say the images are incredible. The pictures are taken by Gregory Colbert of Canada, and are part of a large-scale work titled "Ashes and Snow," contained in a moving, "nomadic" exhibition and comprising photos, writings, and three films -- the main film of which has been narrated by big names (Laurence Fishburne, Ken Watanabe, and others) and translated into several languages. He travelled all over Asia, Africa, and Antarctica to witness the native people interacting with the animals there -- these are must-see photos; this is just one of so many to choose from.

To see the whole series, go to www.ashesandsnow.com.

Inspiration: Conceptual Portraits

(By Brooke Hunyady, found at her website http://www.brookehunyady.com/)

In case you all don't have enough to think about, forget the big project due Tuesday and the rest of your classes, (and the craziness of graduating a month from Tuesday, if you're me!), let's all think about our portraits.

Here, my friends, is inspiration if you need it. Portfolio>Conceptual.

Enjoy!

Another Look at "Photojournalist for a Day"

Out of curiousity, I googled the name of our next project to see what popped up. Looking for inspiration, I guess.

I came across this, which isn't at all what we did for our projects, but is interesting none the less.

Bearing Witness

For a long time, I thought the reason that I wanted to be in newspapers was to tell the story of war, to work with the troops doing embedded journalism. I have friends who served and are still serving in Iraq, so their stories really touched me. Now, I don't know if I could do it.

Reuters put together a multimedia piece called Bearing Witness: Five Years of the Iraq War. The images are so powerful, so raw...and some of it isn't easy to watch. The piece gives an overview of what the journalists covering the war have seen and will continue to see. But what I really liked about it were the profile pieces, which fearful in-depth interviews with reporters and photographers who have been covering the war. Wow.

One of the most disturbing images for me was of a camera abandoned on the ground after an explosion. Why? Whoever had it uses our 70-200 lens.

The Big Picture.....

has become one of my favorite blogs recently and I enjoy so much looking at the amazing photos posted here.  I came across these photos and thought that they were appropriate since yesterday was Veteran's Day.  I especially found them intriguing since my older brother is currently serving in Afghanistan.  Check them out...the desert has never looked so beautiful (to me anyways). 

so this is depressing

Paper Cuts: layoffs and buyouts at U.S. newspapers

Executive Portraits

I've been thinking a lot lately about shooting executive portraits. I'm reshooting mine on Monday, and decided to use good ole Google for some ideas. I flipped through the images for awhile and didn't really find anything that held my attention. I guess that's my difficulty with this type of image: where's the artistry?

Anyway, I found (another) time lapse video of an executive portrait photographer, David Tejada. He shot 9 executive portraits with the same set up. It's a nice way to lose 4-5 minutes of your time, but it makes me wonder how much of the photographer actually goes in to it. Any thoughts?

Intended Consequences

So, I absolutely love MediaStorm. My favorites thus far: Evidence of My Existence, which Mark talked about way back when, and Ivory Wars. Oh, and for the Radiohead fans among us, there's a great video to "Creep."

I was totally blown away by their last post, "Intended Consequences." It's about the women who survived the Rwandan genocide and had children from rape. Sex has been used as a weapon for a long time, but I don't think that I've ever heard a story that captured the emotions so well.

Seriously, watch it. Watch the individual stories. Then, watch the photographer talking about his reactions and the process of getting the interviews.

Torgovnik, the photographer, raises an interesting question. He says that all photographers are activists. They have to be.

What do you think?

Fail Faster

This article on "How to Fail as a Photojournalist" is really interesting for those of you who are looking to succeed in photojournalism. Allen Murabayashi wrote this as how the advice we usually hear can be turned around in order to make money, in his opinion. 

ELECTION WOOHOO

Who are the people of America? What are we thinking? What makes us angry and frustrated? What gives us hope? Are some of us really all blue and some all red? Or are we mostly shades of purple? What is the American Dream today?

From http://insight.magnumphotos.com, an explanation of a project called Insight America. More:

InSight America is an innovative documentary project that aims to explore these questions on the eve of one of the most important elections in American history. Calling on the talents of some of the world’s most respected photojournalists, using the Web to update their observations daily, InSight America is a collage of personal investigations and reflections that attempts to capture the things preoccupying Americans during the weeks leading to Election Day.

In honor of Halloween...

I know it is a week early, but seriously Halloween is my absolute favorite. Check out these clowns.

More costumes..

Happy Halloween. I get a little excited.

081020: day before deadline

"Oh hey what's up. Yeah I'm Glenn, I'm just chillin w my shades. Hey Danielle you're doing Housing Rocks the Vote too? I know, Tate plaza sucks so bad."

"Hello Amanda, come sit on this bench and commiserate with us because nothing is happening. In fact I think they're packing up those tables over there."

"Greetings Beth, I love your shirt but please go away and don't shoot this event because Mark will be pissed when he sees like 7 sets of the same pix!!!!"

Aaaand Frannie!!

