So far this is my first draft after talking with local neighbors and community leaders in the Queens, NY area about the West Indian/Caribbean community. Although I have a few photos of the neighborhood, I will also show landmarks that represent more of the community itself. Not much relates to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it graps how strong and developed one community can be that not many discuss about. The importance of the Black and Brown community is to explain recognition and devouted work accomplished.
Attached is the first draft of my first story. It is more of a profile piece. However, for the final draft I would like to include more statistics to it as well as minor media.
This is the rough draft and basic blueprint for my first story. The finished piece will have pictures and visuals, but this draft is intended to develop the general direction of the story I want to ultimately write.
Impossibly difficult to understand, the Science Visualized online event provided attendees insight into how science can be captured in photographs. Hosted by National Geographic, this event had photographers explain how they capture science in their photos. Moderated by Todd James, a Senior Editor and Anand Varma, Esther Horvath, and Max Aguilera-Hellweg spoke as National Geographic contributors, having been published in the magazine for their creative presentations. The biggest challenge they described in photographing science is “capturing the story,” which already takes up so many words to explain, and get it done in a single photo. To meet this challenge they had to get creative, thinking in new ways to present the fascinating details of their topics. Avoiding the usual style of photos that are often used for the topics of science, health and technology, these photographers tell a story of the discoveries of the world with their craft and creative style. Some of the photos required travel to the most extreme climates of our planet and dealing with the most extreme of climates. Hovarth travelled to the North Pole to capture research being conducted there. She was in one of the most extreme climates in the world and help was days away. Her photos captured the work that scientists were doing to better understand the changing climate. The images that she took showed scientists at work and conveyed the difficulty of working in such conditions.
Sorry for the Delay! But I finally made it out to the exhibits…
I attended the Photoville exhibitions located around Brooklyn Bridge Park and thought it was an incredible experience. It was done really well regardless of its need to abide by social distancing standards. I went on a pleasant sunny day and found myself exploring the area for different exhibits as if It were a treasure hunt. There were so many great works that covered a variety of subjects that I found myself drawn to. When looking for something with an international angle I was drawn to a large portion of the exhibit that focused on COVIDs’ effect on different international countries. I particularly found the photo and reporting work of Nyimas Laula interesting on Bali since 50 percent of their economy comes from tourism this is the worst economic trouble they’ve seen yet. They have seen a shift and return to traditional living styles in order to take care of their families. Since I’m more interested in the photojournalism side It was really informative to see how so many professionals have covered and captured the effects of COVID. In Laula’s photos, I saw her display and focus of the Bali natives returning to their roots which she said in her writing and translated in her photos.
I was also taken by a few other exhibits I would like to mention one of which being Asian Americans and the Pandemic curated by Sangsuk Sylvia Kang. This focused on the xenophobia that arose from COVID and was encouraged by our president saying things such as the “Chinese Virus”. It was photos of Asian Americas placed over the areas they were attacked or threatened accompanied by their stories. I found the first-person storytelling to be a very powerful method in an emotional piece such as this. Lastly, I was personally excited to see Haiti to Hood by Daveed Baptiste because he is a former coworker of mine! This was a social commentary on his identity of being a Haitian-American which was just fun for me to see.
Today, I’m going to do a presentation and lead a discussion about a significant recent/ongoing international news story, and for your asynchronous assignment, you will team up into groups and prepare one to present to the class beginning October 15.
LGBT Crackdowns in Indonesia (and East Africa)
Early that year, incendiary statements by high-ranking officials, coupled with a countrywide shift to the religious right, set off a cascade of hate and persecution directed at gay and transgender people. More than 300 people were arrested in 2017 alone, according to Human Rights Watch, many of them during raids on homes, nightclubs and hair salons.
This “moral panic,” as many have taken to calling the current climate, is one manifestation of a rise in Islamic fundamentalism that represents a new chapter for this vast archipelago country which has long touted its pluralism as its greatest strength.
How do you approach covering a story like this? Particularly a story that is wide in scope and ongoing, not necessarily a breaking story, but one that may contain many different developments over time?
How do you come up with an angle?
Discuss.
What are some considerations for sensitively and successfully covering a story like this?
You will break into five different groups and together you will lead a discussion, giving us a rundown of the main developments in the story and relevant background/context, and share at least two pieces of exceptional journalism that have been done on the topic—while deconstructing how these stories approached the topic differently and researching/analyzing how the reporter(s) did it. (Was it a freelancer, as best you can tell, or a staff reporter? Were they already based in the region or did they fly in on assignment?
Ideas for major international news stories that you would be interested in covering?
