30-day final project
Nuns that Bake: A look into daily life at the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration Monastery in Clyde, MO
Captions:
This project was absolutely awesome to shoot. I think the major obstacle was finding time where Sister Cathleen and the other nuns could have me come out and also making sure that I actually had time to come out, which was sort of a struggle as I have been swamped this semester. But shooting in church was challenging and fun despite having to use an Olympus Pen camera, which is a small camera that makes much less noise than a d800. I’d love to return to Clyde later this summer or in the fall to continue shooting, and try to capture more moments around the monastery. Hanging out with a big group of people as a subject, instead of spending lots of time with one person, is sort of difficult, but the sisters accepted my presence at the monastery almost instantly and were so welcoming and friendly. I think the pastoral images of the exterior of the monastery really help cement the idea that the nuns live a quiet life in Clyde. Conversely, the images of the production of altar breads show that this lifestyle is not all about going to church, but instead focusing on ways that the sisters can be productive while still incorporating the love of God and spirituality that they’ve embraced. I think eventually I’m going to try to put this together with my job profile to create a larger piece.
WIP: 30-day
Well, I thought that this sustainability thing was going so well. I had people tell me I could come photograph at an elementary school that composts, at a rural organic farm, and at an urban native Missouri plant farm. I’ve been to the farmer’s market a couple times, but so far all I have to show for it is some tomatoes and carrots. I’m super frustrated. I’m going to try to return to the Clyde monastery to broaden that project. Here are some frames from the last time I was there that didn’t fit into my story about Sister Cathleen.
WIP: 30-day project
I’m working on getting contacts for an essay about sustainability in Columbia. I feel like it should be really easy to find a lot of subjects because it’s such a large community here. For my first time photographing for the project, I went to a volunteer training session hosted by the Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture. The CCUA has several sites around Columbia where they promote urban farming, community gardening, and the like. 
POY reaction paper
The biggest trend that I noticed from looking at the winners of POY is that the judges really leaned towards rewarding stories shot in black and white. Generally speaking, I think black and white looks nice, but I love using color and think that a strong color piece will nine times out of ten be more successful than that same story shot in black and white. There needs to be a really compelling reason for a story to be photographed or toned in black and white, and I think a lot of photographers use it as a crutch to hide shitty light or weird color casts or messed up exposure. I don’t think that keeping a story in monochrome makes people focus more on the content of the story, and frankly for some of the feature stories I was just confused as to why they’d choose to not use color. The hog butchering story focusing on the rural family in particular made me question why the photographer would not use the blood-red as a recurring element throughout the piece. Despite not really liking those kinds of slaughter stories, being a vegetarian and all, I think that using color is almost a no-brainer. Maybe the photographer wanted to really stand out, I suppose, and the photos are strong images in black and white as well, but it just seemed like a strange choice.
Going to look at contests always reminds me how subjective the visual fields can be. Just because one working professional likes something doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone likes it, or even that it’s good. The judges all come from places of experience and have legitimate opinions about work, but what shapes someone’s visual literacy is their background and where they get inspiration and any number of other things. It’s something that students here should keep in mind when they look at contests like COPY and POY, because that’s a gathering of lots of photographers’ absolute best work, and it’s easy to look at it and get overwhelmed and feel discouraged. But even all of those photojournalists, while some are arguably more talented when compared to the vast majority, have work that they dislike and don’t show anyone. It’s a reminder to me to keep shooting even when I’m feeling really down about a project or about photojournalism in general, because much like everything in life, there are highs and lows to the enjoyment and the success of your own work.
04.03.13
Character Profile: Sister Cathleen Marie Timberlake, Benedictine Sister of Perpetual Adoration
Working with Sister Cathleen and the other nuns in Clyde was a great experience. I’m interested in returning and continuing to document their life in the monastery. I think that while the quality of the audio isn’t the best, the content is strong, and really delves into the feeling of the community in Clyde and the life of those that live there. Since I went out twice, I had a lot of photographs that didn’t really relate to this character profile, but that I think are strong and show the atmosphere of the community. Potentially those photographs will be a jumping off point for me to continue this project into the thirty-day assignment. Overall, I think the frames hold together well despite a vast difference in color palette, because there are several that echo each other throughout the piece. Originally I had more stills, and was trying to play on the theme of hands since that’s a major point in the interview, but decided that it was too repetitive. I re-edited the order of the audio quite a few times, and decided that it was more successful to start out with the overview of living in the Clyde community and then go into Sister Cathleen’s specific jobs.
03.04.13
One Day photo story — POODLES.
