FALL '09 ASSIGMENT #08; CITY OR TOWN (PART 1)

ASSIGNMENT #08 CITY OR TOWN
(Due 11/9/09)
Photo essay on a selected place

PART 1.
READING:
History of Photojournalism; ( see photographers bios or the Blog)
1. FSA
2. WEEGEE
3. LIFE MAGAZINE

PART 2
Log onto the National; Geographic website; "Places of a Lifetime."
Stdy some of the photo essays.
http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/places/places-of-a-lifetime.html


PART 3
SHOOTING ASSIGNMENT
Select an interesting town, place, or neighborhood, and shoot a photo essay in the manner of a National Geographic photo essay, see the "Places of a Lifetime."

Be sure you select a location you can go back to next week, as this is a multiple-week assignment.
Be sure you select a location that is visual and interesting. Explore the place, and produce a diverse set of images.

Shoot photos at various times of the day and night. Use all the techniques and strategies we've discussed in class. Focus on the people, not just the places.
use your flash if necessary.

*FOR NEXT WEEK, students must submit:
1. Select (10-15) best photos.
2. Caption photos.
3. SLUG PHOTO AS FOLLOWS:
Last name_townname_01.jpg, Last name_townname_02.jpg
EXAMPLE: franklin_ hoboken.jpg
4. Place images in the “drop folder.”

FALL '09 WEEK 7

photo by THOMAS E. FRANKLIN/ NorthJersey.com

TODAY'S AGENDA

1. Photos of the Week
2. Let's look, ASSIGNMENT #6; Covering a Live Event
3. Editing photos; Giants vs. Arizona
4. Adding text using Adobe Photoshop
5. ASSIGNMENT #07 FLASH USE\ALBUM COVER
6. Look at former students final projects
7. Three idea's for your final project for discussion.
8. REMINDER: Photojournalist Paper
Due 11/16/09
9. Lauren Greenfield's Girl Culture


MISC
EXAM: November 23th. Mark it down now, no make-up exams will be given.

REMINDER: Please slug and caption your photos correctly, do not be careless
-it's costing many of you valuable grade points.

ASSIGNMENT #07 FLASH USE/ALBUM COVER

ASSIGNMENT #07 FLASH USE/ALBUM COVER
(Due 11/2/09)
Flash Usage (2 parts) Rock Star

PART 1.
READING:
National Geographic Ultimate Field Guide
Read pages 25, 95-103, 103-117

Guide to Photojournalism
By Brian Horton
Read pages 79-101“Features and Portraits; Seeing the World Around Us.”

Visual Journalism
By Christopher R. Harris & Paul Martin Lester
Read pages 63-86“Technical Considerations.”

PART 2
History of Photojournalism; FSA ( see photographers bios or the Blog)

PART 3
SHOOTING ASSIGNMENT (2) PARTS
Find a musician(s) to photograph, or an actor(s) to play a musician, and make an album/CD cover shots USING YOUR FLASH both indoors and outdoors. Also, add album title/artist text using Adobe photoshop. Plan your text placement before composing your images. Save image as Photoshop document

PART A
Photograph your musician indoors using a camera flash.
Be creative, and make personality driven images, highlighted by excellent lighting. Make well-composed and expressive photos of a person using your flash. Must be taken indoors.
***You will be graded on your creativity and use of flash.***
-Flash use should be executed perfectly.
-Set proper white balance setting be sure to have correct white balance usage.
-Use bounce flash whenever possible.
-AVOID: red eye, shadows behind heads, and other forms of sloppy flash use.

Keep in mind some of the elements of good composition, avoiding; cluttered and distracting backgrounds, objects appearing behind heads, dead space, etc. Fill the frame, making interesting, personality-filled photos, that have impact.
Composition, positioning, background, lighting, and lens selection should all be taken into consideration.
-consider the various flash techniques, such as: bounce flash, fill-flash, diffused flash.

PART B
Photograph your musician outdoors using a camera flash. This should be a different set-up than the indoor images.
Can be taken during daytime, night-time, or twilight.
Be creative, and make personality driven images. Make well-composed and expressive photos of a person using your flash. Must be taken indoors.
***You will be graded on your creativity and use of flash.***
-Flash use should be executed perfectly.
-Set proper white balance setting, be sure to have correct white balance usage.
-Use bounce flash whenever possible.
-AVOID: red eye, shadows behind heads, and other forms of sloppy flash use.

