Project Homeless Connect

A friend and I decided to go try to cover this event for the homeless at the National Guard building on Seltice.  There was a lot going on and I had a really hard time trying to isolate some detail that would tell the story and make an interesting photo.  In no way do I consider these to be very good but they were the best I could do that day. 

 

Would not give her name



Left to Right: Janie Helgeson, Peggy Sawicki and Wilma Robinson dish up spaghetti for the homeless.



Ed Hemp of Coeur d'Alene gets a haircut from Stephanie Treadwell at Project Homeless connect on Thursday.



I did not think this photo worked out so I did not bother getting any information - sorry!

Why I picked these photos:

1.  In the first one, the lady was very emotionally caught up in the speech being given.  I missed the great shot but I though this captured a little bit of it.

2.  What I liked about the second photo is that the eyes and arms of the ladies draw the viewer's eyes towards the plate of spaghetti keeping the attention in the middle of the photo.

3.  In the third photo, the guy was willing but embarrassed to have his picture taken.  Maybe it is not obvious to others but when talking to this guy, I was amazed at how honest and humble he seemed and I thought the photo showed some of that.

4.  In the last photo, I liked that I was able to catch a broader scene in the middle of all the chaos.  The two ladies were discussing a food item.  The volunteer had a nice smile and the folks in line cooperated to give a nice overview of the situation giving me a chance to add another piece of the story to the scene.


All I can say is that it is darn hard to get that PJ artsy stuff into my lens.  There must be some kind of coating that blocks it.  If anyone saw Friday's Coeur d'Alene Press newspaper, Jerome got a nice photo of this event that ran on the front page.

Photos of the week

Here are a couple cool photos I've found that I really admire.

This first image is from the funeral of Rainier Oregon's Chief of Police Ralph Painter. The photo really displays a sense of solemnity. You can see the emotion in the boys eyes and body language.

This next photo is of a protest in Tripoli Lebanon. The protesters set a van on fire which belonged to Al-Jazeera, an international Arabic news network. I find this one to be very ironic because the angry protesters set fire to a vehicle yet a man stands next to the flames and holds up a peace sign.

Looking for some critique/thoughts on some photos

So I covered an event tonight for both The Sentinel and my internship. The event was called Club Sub and was an ASNIC-sponsored dance party in the basement of the SUB.

I showed up with my 17-35mm lens and hotshoe flash attached to my camera. I also had my 50mm with me. (My 70-200 is being repaired right now or I would have brought it too).

The room was very dark. Stage lighting was all over the place, going from dim to bright and changing colors in a split second. A maximum of maybe 20 people occupied the dance floor at once. Often there were only about eight or 10 dancing.

Somehow I had to make this look really cool.

I started off shooting wide angle group shots with the flash on. I got down low and stood on chairs. I wasn't happy with the results. The wide angle was including too much ceiling or floor and there simply weren't enough people dancing to get the image I was going for. Also, the flash was killing the colors emitted from the lights in the shots. My lens wasn't fast enough to use without the flash.

I slapped on my 50mm and turned off the flash. The lighting was so dim that I had to bump my ISO up to 1250 or 1600 and shoot with the lens wide open at f1.7, still only getting a shutter of 1/40 or 1/50 at best. My camera had a real hard time locking focus due to the poor lighting and movement of those dancing. Despite these factors, my favorite shots were made with this setup.

I started thinking about how I could really capture some moments in as artistic of a way possible while making the event look as cool as possible. I snuck behind the DJ where I snagged one of my favorite ones. I moved in close on people to get tighter shots so you couldn't tell how few people were there. That's how I got the other two of my favorite shots. (None of these are cropped). Because of the slow shutter, I was able to capture some movement in the second picture which I think ended up working out well. The worst thing about them, I feel, is the amount of noise. My camera doesn't handle ISO 1600 real well.

I would love to hear some thoughts and criticism on the shots.


(50mm, 1/50, f1.7, ISO 1600)


(50mm, 1/40, f1.7, ISO 1000)


(50mm, 1/40, f1.7, ISO 1600)

Unethical Image Disqualified from World Press Awards

This was brought up last year during the awards season, but still is a good example of how something very small and trivial that is removed from an image causes concern.

What's interesting about this debate is that the extreme toning wasn't questioned. Although the toning didn't remove or add any content from the image, it's still heavy handed. And the crop is just lazy.

Be sure to read the discussions on the link page and add your comments for this posting for the rest of the class to read.