The Missouri Pet Groomers Association let me come hang out one Sunday during a poodle grooming seminar in St. Louis. Here’s the final edit of the day:
Cooper, a one year old standard poodle, gets
groomed at Delmar Doggie Design in St. Louis
during a poodle grooming seminar hosted by
the Missouri Pet Groomers Association.
Dawn Tillman, Linda Smith, and Margan Verseman
sit and wait while their dogs wander freely
through the business before a poodle grooming
seminar. The attendees of the seminar came
from all over the St. Louis area.
Jessica Uzzetta (far right) leads a demonstration
of the correct techniques for poodle
grooming. Uzzetta started the Missouri Pet
Groomers Association in 2011. She began the
seminar with lectures on the kinds of tools and
styles best suited for poodle fur.
Grooming shears sit on the table where Oscar, a
three year old standard poodle, waits to be
groomed. Shears come in a variety of styles
and sizes, and need to be sharpened regularly
to stay in working order.
Stephaney Kemper trims the bracelets of
Velvet, a five year old standard poodle. Velvet’s
nails were painted for the previous weekend’s
Mardi Gras celebration.
Jackie Kreiger, a groomer, pets one of the
poodles before a grooming seminar in St. Louis.
Groomers attend seminars to learn new techniques
or practice their skills, and some go on
to compete in grooming-specific shows.
02.12.13
Editing exercise for capstone:
and here is the linear edit:
02.12.13
I really enjoyed the Lamott readings, especially the one one Polaroids. (Probably because I have a soft spot for actual Polaroids, but who knows. It was nice to see the reference to photography in the book, even though typically it’s about writing.) Thinking about things too much has always been a problem of mine. I tend to overthink to the point of completely freaking myself out about everything, and once you get to that point you can be paralyzed by the sheer weight of the task. Letting things vaguely develop in the creative process is such a great metaphor, because when you take a Polaroid (or start a photo project) you have an idea or concept behind what you do, but as the project continues the details start to become clearer and often it develops in surprising ways. I think that’s where the Hurn & Jay piece on selecting a subject comes in, because they discuss all the practical matters of choosing that initial direction. Keeping in mind your limitations and if the subject is visual and whatnot is a good way to make sure the end result is attainable. But, it’s also good to keep in mind that doing a project that seems easy on a subject you don’t care about at all is not worth your, or the subject’s, time or effort. If it’s an assignment, you’ve got to find some way to get invested, or the work will show your lack of interest.
01.29.13
Here’s a photo essay I’m absolutely in love with:
http://www.joakimeskildsen.com/default.asp?Action=Menu&Item=102
Joakim Eskildsen’s body of work on the Roma people is a perfect example of someone finding something they’re interested in and following it over the years. While he has said he doesn’t consider himself a photojournalist, this is a documentary-style project, but the color palette and composition of most of the work is something that I really would love to see in my own work. I’m going to pay a lot of attention to the feel of the stories I work on this semester. While traveling to seven countries is obviously a little ambitious, I think that undertaking a portrait series style essay could be an interesting possibility. Eskildsen’s portraiture offers strange and quirky glimpses into these people’s lives.
He also did a project for TIME, a look at those living in poverty across the United States, that has the same subtle color palettes and interesting portraits as his Roma project.
————
08.10.12
I AM DONE WITH REPORTING OH MY GOD
08.09.12
THREE THINGS I WISH I KNEW ABOUT REPORTING BEFORE I ACTUALLY STARTED REPORTING:
1 • Don’t get overwhelmed. I wish someone would have told me not to take another class with reporting this summer. I thought it would be no big deal, because people take the class with a whole semester’s worth of classes during the school year, right? It turns out I ended up skipping half the time I was supposed to be in the letterpress studio and not being able to spend as much time in the newsroom as the editors would’ve liked, so it’s sort of a lose-lose. I ended up making everything work though (I think) by getting my art done in the last week of that class AND producing all the Boone County stories in the same week. SO overall it all worked out, but I was really stressed the whole time and it would have been much less tiring if I was only in reporting.
2 • A story is a story is a story. It doesn’t matter what format you’re using to report, it’s all about getting the story across. Think about what style works best for what you want to report on, and use it. Don’t think “I love photo so all I want to do is photos” because a) you’re in reporting now, silly and b) sometimes a story just isn’t that visual. Throughout the semester I sort of embraced this at the Boone County Fair with doing multimedia along with a short text piece. Also with Kayla and my final multimedia project, we used solely video instead of a mix of stills and video to show the art camp. The end result is DEFINITELY the thing I’m most proud of from this class.