Keep in mind some of the elements of good composition, avoiding; cluttered and distracting backgrounds, objects appearing behind heads, dead space, etc. Fill the frame, making interesting, personality-filled photos, that have impact.
Composition, positioning, background, lighting, and lens selection should all be taken into consideration.
-consider the various flash techniques, such as: bounce flash, fill-flash, diffused flash.

*Study methods discussed in class and in reading material.

*Students must complete:

1. Select (1) best photo for each part.
2. Add text: album title and artist name
3. Save image as Photoshop document, NOT JPG.
4. SLUG PHOTO AS FOLLOWS:
Last name_flash00.jpg
EXAMPLE: franklin_ flash01.psd
franklin_ flash02.psd
5. Place images in the “drop folder.”

FALL '09 WEEK #6

photo by THOMAS E. FRANKLIN / The Record
LOCATION LIGHTING. Was a camera flash used in this photo, in mid-day sun?

TODAY'S AGENDA

1. Photos of the Week; MSNBC
   
2. Let's look, ASSIGNMENT #5; Light
3. Due next week: ASSIGNMENT #6; Covering a Live Event
4. Lesson; LIGHT part II; Flash Use
5. Photojournalist Paper. Have you made contact yet?
6. History of Photojournalism; Jacob Riis & Lewis Hine
7. Bring your camera to class next week, ready to use
8. UPSTATE NY; Brenda Ann Kenneally
9. CROSSES; Carmine Galasso
10. NEXT WEEK; Bring three ideas for your final project for discussion.

UPSTATE GIRLS -Brenda Ann Kenneally

Upstate Girls; What Became of Collar City

Brenda Ann Kenneally:

As a journalist and activist I have dedicated my life to exploring the how and why of class inequity in America, I am concerned with the internalized social messages that will live on for generations after our economic and social policies catch up with the reality of living on the bottom rung of America’s upwardly mobile society. My project explores the way that money is but a symptom of self worth and a means by which humans separate from each other. Poverty is an emotional rather than physical state with layers of marginalization to cement those who live under them into their place. The economic crisis as it is called has done some to take the moral sting out of being poor, though the conversation remains centered on economic rather than social stimulus relief. Thus indicating that it is those that are recently without money rather than Americans whose ongoing struggles left them un-phased by the headlines.

My project has followed seven women for five years as their escape routes out of generational poverty have lead to further entrapments. Read more.

Photos

All Video (vimeo)

Upstate Girls - What Became of Collar City from The Raw File on Vimeo.

CROSSES -by Carmine Galasso

Photographer Carmine Galasso's recent book, Crosses: Portraits of Clergy Abuse, shows the huge, personal price paid by survivors of clergy sex crimes and their struggle to seek justice from a Catholic Church intent on covering it up. Read more

JACOB RIIS & LEWIS HINE

WNPR -Shedding light on NYC's 'other half'
 Photos

JACOB RIIS
American, 1849-1914
see PHOTOS

America's first journalist-photographer, in fact a muckraker with a camera, Jacob Riis was known at the turn of the century as the "Emancipator of the Slums" because of his work on behalf of the urban poor. His brutal documentation of sweatshops, disease-ridden tenements, and overcrowded schools aroused public indignation and helped effect significant reform in housing, education, and child-labor laws.
Riis was self-taught. His photographs, taken over a 10-year period, were made without artistic intent, yet they deeply influenced the course of American documentary photography. Riis wrote: "I came to take up photography ... not exactly as a pastime. It was never that for me. I had to use it, and beyond that I never went." The camera was a weapon of propaganda he wielded in his fight to ameliorate the living conditions of countless underprivileged people who would have remained unseen if not for his passionate social concern.
Riis was born in Ribe, Denmark, the third in a family of 15 children (one of them adopted). In opposition to his father's wishes, he was a carpenter's apprentice in Copenhagen from 1866 to 1870, when he emigrated to the United States.
Riis lived in poverty in New York City for some time before he found a job with a news bureau in 1873. He became a police reporter for the New York Tribune and the Associated Press in 1877. Horrified by the squalor of immigrant life, he began a series of exposes on slum conditions on New York's Lower East Side. In 1884 he was responsible for the establishment of the Tenement House Commission.
In 1888 he left the Tribune for the Evening Sun and began work on his book How the Other Half Lives. Riis was among the first photographers to use flash powder, which enabled him to photograph interiors and exteriors of the slums at night. He worked at first with two assistants but soon found it necessary to take his photographs himself. Primarily a writer, he wanted pictures to document and authenticate his reports, and to supply the vividness that would ensure attention.
Sections of How the Other Half Lives appeared in Scribner's magazine in December 1889. The full-length book attracted immediate attention upon publication some months later and was reprinted several times. It had a powerful and lasting effect on movements for many kinds of social reform.
For the next 25 years Riis continued to write and lecture extensively on the problems of the poor. He published over a dozen books, including his autobiography, The Making of an American (1901), and many articles. He became known as "the father of the small parks movement" after his success in creating a park A in the infamous Mulberry Bend section of lower Manhattan. Following a decade of heart trouble, Riis died In Barre, Massachusetts, at the age of 65.
Riis's photographs fell into obscurity for many years until Alexander Alland was able to find and salvage them in the early 1940s. Riis's son presented 412 4" X 5" glass negatives, by Riis and his assistants, to the Museum of the City of New York in 1946. A major exhibition of prints from these negatives was held at the Museum in 1947. Rus's home in Richmond Hill, New York, was designated a National Historical Landmark in 1971.

