For my assignment I plan to attend a local “Sip & Shop” event this coming weekend, with eighteen different vendors. I plan to photograph the event and interview the artists that consent to being interviewed.
Currently, I am in the process of reaching out to them before hand so that my photographing the event doesn’t come as a surprise.
To my understanding, they are all women run and owned small businesses, and I want to learn what inspired their start, what difficulties they have come across, and more.
For my photo essay, I would like to discuss how Hurricane Ida (natural disasters as a whole) often have disproportionate effects on lower-income and marginalized communities. One of my relatives has a friend in Queens who lost his entire home to flooding in Ida. I plan to interview him and some of his neighbors, to get their perspective of the flooding.
I’ve already spoken with some of them. One has issues claiming disaster relief because of language barrier issues, some already struggling due to the pandemic before the flood, students who will have issues continuing online education after their means of attending class are destroyed. All of these issues stem from systematic inequality and I believe they deserve to be highlighted.
For my photo essay, I want to write about my visit and experience at the Blue Bay Grand Esmeralda resort in Cancun, Mexico. I plan to focus on what a typical day is like for a guest there, but I also want to narrow my focus on the mini-events/ performances that occur daily. I feel this will be important to delve into because of how unique the experience was in comparison to other places I’ve visited.
For my photo essay, I intend to write about my visit to the Cooper Hewitt ，Smithsonian Design Museum and the virtual event “Behind the Design |The Thread of the story: The Dorothy Liebes paper“. September is the month of New York Fashion Week (NYFW). Everyone is focused on the runways and the new collections coming out, but I believe it’s also worth focusing on the stories behind the fashion.
I plan to shadow several people who work within the fashion industry and photograph aspects of their professional life. There are about four designers and possibly two additional models who have agreed to let me shadow them during a day’s work. One works for American Eagle, another for DKNY, and another for GQ, located in the Empire State Building.
Due to the nature of the work – working with pattern and textile design in the garment district of Manhattan – I feel it would make for a great visual article. There are so many colors, patterns, and textures present within their offices, their attire, their products and so on. Additionally, the people I want to shadow have agreed to let me photograph them for the personal aspect of it. Pictures of people always capture the eye.
As far as the captions/writing aspect of the article goes, I plan to treat it somewhat like a multiple profile feature. I will interview them about their jobs, their lives, and so on. From preliminary conversations, I know fashion has been a large part of many of the group’s lives even outside of work.
I want to write about attending the Revolve Gallery for my photo essay pitch because the event is part of NYFW by not only launching the gallery that features exhibition with 13 designers but grand opening of the Pop up store as well where customers can shop for clothes and beauty products. I took more than ten photos with designer clothes also one of fashion models as well. It was a great experience to see everything.
For my photo essay I would like to capture fashion trends that are prevalent among college students. With New York fashion week and the Met Gala taking place this September, I think it would be an interesting perspective to see how the average college student throughout New York City is styling different fashion trends and patterns.
I anticipate getting visuals that will incorporate several different color schemes and patterns which overall should make them much more visually interesting. I think a lot of these photos I could potentially get will tell profound stories since more people are becoming more aware of sustainability, child labor, and other fashion issues. Around NYU and FIT it should be fairly accessible to find college student who are willing to talk to me about fashion and allow me to photograph their style choices.
First, everyone will check out a camera for the semester. You will use this for the photo essay assignment and then again toward the end of the semester for your video assignment. There are enough for each person to keep one out for the whole semester. Please make sure to take good care of it! Any lost or broken pieces will need to be replaced by you.
We’ll take about ten minutes to play with the settings and get the hang of where all the controls on the camera are located.
In-Class Practice Assignment: Photo Scavenger Hunt
Go out and take 8-10 thoughtfully-composed images that capture some of the following elements of composition. Some of these will inevitably contain multiple elements, and that’s fine. Remember that you want to end up with a final edit of 8-10 images, which means you will need to take more photos than that and then decide which are your strongest.
Contrasting colors
Monochromatic colors
Symmetry
Pattern
Rule of thirds
Close-up detail shot
Shallow depth of field
Portrait
Dramatic/beautiful/interesting use of light
Slow shutter speed
Internal framing
Movement
Decisive moment
Layers telling a story
Dramatic perspective (shooting from high up or from low to the ground)
You don’t need to send these to me yet: you will use these in a practice editing exercise after we return from our week off next week. Just hold onto them and await further instructions.
