Deseret News Multimedia

This summer at the Deseret Morning News, where I interned, multimedia was a term that was starting to gain a foothold. Last week, the paper published a multimedia piece staffer Jeff Allred produced on a the Youth Pioneer Handcart Trek. I think this was one his first and he was eager to jump on board. I remember the night I drove the audio recorder over to him before he left to do this story. I gave him a couple tips and then I just told him to play and try it things out. I think he did great. He put together a good narrative and the sound is strong.

He also wrote the story. I think this is a great example of a multidimensional photographer — one that can tell stories in multiple forms. Great job Jeff.

Grandparents Raising Grandchildren

I have started a story on grandparents raising their grandchildren. In Ohio, about 1 in 12 children are raised by their grandparents. Lester was raised by his grandparents and is now raising his nine-year-old grandson. Here are some images from the first day I went to their home.

Halloween in Athens

Here are some photos from Halloween in Athens, Ohio, using my cell phone. There is something so gritty about using the cell phone — it such a different feeling than using a 35mm. It is not polished but you can still capture some interesting things — and sometimes the photos are decent. Using my cell phone as a camera started with a project I did on using cell phones in public spaces. Check it out on my website - Mobile Spaces.

Here are the images from last night:

Reporting for Duty - A Storytelling Combo

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch produced a piece that stretches my idea of storytelling and the use of multiple tools for telling stories.

The project, Reporting For Duty, has its own interface and includes multiple stories and ways of telling the story. From video interviews to multiple videos, graphics and text this project tells a full story using multiple tools. Different stories are told throughout in different forms and helps to tell the whole story. This is an interesting way to tell stories because the viewer has control with what they want to watch and read. And often as photographers, we see multiple stories developing as we shoot, but feel limited to telling one of them.

I ran into this when I was covering the aftermath of Katrina. I was sent down by a nonprofit as a writer and photographer and often I struggled with which story to concentrate on. This is a great example of doing it all. A little time consuming but worth it when you see the final product.

A New Dawn

David Stephenson, a staff photographer at the Lexington Herald-Leader, visited Ohio earlier this quarter and shared with us a three-year project on a woman and mother hooked on pills and her journey through drug court. After following Dawn for about three years, A New Dawn? was published last week as a week-long project.

David talks about this story and the process the story took him through in his blog.

The impact that this story had on its community as I can image was great and is shown through in 17 pages of comments posted by its readers.

This is a great example of commitment to storytelling and the community. We hear often that the time of large projects published in the paper is over but as we can see, if you commit the time, energy and resources to a story it can have great impact on your readers. The story was told in a six-part series covering 18 pages. Thats amazing and encouraging to see that some newspapers see the power and importance in storytelling.

Portfolio Editing & New Website

It is amazing the amount of time we put into editing and toning our portfolios that in hopefully a couple of months will change.

For the last couple of weeks, I have been editing my portfolio. It is a task, sometimes frustrating and other times invigorating. Today is one of those invigorating days as I look through my new portfolio, one that consists of images only made in the last year and I realize how much I have grown. It is exciting to see that a whole new portfolio can be made in one year.

With the birth of a new portfolio comes with it a new website. Check it out and give me suggestions. This was my first try at web design so let me know what you think.

I also would love feedback on my portfolio or any of my stories.

I started editing my work about two weeks before the COPY deadline and it wasn’t until last week when I sent out my book to be printed that I felt done editing. Well, I have to be honest, I am still going back and forth on images. But with that back and forth I see growth.

In the last year, since coming to OU, I have become a better photographer but most of all better editor. As I mentioned earlier this week, I have been able to find some interesting images that I easily skipped past last year and it is excited to see that not only my eye has grown behind the camera but also to the see the frame after it has been taken.

What is the goal of newspapers?

While catching up on my RSS feeds this morning, I came across this post that struck a chord in me and I can image the rest of the photographers, editors and perhaps newspaper subscribers. An editor and the writer of On the Other Side asks what is the goal of newspapers?

I’m left wondering, what is the goal of the newspaper? Sounds naïve of me, but I became a photojournalist because I wanted to make a difference….

We shouldn’t be consumed with offending one or two readers when a story resonates with hundreds more. I really think newspapers are becoming panicked and instead of continually focusing on putting out a good product—they are too worried about offending and losing one reader…

Countless times I have heard phrases like “that’s not good for the A1 mix” or “that won’t sell papers.”

We as photographers and journalists have spent countless hours discussing and predicting the future of newspapers. One thing I do know is that I believe that no matter the medium, whether it is online or in print, newspapers should set out to reach the community and perhaps even challenge the readers. You might lose one or two people a week by content they disagree with or are offended by but newspapers are going to lose all of their readers if there is not a reason to pick up the paper every morning.

People throughout the country have predicted the death of the newspaper but I would say that the death of the newspaper will come when the newspaper decides on its own that there is no need for it in the community. Unfortunately some have forgotten the goal and need of the newspaper in the community and have shut or are going to shut their doors.

The post was written in response to the possibility of not running a story on A1 on the funeral of an 1-year-old girl they had been following for months before her death. Here is her story from The Seattle Times. As the editor writes in the blog, it is a story that has touched the community and in turn they have acted. Gloria’s story is touching and reminds me of the power of community news. Here is the series — A Prayer for Gloria, if you want to read it. It is definitely worth your time.

Editing Treasures

I have been editing for CPOY and my portfolio for a couple of weeks and I came across some gems I overlooked last year. It is truly amazing what you’ll find when you step back without an assignment at hand and edit your work for nice singles.

It was in the midst of editing I found these portraits of kids dressed up for Halloween last year. I am going to keep posting some of these treasures in the next couple of days.

Fighting Challenges

Here is a story I worked on earlier in the quarter. It is about a female freshman cadet training in the ROTC program at OU.

Band Practice

I have jumped back on the blogging bandwagon. I am back in Ohio and gearing up for the contest/internship application season.

Here is some work from my first assignment back at school — band practice.