3 • Be open to changes. Whether it’s the direction a story is going in, or the way an ACE fixes the piece, or what, just be open to change. Things have a way of falling into place, and if it looks like a final story isn’t going to look exactly the way you were thinking about at the beginning, that’s okay. Just make sure that if it’s going somewhere you’re not sure about, like during the editing process, ask questions. Why are things moving around? If it’s for “flow,” why does it flow better this way and not another way? Why doesn’t the piece make sense how I have it, but if two paragraphs suddenly all is clear? I trust the ACEs, of course, because they are getting paid to do what they’re doing and have a vested interest in editing — I just want to make sure I understand why they’re doing it.
08.09.12
My last GA shift is today, I drove to the scene of a fire but it turns out it was just a shed and it was out when the photographer and I got there. I wrote a story about an escaped inmate from the Pettis County Jail, and am still updating it as I continue to call the county for more details.
http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2012/08/09/escaped-inmates-captured-howard-county/
08.08.12
Today there were a couple stories I was working on, but they ended up all sort of changing focus along the way. First, Ann Elise assigned me these two advances about events in Douglass Park that she thought were both connected to the Silence the Violence campaign. But it turns out neither were, and the two events themselves were unrelated. I was unable to reach anyone that would talk to me about one event, so we decided we weren’t going to include it in the article. Almost as soon as I got off the phone with Almeta Crayton, Ann Elise brought over another release saying Almeta was organizing donations for the family whose house had burned down on McBaine (that I wrote about yesterday.). So when I accuracy checked the first school supplies drive article, I got the info about the second one. Even though that article was really short, it focused a little more on Almeta and how she was still seen as a community activist, even as she does less due to health reasons.
08.07.12
GA shift this morning was relatively uneventful. I worked from a release to write about a fire on McBaine Avenue. It’s getting really close to the end of the semester and I still haven’t actually talked to anyone at the scene of a fire — I can’t decide if that’s a good or bad thing.
http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2012/08/07/structure-fire-causes-estimated-50000-damage/
08.06.12
Today I picked up a simple story on a new tourism initiative called Towns of the SEC. I loved talking with members of tourism boards in Columbia and Gainesville because they called me back really quickly and they wanted to give me a ton of information.
08.03.12
Today I had to work on a story about bus safety, and I think my problem was that from the start I didn’t understand what it is that the ACE wanted. Ted kept using the phrase “context”–“We need to put this bus crash in context for our readers! Give us context!”–and in my mind, that means localizing an issue, which I didn’t really know how to do because it was a freak accident. The bus had been inspected in the previous week, as far as I could tell there wasn’t anything they could do. Megabus’s spokesperson was sending out updated emails that detailed all the safety precautions they took, and I had called several strings of people who referred me to other people and then that person had no idea what I was asking them about, which was trends in bus crashes and why crashes might happen. The “official” cause of the bus crash wouldn’t be definite for two weeks, so how could I ask people about why tires blow out if it turns out that wasn’t the reason the bus crashed? So I went back to Ted finally after speaking to some people with some Missouri statistics and general information about crashes from the Highway Patrol and the unanswered questions about why the bus crashed and he basically said this wasn’t what he was looking for and that I needed to go broader, which I thought was the opposite of what he wanted. So then he left and I was waiting on a call back from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (who are the end all, be all in terms of bus safety and a voice I felt like needed to be in the article) and they promised they’d send me an email right away but then it took a very long time. So I finally finished writing it except for a quote that the woman I was talking to promised she could get me by the end of the day, and the new ACE wanted more statistics back in there and didn’t understand why they weren’t in there already. So I rewrote again, and edited, and was finally done, even though the lady didn’t get me the quote that night after all so that human voice was missing from the FMCSA. I still think the thing doesn’t read very well because it’s a bunch of statistics. It was probably the hardest time I’ve had with an article yet, because while I’ve had sources that were difficult to get ahold of, I’ve never had one that was as hard to grasp the actual focus of the story as this. I’m really frustrated with everything about reporting right now.
http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2012/08/03/regulations-increase-safety-motor-carriers/
08.02.12
I had a GA shift today, and literally had nothing to do. I started working on a story about Columbia police employees and former employees interviewing for a new job in Iowa, and called the necessary people and never got called back. Potentially the reason behind that was that interviews were taking place today and everyone was busy. I wish that I had been working on something else simultaneously, but as of right now I don’t have anything going on.