Photo Essays: An Introduction
A photo essay is a thoroughly reported story, told in well-composed and curated images and captions. Ideally, there should be a mix of images so that the eye is always looking at something new as the viewer clicks or scrolls through: close-up shots, wide shots, portraits, colorful shots, bright shots, dark shots, action shots, etc. Intimacy is a powerful tool in these sorts of projects.
Remember that your photo essay pitches are to be posted on the blog by class time next Monday, 9/13. Our Zoom class that day will be a pitch workshop.
We will look at your photos from the scavenger hunt together on Wednesday, 9/15, but please don’t send them to me yet! Just hang onto them for now. (And feel free to keep shooting more images between now and then if you like.)
Let’s apply some of what we learned last class and analyze some photos. What compositional elements are you seeing here? What was the photojournalist aiming to convey?
The first time you pick up a DSLR camera, the sheer number of settings and dials can be a little overwhelming. You may be tempted to stick with Auto when you start out — and that’s totally fine while you’re getting the hang of it.
But to make sure you are taking the best possible pictures, it helps to have control over a few key settings: ISO, aperture, and shutter speed, which collectively make up the three pillars of photography. Tweaking these settings will allow you to take different types of pictures, and all of them essentially come down to one thing: light.
Imagine you are using a garden hose to fill a bucket to the top. Next, imagine that our end goal — a bucket filled exactly to the brim, but without spilling — equals a perfectly exposed photograph .
A few things control how much water goes in the bucket and how long it takes to reach the brim: the width of the hose, the water pressure, and how long you let the water run. You can achieve your goal using endless combinations of these factors. A very narrow pipe running at a steady pressure for a long time will fill your bucket as surely as a very wide pipe running for only a few moments.
A camera works the same way to let in the correct amount of light. Imagine that the width of the hose is the aperture, the amount of time you run the tap is the shutter speed, and the water pressure is the ISO.
ISO
Basically, ISO refers to how sensitive your camera’s sensor is to light. The lower the number, the less sensitive it is and vice versa. The ISO range in the DSLR cameras we’ll be using usually goes from 100 to 6400, doubling as it goes (100 to 200 to 400 and so on until it gets up to 3200 and 6400).
It follows, then, that you will need to adjust the ISO for the available lighting conditions.
In broad daylight, there is plenty of light to work with, so a low ISO will be all you need. If you let in too much light, the image will be overexposed.
If you are shooting indoors in artificial light, you will need a much higher ISO — but be aware that you sacrifice image quality as you get up to the highest ISO settings, where you will start to notice a grainy quality. So before you reach for the dial to crank the ISO up to 3200, try letting a bit more light into the camera using a wider (lower) aperture or slower shutter speed.
Shutter speed is probably the simplest setting to understand. It refers to how long the camera’s shutter stays open. The longer the shutter is open, the more light is able to come in, and vice versa.
Shutter speed typically ranges from about 1/1000th of a second (very fast) to a few seconds (very slow). Slow shutter speed allow for a longer exposure time, which allows the camera to capture more movement. This can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on the image you want to make.
A faster shutter speed would have captured the teal-colored glove crisply. Using a slower shutter speed can create a sense of motion. Credit: Lindsay Armstrong
A long exposure can allow you to capture objects in motion in an artistically blurred fashion — or it can capture unwanted camera shake if you’re shooting without a tripod.
Sports photographers trying to capture crisp images, for example, are likely to rely on a fast shutter speed because their subjects are moving so quickly.
Aperture
Aperture refers to the opening in the lens. The wider it is, the more light it lets in. Somewhat confusingly, smaller numbers equate to wider aperture. Aperture is measured in “f-stops” and lenses can have different ranges. The wide-angle lenses that come with the journalism department’s DSLR cameras typically range from about f/3.5 (the widest) to f/22 (letting in the least amount of light).
Credit: Cole’s Classroom
A low aperture, in addition to helping you shoot in low-light conditions, allows you to capture a shallow depth of field. This refers to the effect where an object in the foreground is in focus but the background is blurred (or vice versa).
This also allows you to play with the bokeh effect, as we discussed a little earlier.
A high aperture, on the other hand, allows to retain detail at every layer of the image, which can be vital in terms of storytelling. If there are protest signs in the background, for instance, and your camera lens is focused on a police officer in the foreground, a shallow depth of field means we may not be able to tell what the signs say. In such a situation, you might want a flatter image, with a deeper depth of field.