Text from The Encyclopedia of Photography (1984)






LEWIS HINE
American, 1874-1940
see PHOTOS

"There is work that profits children, and there is work that brings profit only to employers. The object of employing children is not to train them, but to get high profits from their work." -- Lewis Hine, 1908

His photographs remind us what it was like to be a child and to labor like an adult at a time when labor was harsher than it is now. Hine's images of working children stirred America's conscience and helped change the nation's labor laws.For Hine, the camera was both a research tool and an instrument of social reform.
He became the photographer for the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC), documented child labor in American industry to aid the NCLC's lobbying efforts to end the practice.
Between 1906 and 1908, he was a freelance photographer for The Survey, a leading social reform magazine.
He took all these pictures to show the country the cruelties of child labor.
Hine believed that if people could see for themselves the abuses and injustice of child labor, they would demand laws to end those evils. By 1916, Congress passed the Keating-Owens Act that established the following child labor standards: a minimum age of 14 for workers in manufacturing and 16 for workers in mining; a maximum workday of 8 hours; prohibition of night work for workers under age 16; and a documentary proof of age. Unfortunately, this law was later ruled unconstitutional on the ground that congressional power to regulate interstate commerce did not extend to the conditions of labor. Effective action against child labor had to await the New Deal. Reformers, however, did succeed in forcing legislation at the state level banning child labor and setting maximum hours. By 1920 the number of child laborers was cut to nearly half of what it had been in 1910.
Lewis Hine died in poverty, neglected by all but a few. His reputation continued to grow, however, and now he is recognized as a master American photographer. His photographs remind us what it was like to be a child and to labor like an adult at a time when labor was harsher than it is now. Hine's images of working children stirred America's conscience and helped change the nation's labor laws.

Photographs of _Lewis Hine: _Documentation of Child Labor
http://www.kentlaw.edu/ilhs/hine.htm

FALL '09 WEEK #5

photo by THOMAS E. FRANKLIN / The Record
LOCATION LIGHTING. How was this photo lit and made to look like this?

TODAY'S AGENDA
1. Photos of the week, MSNBC
2. Let's look, ASSIGNMENT #4, Composition
3. History of Photojournalism: Mathew Brady
4. Lesson; Covering a live assignment
5. Lesson; LIGHT part I
6. ASSIGNMENT #5; Lighting
7. ASSIGNMENT #6; Covering a Live Event
8. Photo essay; Eye of the Storm; Times-Picayune - NOLA.com

FALL '09 ASSIGNMENT #05; LIGHTING

ASSIGNMENT #05
(Due 10/19/09)
Light

PART 1
History of Photojournalism; Jacob Riis & Lewis Hine

PART 2
READING:
National Geographic Field Guide
Read pages 103-117

Guide to Photojournalism
By Brian Horton
Read pages 79-101“Features and Portraits; Seeing the World Around Us.”

Visual Journalism
By Christopher R. Harris & Paul Martin Lester
Read pages 63-86“Technical Considerations.”

PART 3
Light

Lighting MUST be the key element in these photos.
DO NOT USE A FLASH!

Photo 1: A documentary photo of some aspect of college life with strong sense of NATURAL light:

1. Make well-composed and expressive photo using one of the lighting techniques discussed in class. Photo should have exceptionally strong quality of light.
   