Polling Place Photo Project

The NY Times is gettin' on the ball with campaign photo stories... only this one is of a different sort. Here's what the site says of their project:

The Polling Place Photo Project is a nationwide experiment in citizen journalism that encourages voters to capture, post and share photographs of this year’s primaries, caucuses and general election. By documenting local voting experiences, participants can contribute to an archive of photographs that captures the richness and complexity of voting in America.

Check it out, it's pretty interesting! http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Berlin Festival of Lights

I want to travel to Berlin before the Festival of Lights ends! These photos are beautiful and I want to see the city lit up in person!   Does anyone want to join me?

His McCain, Her Obama

I ironically stumbled across this after our brainstorming in class today. It's a video on the StL Dispatch site about a couple: he's for McCain, she's for Obama, and each put out a candidate sign in their yard. It gets a little cheesy, but overall it's interesting how they told the story and just focused strictly on this couple. This is for you Glenn.

Election Memorabilia

I came across these pictures and thought they were kind of funny, and since we are doing some election coverage, it seemed fitting.  No real hard hitting journalistic coverage,  just some "detail" shots.  

Interesting...

I came across this Australian photographer, Magdalena Bors, who creates magical and scenic things in her home with household items and then captures them in photos.  I thought it was cool to see the weird and cooky things people do...and this is definitely one of them!     

Born Into Brothels: Documentary Film

Remember my post about Wendy Ewald and her book, "I Wanna Take Me a Picture"? 

Well,  Zana Briski took the same idea to the brothels of Calcutta India and later made a documentary film, titled "Born Into Brothels," of her experience.  Briski teaches photography classes to the children of prostitutes, gaining unbelievable access into their lives through the photographs they take. The children's photographs illuminate the way they see the world through the stories that they choose to tell with their camera. 

Briski later established a non-profit called Kids with Cameras that has spread this teaching method across the world. 

My favorite quote from the Kids with Cameras website: "We believe that photography is an effective tool in igniting children's imagination and building self esteem." Not the definition of photography from a journalist's perspective, I know, but, the documentary is a very effective journalistic tool to tell the story of these children in the red-light district of  Calcutta. 

I really recommend this documentary if you have not seen it already. I know Vision Video has it for rent.

Joe McNally

I remember Mark talking on Tuesday about working with Joe McNally on a diner shoot (almost positive we're both talking about the same guy, but someone please correct me if I'm wrong), and I got a little curious.

Well, I found his blog. It's not strictly business, but I loved reading the stories behind the photos. That, and you get a really good sense of McNally as a person. The first post is actually a farewell to Joe from one of his assistants. It's so cool to read about his experiences working with McNally. Read it! It could be one of us one day.

This is probably one of my favorite photos:


I love the light, love the motion. Plus, one of the photos after it shows where McNally was (in the water). Cool!

P.S. If you make it to the end of the first page of the blog, there's a pretty funny story about airplane sabotage.

"If your photographs aren't good enough, you're not close enough."

Sometimes when I'm bored I like to go to the magnum photos site and pick a photographer and fiddle through his/her portfolio. Magnum was created in part by Robert Capa in the 40s. Along with the portfolios you can check out some of the photo essays compiled on the site. They also post blogs from some of the photographers talking about some of the pictures they've made, their history, some of the intimate details and tidbits from certain assignments. It's pretty cool and interesting to hear what was going on in some of their heads while making certain pictures.

Gainesville Sun Phlog

Photographers for the Gainesville Sun have a photo blog where they post pics and slideshows of things they shoot for the paper. It's nice because sometimes they'll add a little backstory blurb about the idea/technique behind the photo, besides just the caption. Also they run the pics sort of huge like the Boston Globe's blog, which I like. They haven't updated since August which makes me sad, but I guess that means they're nice and busy. I like the black-and-white slideshow about Hurricane Fay in the most recent entry.

--edit
So after looking through all the archives, I realized that all the posts that made me say Wow in my head (like "Wow," in my head, not "Wow in my head." That would be silly) were made by staff photog Brandon Kruse. So I found his photo blog. It's rad, you should go see. Also is updated more frequently.

---edit edit
Ok so for the past two weeks I've totally slacked on the blog posts but tonight for some reason I'm on fire. Getty just decided to give 4 grants of $5,000 each for editorial photography to students currently enrolled in photojournalism courses. Info and application here. You have to have a story proposal of up to 500 words (hey maybe you could just tinker with your Alexia one!) and upload a portfolio of 20-25 images onto their ftp thinger. Submission guidelines are very specific, make sure you follow. Deadline November 15.

AND one more thing. A Photo A Day.

Politics

Political Coverage....
I just think this is funny. It deviates from the normal pictures.

http://www.time.com/time/picturesoftheweek

The other pictures are interesting too. Especially the stock market one.

More Racing... But, Motorcycles This Time.

Maybe everyone is a little tired of vehicles moving really fast and maybe even more so of me posting links to the Boston Globe Big Picture blog... but, I can't help myself! These were too awesome! The Boston Globe is in Australia at the 2008 Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix. 

Yes, that's right. There is a seagull in front of these motorcycles! Take a look at the rest. 

Photo Contest!!!

Hiya!