Aperture Priority vs. Shutter Priority vs. Manual
As soon as you’re ready to leave the comfort of Auto behind, the next logical step is to experiment with Aperture Priority and Shutter Priority shooting modes (“Av” and “Tv” on your DSLR dial). These settings operate exactly the way their names suggest. You decide whether aperture or shutter speed is more important to the image you want to make and the camera will automatically adjust the other one for the correct exposure.
So if you’re shooting a soccer game, for instance, shutter speed is probably more important. There will be a lot of movement and you’ll want to capture the action crisply. But if you’re taking a portrait and you want to blur the background to allow your subject’s face to stand out, aperture priority is the obvious choice.
In both of these shooting modes, you still have to control for ISO, but they make your job a little bit easier than if you were to jump straight from Auto to Manual. Going back to our analogy, you only have to worry about two out of the three elements that fill the bucket. But once you’ve mastered Aperture Priority and Shutter Priority, you’ll be ready to take the final leap to Manual.
Screenshot. Credit: CameraSim
The best way to learn all of this is by doing it, so we’ll be getting our hands on the cameras during Wednesday’s class. Before that, there’s CameraSim, an online DSLR simulator. It allows you to play with camera settings, lighting conditions, distance from subject, and a few other factors that go into taking a picture, and to check your best guesses against the resulting image.
Photo Essays: An Introduction
A photo essay is a thoroughly reported story, told in well-composed and curated images and captions. Ideally, there should be a mix of images so that the eye is always looking at something new as the viewer clicks or scrolls through: close-up shots, wide shots, portraits, colorful shots, bright shots, dark shots, action shots, etc. Intimacy is a powerful tool in these sorts of projects.
Your first major assignment of the semester will be a photo essay. This could be a character-driven human interest story, or an event that is very visual in nature, or it could provide a local angle on an ongoing story. If stuck, ask yourself: What events are coming up that would make for cool photos? What are the big international, national or regional issues that have been making news of late? Obviously, we’re a bit limited at the moment because of the pandemic, so please make sure your ideas involve stories you can photograph safely.
Examples: Follow someone with an interesting/visual job for a “day in the life.” Photograph the informal J’ouvert and West Indian Day celebrations that people are throwing despite the official parades being canceled. Document the work that a neighborhood mutual aid association is doing. Cover a protest or vigil. Photograph a food festival like the Queens Night Market.
A major caveat: While intimacy generally makes for more powerful images, be safe and use your judgment. Some of us will have access to stories and moments that others might not, whether due to age or gender or race, and some of us might be at risk attempting to cover kinds of stories that others would have no issues with.
Pitches for your photo essays will be due September 13, the Monday after campus is closed all next week.
Post your pitches here on the class blog. Give a couple of paragraphs telling us who/what your photo essays will be covering, and why it is interesting or timely or relevant. Confirm that you actually have access to the story you want to do. And finally, tell us what kind of visuals you anticipate. Do yourself a favor and pitch a story that is visually interesting rather than trying to force an interesting but not-super-visual story to work for this assignment.
Hello, JRN 3510 students! This blog is where you’ll pitch stories, submit drafts, publish your edited stories, and workshop each other’s projects and ideas. I will also post my lectures here so that you can refer back to them.
I essentially run my classes like a small newsroom. So for the duration of this course, you will be the reporters and I will be your editor. If you have any questions or run into any problems on your assignments and need a quick response, the best way to reach me is just to text me; my number is in the syllabus. For anything less time-sensitive, email is fine.
What does “multimedia” journalism mean and how is it changing?
The old forms of traditional media still exist, but they have adapted to new methods of delivery and consumption.
Radio stories on the air –> downloadable/streamable podcasts and web versions of stories with photos
TV news –> online video (compositional framing changes, video length changes, formatting optimized for mobile)—and the bar for web video is getting higher and higher
Newspaper-style photography and landscape orientation –> Instagram and the rise of medium format (square) and portrait orientation (contains more information)
Traditional forms like writing, radio and broadcast have moved online and can complement each other when it comes to telling a complete, dynamic story.
Snow Fall was revolutionary in 2012; now this type of interactive multimedia-heavy layout is fairly common. The NYT Magazine also used this kind of scrolling presentation to great effect with The 1619 Project.
Intro to Photojournalism
Getty Images/Iya Forbes
Here are some basic rules and guidelines of photo composition to keep in mind as you start developing your eye:
1. The Rule of Thirds.
If you pay attention to only one element of composition, the rule of thirds should be it. If you start shooting with this “rule” in mind, your pictures will begin to look a lot better immediately.