2. Lighting technique should be very obvious.
3. This must be a documentary-style photo, do not manipulate the image in Photoshop.
4. Do NOT USE A CAMERA FLASH!!!!!!!!!
5. Lighting must be natural; sun, or cloudy day. Can be indoors or outdoors.
6. Keep in mind some of the elements of good composition, avoiding; cluttered and distracting backgrounds, objects appearing behind heads, dead space, etc. Fill the frame, making interesting photos that have impact.
7. Composition, perspective, background, and lens selection should all be taken into consideration. Consider the various lighting techniques discussed in class; directional light, soft light, window light, back light, etc.

Photo 2: A photo of some aspect of college life with strong sense of ARTIFICIAL light,
this does NOT need to be documentary, can be passive:

1. Make well-composed and expressive photo using one of the lighting techniques discussed in class. Photo should have exceptionally strong quality of light.
   
2. Lighting technique should be very obvious.
3. This must be a documentary-style photo, do not manipulate the image in Photoshop.
4. Do NOT USE A CAMERA FLASH!!!!!!!!!
5. Lighting must be from an artificial light, such as a lamp or bulb. Can be indoors or outdoors, day or night.
6. Keep in mind some of the elements of good composition, avoiding; cluttered and distracting backgrounds, objects appearing behind heads, dead space, etc. Fill the frame, making interesting photos that have impact.
7. Composition, perspective, background, and lens selection should all be taken into consideration. Consider the various lighting techniques discussed in class; directional light, soft light, window light, back light, etc.

Review examples showed in class and Power Point Presentation.


*Students must complete:
1. Select best photo from each part, submit (2) photos.
2. SLUG PHOTO AS FOLLOWS:
Last name_natural.jpg, Last name_artificial.jpg
EXAMPLE: franklin_natural.jpg
franklin_artificial.jpg

FALL '09 WEEK #4

photo by Lily Szabo

By now, we should be well aware of the technical considerations that determine a photograph, such as aperture, shutter speed, lens selection, and camera types. You should also be familiar with the categories of the "Visual language."

So, what can your determine in looking at these three iconic images?


Jerome Delay's iconic image from Iraq, as hundreds of Iraqis storm the Abu Ghraib jail Oct. 20, 2002 following the announcement by President Saddam Hussein that most of Iraq's prisoners would be freed. Tens of thousands of prisoners were greeted by their relatives and friends upon their release.

Charles Moore's photo from the Civil Rights movement in the 1960's.

Eddie Adams won the Pulitzer Prize for for his picture of a Viet Cong lieutenant being executed at close range on a Saigon street by a South Vietnamese general.

How about this Diane Arbus image?


Misc.

Could it be...that some submitted photos are not slugged correctly or contain proper captions....
Be sure caption explains which assignment it is.

Be sure to review the Powerpoint Presentations, they contain material not always covered in class, due to time restriction.

Agenda for today's class.

1.Photos of the week; MSNBC
2. Let's look, ASSIGNMENT #3, Selective Focus.
3. Lesson; Composition
4. ASSIGNMENT #4, Composition
5. ASSIGNMENT, Photojournalist Paper
6. Photo essay; “"Bound to El Norte: Immigrant Stowaways on the Freight Trains of Mexico," by Don Bartletti

ASSIGNMENT #03, Composition

(Due 10/12/09) Composition

PART 1
National Geographic Field Guide
Read pages 82-95, 160-165 composition

Guide to Photojournalism
By Brian Horton
Read pages 79-101“Features and Portraits; Seeing the World Around Us.”

PART 2
HISTORY OF PHOTOJOURNALISM
Read: Mathew Brady (see Photographer’s Bio’s)

PART 3
Composition (2) photos

PHOTO 1: Make an environmental portrait of a person using “Rule of Thirds.
Subject: Make well-composed, expressive environmental portraits of a person in their place of work environment. Photo should give insight into what the person does. The environment should be obvious and explanatory. Make photos of subject in different positions, locations, with special emphasis on positioning.
Keep in mind: YOU ARE IN CONTROL. This is a passive assignment.
There should be obvious foreground & background.


PHOTO 2: Make well-composed, action photos of a person at work in their place of work environment using one of these compositional techniques:

1. Framing
2. Leading Lines
3. Juxtaposition
4. Silhouette

This should be a Graphic Photograph, meaning one that is visual and emphasizes the relationship between the lines, shapes and forms produces an aesthetically pleasing visual presentation. Graphic elements are as important as the story-telling content with this assignment.
Keep in mind: This is NOT a passive assignment, this is an active photo, and should be documentary.

