Sanam’s Soundslides

In class today, I had to be a critic for Sanam’s soundslides titled “Life in UF Family Housing: A Turkish Family in Maguire Village.” 

In my opinion there is a very interesting story here.  Family housing provides an amazing opportunity for students who wish to further their educational careers and stay close to their families.  This aspect is present, but not as vividly as it could be to tell a complete story.  The reason why one chooses to live in family housing, what the family feels and what they hope to achieve after living like this is not apparent in this story.

There is a nice introduction of Gunseli introducing herself and her family.  And the fact that they are Turkish, makes you want to know more about them.  The photos are colorful and happy and shows the family spending time together.  The conclusion though,  seems a little weak.  She mentions everything she has told us about Maguire Village over again and thats it.  I think if there would have been some really useful information about the Village or a strong sentiment about why she likes it so much, would have made a stronger ending.  

I think the campus life aspect is about 10 percent compared to the profile value which is about 90 percent, because it focuses on what she thinks are advantages of living there rather then what are the overall advantages of living there with your family as a student.  Also, she isn’t even the student.  Her husband is not even interviewed.

To me, it seems like the story moves away from what it started out to be.  For example, in the title, family housing is mentioned and the fact that the focus is on a Turkish family is stated clearly.  Throughout the story, it seems to focus more on Gunseli then anybody else.  She mentions the benefits of living in Maguire Village (i.e. it is safe, the environment is good, english classes, etc.) but it doesn’t really explain what family housing is about or Maguire Village is about.  

I have to say, though, that my favorite part was how the photos matched up perfectly with what Gunseli was saying the whole time.  She mentions safety and there’s a picture of her and her daughter, she mentions the amenities and there is a pictue of them at the pool.  I think the flow of the whole piece is very smooth and nice which makes it easy to watch and understand.

My first set of soundslides are complete!

Well, I’ve finally completed my first soundslides.  It was a lot of work and I’m glad that it is finished.  My topic was Muslim women celebrating Ramadan on campus.  I approached the Islam on Campus (IOC) group and asked them for help.  As I mentioned before in an earlier post, Ramadan is the holiest month for Muslims and there is a great sense of unity among them during this month.  Students, especially, like to get together for the early morning breakfasts (I wish I could’ve made it to those early morning runs to IHOP!) and for the breaking of the fasts.  Then, mostly everyone met up again at the mosque to worship together.  As odd as it may seem, many of the women told me that longed for Ramadan every year and were extremely sad to see it end.  One of the students, who is also a friend, actually started crying when the imam (the religious leader) made the announcement for Eid (the very much celebrated holiday after Ramadan).  She sat in a corner, hunched over, eyes opening only to let the tears out that were becoming hard to contain.  I just couldn’t get myself to photograph such a private moment.

Overall, this was quite a learning experience for me.  I have to say that when I sat down to put my soundslides together, I constantly found myself wishing I had done more.  When I took the photos and asked the questions, I guess I hadn’t fully decided where I was going to go with the project.  This led me to wish I had recorded more audio and taken more photos at different situations and of different people.  But, I don’t think it turned out too bad.  I definitely hope to learn from my mistakes and make the next one even better.

Illustrating issues through photos

There are many things that need to be considered when it comes to covering issues with photos.  It can be easy to describe an issue with words and to describe the relevant details that go along with it, but very few photos can serve as stand alones when it comes to issue stories.  For example, on pgs. 72 and 73, if one was to look at the group of  photos without reading the captions or the little paragraph on p. 72 you wouldn’t even know that they went together.  Is the story about children?  Is the story about hospitals?  Does the story have something to do with children of different ages?  What is the woman doing in the bottom right photo?

The photos need explanation.  They need some “backgrounding.”  Backgrounding, according to Kobre, is explaining the issue and putting it into perspective for the viewers.  Of course there are many different ways of backgrounding an issue depending on which angle you take.  Whether you choose to show the issue’s history or the psychological effects it is having, you must know the subject inside and out.  That’s why in order to choose and produce meaningful issue pieces, Kobre recommends developing a beat.  That can help you in focusing the research and helping you in going beyond the dull facts. 

Sticking to a beat can help a lot when it comes to producing project ideas.  I find that whenever I have to come up with story ideas, a lot of them turn out to be only good in theory.  Most of them don’t play out as well as they do in my head.  So, knowing a research area well can help get rid of the little steps or the steps that just waste your time. 

When the topic is picked, Kobre gives advice to make sure this topic is focused enough to pursue.  He recommends to write a headline and see if all the photos can be included under it.  If not, you have some fixing to do.  Also, make sure to highlight the “newspeg.”  Newspegs explain why the story is being reported now, and why it’s important now, rather than next month or next year. 