Got an email about an International Photo Contest (read: International Photo. Contest.) hosted by the study abroad office. If you have pics you have taken abroad and would like to share, do it!

There is usually a dinner and slideshow for all the entrants--don't quote me on that though--and the winner(s) get...a really warm feeling inside and ego padding. Click here for more info.

P.S. Thanks to the wonder of drag-and-drop, I have pilfered one of the examples for you to see that if THIS is advertisement, chances are, anything any of you throw in will WIN. Lol. No offense to the photographer.

Fill and Diffuse

A short video that talks about using reflectors and diffusers. If you're heading into a world of more portraits, good to pay attention.

Photographers in Focus

In the spirit of "A Day in the Life," I came across a website called liveBooks.com. The series is called "Photographers in Focus," and they interview photographers from all over the spectrum: from art photography to serious photojournalism.

My favorite quote is from the newest interview with Colin Finlay. He's a photojournalist. I really like this (except for the sort of cheesy music in the beginning).

He talks about how people ask if it's hard for him to do what he does, to photograph people in abject poverty and suffering. It isn't hard, according to Finlay. He simply said: "It's not about me anymore. It's about the people I'm photographing."

Political Project

Some inspiration for the ensuing project..maybe this will help with ideas for more pics...

Best of Multimedia Site

Ken Kobre, who also happens to be the author of our text book, has started a new site, which he calls "'an online guide to the Web's best video and multimedia journalism – or, as we call it, the Web's most moving stories.'" He adds that it "will focus on 'handpicked, high-quality documentary-style journalism' that is being produced primarily by major media outlets 'and is frustratingly difficult for consumers to find.'"Anyway, it's definitely worth checking out when scouring the web for cool, interesting multimedia stories!

different take on photos

just a little different look at photography after our long weekend at the track! yesterday was great, team! can't wait to see everyone's pictures from the race!


http://view.break.com/534274 - Watch more free videos

Morgan posted a photo story from this blog earlier, but I wanted to draw everyone's attention back to this site. The Boston Globe features a blog called The Big Picture that posts new photo stories almost every day. They are always really good. 

Take a look at this story of sapphire mining in Madagascar- it is beautifully shot. The humanity of the miners is really captured in these shots, as well as the conditions of their workplace. 

totally journalism

Hey yall before I pass out and sleep until Tuesday I just wanted to direct your attention to this cool multimedia piece I found about the coming of autumn and autumn-related autumnal activities people do.

ps. if I stay up like 4 more hours I'll have been awake for 24 hours!

Ghost Town

So I know there are no people in these photographs, but the name of the essay is called Ghost Town...quite appropriate I think. The pictures are still good without people, plus it gets the photographer's point across.

Look for Ghost Town...but the other ones are cool too.

http://www.nppa.org/competitions/monthly_news_clip_contest/view_winners.php?c=10&d=Jun&t=FMP&r=5&p=3rd&i=76255

Documentary Photography

I was perusing a slideshow that the NPPA did on photojournalism websites and noticed that most of the photos in the slideshow that caught my eye were from blueeyesmagazine.com. This is a website that was created by a group of Missouri Journalism graduates in 2003. They dedicate the site to independent (mainly still) documentary work. The stories cover a range of social, political, intl., and environmental issues and (most importantly) welcome and encourage submissions from young photojournalists. It's a good way to check out what other new photogs are capturing.

Time Lapse Love

We're on a common racing theme nowdays. :)

So, while wasting time online I came across a site called vimeo.com. It's like an upscale youtube, with full quality and some high definition stuff too. What's really interesting about the site is that it seems like most of the contributors are serious photographers and videographers.

Some of the things I liked:


Twin Peaks San Francisco Sunrise (HDR time-lapse) from Chad Richard on Vimeo.

And more time lapse:

Enjoy!

Motor Racing Photography Tips

I don't know about you guys... but I'm just a little worried about making good photos at the race on Saturday. So I searched around the net and found a few good sites with tips on how to better prepare for what we'll encounter on the track.

• WikiHow offers a good general "how to" along with tips and warnings.
• Emotive Images provides a couple different articles with things to think about.
• The New York Institute of Photography has an in-depth article about how professional race photographer, Bruce Miller, goes about it.

Take a look. Hopefully some of these will help us mentally prepare ourselves, but I've got this feeling that we'll just have to figure it out as we go. Should be a good time!

Carolyn Cole

I looked up the story for which she won a Pulitzer in 2004, about the clash of government and rebel soldiers in Monrovia, Liberia.
The ones I can't stop looking at are the photos of the refugee children, like Tehneh Johnson in the yellow and red shirt, the three children bathing, and Patirnel Boima in the pink towel. I feel like I could not have composed those better if I had sat down and painted them, and also had an amazing ability to paint.

Also, LA Times has a multimedia package of the same story, which includes audio of an interview w/ Carolyn Cole. There's shocking quotes in that, when she talks about how the search for food occupies most everyone's time, how they have to walk three hours (if they're able) to find it, how children there probably get one handful of rice a day, if that. And the pictures, I think, make very apparent the danger she put herself in to show this story.