08.01.12
We finished our multimedia today, the end result is something I’m super happy with. On advice from Pinar, we switched around the order of the piece a little bit so it wasn’t so literal. Before, we had video of the closing art show with the audio, and we instead put the video portraits of the little artists with the audio. It’s good to remember when editing that you don’t always have to use the audio to narrate what’s happening, especially when the subject matter calls for it, like with a story about art camp–it’s not strictly about the camp, it’s about what the camp does for the kids that go and why it’s important. Kayla and I will finish writing the text component soon, we just have to go back through our third interview with the camp’s director to pull quotes.
07.31.12
Kayla and I are deep in the throes of multimedia editing. We were supposed to present today, but Parks gave us an extension so we didn’t have to stay up all night last night (I did anyway because I moved today, which is why I was only at lecture, it was sort of a nightmare all around but that’s another story) and we’re trying to figure out a way to finish the piece. The beginning hasn’t changed much, but we have a series of video portraits that we’re trying to find a place for and we don’t have a lot of good video from the final show to use. We decided to use strictly video, mainly because we have enough to fill the requirement. The video is just as beautiful as our images, and we have a lot of visual variety, so I think it’s going to turn out really nice. We’re especially excited about the window light in two of our interviews with the teachers, it’s just so gorgeous.
07.30.12
Today I had a GA shift, but didn’t really do anything but write this short weather story. It’s hard for me to call people and know what I need them to say already, like I knew that the light rain wouldn’t make a difference on the drought but I had to ask them about it anyways to get them to say it. It makes me feel really dumb because I feel like the people I’m interviewing think I’m an idiot.
07.28.12
Well, the stick horse multimedia turned out to be sort of a disaster. The event yesterday had been so short that I didn’t have as much material as I would have liked, and some of it was unusable due to focusing issues or shaky hands (which is a problem for me, I think it probably goes hand in hand with my caffeine addiction). If I didn’t have the mom’s interview to use as audio (even that had some background music playing, it was rough) I would’ve been up a creek. I finished it though and reluctantly showed Pinar, whose exact words were “I’ve seen worse,” I think. Definitely like the first two I made way more, I’m actually sort of proud of those lil guys.
The fourth and would-be final video in the series just didn’t work out, I didn’t have the audio to make it into a narrative rather than just a string of beautiful clips of the rides. Oh, they were SO pretty. The light was awesome. But I had no story, just some audio of two kids talking about how much they were excited about the ride they just went on (and not all of that was usuable) so three quarters of the thing would’ve been ambient. It was just not to be, I suppose. Here are some stills that probably would’ve been used if it happened.
07.27.12
Today I had two things at the fair to cover, a chainsaw artist (who yesterday I leaned over the fence to yell “HI I’M FROM THE MISSOURIAN, DO YOU HAVE TIME TOMORROW FOR AN INTERVIEW?” and he nodded and I went back to figure-8 derby) and the stick horse race for little kids. I decided to do multimedia on the kids, which I will edit tomorrow morning. I also shot the last multimedia in the series I wanted to do, a piece on the midway in the golden hour as it fades into nighttime. GORGEOUS light. I think that’ll be a nice closing piece for Saturday, kind of rounding out the little video series. I think for longer events like this, having shorter videos with a unifying theme (like the typeface and style of titles in the beginning, or a separate bumper, or whatever) is such a cool thing to do and next semester as a photo editor I’m going to try to implement them. If each photographer spent a little time on a one-minute piece, it would be less of a daunting thing to edit every day in a row. Not to go off on a tangent, or anything.
Stacey Robinson was a really cool guy. I love talking with artists and his unique medium made this a really fun story to write.
07.26.12
Edited the fiddle multimedia today, John White is a character. He would be a really great profile down the road. I might try to do a project on him for my capstone next spring. Today at the fair I didn’t shoot anything to make a multimedia, so that’s a bummer. I did talk to some cool people at the figure-8 racing competition and tuff truck race. Everyone had really great stories about their car or truck or whatever and didn’t mind telling me all about it. One of the organizers asked if I wanted to ride in one (!!!!) because they allow passengers in figure-8, but there weren’t any empty seats so I couldn’t. Video or stills from inside a car would’ve been SO COOOOL. I was a little worried about breaking my camera though, so I guess I was better off not riding along.
07.25.12
The most important thing I know about interviewing came today when there was a situation with a subject’s name. From now on I’m going to double check it three times with the person because today I had a heart attack with the spelling of a name that I wrote down as he spelled it and then showed to him to make sure it was right, and it turns out that it wasn’t right and I had to call him at home at 10:30 at night to get his actual last name. Thank god for google.