For a story to be complete, it needs to have a complication and, ideally, some sort of a resolution.  This applies to both written and photo stories.  Kobre lists some excellent advice on how to make these visual stories more coherent and consistent while still successfully illustrating these complications and resolutions.  In the chapter titled “The Photo Story,”  Kobre recommends to not exclude the subject from any of the photos but to reshoot the same thing over and over in different ways.  Also, he asserts to be consistent with the technique.  If you choose a certain angle or a certain background for more then one photo, make sure that is played out through all of them.  The mood, whether achieved by the lighting or the actual subject matter, should remain consistent. 

A good example of how to keep a story coherent is in the Agent Orange piece.  The composition is excellent.  The most distinct feature, and the one that makes them stand out the most, is that they are all black and white.  The photographer kept them all that way.  Agent Orange, as reported by the story, effects people by passing through the human genetic system.  And it has been so absorbed in the earth and the water that it continues to effect people.  Therefore, every photo showcases a person who is living with the deformations caused by it.  The main focus remains on these individuals.  The mood remains somber thought the expressions of the subjects and throught the illustration of the difficult lives they must face.

I don’t think there is much backgrounding in this story, though.  It shows some family members taking care of these children, but it seems to be missing something.  The story does not seem complete.  To use Kobre’s terms, the complication is evident but the resolution is not.  Maybe if the photographer would have focused on one person and pictured him/her going about their normal routine would have told a more complete story.  Maybe successfully dealing with everyday things could be a resolution.  I don’t know.  But, I think this could lead to a better story.

First Soundslides Assignment

I’m so excited to be doing soundslides since I have never done them before.  I have to say though, aligning “good” photos with “good” audio is more difficult then I thought it would be.

So my topic is Muslim women on campus during Ramadan.  In Ramadan, Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset.  Fasting is considered one of the five pillars of faith that are required to be formed (like Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca) by every Muslim.  They avoid not only food and water but other worldly things that might have become obsessions or might take them away from remembering Allah (God) in their daily lives.  Generally, Muslims pray five times a day (before sunrise, early afternoon, late afternoon, at sunset and at night), but during Ramadan worshipping is increased overall to bring oneself closer to Allah.  The fast is broken at the prayer that is performed at sunset.  Many muslims like to get together with either family or friends to have Iftar (the fast breaking meal).  Then they get together at their local Masjid (mosque) to pray an extended version of the night prayer known as Taraveeh. 

I chose Muslim women because overall they are seen as being suppressed and voiceless.  I wanted to change this misconception by showing young, educated, and, at the same time, religious women’s views on Ramadan and Islam.  I contacted the Islam on Campus (IOC) Sisters group and asked if they would be willing to let me tag along with them and get a sense of what Ramadan is to them.  Being photographed from every angle and while you do normal things can be quite uncomfortable at first.  But, these women were very enthusiastic and very open about everything. 

I narrowed down my topic to this extent to make the story more concise and a lot more understandable.  I did not want to leave out blurry details to confuse readers.  This is a bit of a difficult piece for me to do.  As my JToolkit collegue Eisa has already noted, it can be very uncomfortable taking pictures of people worshipping.  Worshipping in Islam, as in many other religions, is a very private matter.  Taking photos of people while they do this was very difficult for me and, believe me, I tried to get my way out of it.  But, after speaking with Mindy (her advice: uncomfortable is good!) I went ahead and did it. 

I liked this photo of Noha walking.  It gives depth to show the campus.  Also, it shows how Muslim women have to keep up with their daily activities of walking to class, regardless of what kind of weather it is, while consuming no food or water the whole day.

 

 This is one of favorites.  I like how lost she is in praying.  It’s a very personal photo and I believe that it really captures the spirit of worshipping in Ramadan.

Sounds vs. Words

When I go outside, I don’t just see things (like pictures) or just hear things (like a sound bite).  Rarely do I think and distinguish between “Nat Sot” and the active speaker.  But, I do realize it when either one of them is missing.  Last week’s readings help become more aware of the sounds around me and what kind of difference they make when trying to deliver a complete story package.

 

In the koala mystery piece, the natural sound was just as interesting, if not more, than the interview itself.  The chirping of the birds sets the backdrop of being on the Island jungle.  It is serene and, most importantly, not distracting.  The walking sounds make it real.  The sounds of the Koalas make it even better.  It paints the picture of the hunt in my mind and automatically transports me there.  I was amazed though, to hear the walkie-talkie conversation so clearly in the audio.  There was hardly any static. Either way, this is by far the best audio piece I have listened to all semester.   