Le Mans on Autoblog

Looking up stuff for the Petit Le Mans Event...found a great blog, Autobloggreen...hey, They "
obsessively cover the green scene" and since this is such a big deal, might be helpful to read up.

Oh, and an afterthought...so since there's a gas shortage, how does that affect this racing series...I know they'll still race in the rain, but will they still race with no gas? Have they already purchased all the fuel they need? How does this work?

Petit Le Mans

Just got off the phone with our American Le Mans Series guy (John Evenson), looks like everything is falling into place. We'll go over some organizational stuff on Tuesday, but he reiterated the importance of the Green Challenge - we need to make sure we cover this and cover it well.

There will be lots of signage around the track and the paddock, he said the trophies are hand made and gorgeous, so we have to get them before they're presented and while they're being presented. (May be a good chance to do some location lighting, I'll pack up a few reflectors.)

Also, the 007 Aston Martin owner/driver Paul Drayson is a HUGE proponent of this, we have to find him and get some good stuff. 

Links to read up on the event:

• American Le Mans Series - the main site for the sanctioning body
  
• Road Atlanta - track site
  
• AutoWeek - good info in the forums and back stories
  
• SpeedTV - the network that will be broadcasting the event
  
• Modern Racer - news on the series
  
• MotorSports.com - another news site
  

You can also search for individual teams (Audi, Penske Porsche, Andretti Green Racing, Corvetter Racing, Flying Lizard Racing, Peugeot - who had a major crash on Saturday morning and rebuilt the whole car by Sunday).

Start Studying.

Something Different to Try

I know I keep posting about things that aren't actually photojournalism-related, but hopefully they're still interesting in a more general photographic sense.

Anyone seen infrared photography? Black and white images with dark skies and light foliage and basically where some of the colors tones look a lot different than they should?


What about COLOR IR? Now I've always thought this is some neat stuff:

The mechanics are different depending on how you want to do it (for film users there is actually infrared-specific film made by Kodak and a few others; you can have the IR-blocking chip in your digital camera removed; or you can buy a filter), but the results are always pretty unusual and neat-looking. The cheapest/easiest way (especially if you don't want to permanently alter your camera) is to buy a filter, usually by either Hoya or Wratten, and take one picture with it on and the same one with it off (you'll need something to brace it). I used to play around with this myself on my old camera, but since I bought a Rebel XT the filter thread is too big now for the lenses I have, so I've had to put it on hold. Even if you didn't want to do IR specifically, though, there are some interesting things you can do just playing around with the filter itself and different white balances.

To read more about it, check out this link. It's pretty long and technical, but it'll tell you essentially everything you need to know to get started.

(A sidenote: they specifically mention the 30D as being a pretty decent camera to do it with...)

Another Mediastorm Multimedia Piece: The Ninth Floor

Last year, mej posted this on the UGA Photojournalism blog. I don't know how frequently everybody checks that blog, so I wanted to post this again here. After Lesley's post guided me back to this site, I revisited this story. 

This multimedia piece had a really deep impact on me after watching it the first time. And, maybe even deeper after watching it again recently. A lot of the scenes are very graphic depictions of drugs, sex and violence. Just a warning: if you are uncomfortable with these you may not want to watch this. 

The intimate access that this journalist got into the lives of these subjects is remarkable. This is truly a story that needs to be told. And, is impossible to do so with out this level of access. 

Take a look.  

Mobile Photojournalism

I found an interesting blog, where this guy Charlie Saceda posts news photos taken using only the camera on his mobile phone. He is a photojournalist in the Philippines, who currently works for a daily national publication there. With all the debate today about what is journalism and what isn't, I was intrigued to see this man crossing over onto both sides of the fence.

On this web site, you can see some of his professional work (using a real camera). Scroll down and take a look at the Gallery section. Some nice use of wide-angle in there.

Or if you're REALLY into it, you can check out his Flickr Photostream.

Talking to the Taliban

So, I came across this multimedia piece from the Globe and Mail in Canada. I'd seen it awhile ago but was glad to find it again. There's more interviewing and video storytelling than photographs, but I thought it was a really well done. It's amazing the kind of access they got on this. The very concept of reaching out to a terrorist organization to tell why the individual soldiers believe, rather than just lambasting them in political rhetoric, is scary and powerful and so, so important. It humanizes them, I think, and creates an environment for understanding. That's key.

I was also trying to find a website through the Washington Post. They had short interviews (less than 5 min.) with interesting citizens around town. I remember a young male marijuana lawyer and an older man who was an art model. Anyone know what I'm talking about? I'd really like to find it again!

Another Country continued...

When looking through the comments on one of the posts I made last week, Another Country, I noticed the last post was from the photographer himself, Scott Strazzante. He was kind enough to answer some of the questions we raised in our comments. (I tried to copy it here to save you time looking it up, but I kept doing something wrong.) I thought this may get overlooked, so I thought I'd point it out. Also, MediaStorm made his slideshow into a multimedia piece definitely worth checking out: go here and click on Common Ground.

Internship for YOU!!!