A few more ideas:
The Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong
Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war in the Philippines
The political and economic crisis in Venezuela
The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan
The explosion in Beirut amid a larger political/economic crisis
The situation in Zimbabwe three years after Robert Mugabe was ousted in a coup
The refugee crisis in Greece
Land policy and wildfires in the Brazilian Amazon
Or feel free to come up with a different topic that interests you. These presentations don’t have to be related to your beat for the semester, but they certainly can be.
I will send out an email with a sign-up sheet for presentation dates, which will be first come first served, so be on the lookout for that!
I attended the online session called “Mobile Photography: Make Your Portraits Pop” which was presented by Aundre Larrow in parternship with Adobe. Aundre Larrow is mainly a photographer (and sometimes a videographer) but I’d very much call him a visual artist. He was born in Jamaica and grew up in South Florida but is currently Brooklyn-based. He is currently an Adobe Creative Resident hence why this event was sponsored by them. Prior to the event, it was listed in the details that we would have to download the app, Adobe LightRoom on our phones as that would be what we’d be learning through during. The Adobe partnership was quite apparent during the whole event as we used the LightRoom app and Aundre Larrow shared his tonal presets with us, as well as his color mixes. I mean this part of the session was clearly to promote the app and his presets within the app, but that’s not to discredit this portion, he shared many tips on angles, moodboards, and even though it was through the Adobe LightRoom app, his vision and approach was interesting to see. After the LightRoom portion there was some post edit discussion regarding photoshop. Using LightRoom was fun and it was interactive, but I wouldn’t say that was my main take away from the event. I signed up for it because visual media resonates with me as I love taking photos and also have been editing using Adobe programs since I was 12. What I really took away from this event was Aundre’s attitude and his approach towards photographing people. He talked about how photographing people was an honor to him and described how he strives to make every photo “honest” and how he tries to capture the distinct value of each human being and their story; this really resonated with me as I too believe in the value of every human beings story. Even though this was clearly a “self-plug” in a way, Larrow’s vision and his approach towards photographing people is simply brilliant.
I visited the women in construction Photoville exhibition. I never thought of the sexism these women might face when trying to get into the construction business. Or the female stereotypes that are thrown their way probably on a daily basis. One comment that stuck out to me was one that Jillian Lifson said. She stated that “I feel like I can’t have a bad day…because if I have a bad day, I must be on my period right?”. All women have faced this issue before no matter where you work, you most probably have gotten this comment thrown out you. But I can just imagine working with ALL male coworkers how this must feel. The women portrayed in this exhibit are all strong and all different. You expect a female in construction to be all macho, basically one of the guys. But that’s not the case. I believe the exhibit did a great job in showing different females with different characteristics yet all strong who all went for the same career. One that might not have welcomed the with open arms. But they all fought for their right to gain their spot there. And although they got the job, they still fight for the right to be seen as equal among their peers. Another femaleworker said, “You don’t blend in, you don’t fly under the radar, you’re kind id definitively an outlier”. Some people may not feel like they belong in the office or store or restaurant where they work, but these women face far worse than us when they are viewed as less than just because they chose a career that normally would be filled by a man. But the truth is all women can do what men do and vice versa. This exhibit does well is showing that and explaining different women’s experiences.
The exhibit “Class of 2020” photographed by Elias Williams, and displayed at the intersection of 7th ave and 45th street is a tribute to the graduate of 2020. Due to the on going pandemic that has affected educational systems around the world, most New York’s school decided to hold graduation ceremonies online. Through her project, Williams captured the stories of students in different grades.
The exposition gathers three big cubes with each side covered by a picture of a student wearing his/her gown and accompanied by his/her story.
Student Bianca Colon can be seen wearing a blue smoky eyeshadow matching the blue and orange of her outfit, and a colorful mask. The recent graduate from the High School of Art and Design explained that her graduation ceremony took place online back in June. Colon expressed sadness about following classes online but is more nervous about the virus coming back. “I already lost my senior year, I don’t want to lost my freshman year in college,” she said to Williams.
What was interesting about the exposition was the fact that the photographer captured graduate students in different grades. From kindergarten, passing by high school, to college, the artist made sure to represent a diversity of students.
I personally enjoyed the exhibit because I found it relatable. As a transfer student, I’ve graduated from a community college in the Fall 2019 and was waiting for my graduation ceremony in May 2020. Unfortunately the ceremony took place online, and my family didn’t come to New York like planned since January. Through her work, Elias Williams still give joy to the students by giving them the opportunity to share their story.
Finally, there’s to some extent an international angle to this piece of art, as Williams invites her viewers to think about how COVID-19 has affected education which concern students all over the globe.