But in all reality, I think that staying silent and letting the person talk is the best thing to do in a lot of situations, because it gives them a chance to say everything about a subject instead of you cutting them off. Which in my case is a problem sometimes, because I want to know certain things right away, and might steer the conversation away from a really good direction.
Today I put together the multimedia from the fair yesterday and wrote the article that goes along with it. If I could just do short multimedia for the rest of my days, I would die happy. Tonight I hung out at the barn dance after having a snafu with a sports reporter about who was covering the demolition derby (hint: I wanted to) but it ended up being really cool. Katherine wanted something to be written on deadline tonight since the thing last night went really late. So that article is ready to be published with photos by Gan Yi, and I took some stills and video at the jam session today (which will be continuing every day this week) and so I’m going to try to edit as much as possible tonight so it won’t take so long tomorrow. I’m really attached to this video series idea, so even if I have to take up the rest of my free time (read: not do do other things I have to do because I have no free time) I’m gonna do it. Because of the shortage of photographers this summer I feel like there’s less of an influence on multimedia, but hopefully these start turning out well. Little videos are so so fun to put together.
07.24.12
Boone County Fair coverage continues with photos and a brand new sweet phone cam. This gallery has two photos in it from yesterday
http://www.columbiamissourian.com/multimedia/gallery/2012/07/23/photo-gallery-pee-wee-showmanship/
07.23.12
http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2012/07/23/ameren-missouri-powers-change-campaign-recognizes-unsung-heroes/ the people who i talked to were really helpful, and gave me way more information that I needed. I guess that’s a nice problem to have.
07.20.12
I’m working on a new story that is pretty PR-related so it’s taking awhile to get in touch with the people I need to talk to. In the meantime, I’m using the lull in reporting stuff to catch up on the other things I’m supposed to be working on–like my job, and my other summer class. And next week marks the beginning of hardcore editing in Express, so that will take the longest of anything Kayla and I have to do.
07.19.12
News briefs are dominating my life
http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2012/07/19/new-section-hospital-drive-open-5-pm-thursday/
07.17.12
Today I wrote my first crime story, it was an update of the murder trial of Ryan Bridger. I did all the background reading on the articles the Missourian published in 2010 when it happened, but it was hard to piece through the story because they obviously got more specific as more details were found. The story was pretty complicated, too, so I had to read everything a few times to make sure I knew what actually happened. The major issue was that I didn’t know exact terminology when it came to the court stuff, and the woman in the court records office sort of seemed like she was just waiting for me to ask the right way before she’d look up the information. Finally I said the magic word of “first amended information?” instead of “a new probable cause statement?” and got the record I needed. Writing it was tough too, and without Katherine to help make sure I worded everything in the normal way.
07.16.12
I finally got the last accuracy check for the Noppadol Paothong article, so that’s published! I loved writing this story. It was sort of a stroke of good luck that the article even worked out, because the book talk that I was planning on going to without actually knowing when it started was 10 am, which is before the historical society normally opens. I called at 12:30 when they did open to figure out when it was, and fortunately Noppadol was just leaving and I set up an interview for Saturday afternoon. I went to the gallery then, and talked to Cathy Salter, who helped decide to bring the photos to Montminy. Then I went back to the newsroom, wrote an obit, and then went to talk to Noppadol. I love talking to photographers about what they do. Successful photojournalists are the ones who can just dedicate their lives to the work, and Noppadol has spent 11 years on this project. It sometimes makes me wonder if I’ll ever find something that I care about SO MUCH that I could spend a decade with it. I tend to get bored of things after awhile. That’s why I’m never getting a tattoo. Anyways, getting edited was sort of a struggle because I wrote it and thought the order of where I put things made sense, but Celia said there were too many threads and it was getting confusing so we re-ordered a lot of the paragraphs. Again. Thinking about the order in which a story flows best is something I obviously need to work on.
Wildlife photographer Noppadol Paothong
07.14.12
Today’s story came from a Vox calendar post that Jeanne noticed and wanted Scott to hand out. Because I had been picking up something else for Saturday at the same time, I just got to do both because we didn’t know if either would pan out. It turned out to be a really good story, and the MOan really hadn’t written anything about the situation despite it happening last year. Basically, a really great basketball player from Hickman had the pressure of athletic success get to him and he had to drop out of MU after his first year of playing. He was academically ineligible to play ball after his sophomore year despite his promise as a future all-star. He died of an undisclosed illness in 2002, and this fundraiser is in his name to help promote academic success as well as athletic prowess. I had written the article originally with a lot of the background closer to the lede, but Ted told me that the stuff that I had closer to the bottom was the news-iest part so we had to re-order things. It never really bothers me when an ACE fixes things in a story because they obviously know more about reporting than I do, I just always worry that they’re going to call me stupid in the night note. (Just kidding.)