Sorry I didn't get to post this last week, but here is an opportunity for anyone who's interested.  I receive emails from the NBA about internships, and I will pass this along to you guys! (Not really my cup of tea, but perhaps it will be yours!)

It is for the Washington Wizards basketball team. 

Photography Internship (2008-09 Season) - Washington Wizards (Washington, DC)
[ http://nbateamjobs.teamworkonline.com/teamwork/r.cfm?i=20485 ]

New Media and Changing Computer Choices

I received this article  in my inbox and found it really interesting and on top of that it was written by a UGA student!  The article doesn't pertain to photojournalism specifically, but it is relevant to the technology we all use!! 

History of Photography

I was playing around on National Geographic's website and saw this image that MEJ showed us last class of the bullet going through the apple- a moment that perfected high-speed stroboscopic photography.  After clicking on it, it took me through a neat timeline of the history of photography which I found interesting. Some of these photos I have seen many times (the image of the Afghan girl's piercing green eyes), but others I had either never seen, or never fully understood their magnitude and the milestone they represented.  It was incredible to see the images they were able to create at such a primitive stage of the camera. 

Just thought it was worth checking out!

Daily Dose of Imagery

I'd forgotten about this site until I was going through my old favorites looking for something interesting to post -- every day this guy takes a picture around his hometown (Toronto) and posts it, and almost all of the time they're very GOOD pictures, too. Among other things, it's a good place to get ideas for features -- and just to get some ideas of sorts of pictures in general that you might want to try.

There are similar sites to look for -- I know there was another person I came across once who takes a portrait of someone every day -- whether it's in his studio, on the street, or on location somewhere. Sometimes they're planned, sometimes they're not -- I'll post the link if I come across it again, but otherwise look out for it yourself on google, it shouldn't be too hard to find.


There are landscapes, weather pictures, small detail pictures, portraits, pictures from premieres and festivals, and lots of similar things. The archives go all the way back to July 4, 2003 -- so there's plenty to see.

Amazing Site Cont'd...

For some reason I forgot to say that I specifically explored some of Harry Benson's work on the Fotophile site...super duper amazing! I mean, I can't believe the historical significance of most, if not all, of his photos. Robert Kennedy's assassination, pics of the Beatles and MLK ...crazy

Pinhole Cameras

In high school, I built my own pinhole camera, but now it seems to be hitting the mainstream market and becoming more user friendly. First the lomo cameras and now this! It's interesting to me how the more complicated film cameras are becoming more simplified.


Here's the link.
"http://www.corbis.readymech.com/en"

What the World Eats

This is less about the photos, more about the cool idea, but the photos are still essential to the story. The TIME mag photo essay is from a book called "Hungry Planet" by Peter Menzel, and in it he's photographed families around the world - from California to North Carolina to Tingo to Sicily to Breidjing Camp - standing next to their dinner tables, which are covered in everything they eat in a week, and in the caption he's also put what they spend on food weekly and some family recipes. One of the more obvious differences is the amount of packaged food vs. produce eaten by families in the US vs. families from everywhere else.

Features & Multimedia

This compilation may be a little old (2004), but it has a whole section on Feature stories. And seeing as I love multimedia, this has been my favorite way to get feature photo ideas.

It's the Best of Photojournalism Web Entries from 2004. Like I said though, be sure to scroll down to the section for "Best Feature Picture Story." Some good stuff there.

Election Stories

I know that our election centered photo stories are a little ways off, but I just wanted to point to a story that the Rocky Mountain News did on the democratic national convention this year. I really think it's done brilliantly and some of the time lapse stuff is pretty cool too. Some of you guys might remember that the Rocky Mountain News also did a story called "Final Salute," which is amazing.

It's called "At last, At last, A Dream Fulfilled." Though it does focus on Barack OBama, the story's more about Denver and the people who live there. So, despite this big starting point, the story still feels localized.

It's long, but hang in there.

Covering Protests

This article reveals the obstacles that many photojournalists faced while covering protests at the Republican National Convention a few weeks ago. A handful were arrested - one of them a 2 time NPPA photojournalist of the year.



The video below shows raw footage and photos from the protests shot by the AP. See 1:20.

Amazing Site!

So I found this amazing site with all these links to famous photojournalists work. There are also project links and other related stuff. AND if you go to the home site, they have all these updates and latest camera info. So freakin cool....

B B C

In my search for an internship in Edinburgh, Scotland I was brought to the BBC website and decided to glance through the photographs. This one is amazing. It has so many lines to follow and helps to communicate the confusion behind a grenade explosion.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/7621096.stm

The other pictures on the site are good too. Especially the one with the small children in Somali. It is interesting to see what their make shift homes are made of. (it is photograph number 10)

Documentary Photographer: Wendy Ewald

When I took photography with the art school (shhh don't tell mej) two years ago, my teacher introduced me to Wendy Ewald, a documentary photographer who has committed her life to teaching young children photography. She started a program within the Durham Public Schools called Literacy Through Photography that, "at it's core... encourages children to explore their world as they photograph scenes from their own lives, and then use their images as catalysts for verbal and written expression." I really admire Ewald's passion for empowering children to visually communicate their stories. Especially, now that art is being cut from almost every public school and kids are no longer learning any form of visual communication. 

