Sunday, February 27, 2011

Hoping to Become an Idol

For my capstone 1-day project, I went to the Mizzou Idol compeition, following Monica Ayala-Talavera, a sophomore at MU. I met up with her at her sound check and stayed with her throughout the evening. I had a good time meeting her family, and enjoyed the behind the scenes look during the second year of the Mizzou Idol competition. I hope that you enjoy experiencing the competition with Monica as well. 



Makeup sits on Monica Ayala-Talavera’s dresser as she prepares to compete in the Mizzou Idol competition on Feb.18, 2011. Monica, a sophomore, was one of 13 contestants in the second year of the competition.


Monica puts on her mascara in her apartment before heading to Jesse Auditorium. As she got ready, Monica relaxed with her boyfriend and mother, who was in town for the competition, by watching YouTube videos.
 

Monica sways backstage to calm down before her performance in the first round of the Mizzou Idol competition. For her first song, Monica sang “Listen” by Beyonce Knowles.


Monica claps for a fellow contestant as finalists are announced during the competition. Four wildcard entries sang for a chance to be the 13th contestant in the competition. Then each contestant sang one song, and received comments from a panel of judges. Then the contestants were narrowed down to four singers for the second round.
 

Monica stands and listens to comments from the judges after her performance in the first round. The judges had mostly negative comments, saying she chose a song that was too big for her.


Monica sits alone in the dressing room after her performance in the first round. She didn’t feel like she preformed well, saying her mouth went dry part of the way through her song. Monica didn’t make it to the second round of the competition, and went to sit in the audience with her mother and boyfriend after the finalists were announced.  

Thursday, February 24, 2011

POYi Feature Picture Story

For the past three weeks, the University of Missouri School of Journalism has hosted the Pictures of the Year International competition. I spent a lot of free time there, but one of my favorite categories to watch is the feature picture story. There were well over 200 entries in the category, and it took several hours for the 3 judges to get through them all.

The picture stories that were voted in during the first round usually took a little more time for the judges to look at. Many of the stories that were voted out were called within seconds of appearing on the screen. That definitely made me think that a picture story that immediately caught the attention of the judges, either because it was visually interesting or it made them curious, were the ones that made it further in the competition.

The story needs to be strong without relying on the captions. It needs to interest viewers enough that they want to read the captions and the story, and look at the pictures more. If you do have a story summary and captions, you need to make sure they match the story. You can't insert missing information or try to change the meaning of the story by simply putting the information in the story. It causes a disconnect, and it made the judges quickly vote out the story.

They also strongly emphasized the importance of good editing. The story needs to be tightly edited. There needs to not be repetition in the images, but they need to flow together, like we have talked about in capstone. You don't want the picture story to be too much to get thorough, and there were times they discussed that the story just had one picture too many and they said it could ruin the story.

Another important thing they emphasized was to look at stories in a new way. They voted out many stories from Haiti just when they heard where it was from. They said they wanted to see a fresh take on it, instead of the same old predictable pictures. The edgy, different stories were many of the ones that made it into the final round and received awards. I think that's important to remember. You need to put your style into everything you shoot and make sure if you're covering a topic that has already been done before that it's new and different. The judges were also impressed with stories that required lots of access. There are stories that are in your neighborhood that need to be told and you could have the best access.

The final thing I noticed was important was the ending of the story. DON'T GO FOR THE CLICHE! Be creative and think about what is a fitting ending to your story, not just a sunset or a night picture. You have to be more creative. Sometimes it can be the make or break factor of your story.

After the Half

FINALLY posting the rest of the KU game! Hope you all enjoy it!

While Missouri controlled the pace of the game during the first part of the game, but after the half, Kansas began to play their game. They began controlling the lane more and were able to draw fouls, getting two key Missouri players in foul trouble. They started running up the score, and eventually stretched the lead out of Missouri's reach.











Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Capstone Reading Reaction

Anne Lamott reading

I liked her point about taking short assignments, producing a bad first draft, can show you more details that can evolve into a new part of the story or show you a new character. It really made me think of how observant I am when I go through edits and even when I'm shooting. You can't just focus on your main subject, you have to be looking for other things to add to your story, or possibly even a better subject.

My FAVORITE part of the reading though, was in her "Polariods" chapter:

"You can't—and, in fact, you're not supposed to—know exactly what the picture is going to look like until it has finished developing." 

You can have an idea of where you want your story to go, but you really can't know how it is going to turn out. You kind of just have to go with the flow and let the project evolve. You have to continue to get to know your subjects and their story so you can tell it better and tell it completely.


"You couldn't have had any way of knowing what this piece of work would look like when you first started. You just knew that there was something about these people that compelled you, and you stayed with that something long enough for it to show you what it was about."


Jay & Hurn reading
 
"Photography is only a tool, a vehicle, for expressing or transmitting a passion in something else. It is not an end result."

I really liked this quote. I think it is important to keep in mind that anyone can take pictures, but a true photographer has a passion for conveying a message or an idea that they want to share. It's not just about recording moments sometimes.

I thought one of the most important points was that a photographer must have intense curiosity. Mostly about their subject. It has to hold your interest or you won't be dedicated to putting in all the effort and time that it takes to produce a good story.

Their method to finding a subject was to write down anything you are curious about. It didn't even have to be related to photography. It just needed to be something you had an interest in. Then you had to take out anything you knew nothing about, at least until you did some research. After that they said to ask yourself these questions:
1) Is it visual?
2) Is it practical?
3) Is it a subject about which i know enough?
4) Is it interesting to others?
That should leave with you with some ideas to start for your story. You need to be specific with your subject in order to be successful.

Another important point they made was that you need a deep and long lasting respect and love of the subject matter. Otherwise you won't stick with it, and you won't have an interest in telling the story properly.

I also really enjoyed seeing their opinion on what made a good picture:
"The best pictures..., are those which go straight into the heart and the blood and take some time to reach the brain."

In the Phog

I traveled to Lawrence for the Border Showdown between Kansas and Missouri at Allen Fieldhouse on February 7, 2011. It was a long day of traveling, shooting, and editing, but it was a great experience to be able to photograph in one of the best arenas in the nation.




I now understand completely why it is called one of the most hostile environments in college basketball. From the constant roar of the crowd and the nonstop party during timeouts, it was one of the most eventful 40 minutes of basketball I've ever experienced.

For the first half, the Tigers managed to shut down the Morris twins and stop KU's inside game. Both teams fought hard, with the Tigers not leading by much for most of the half. The Jayhawks scored two baskets late in the half to put them up going into halftime.

Big Jay and Baby Jay came over to stretch with Jeff Withey before the game.


Kansas students hold up newspapers as the Missouri team  is announced before the game.

Then they rip them up and throw them into the air as their team is introduced.





Tyshawn Taylor talks to Elijah Johnson after another Kansas turnover.



Sunday, February 6, 2011

Capstone Editing Exercise

This is the story edit Lindsay Moser and I put together for our capstone editing exercise. I didn't have a way to make a slide show, but the pictures are in the order they would appear in the story.
 










For our assignment we also had to create a magazine layout with a title page. This was the design Lindsay and I came up with:




*These photos were all taken by Caitlyn Emmett for her capstone project last semester for a story titled "Racecars to Ruffles." It's a great story in VOX magazine. Go check it out!