The general idea is to imagine breaking an image down into thirds, both horizontally and vertically. If you place the main points of interest in your photo where the lines intersect, or along the lines themselves, your image will be far more visually interesting than if you just put the subject smack in the middle. Studies have shown that composing photos this way draws the human eye far more effectively.
Screen Shot: Google ImagesCredit: Emily H. JohnsonCredit: Emily H. Johnson
2. Use color.
Black and white photography is a beautiful art form, but in photojournalism, most of the time you’ll be shooting in color. It helps to know what combinations of color to look for if you want your images to really pop.
Credit: Steve McCurry
You probably recognize this photo. Known as Afghan Girl, it is one of National Geographic’s most iconic images and was taken by color master Steve McCurry. One of the reasons this relatively simple picture is so stunning and so well-known is the colors: red and green, which fall on opposite sides of the color wheel.
Credit: Wikipedia
Opposite colors, paired together, can make each other look more vibrant. Notice how the green of the girl’s eyes is picked up by the wall behind her and set off by the rusty red of her scarf.
Images with variations on the same color, known as monochromatic images, can also be quite striking:
Credit: Emily H. Johnson
3. Capture the decisive moment.
“The decisive moment” is a term that was coined by renowned photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson. It refers to that fleeting instant that photographers love to capture: When someone leans in for a kiss, when a soccer player connects with with the ball, or when a protester throws a rock. If you aren’t ready with your finger on the shutter, you’ll miss the moment. If Bresson had taken this photo a split second earlier or later, it would have been a much more ordinary photo of a man splashing through a puddle. These moments don’t need to be that dramatic; for your assignments, it may be as simple as capturing the moment when the food truck owner you’re profiling flips some meat on the grill or hands the food to her customer. Action shots vs static shots tell more of a story.
Credit: Henri Cartier-BressonCredit: Emily H. Johnson4. Leading lines.
Leading lines are lines that move the eye from one part of the image to another part, or sometimes out of the image. They add a sense of drama and perspective, so it’s always good to be on the lookout for roads, bridges, fences, shorelines and the like.
Credit: Emily H. JohnsonScreen Shot: Google Images
5. Symmetry and patterns.
Symmetry and patterns exist everywhere, both in nature and man-made sights. Looking for repetitions and symmetries, while staying alert to things that then break those very patterns (especially on the thirds!) is a sure way to make an arresting image.
Credit: Emily H. Johnson
6. Layers.
Another great way to make sure your images are visually interesting is to keep an eye out for what’s happening up close, in the middle distance, and far away. Think in layers. If you can frame your shots so that interesting things are happening in the background as well as at your focal point five feet away, you’re onto something.
Layers will be one of your greatest tools as a photojournalist, because layers add context. They tell a story.
Credit: Emily H. JohnsonDemetrius Freeman
This is a famous photograph by South African photojournalist Kevin Carter. He won a Pulitzer Prize for this image, which showed the effects of the 1993 famine in Sudan.
Credit: Kevin Carter
“Photojournalism” means you’re telling a story, not just taking a picture.
Layers are also a great chance to play around with something called depth of field. This refers to the difference in focus between things that are in the foreground vs. the background—if there isn’t much difference, like in the Kevin Carter photo above, then you’re using greater depth of field. When that difference is dramatic, like when your phone is in Portrait Mode, it’s called shallow depth of field.
The New York Times
Shallow depth of field also gives you something called bokeh, which turns background lights into warm globes.
Depth of field is affected by a few things: the focal length of your lens, your distance from the thing in focus, and aperture. We’ll talk more about that when we get into camera settings.
7. Light.
Light impacts everything we do as photographers. How much are we working with? Is it natural or artificial? What is the temperature of the light? What direction is it coming from? Is it harsh or diffuse? What time of day is it? Are you using a flash? Many photojournalists prefer to shoot with natural light as much as possible. Portrait photographers and fashion/fine art photographers often use studio lighting to create interesting lighting environments.
Different kinds of light will affect how different people look in photographs depending on their skin tone.
Photographer Robert Capa famously said, “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.” Proximity with your subjects makes for more powerful and intimate photos. Don’t be afraid to get right in someone’s face with your camera. It may feel intrusive and strange at first, but a huge part of being a reporter is engaging with people and making them feel comfortable.
What’s that process like? How do you go about shoving a camera in someone’s face?
Nothing due on Monday, but start thinking about a topic for a photo essay. Pitches will be due Sept. 13. Next Wednesday will be a hands-on class so make sure you’re here in person.
Credit: 