Ewald also wrote a book titled I Wanna Take Me a Picture that serves as an "accessible and practical guide to getting children involved in photography."

Another Country

I thought this story had an interesting angle that you see occasionally, but not as directly. After Scott Strazzante, a Chicago Tribune photographer, chronicled the end of a family farm he had photographed for years, he returned to the land to find a subdivision. He was invited into the home of one of the families and began noticing similarities in what he shot. (He describes those now as "really eerie".) The slideshow directly parallels the images, placing them side by side. It is interesting to see the similarities and differences he found in the two lifestyles. And it's cool to see how a story can develop when you return to it years later. 

LA Times Photos

Today I came across the photography section of the LA Times site, a paper/site I don't think to check out very often. They have a really nice photography page though, that has tons of galleries organized by subject, the week in staff's photos and lots of multimedia stories. Just thought it'd be another place to look for inspiring stories, images, etc. 

Lab Hours Adjustment

There will be a slight adjustment to lab hours, as the lab is needed between 12:30 and 1:30 on Thursday for a meeting.

The lab will be open from 11:30 to 12:30, then again from 1:30 to 4:30 on Thursday. Lab will open an hour earlier (11:30) on Friday to give another opportunity to work.

Flying Short Course Registration

Somebody broke the interwebs ... but the fine folks at NPPA's headquarters put up an emergency registration page for the Flying Short Course.

Aerial Photos

I'm a sucker for aerial photos. But this guy doesn't have a step ladder in his trunk.

He has a kite.

Parkour!

So have you guys heard of Parkour? Apparently it is kind of big in Houston. There is a video on The Dallas Morning News website.

http://www.dallasnews.com/video/dallasnews/hp/index.html?nvid=238969

Turns out there is someone who specializes in Parkour/Free running photography

http://www.kiell.com/

pylon tumblr!

Michael Lachowski, who is Pylon's bassist I think, has a tumblr called I Photograph Bands! In this tumblr, he puts pictures of bands he has photographed!

Internships and great info

Since we have been talking about internships a lot...especially in this past class...I thought this was relevant information that I found on the NPPA website. Lots of tid-bits and helpful suggetions

This may be cooler to me than most of the rest of you (as far as I know -- maybe I'm not the only one), since I'm more into advertising/studio photography, but I still think it's an interesting article for anyone interested in photography.

This is a five-part tutorial from Atlanta-based photographer Zack Arias (if you've been reading Strobist for a while you may have already seen this, it was on there a few months ago) about how to set up a studio with a white seamless background, like you see used in portraits very often.

But what's cool about it to me is Part Three, where he shows how controlled use of your lighting equipment can turn that same white background to pure black, or even any other colors.



Yeah, that's a white background.

Real Photojournalism v. Flickr

"Flickring Out" 

I found this article online on the Columbia Journalism Review website and it is very interesting. Alissa Quart, the reporter, raises a lot of good points about the struggles and issues currently facing the photojournalism world. It is definitely worth looking at..

One of my favorite lines in the article:

"There's still a special recipe to be a 'real' photojournalist, and it's not just the 'trained' or 'expert' eye but rather the sheer hours put into each assignment and the ability to sustain a thought, image, or impulse through a number of images, not just a single snapshot."

Check it out:

http://www.cjr.org/essay/flickring_out_1.php?page=1

Notes from Tuesday

Sorry for the delay, but I've posted the presentation (sans images) online about finding features and story ideas.

Life in Color: National Geographic

Since our assignment for next week includes a feature photo that focuses on a color, I thought that this might help fuel some ideas. National Geographic put together an awesome feature that shows slice of life images, each in one bold color. Take a look!

Petit Le Mans and AutoWeek

A few years ago, I spent a week in Detroit for the North American International Auto Show and worked with the folks at AutoWeek on a research project. The managing editor there has a photojournalism background and we've stayed in touch the last few years. (Okay, I've been playing the stalker trying to get him to come to our fall workshop.)

He, again, can't make it (something about having to go to Paris), but has brought up the idea of us providing images for an online-gallery from the event for AutoWeek.

Are we interested? I'd handle the sending of the images, but I'd need everyone's permission to do this. It's a great opportunity for some exposure for you and the program.

Thoughts?

Where the Heck Have I Been?

Since we only have class once a week, it was not too noticeable that I have been gone for a week.  But where..?

Lol. I have been in NYC for Fashion Week interning with a fashion PR firm, and Mark wants me to share a bit about it.  

PHOTOGRAPHY aspects:

Although I could go on for days about which collections were the best, I just wanted to share a few things about being a photographer in an environment like that:

1) Very much like a football game, photographers are everywhere with multiple lenses.  Many carried at least 2 camera bodies--one w/ a short and one w/a long lens.  

    * NOTE: They used the SAME 70-200 lenses as we have in our camera kits!! 

2) Inside the shows, press is allowed at an area facing the end of the runway, less than five feet away.  Each photographer has a taped off 2'x2' box in which to stand in.  (Usually everyone is just bunched in as tightly as possible...screw the boxes).