Also today I wrote an obituary that Ted needed done. I was told to just pull all the information from what the funeral home sent us, because I didn’t have a lot of time to write it before I had to go to the basketball game.
07.13.12
Today I spent four hours finishing shooting Kayla and my multimedia project–editing is going to be the difficult part, and we need to shoot one more interview, which we will be doing on Monday. I think it helps that the subject is one that I care about, and I am really excited to try to get this story put together and out there for Missourian readers to see. Readers? Viewers? Whatever.
07.12.12
GA shift was slow today until I had to drive to a fire that was supposedly on Peabody Road near the old landfill. I drive out to Peabody Road and was just floating along by Finger Lakes Park and could see zero fires. Supposedly this fire should have been viewable from the road and had ten fire trucks there, but I couldn’t find a thing. So either I am crazy, or it was actually on the other Peabody Road in Columbia that is twenty more minutes away from Finger Lakes Park and is actually by a landfill. Basically the hour and a half I spent driving there/driving around/driving back was spent in a haze of frustration and calls to the ACE. Eventually I just returned to the newsroom without any spot news photos, which is what I was excited about finally being able to do after never having taken them in Staff Photo.
7.11.12
I’m working on a couple longer form stories, one is my multimedia piece about Summer Art Camp and one is about a substance abuse rehabilitation center. That story came from a press release and I am having the hardest time making it personal, because there aren’t a lot of outlets for people who’ve been through the programs. I keep calling a source that I’ve been told is the best contact to set me up with someone, but I think it’s about time for me to do more research and try to find a different resource.
I went to a meeting of the standing committee for public art to see what they had to say about the planned art at the new Short Street garage. Afterwards I talked to some of the artists and got some more story ideas, so that was ideal.
Short Street Parking Garage art plans
07.06.12
Yesterday I had a busy GA shift with a life story, a couple briefs about construction and fires, and some contributing info to a weather story. I also almost had spot news when there was a injury accident call over the scanner with “a car hanging over a ledge” on Providence Point. When I got there, though, it turns out there weren’t any injuries, the car was back on the road, and neither the car nor the boy driving it was hurt. He was just going too fast and lost control of the car. While that’s good news for him, I was really hoping for some great dramatic photos, honestly.
http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2012/07/05/hot-dry-conditions-contribute-fires/
http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2012/07/05/mary-dierkes-may-4-1953-july-4-2012-2/
contributing: http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2012/07/05/heat-wave-has-end-sight/
07.05.12
orientation assignment:
Boone City Building
Columbia Cemetery
Farmer’s Market
Botanical Gardens
ARC
Boone County Government Building
Boone County Courthouse (this is a mugshot, if you couldn’t tell)
the Pinnacles
Nifong Park
Rainbow Softball Center (I love softball)
Hinkson Creek
Rock Bridge State Park
Gans Creek Rec Area (aka, actually nothing)
Fr. Tolton Catholic High School
Discovery Ridge
Columbia Regional Airport
07.04.12
flat tires = bad fourth of july
diverse outreach piece, done with jaime = a little better fourth of july
It was so fun to be able to take photos again (these are pretty rough but you can be sure I’m keeping photo-heavy stories in mind in case I get to shoot them myself)
07.03.12
Working on completing the orientation assignment today instead of being in the newsroom. Yesterday I got my first story published, a life story. It was an interesting but uncomfortable assignment, because of the awkwardness of having to call someone who recently lost a loved one. After actually talking to the subject, though, it turned out to not be as hard as I expected. I could tell how much Mr. Wegner was missed, but I think his daughter was appreciative of the effort the Missourian was making to bring a more personal side to the public, rather than a standard obituary.
life story can be found here
07.02.12
First shift as a GA reporter started today, and I’m currently working through the trials of sources being away from their phones. Waiting for someone to call back is hard for me (patience is a virtue, I know, but I’ll admit it’s not one of my strong points.) During the extra time, I’ve been researching things to try to start some of my own stories, since I’m already a week behind after returning from a study abroad trip. Previously this week, I’ve been working on the first assignment. It’s definitely helping me see more of Columbia, and getting familiar with more of the area can only help me, as I have a perpetual tendency to get lost. It’s also been fun hanging out with several classmates who are fellow photojournalism majors, talking about how frustrating it is to have to let others take over the visual aspect. I’m excited about the multimedia project already!
