Multimedia Reporting Fall 2020

For my photo journal essay, I want to talk about one of my friends who cosplays to relief their stress and how COVID-19 has impacted them and how they are coping with the crisis. I was thinking of this topic since I’ve accompany a lot of my friends for their outdoor photoshoots and now, since it is unsafe, it would be interesting on how the photoshoot is still going on and how we have to plan and change the locations to accommodate the current issue and still get the desired backgrounds and atmosphere.

For my photo essay, I’d like to do a story on a Black-owned bar my friend told me about called Bunton’s World Famous. It opened up just last year and is already kind of popular in Bushwick. I’d ask the owner about what it’s like to run such an establishment in this social climate, and during a pandemic. I’d also like to talk to the employees and the locals about their experiences and relationships to the bar.

My other ideas include talking to my younger brother, and his friends who are going through their first year of college online. I can also talk to other people I know that are first generation college students and talk about how they’re dealing with the pandemic transforming their education experience.

I would like to show content generators/influencers and their creative processes. I got the idea as I would be on social media and notice a lot of the people I’m mutually following are makeup gurus, or for one shoots a gardening advice web show. Ideally, the photos would show their art and how they generate ideas and content.

Another idea is a farmer’s market and how people craft the food we like. I know some people who sell at the Sayville and Babylon farmer’s markets on Long Island, ranging from a mushroom forager to a small coffee roaster.

Discussion:

Pitch workshop

Asynchronous Assignment:

Watch the following Adobe Lightroom tutorial and use what you’ve learned to edit the photos you took during the “scavenger hunt” assignment:

https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/how-to/basic-photography-editing-techniques.html

Submit the edited photos to me via WeTransfer.com by next class.

For my photo essay I would like to be able to showcase Zambian culture. I see this as an opportunity to showcase my country that I found many people do not know about. Ideally I plan to try to display the different types of clothing (casual and ceremonial), food (and include recipes), and maybe music that is rooted within Zambian culture. This would involve numerous interviews with some journalists and creatives that I know based in Zambia. My main intention is to 1)show the beauty of where I come from 2) be able to showcase a different Zambia than the one that is typically portrayed 3) make it eye catching but informative at the same time.

For my photo essay idea, I had a few ideas floating around my head. My main idea is to follow local artists in town as they’ve continued to create–or in fact, create more– during the pandemic. I want to highlight the local artists in my community who have also turned their creations into small online businesses. I think this would be interesting as it would show how the arts have become a method to help cope with the pandemic. This feels like the most feasible for me.

My other ideas include: first, following college freshman who are dealing with their first semester at home; second, following a local Thai restaurant that is very active on social media and the helps the local BLM protestors; and lastly, documenting the weekly Black Lives Matter protestors at the local courthouse. The final idea would seem like a good one considering the circumstances we are in, but I am not entirely sure about the logistics or in fact, safety, since they were met with backlash from anti-protestors two weeks ago.

 

 

For my photo pitch, I would like to compare and contrast New York City versus a rural environment. My boyfriend recently moved upstate to a 25 acre farm while I live in Williamsburg. These two environments are quite literally opposites and I feel like it would be very interesting to spot differences and similarities among the two. I would observe the landscape, the people and their body language, businesses, the social structure (ex: homelessness rate), and many other aspects.

During COVID, the city has clearly changed in many aspects such as population density, social activities, work places, etc. I am curious to see how rural upstate New York has been affected by these chaotic times and how it is being handled since properties are way more spread out than in the NYC. I have never been to a super rural area and I think it’ll be fascinating to visualize a completely different lifestyle than I am used to.

For my photo essay, I am planning on covering the owner of Ridgewood Pupusas – a newly opened Salvadoran restaurant. As someone who Central American, I am about this place because it’s so rare to find our cuisine in New York. I intend to document the story of the owner and their journey from fleeing the war in El Salvador back in the 80s to opening their own business. I am particularly interested in showing the details about how they carry their heritage with pride.

For my photo essay, I am interested in covering Bombazo Dance Co., a nonprofit organization that is preserving, advocating and educating Afro-Puerto Rican Bomba. Bomba is a traditional dance and musical style from Puerto Rico with roots in Africa. The dance is described as a connection between the drummer and the dancer.

I would be interested in interviewing people from Bombazo Dance Co. about the historical origins of Bomba. In addition, I would include photos of the dancers wearing the traditional skirt that is accentuated through the dance. I would also feature how the pandemic impacted the organization’s in-person classes and how they have shifted to virtual Bomba lessons.

I have two pitches and I’m not sure which one I like more.

1. The rise of at-home haircuts and hair dye procedures. It seems like almost everyone I know both in person and through social media has been experimenting with their look these days. Even I’ve had my own hair dying disasters and I want to capture people during the act of being their own hairdresser. I wonder would they have dye or cut their hair themselves if there wasn’t corona to keep us at home? Were they just bored or have they’ve always wanted to do it? And do they feel more confident doing their own hair?

2. My grandma used to go to Church on the weekly basis. During the time when she needed to practice her faith the most, churches were closed.  And now I wonder how COVID has impacted Churches since their reopening. I’m interested in investigating how believers have been holding up and has the reopening of their churches helped them?