* This is a horrible photo from my phone, but behind the people there is a white square against the wall. Press needs to be the width of that white area and as far in front as is taped off. It is NOT a very big space, and there can be 200 ppl there, depending on the popularity of the show.

3) Runway shows are probably hard to photograph: The audience is in near blackness, but the runway is blindingly lit.  There were a lot of off camera light-meters in action prior to the shows.

   * Press is let in abt 15 minutes before the shows, but luckily the venues are pretty standard--except for the Promenade at Bryant Park which is outdoors.

   

   *I've included this picture of LL and GF at Charlotte Ronson because 

1. this one of our firm's shows (yea!) and...

2. so you can see how dark everything is behind them although they are pretty bright in the first row.  This picture has been lightened as well, I'm sure.

4) They chimp like CRAZY, so I'm sure they carry a ridiculous battery pack.

5) If you work for a trashy newspaper or tabloid, wear your running shoes. When one photographer runs, everyone starts running--chances are, there's a celebrity ducking off somewhere and you need to get the money shot! Cha Ching! (for Morgan:)

Well, that's all I can think of to say about photojournalism and fashion. Enjoy!

Chanelle

Weather features

Since we're doing a weather feature this week, I thought you guys might want to take a look at these. Scroll down a bit, since the top of it is mainly ads. Some of them have been highly edited (the friend who sent these to me is a advertising student).

It seems like a lot of this depends on location, location. And patience. I'm not so good at that yet, but I have a feeling I will be.

ASSIGNMENT: Features, Reading & Learning

For next Tuesday, please shoot three feature photos. One needs to be weather related, one needs to focus on color and one needs to focus on a strong moment. Upload to the site as normal.

Please read chapter 9 in the book and the handout "In A Flash" (now available in the corner of this site and on the class site).

Don't forget to sign up for the Flying Short Course (and the NPPA) and talk with me about internship opportunities.

And don't forget to blog, either. Or do your photo requests. Or do a Tumblr post, if you want. 

Those Guys Ruined Everything

I read this a while ago and thought it was an interesting comment on the change in industry technology and how the public is responding to it.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/152989

this lens lets you control depth of field after the shot

Um I'm sorry, what did you say?!

Feature: Adobe's Magic Lens Lets You Control Image Depth After the Shot

craaazy

ASSIGNMENT: Blog, read, shoot news

Don't forget, you are all supposed to blog every week - posts by Friday at 9 a.m., comments by noon. 

For Tuesday, please read chapter 11 in the book and have a 3-5 photo package on a news event up online. You need to have them up before class starts - we won't have time in class to do this.

Letters - remember the letters? You were supposed to shoot letters ... let's get those on the server in the lab for Tuesday, as well. If you don't have time to do them before class, I'll stay a little late and you can upload them afterwards. Please crop them into a 5 inch wide by 7 inch high at 300 dpi image and I'll build something cool from there. 

And don't forget the tumblr page ... 

Amazing Sports Photographer

So the assignment is past, and I've already shown this to Mark and Amanda, but I still think this sports photographer based out of the UK, Bob Martin, is someone that would be worth looking at if you want to get some ideas to try for improving your sport photography.

FYI, the donut-shaped bokeh in some of his photos is from a mirror lens -- technically a cheaper way to get some of the longer telephotos, but some people still like them for that look.

Here's one of his most famous photos, from the 2004 Paralympics:

The Year in Pictures

This is a photo blog I like to check by a photographer named James Danziger. He makes posts about collections of photos, photographers, Youtube videos, and random things that inspire him.

I really like his picks for best Olympic photos.

---edit
Also while I was looking for journalists to do my Day in the Life project with, I found Shannon Szwarc, who shoots for my hometown's paper, the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer. I reaaalllly like his work and I can't get over this one shot of some kids playing in downtown C-town. Also he's new-ish to Columbus, but his dedication to capturing the spirit of the community is something I really admire. Like I think he already knows Columbus better than I do, and I've lived there 20 years longer than he has.

Geotag your photos!

Ok, so for those of you that don't know yet, Google Maps now has a "More..." button that lets you view photos and Wikipedia entries related to a certain area. To get photos on Google Maps, there are certain websites you can use to upload your photos and geotag them. This really builds up the collective knowledge and I think anyone who has good pictures of Athens (or their hometowns) needs to upload those pictures to one of those websites and geotag them.

Birds on a wire

So, this isn't quite as different as some of the others, but I liked it for its simplicity. I came across this pictorial that was simple, but pretty awesome: the lines, repetition, color, etc., etc. Plus, the photographer's assignment was more general news, but Robert Cohen found a pictorial there too...

Ugly Made Beautiful

I guess we can't complain about finding legitimate things to photograph anymore...

PopPhoto.com has a really interesting article about making stunning photos from unlikely subjects, such as trash and other discarded materials. Intriguing journalistic statements to be made in a world threatened by consumer waste. I guess sometimes a photo of something really nasty has the ability to make the most lasting impression.

Be sure to also check out the different photo series on Chris Jordan's website. His is the work that the article is about.