I found another story done by NPR’s regarding waterproofing rice fields in Bangladesh.  It provides decent background sound but is not that good in telling the whole story.  The most prominent background sound is that of people talking the background in markets and farms.  And then, when one of the shopkeepers’ is asked a question, instead of having the answer translated, the interviewer starts talking.  This is very distracting. 

I think that because the story is about Bangladesh and the language is different, the interviewer provides a lot of verbal description.  I found this to be very interesting.  Foreign correspondents and other reporters who cover different cultures and societies have to explain a lot more then the average reporter writing or recording a baseball game for example.  We all have an idea of what the scene and sounds might be like in a packed stadium.  But in a rice field in Bangladesh where farmers don’t speak any English, natural sounds might only confuse the reader and nothing else. 

Manipulating ethics

Journalism ethics has always been a very interesting topic for me.  The struggle between “personal choice versus professional responsibility” (p. 300) is present in every profession in one way or another.  But, the ethical dilemmas that face journalists and photojournalists alike seem to affect the greatest number of people. 

The three main theories that were cited by Kobre that photographers turn to for guidance were:

 

The utilitarian theory:  The thing to remember here is to do what results in “the greatest good for the greatest number of people” (p. 300).

 

The absolutist theory:  focuses on the rights of the individuals, including privacy, and doesn’t let anything else override them.

 

The golden rule:  “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” (p. 300).  This rule I think would be the one I would like to follow the most, but would give me the most trouble. 

I think one of the sections that caught my attention the most in the readings was the one that dealt with whose responsibility it is at the end of the day when it comes to unethical photos.  Kobre cites that some photographers feel less responsible/guilty about their unethical photography practices when they confess to their editors what they have done.  How to the editors justify letting their staff perform such acts and publishing these photos?  What is the thinking process that leads them to publish photos that are staged or digitally manipulated?

 

For the past year or so the practice of digitally manipulating models for ads or for magazine covers has been a growing interest of mine.  There have been countless studies done on the ethics of tweaking models appearances and the effects they have on the readers.  But, what interests me the most are the editors themselves.  How do they decide/justify their decisions?  What affects does this have on them and their lives?  On their work and their staffs?  Do they feel guilty or do they feel like they are serving the public in some way?

 

One of my professors emailed me this article.  It shows the before and after photos of singer Faith Hill on the cover of Redbook magazine.  I would like to pose a similar question to the one in the article.  What is it about real life that is so unsuitable that it cannot be published for people to see?  Why is an ideal more appealing then what is true?

Captions, captions, captions

Captions are one of the most noticed, if the not the most read, part of a published story package.  Just like a photo captures a moment in time related to the featured story, the caption adds an important description to emphasize its importance.  Kobre makes some good observations about captions and the art of writing them.

 First of all, captions provide the reader with not only an explanation of what is going on in the photo, but also what the story is about.  The identify the subject by his/her name, regardless of who they are.  If the photo doesn’t identify it, the caption should identify the time and location of the photo.  And, sometimes, captions can also answer the why question whenever needed. 

The second thing to note here, is how to write these all important captions.  Captions should be short, simple sentences that state clear facts.  Also, no other punctuation but periods should be used to separate facts.  Try to avoid mentioning the obvious aspects in the photo.  And, never try to make assumption about what the subject is thinking.  Just state what you know to be true.

Now here is where it gets difficult.  There seems to be a difference of opinion when it comes to the tense of the verbs in captions.  Some say that everything should be stated in the present tense because the caption is describing the photo that is published.  Also, the present tense involves the reader more in the action of the photo.

The opposing team says that past tense should be used when writing captions.  Why?  Simply because all the action that is being described has already happened.

 Whatever tense you decide to use, remember to NEVER MIX YOUR TENSES!!!  Pick one and stick to it.

Real Life advice

I always like reading about how newspapers approach or practice journalism in their newsrooms.  The advice these editors have to offer is always refreshing, realistic and appliable.  Just for that reason I would like to make a note of the Washington Post’s hierarchy of pictures.

1.  Informational:  are like the lead of a story.  These photos give the five Ws of the story and are the lowest on the hierarchy.

2.  Graphic:  Whether its the angle from which the photo was taken the color scheme that was captured or the composition itself, these photos are graphically appealing as a whole.

3.  Emotional:  These type of photos help the reader feel something towards the picture.  The photographers are recommended to be open to and go along with their natural reactions.

4.  Intimate:  This is the highest on the hierarchy.  These are the private photos that, according to Kobre, move the reader to feel what the subject feels. 

Photojournalism, shooting and stories.

“The marriage of still images and words remains the most efficient way to report the news.”