*Students must complete:

1. Select (1) best photo of each. (2) total.
2. Follow “Basic Photoshop”, use outline provided if needed.
3. Type complete caption in FILE INFO field in Photoshop, see instructions. ****CAPTION MUST STATE WHICH TECHNIQUE YOU ARE USING!
4. SLUG PHOTO AS FOLLOWS: Last name_ composition1.jpg, Last name_ composition2.jpg
5. Place image in the “drop folder” (remember to save a copy for yourself to you folder)

PHOTOJOURNALIST REPORT

Photojournalist Paper
Due 11/16/09

Each student will be required to select and contact a working photojournalist of choice, accompany them on an assignment, conduct an interview and write a paper on the experience.
The project will require research and preparation, and the ability to contact and meet with the photojournalist. Every effort should be made to try and accompany the photojournalist on an assignment. This will require planning and coordination.

***WEDDING & COMMERCIAL PHOTOGRAPHERS ARE NOT PERMITTED. WORKING PHOTOJOURNALISTS & NEWS PHOTOGRAPHERS ONLY!

SELECT SOMEONE WITH REAL EXERIENCE –at least 5 years.

The goal of this presentation is for students to learn something about the field of photojournalism, which is undergoing cataclysmic changes, from a working professional who can offer insight. In addition to the list of questions below, students should prepare their own set of questions. Research on photographer’s background should be completed BEFORE interview session.
Be inquisitive. Get their advice. Get a sense of the photographer’s attitude, style, and perspective. This is a unique opportunity to get some real career insight, even in photojournalism is not in your future. There is much that can be learned from professionals in related fields. Make the most of the opportunity.

1. The written paper should be minimum 2000 words (2-3 pages, no more), and written in the student’s own words... DO NOT PLAGIARIZE.
The written report must be a WORD document.
-12pt font, single-space, and submitted to the DROP FOLDER.
2. Shoot your own photo of the photojournalist, hopefully in action.
-Copy and paste 1-2 photos of photographers work into WORD document.
-Copy and paste 1-2 of your photos into WORD document.

3. The paper MUST follow this outline:
I.BACKGROUND
-Why was photographer selected?
-What is the photographer’s background?
-How did they get interested and started?
-Etc.
II. PHOTOGRAPHY WORK
-What type of work or projects is the photographer known for?
-List examples, and gives description.
-Copy and paste at least 2 photos into WORD document.
-Who do they work for now, in the past?
-Describe their job/assignments.
Etc.
III. JOB
-Describe their job/assignments.
-What aspects of their jobs are most satisfying? Least satisfying?
- What aspects of their jobs are most difficult?
-What advice do they have for young journalists?cont>
-What are the most important skills to have to be a successful photojournalist?
-What changes in the business have they experienced?
-What does the future hold for photojournalists?

PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT THE FOLLOWING PHOTOGRAPHERS:
-Chris Pedota / The Record
-Carmine Galasso / The Record
-Tyson Trish / The Record
-Matt Rainey / Star-Ledger
-Tony Kurdzuk / Star-Ledger

DO’s AND DON’Ts:
-Do not wait until the last minute to contact the photographer. DO IT NOW!
-Do not expect the photographer to get back to you immediately, if at all.
-Be persistent and assertive, and don’t wait for returned calls. Be proactive.
-Do research BEFORE contacting them. Impress them with what you already know about them. This will most likely lead to a better interview, and will show respect for their time.
-Ask for help in making initial contact.
-Make every opportunity to accompany them on an assignment.

Where to find a photojournalist?
-Get in the habit of looking for credits under published photos.
-your local newspaper
-Visit photojournalism web sites:
www.njppa.org (New Jersey Press Photogs Association)
www.nppa.org (National Press Photogs Association)
www.digitaljournalist.org Dirck Halstead (very important site!)
www.sportshooter.com (not just sports)
http://www.aphotoaday.org/ (a photo a day web site & blog)

-The Star-Ledger
-The Record
-The Asbury Park Press
-The Herald News
-The NY Times

-Review the PPP’s.
-Ask me.

BOUND TO EL NORTE; by Don Bartletti / LA Times

Don Bartletti
The Los Angeles Times

KPBS Online Multimedia presentation, with stories and commentary from Bartletti.
Video here.

2003 Pulitzer Prize
Feature Photography
"Bound to El Norte: Immigrant Stowaways on the Freight Trains of Mexico”
"Memorable portrayal of how undocumented Central American youths, often facing deadly danger, travel north to the United States."