Monday, February 28, 2011

Reading Reaction #3

The chapters, “False Starts,” “Plot Treatment,” and “How Do You Know When You’re Done?” from Anne Lamott’s book have been my favorite so far. I could really relate everything she was saying about the writing process with photography. She talks about how in her writing she may think she knows who a certain character is and what the story is all about but then she later comes to realize she had it all wrong. This reminds me a lot of photography, in that many times we go into a situation thinking we know what the story is going to be but after we spend more time on it and make more pictures, we may realize that the story is not what we originally thought it was going to be. And we have to adapt and be willing to go with the flow, with the real story that is before you.

Lamott also talks about her long and frustrating writing process with her second novel. She is initially very confident that this is the story she wants to tell and that she’s got it right. When her editor tells her that the book leaves the reader hungry for more, she is really upset and finds herself vehemently defending her work. I’ve had something similar happen to me with my final project in Fundamentals, when we submitted our first edit of our story for critique. I really thought I had told the story the best way I could and didn’t leave out any missing pieces. I was confident in my selection of the photos but David said I was missing some key parts and kept pushing me to go back and get them. I defended the photos I had selected and the story I had chosen to tell—I didn’t see how I could make it any better. But boy was I wrong! I went back multiple times and as soon as I got those shots, I knew he was right. The project has turned out to be one of my best to date and I’m really thankful that David helped me see what my story was missing.

Lastly, Lamott talks about how you know you’re done with your projects. She says, “…Finally something inside you just says it’s time to get on to the next thing. Of course, there will always be more you could do, but you have to remind yourself that perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor.” I could not agree more with this, and perfectionism is one of the biggest things I struggle with when critiquing my work. I’m always saying, “Well I should have done this” and “I should have done that” but sometimes you just have to be satisfied with what you were able to get and move on!

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Capstone One-Day Story Final Edit

Dan Cora prepares for his overnight shift with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department on February 13, 2011. Cora said he enjoys working the shift because "It's more exciting at night, there's more things to do."

Katie Cora, front, checks out her up-do created by Heather Wingbermuehle at Salono Milano on February 12, 2011. Cora is a member of the St. Louis Police Wives' Association, a group composed of wives, mothers, and widows of active and retired St. Louis police officers. Cora came to the salon to get her hair done for the group's annual Valentine's Dance that she attended with her husband Dan, who is a police officer.
Dan Cora gets ready in his bedroom for the Valentine's Dance sponsored by the St. Louis Police Wives' Association on February 12, 2011. Cora is an officer with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and has been active for two years.

People dance at the St. Louis Police Wives' Association Valentine's Dance held at the Christy Banquet Center on February 12, 2011. The event was open to the general public and approximately 250 people attended.

Dan and Katie Cora pose for a portrait during the St. Louis Police Wives' Association Valentine's Dance on February 12, 2011. The couple met in the military and have been married for a little over two years now. They have a seven-year-old daughter, Madison, and are expecting their second child in June.
Katie Cora watches as her husband, Dan gets ready to leave for his overnight shift on February 13, 2011. "It's hard because every time that he walks out the door it might be the last time I see him," Katie said.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the way my project turned out. I really enjoyed getting to know Katie and Dan as well as their friends, and I think I captured some great moments. I learned that I need to work on using a variety of lenses/angles for my next project though!

Thursday, February 17, 2011

POYi Reaction

I recently attended the “General News Picture Story” category of the POYi competition. I was generally frustrated and unimpressed with the stories submitted for the category. A majority of the stories noticeable lacked variety, with several pictures that looked very repetitive. It was clear that the judges nixed these stories almost instantaneously—they were looking for a variety of angles and lens choice. Another thing I noticed was that several stories looked more like sequences than actual stories. There were a lot of pictures that pretty much showed step-by-step what was happening—they seemed to be missing the point of what a picture story is.

Another thing that bothered me with the submissions is that they were overwhelmingly based on some kind of conflict or crisis. There were very few stories that seemed to have positive and uplifting messages. I feel like this totally feeds into the stereotype that the news today is all negative, and photographers are just capitalizing off of people’s pain and suffering. I think if some of the photographers had submitted positive stories in the competition, that they would have really stood out to the judges as being unique; something that haven’t seen lately.

One thing I noticed was that the judges really didn’t look at each submission for very long, despite how long some of the stories were. You had to grab their attention quickly and make a strong impression. And when the judges were looking at the stories in the first couple of rounds, the thumbnails of the pictures were so small and I found it hard to tell what was going on in some of the frames. After narrowing down their selection to about 20 stories, some of the judges made the comment that once they saw each individual picture larger, they didn’t care for the story as much as they thought they did or that they liked it even more now that they could see it better.

The biggest dilemma I noticed for the judges was what to do when there are a few really strong images in the story but there are also several images that don’t work. When they were going back through the submissions they previously eliminated, they talked about maybe bringing a few back in but eventually they decided that while they liked a couple of the pictures, there wasn’t enough to keep the whole story in. “I like three or four pictures in here but I don’t think the others hold it together,” said one judge. It made me realize how important each image is in telling the story effectively. Each picture needs to be a vital piece to the story and should say something new. Of the eventual first place winner, “Haiti Earthquake,” one of the judges said, “These pictures take me to a different place, they tell me a different story in each picture whereas so many of the other Haiti stories we’ve seen seem repetitive.”