"Scattered, Smothered, Covered and Hitched" A Waffle House Wedding

These certainly are not the greatest photos in the world- but the story might be up there for the greatest subject! Take a look- make sure you look at the slideshow of pictures at the bottom of the article. Enjoy!

A little practice goes a long way

I've gotten obsessed with getting a picture right, but I've never been this fascinated. Basically, the guy takes a picture of the same vending machine every day. I believe the title of the blog is roughly "I take pictures of the same vending machine every day. I'm very sorry."

Wow. That's all I have to say. Do people actually follow this? Like every day?

Swimming in a tomato pool

This just looks absolutely wonderful. I love the deep reds in all the photos and the life in all the photos. Plus how much fun would it be to trounce around in tomato sauce while taking pictures. I can't think of anything better..its like a tomato pool.

http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1837057,00.html

Maybe Better Than a Mini Fridge

This is by far, one of the coolest things I've ever seen on-line for photographs. Except for maybe this:
MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

[Make sure you scroll down and check out the picture of London from above.]

tumblr

As asked, it is done. Everyone should have gotten an invitation by email to join the VisualizeAthens Tumblr site. 

First word: brush

Make of it as you will. 

Sports Favorites

I came across this gallery on SI.com and thought that the pictures were awesome (all from different types of sporting events). What I liked most about this gallery is that on the right hand side it tells you what camera the photo was shot with! Happy Viewing!!!

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/0703/gallery.canon.frakes/content.1.html

Press Pass to Shoot VOLLEYBALL?

Does anyone know if you need some sort of press pass to take pics of our UGA volleyball team?  Also, Morgan--I love the feet pic! 

It's Time for Stormy Weather

I was thinking about the UGA Alerts we kept getting in class last Tuesday and I started freaking out: Mark would TOTALLY make us go outside in inclement weather! I can see it now: the flickering lights... the howling winds... the plastic bags being strapped around the camera...

I decided to search the interweb for something usuable for us in case this actually happens. Best to be prepared, right? Check out [this website] for some good advice on storm chasing. The section is called "Gear and Strategy" which I thought was the most relevant to our photog cause. Pay special attention to the "What and where do chasers eat?" section. While this doesn't immediately relate to photojournalism, a fed journalist is a happy journalist.

To Blog or Not to Blog?

Are we supposed to start blogging this week or no? or am i on the right one...cuz i can't see anybody else's posts but Mark's

Photo Request PDF

There seems to be a coding error with the editable PDF I built, trying to figure it out now. Several of you have found it won't allow you to save the file after you've filled it out. (Printing works fine, and those on Macs can use the print to PDF option from the printer dialog box.)

Am working on it. 

Links to Student Work

Bookmark this link:

http://www.grady.uga.edu/~3710

That will take you to the main page and then to everyone's pages. If you are dying to have a different paragraph on your page, send it to me and I'll update it next week when I add your photos ... 

Lab Hours

Lab Hours, for the foreseeable future:

Monday - 3:30-6:30

Tuesday - 12:30- 2:00

Thursday - 11:30-4:30

Friday - 12:30-4:30

Hours are a little shorter this semester due to budget cuts, but I know you're all free on Thursday afternoons, at the very least ...

ASSIGNMENT: Reading, Shooting and Writing

For next week, please read chapters 2, 3 and 4 from the Photojournalism book. 

Please shoot a 3-5 photo package from a sporting event, you'll have some time at the beginning of class to upload your images on Tuesday. This can be from a high school or intramural event but should be of a competition of some sort. (A scrimmage would be acceptable.)

You need to have two photo requests, typed and printed, for Tuesday as well. One can be event oriented, the other needs to be issue or individually oriented. 

Invitations to the blog will be going out this evening. Starting a week from Friday (September 5) you'll need to post one entry that includes at least one link (more is better) to something of interest to the class and comment on someone else's post. Blogging is about discussions, let's use it that way. 

Your posts will need to be up by 9 a.m. on Friday, comments by noon on Friday. We'll continue that pattern through the rest of the semester.

ASSIGNMENT: Photo Requests

To simplify your life a bit, I've created an editable PDF with all the fields you'll need to fill in for a photo request. There's a link off of the syllabus page, as well as this page, so you can download as many copies throughout the semester as you need. 

Remember, for Tuesday, you need two requests: one can be event-oriented, the other needs to be centered on an individual or issue. Make sure you fill out all the fields, including the contact information - there must be contact information. 

ASSIGNMENT: Pictorials and Reading

For Tuesday, you need to shoot 3-5 different pictorial images. These photographs are all about composition, light, form, texture ... we're not worrying about the journalism, this is to help you develop your vision.

Look for details, look for landscapes. Look for great light. Really great light.

For the reading, please go through chapters 1 (Assignment), 6 (Sports), 8 (Camera Bag) and 17 (History). We'll talk about some of it in class, and some of it is just great background information for you.

Gone Fishing

Okay, not really. But JOUR3710 is a course offered each fall, so this blog will go dormant for a while. Be sure to check out the main UGA Photojournalism blog for updates on industry news and such.