12.01.11
video interview
Hayley Bartels speaks a little bit about one of her favorite photographs:
11.29.11
video inspiration
Well done: http://mediastorm.com/publication/bloodline-aids-and-family
This story is relatively long, as most of MediaStorm’s pieces are. I think the photographer does a good job of making this huge issue (HIV infection) more relatable with the focus on several different people, sort of giving face to the problem. Though our final project is being done on a much lighter subject, our photo essay on Christmas trees will have a greater impact if we can put faces to the practices we document.
“Could be better” (But really this is super well done, I just had a hard time choosing one I wanted to critique): http://mediastorm.com/publication/driftless-stories-from-iowa
The main issue I have with this piece is that it seems really long. When thinking about it, though, it sort of fits the subject matter. The video portraits especially, while beautiful aesthetically, make the viewer almost uncomfortable. In order to keep our shorter piece moving, I think the use of shorter still portraits would be more ideal (especially since we aren’t supposed to use video. But I think that video portraits resemble still photos very closely, with just added interest of slight movements.)
11.10.11
multiple flash
Members of the Rock Bridge High School boys’ basketball team scrimmage in preparation for a game in the coming week. Head coach Jim Scanlon runs a regimented practice. “When we put you on the floor, we expect everything,” he said to the team during this practice on November 9th, and throughout the season he endeavors to keep the boys in top shape.
11.03.11
painting with light
Amongst U.S drivers, a common problem ignored is tire safety. Although defective tires cause an estimated 6,000 accidents annually, the American Automobile Association (AAA) found that US consumer’s knowledge of tire safety is still minimal. The AAA study revealed that out of consumers who had a flat tire, 46% changed their own tire, 22% asked someone else to change it, and 19% called a road service provider. Furthermore, the majority of participants said they checked their tires less often than recommended or never at all. Worn treat, improper air pressure, and age are the most common reasons for tire failure. A tire that is more than five or six years old should always be replaced regardless of its condition.
10.27.11
fill/balance
Carlyn Hadusek works on a cardboard mask in a three-dimensional design class Thursday morning. She is endeavoring to create an elephant out of corrugated cardboard and wood glue alone. The project explores the use of cardboard as a building material, and Hadusek’s challenge is to make a wearable piece of art that extends two feet from her body in a given direction.
10.20.11
color correction
Mitch Greenwell, 21, and Jason Schuhmacher, 20, make a late-night grocery shopping trip on Wednesday. The two, who attend Columbia College and MU respectively, like shopping when there aren’t many people in Hy-vee. “It just makes it easier for us to take our time without worrying about getting in anyone’s way,” said Schuhmacher.
beanl_ld
10.13.11
single flash
might I just interject that flash is, shall we say, not my favorite
Kyle Goens, a sophomore art student at the University of Missouri, sands a piece of wood in the 3D lab on Wednesday night. His wood relief sculpture is due early tomorrow morning, but Goens still has a ways to go as he restarted the project a week ago. “I accidentally exploded the glue bottle earlier, and I ran out of the right color of paint,” he said, but he is optimistic about finishing the project on time despite the setbacks.
Kyle Goens checks on drying wood glue on an ongoing relief sculpture for 3D Design class. Goens is accustomed to graphic design rather than three-dimensional pieces, but is happy about how the class is progressing. Though the project is due tomorrow, he isn’t worried about missing the deadline. “It’ll just take a lot of work,” said Goens.
straight outta the sketchbook, yo
10.10.11
metal and glass
Or actually just glass.
One in eight people in the world lack access to safe drinking water. Tied to poverty, this lack of basic sanitation or clean water results in the death of more people each year than all forms of violence combined. Funding for water projects, such as building wells or rainwater collectors, is becoming more common with the creation of nonprofits such as charity:water. Founder Scott Harrison started the organization after traveling through West Africa and realizing how much the first world could assist poverty-stricken countries.
(information from charitywater.org)
09.22.11
studio portrait
In what little free time she can find during her sophomore year at MU, Lizz Cardwell takes a break from the camera and picks up a paintbrush. “I do think photography and paintings are similar. Most of the time when I make a painting, I make a photo first of what I’m going to paint, the two totally go together for me,” says Cardwell.