World Press Image Discussion

Cool photojournalism site

I found a really cool site chock full of great photojournalism work. The homepage has a slide show of pictures which you can click on any of to see the full set of images regarding the topic and read the captions. There's a lot of really powerful photos on this site and some really cool ideas to take away. It's definitely worth checking out.

http://greatphotojournalism.com/

Dozen Mugs Assignment

So a few of you want to get a head start on your "Dozen Mugs" assignment. If you're a go-getter, make sure you remember these requirements as you're shooting.

1. Fill the frame so the image doesn't have to be cropped into a portrait mode (frame it as a portrait [vertical] and not as a landscape [horizontal] image)
2. Find a neutral background without any distractions (e.g. reflections, limbs or power poles, people staring at you)
3. If they're wearing glasses or a hat, make sure you find the right light to minimize shadows and reflections (if they're wearing sunglasses, ask for them to take them off)
4. Make sure you have the technical aspects nailed down (proper exposure and focus on the eyes)
5. Get proper spelling on the first and last names, where they're from and their age
6. If you get 12 mugs and four of them don't quite work, shoot four more

Remember, these are just glorified driver's license photos. Nothing fancy. Get close so you fill the frame with nothing more than a head and shoulders.

This is an exercise in approaching strangers. You may have to find a way to charm your way into getting  a photo. Make small talk. If they're wearing a cool hat or have a team jacket that your a fan of, bring it up in the conversation. Photojournalism is definitely a "people-person" industry and finding your way to approach people is the first step in getting photos and information.

We'll talk about approaches and overcoming stranger anxiety in class next week.

This assignment is due on Jan. 26.

Here are some examples of how the mugs shots should look:

Photo Discussion

This is a picture of a protest in Egypt taken by Mohammed Abu Zaid a member of the Associated Press.
Egypt's protests were inspired by the political climate in Tunisia. A group of computer savvy young Tunisians used Facebook to help overthrow the president or dictator. The young activists used social media tools because there were no journalist documenting the government actions or abuse and the "the official media started to tell lies about what was happening.” This revolt in Tunisia began over high unemployment, lack of civil liberties and rising food prices. Similar to the monk in south Vietnam protesting the Diem regime, one of the events that also inspired the revolt was a young unemployed graduate man and produce vendor who chose to douse himself in gasoline as the ultimate form of protest after the police confiscated his produce because he did not have the necessary permit.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/dailybeast/20110115/ts_dailybeast/11869_tunisaproteststhefacebookrevolution

What I like about the picture above is the contrast between the multitude looking in one direction and the gentleman looking clear into the camera.

This picture speaks to me because not only does it document a historical moment in Egyptian history, but because of the poignant way in which it documents an act of defiance. The police is feared in Egypt and for people to have the audacity to protest in public nonetheless to be amongst the feared policeman in a statement of defiance asking president Moubarak to leave is extraordinary !

Discussion Photos

This photo by Joe Rosenthal of the Flag being raised on top of Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima during WWII has some interesting controversy surrounding it.  Some feel this photo is staged because it is not the first flag raised on the Mount that day and it may have been repeated because no photo was taken of the original.  The people that survived the war from the second raising became famous due to this photo but not the people who raised the original flag.

From the NAVAL HISTORY & HERITAGE COMMAND website

http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq87-3l.htm

The first flag, measuring 54x28 inches, was obtained from attack transport USS Missoula (APA-211), and raised on a 20-foot section of pipe at 10:20 a.m. Several hours later, an 8-foot-long battle ensign, obtained from tank landing ship LST-779, was raised, resulting in Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal's famous photograph of the flag raising. This photograph inspired the bronze monument to the Marine Corps by Felix de Welden located near Arlington National Cemetery.

Rick Manning welds a water tank in the Fabrication Shop at Ground Force

Manufacturingthat will eventually be used on heavy duty mining equipment

This is what I consider to be my best photo from Intermediate Photography where I tried to operate as a photojournalist.  Due to safety concerns, I was not allowed to apprach closer than about a dozen feet away so I used a 70-200mm lens and zoomed in for this photo.  I think it is successful for a number of reasons including, composition, complimentary colors, and the detail in the sparks and smote trails.  However, what I like does not necessarily make something a good photojournalism photo so I though I would post it here for comments and feedback so I could learn from what all of you folks think.

Let's Talk About What You Want To Learn

Like I said in class, I'll be teaching you a lot about photojournalism and the approaches we make toward assignments, thinking of communication points and what we want the image to say to viewers, ethics, history, and a whole bunch more. But I want to know what you want to learn?

I ask this question to every class because sometimes there are times where knowing how to get assignments or paid to shoot an event comes in handy. Or how to light a subject or start up a stock image library. These subjects aren't covered in the book too much. But if you want to know something in particular, this is the time to get those questions ready.

Post them here in the comment section and we'll go over them throughout the semester in class or I'll post some links that will give you some direction and a head start.

So ask away.