College essays: students should place 1 college essay or topic response for thorough reading in my mailbox by 8am Tues 9/20.
Camp Assignment
September/October Camp Assignment
English 12
Photojournalism Project
Photojournalists use images to tell stories. This assignment will help you to develop your story telling skills with your camera. If you do not own your own camera, feel free to use a camera phone and send the pictures to yourself for editing via email or borrow a friend’s camera.
1) Read the Wikipedia entry for ‘Photojournalism’ to familiarize yourself with the genre. Take special note of the defining characteristics of photojournalism: timeliness, objectivity, and narrative.
2) Decide on a topic. Options include but are not limited to: lift operators in Chile, people who rollerski themselves to death in Sun Valley, a day in the life of a coach, etc. Remember, because you will be behind the lens of the camera, YOU cannot be your own subject.
3) Once you have determined your topic, make a list of the types of pictures you will need in order to tell a coherent story (no fewer than 8). Be specific about location, angles, number and types of subjects.
4) Shoot the photos. Remember not to pose your subjects in any way. These pictures need to be candid. Take more than the 8 pictures you need to complete the assignment.
5) Select photos for project. Edit the photos for size, lighting, etc. (if you do not have iPhoto or Photoshop, there are plenty of free image editing programs available online. Try ‘Gimp’ or ‘Seashore’).
6) Consolidate the images into a document or blog where you will type no more than 1 paragraph of narrative for each photo. Remember: you really want the pictures to convey as much of the story as possible.
7) Proofread your writing.
8) Submission: either in hardcopy or as a blog (feel free to use Wordpress, Blogger, etc.), the final assignment along with the list of the photos you needed to shoot in order to tell your story.
9) Due in class Tuesday, October 18th.