 In his book, Photojournalism: The Professionals’ Approach, Kenneth Kobre does a wonderful job of making the field of photojournalism a lot less daunting for the average person.  Even though I am not entirely a novice when it comes to taking photos, I found his advice very enlightening.  He starts with telling the typical photojournalist how to find good news first.  His approaches include having scanner radios, watching 24-hour news networks, making and using contacts, asking beat reporters for help, and contacting PR offices.  Mixed with these are tips on getting the most out of an assignment by sending not only a photographer but also a reporter to the story at the same time. 

It seems to me that photographers have to be very creative and very precise.  They have to be very quick not only in making decisions (i.e. where to take the shot from or which shot to take) but also in actually taking the shots.  It must be really easy taking pictures the PR department has designed for them.  Deviating from this type of PR package must require thinking outside the box and looking beyond what is being staged.  Also, trying to get photos that can be used as supplements to a story or be used as stand-alones must require serious planning for the photographer to be able to include the subject, the subject’s action and the subject’s environment.

I found his tips on the variety of shots a photographer can take, very helpful.                                                              

Overall Shots:  is described as the photo that provides the complete scene of an event.  It’s a stage-setter.  It provides a complete picture.  There are two main tips to remember when aiming to take these shots.  First, these types of shots usually require high angles.  Second, a wider-angle lense is probably the best choice for these shots.

Medium Shots:  is described as being the shot that tells the story.  It works like the story lead and highlights all the main elements in one shot.  The most profound medium shots are the ones that capture action.  And according to Kobre, a 24mm or 28mm lens will work best.

Close-up Shots:  is described as the shot that brings a single aspect of the subject up-close and personal to the viewer.  It adds a dramtic touch to the photo.  Kobre cites some photographers use macro lens or a standard lens with extension tubes to take shots of small items and then enlarge them later. 

High/Low angles:  The most important thing to remember here is that eye level photography can be very boring.  Switching angles can make photos a lot more interesting.

Another section that I think is worth noting is the one that deals with approaching candid shots.  Kobre outlines four approaches:

Out in the Open:  is where the subject gets lost in the activity and forgets the photographer is there.  This is where the photographer should let things flow naturally and interfere as little as possible.

Big Game Hunter:  Patience is the keyword in this one.  The photographer is like a hunter watching and observing the subject from a distance.  The photographer stays completely out of contact with the subject and the subject’s environment.

Click and Run:  This is where the photographer, strolling by, notices the subject in action and takes a picture as he/she passes by.

Introduce Yourself:  This approach seems the most realistic to me but, in my opinion, would get the worst candids.  This is where the photographer introduces him/herself and simply asks the subject to continue.  People would have a difficult time acting normal when a photographer is there.

My favorite section was the one on feature photos.  People generalize about the differences between news and feature stories/photos but, Kobre takes the time to clearly define them.  He asserts that news pictures show what is new and timely, and so can get stale after their time is up.  Feature photos, on the other hand, are so novel that they become timeless.  A news photo needs a famous subject, an event of considerable magnitude or a emotion-provoking event to be published.  Feature photos, on the other hand, show common, everyday aspects of life in a new light.  They are thought and/or emotion-provoking, whereas news photos usually are not.

Introduction

I knew something wasn’t right.

When everything in the journalism world started to seem like a theory rather then an actual practice, I found myself daydreaming about the day I would go out and actually be able to experience what I was learning.  In graduate school, it’s easy to focus more on academics then on actually practicing what you’re studying.  I knew that’s what was happening to me when I found my little tape recorder in the corner of my desk drawer.  It was dusty.  The batteries were dead.  Need I say more?

At the end of last semester, I made a decision.  I was going to go back to work.  But, there was a slight problem.  I hadn’t worked since I moved to Gainesville in the fall of 2006.  I was a little hesitant, not to mention a little rusty.  And then I saw this class. 

“This is an intermediate reporting and production course in which students gather information using journalism practices, such as in-person interviews, and learn to use various technologies to produce journalism stories for online and other digital platforms. No prior experience with the tools is necessary. Some experience in reporting (e.g., an internship or completion of a reporting course) is required.”

Perfect!  The description of the course read like it was written for me.  How could I possibly turn this down?

This class offers skills that every journalist should possess.  In undergrad, the focus remains on providing a strong base of proper grammar and punctuation.  The reporting skills for journalism majors are strictly focused on being able to get good quotes, whether it be using a recorder or simply by jotting them down on paper.  For photography majors, you are only taught how to handle a camera but not how to write a piece to go along with that wonderful photo.  This course offers a journalist everything.  It provides a complete package.  It covers reporting, photography, and online journalism through multimedia tools. 

I wish to learn how to use different types of technologies to become more efficient in the modern day newsroom.  I wish to be able to state the facts and show the different dimensions of a story through as many outlets as possible.  I want to be able to deliver the whole package.  Also, getting back in the reporting groove won’t be so bad either.