09.15.11
portrait inspiration
Portraiture is my favorite thing; I could look at photos of people ALL DAY. Studio portraiture is beautiful and famous magazine photographers who set up every last detail of a shoot are to be commended for making such perfect images, but I’m a lot more drawn to photos that really give you a sense of the subject. This picture is titled “Ludovic 3” and was shot by Rodolphe Simeon, a French photographer currently residing in Canada. While some of his work is shot in a studio and much of it is a little over-processed (in my opinion only, I guess) his street photography is awe-inspiring in the fact that he talks to a subject, sometimes for no more than five minutes, and gets them comfortable enough with him and the camera to produce an absolutely gorgeous portrait. This particular photo is from a series of portraits of homeless people, and the minimal light from one side mixed with the blurring of the subject’s hands as he lights a cigarette add to the uncertainty of his lifestyle. I think Simeon uses the available light well to help figuratively as well as literally illuminate the subject, because of the emphasis on the face the viewer gets a better idea of who that person is. I think this is a step out of “typical” street photography norms, for example Bill Cunningham (of fashion industry fame… I admit it, I just saw Bill Cunningham New York) sort of snaps photos of clothes instead of focusing on the individual wearing them. But I think most street photogs tend to hurry up and take photos without the subject noticing, almost paparazzi-like in their approach, and while this doesn’t necessarily result in bad pictures Simeon takes a step out of this anonymous comfort zone and makes a connection with the subject, which is telling in the resulting photographs.
07.23.11
Summer has fallen into a monotonous routine of work and internship at St. Louis Magazine. I’m learning a ton about lighting and have finally figured out manual and met some really interesting people. Hopefully in the near future I’ll be able to post up some of what I’ve been workin’ on. Until then, check out 30 Days (Specifically days 3, 5, 11, 12, 14, 20, 21, 23, & 30) and also snag a copy of STLMag for August because I’ve got a byliiiine (Photos by Leah Beane: the four greatest words of the summer) (besides, of course, NO MORE HEAT ADVISORY, which is currently wishful thinking.) Despite my super-packed schedule I’ve found some free time for photo adventures with my friends…
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05.16.11
Well, the semester is over. It’s summertime and I start work soon at the pool, so I’ll have less time for doing things I want to do. Such as taking pics… better get a ton of shooting in this week to make up for it. I passed the portfolio review to get into the graphic design program at MU, so I’m officially declaring a dual major in art. I am really excited about it, even though it means more crazy 18-hour semesters like this one. I am READY! Super excited about next semester already, but trying not to let the summer go by too quickly! My job at Blackberry Exchange is currently in hiatus since I’m not in Como, but here you can view some of the fruits of our labor with their brand new spring 2011 lookbook! Some hard work on the part of the models, the graphic designer, and the other photographer deserves a mention here. Check it out and let them know what you think about the clothes!
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03.28.11
Spring break! I was hoping for beautiful weather, but alas it snowed yesterday. Jealous of Liz P. hangin’ out in Puerto Rico, and Ron P. cleanin’ up the Gulf. Instead I am at home, and am planning on shooting some later this week after my models (read: friends) get out of classes… Mizzou had such a late break this year! I am working on planning things, such as trying desperately to schedule a double major in my next couple years and also internship time is quickly approaching. Life is crazy.
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01.04.11
It’s a New Year (!), and all that symbolic it’s-a-good-time-to-change-your-life jazz. I don’t think I’m making “new year’s resolutions” per se, more like general, all-around resolutions. We’ll see how they work out. Recently I finally got to take some photos using a strand of multi-colored Christmas lights as the only light source, and they turned out pretty much how expected them to, and I was happy. I don’t have a Photojournalism class this semester, so any photography I’ll post is probably going to be leaning heavily towards a fine art feeling.
With these photos, I had the idea when I was doing another shoot with a flashlight to “write” in the frame, and I wanted to try it out with a strand of lights, since they would be connected and almost parallel. I didn’t do many of those light-writing photos because I didn’t have a tripod, but here are some of my favorites from the night.
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12.13.10
Fundamentals of Photojournalism will officially be over for me as soon as I finish making this website look nice. This is kind of a sad moment considering that this was the only class I liked going to this semester. Today in the lab, Liz Pierson (http://elizabethpierson.wordpress.com/! So great. So many plugs for fellow photogs, just returning the favor here) and I spent so much time finishing our final projects, but definitely spending some extra effort on something makes a difference. By changing up the audio on my multimedia piece, I could add another voice to my project that was otherwise kind of a standard thing. The photo lab is a great place because there’s always somebody there who can give you feedback on whatever you’re working on. Or actually in my case, help me print the right way.
going to have to struggle through life without photo class next semester, and just do whatever I can on my own. Tough life.
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Leah Beane 