Overall, going to the judging of this category was definitely a learning experience for me and I took a lot away from it. I hope I can go to more judging next week!

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

EPJ Web Site Critique #1: MediaStorm



For this assignment, I chose to look at MediaStorm’s Web site. I think the site is very effective in terms of content, interactivity and design. The content of the site seems appropriate and is understandable. It seems pretty current for the most part, with suggestions like “Become a fan on Facebook” and “Follow us on Twitter” in addition to user tweets and facebook activity posted towards the bottom of the homepage. There are also current blog posts and press articles, as well as a calendar with upcoming events. The one section that seems to be a little bit behind is the projects. There are a few recent ones but a majority are from previous years and some even go back to 2006. It would be nice to see some more current projects and maybe have a separate archive page where users can view older ones if they want to.

Overall, the site is really easy to navigate around, and it seems pretty user-friendly. There a TON of links throughout the site but for the most part they are clear and easy to find. However, the way the three main tabs “publication,” “clients,” and “training” are set up kind of bothers me because you have to click on each of them first to see their subheads. Personally, I like it when you can just put your mouse over the tab without clicking and then a small list appears with options to click on. That way before I click on the tab, I know if I’m looking in the right place for something. Dead ends also pretty frequent throughout the site, with many pages set up so the user has no other way to go back other than using the back button on the browser. However, I really like how the site embeds their projects so the user can start and stop the file on the same page. We talked in class about how important it is that the files don’t start playing automatically, for this frustrates users and often results in them leaving the site.

I think the design of the site is what I like best about it; it is so well organized with its clear and user-friendly layout. The colors and graphics are clean and simple, definitely not overwhelming. Overall the site looks very professional, and I’m highly impressed with its content, interactivity and design.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Reading Reaction #2

My latest readings for my capstone class included two chapters in Anne Lamott's book, "Bird by Bird," as well as a reading from David Hurn and Bill Jay titled "Selecting a Subject." While I didn't enjoy the "School Lunches" and "Polaroids" chapters from Lamott's book as much as the others, I still think they had important points to consider. In "School Lunches," Lamott stresses the importance of not thinking so much and just writing. "Now, who knows if any of this is usable material? There's no way to tell until you've got it all down..." she says. I think this concept can apply to photography as well. Sometimes I feel so overwhelmed when I'm out shooting and I can't help but think where do I even start? But Lamott reminds us to just shoot--the pictures might not end up being usable but you don't know until you try.

I could really relate to Lamott's "Polaroid" chapter. In talking about Polaroids, she says, "You couldn't have had any way of knowing what this piece of work would look like when you first started. You just know that there was something about these people that compelled you, and you stayed with that something long enough for it to show you what it was about." This reminds me of my final project in Fundamentals on a single mother raising four young children. I had no idea that the project would turn out the way it did. Just like Lamott said, I just knew there was something about this family that compelled me, and I stayed with them long enough for the true story to emerge. That project turned out to be one of my favorite photographic pieces and one that I will never forget.

Lamott also talked about her Special Olympics story and her frustration with how slow the event was, in particular the track-and-field event. She talks about feeling really anxious for the last runner to finish, totally missing the whole point of the event. Then when the man approaches her to show her a Polaroid, it all becomes clear to her. She sees how much this event means to its participants and she knows she has her story. This reminds me of a Veterans Day event I had to shoot for the Missourian, and it was pretty much just a series of speeches from various people. Needless to say I was anxious for it to be over! However, as I was walking out a woman approached me and asked me if I was with the newspaper. She told me that there was a group of women upstairs that was donating hundreds of handmade quilts to veterans and that it might be worth checking out. Once I got up there, I realized that this was the real story. You could see how excited the veterans were to get their quilts and equally how happy the women were to see the joy it brought.

I really enjoyed the reading from Hurn and Jay. I think the two made some great points about photography and their discussion was really interesting. I agree with Jay when he says, "...In order to photograph with any degree of continuous passion, you must have a fascination for the subject, otherwise you cannot sustain an interest in the act of creation for a long enough period of time in which to make any insightful or original statement about it." I know that when I'm not interested or excited about a certain subject I'm photographing, that translates over to my photos sometimes. But when I really care about my subject matter and am passionate about it, I think it shows and ultimately I make better pictures.

I found Hurn and Jay's basic principles of subject selection to be especially helpful and it really got me thinking about what interests me. The essential point they make is that the subject matter you choose must spark your enthusiasm and curiosity for a considerable amount of time, be visual, and be continuously accessible. I hope I can follow these principles when choosing my subject matter for the projects in this class.

What surprised me in the reading is when Hurn says, "...Just wandering around looking for pictures, hoping that something will pop up and announce itself, does not work." I don't agree with this at all, for I have seen many photographers produce great images and stories from just wandering around and looking for something. We learned from Ryan in class the other day that this does work, as evidenced by his long-term project that he did in which he found his subjects by just driving around town.

Overall, I learned from Hurn and Jay how important it is to select a subject that you have an interest in and knowledge of. I definitely agree with Hurn in that "Who a photographer is becomes revealed through what he/she photographs."

One-Day Story Editing Exercise