WEEK 9 FORUM:

TOPIC ONE: TURNING PRO-

I don't believe this term will be the end of my photojournalism career. I really enjoyed taking photos and I actually have discovered a great love for photography and I want to further my skills so I'm thinking about taking a photography class soon. I want to become better at taking photos in low light and learn some creative angles. I also plan on seeking a career in journalism so I don't think my camera will ever be too far away from me. The only con I can think of would be that I have to spend more money and time on these classes but it'll be really useful for me in the end!
I think what I'd like to do next is find some videos on how to work a Nikon camera. My camera has thrown me through so many loops this term and has frustrated me almost as much as it has produced beautiful photos. I think if I can figure out some settings first, I'll be on the right track to taking amazing photos. I plan on doing so by googling it during my winter break and asking my dad for help since he's the one that gifted me the camera and he knows how to work them well.

TOPIC TWO: PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE WEEK-

Sebastiao Salgado made one of the biggest impressions on me. I love his work. His photos are breath taking and don't even need color to stand out because he captures the subject so well. He captures detail so well. The best of his photos are those of the expressions of people. The expression on peoples faces explain situations so well and his black and white mug shots are perfect. They seem so easy but it's not at all.
I could use his techniques of black and white photography. I love black and white but I'd love to be able to understand it more to create more shadows and highlights, I want to use his attention to detail and amazing focus in my own photography. I want to capture expression like he does.

WEEK 8 FORUM-

TOPIC ONE: TECHNOLOGY/INNOVATION

1. For me, the single most important photojournalism innovation has been the invention of the digital camera. More specifically, I think the most important part of the digital camera is the little preview screen. If the digital camera were to be made without that little screen, we would have no way of previewing our photo. I feel like this was a huge game changer because all of a sudden, photographers could adjust their image settings to come up with the perfect photo. It no longer became a guessing game. I know this little invention saves my life every time I have a photo assignment because I'll have my settings way too high or too low and forget. I would probably never get any decent photos without it.

2. The photojournalist I believe that stands above all other photojournalists is Ron Haviv not only because he's been Emmy nominated or has won multiple awards but because he captures amazing photos. He has covered many wars around the world and shines light on so many crazy scenarios. He raises awareness of conflicts and human rights issues from around the world. His photography shows the necessity for good photojournalism. A photo sometimes can speak and get its point across so much better than words ever could and his work encapsulates this.

Some of his work:

 Ron Haviv-Photojournalist-Photographer: Children of Darfur - Daily life at a camp for internally displaced people (IDP) in Selia, West Darfur, Sudan. © Ron Haviv - VII

Ron Haviv-Photojournalist-Photographer: Haiti: January 12, 2010 - Haitians after the earthquake that devastated much of the capital city of Port au Prince. © Ron Haviv - VII

TOPIC 2: PHOTOSTORY

WHO

Anyone and everyone!

WHAT

Hands- I have been obsessed with the photostory we looked at in class where the photographer too pictures solely of peoples hands that worked in different proffesions and I've been thinking about it ever since. I'd love to recreate this idea.

WHEN

Between now and the due date!

WHERE

Everywhere but hopefully in the environment that makes the hands what they are!

HOW

By total charisma and skill of making new friends. People are a bit more shy to have pictures taken of their face but hopefully not of their hands!

MEDIUM

For a medium shot, I hope to have someone holding their hands out far out but still covering their face with a close up of their hands but their face in the foreground. It'd be nice if it was an environment photo as well.

CLOSE

That'll be what most of my photos are! Close ups of lots of different hands!

OVERALL

I could maybe sneak in an overall of a bunch of different people holding up their hands in front of their faces, making their hands their 'identity'.

WEEK 8- ACTION/SPORTS PHOTOS

Close up of a post game smile from Trebriel Larry of Western Oregon University's Football Team. Larry is a sophomore cornerback for Western Oregon.

Western Oregon's Football Team gathers on the sidelines to discuss defensive plays to attempt to beat Simon-Frazier University from British Columbia, Canada.  

Western Oregon University hands it off and runs this ball into the end zone to win this game, 27-16, on October 25th, 2014. 

Week 7 Forum:

TOPIC ONE: Action/Sports Photos

1. WHAT? The Western Oregon University football game!
2. WHEN AND WHERE? Western Oregon's Football field this weekend!
3. OVERALL: Whole team on the field
    CLOSE UP: I have to get creative with this one... I think I'll try to get one of the ball on the field but I'm not sure.
    MEDIUM: Medium shot of the game!
4. WHO? Trebriel Larry, a CB for the Western Oregon Football Team

TOPIC TWO: TWITTER SHOUT OUT

https://twitter.com/PaigieHarkless/status/539252731823677440

Week 7- FREE SHOOT

Theater teacher Dan Stone did a camouflage makeover on a Linn Benton Community College employee's child for Haloween

Dan Stone works at his station, creating zombies and other Halloween creatures on peoples faces.

The Harvest Pie Festival is in full swing in the student union offices. Volunteers serve up a variety of pies ranging from apple, pumpkin to even pumpkin cheesecake. Student leaders handed out candy and dressed up in their favorite Halloween costumes.

Week 6 Photos-

My Neighborhood

The Lindenwood Apartment mailboxes get filled every day around 3 PM by the mailman. These are classic mailboxes with combination codes for residents. 

Giant Oak trees line the perimeter of the Lindenwood Apartments. These trees can be seen by students of Linn Benton Community College in the back lot of the college. The trees are old and a relic of the Lindenwood Apartments. 

Pictured above is Henry Lahti playing a round of pool in the Lindenwood Apartments recreation room. Henry is a full time student and freshman at Linn Benton Community College. Henry is often in the rec room playing pool and hanging out with friends.

Week One Forum

Topic One: GOALS

Now that I've committed to taking photojournalism this term my three goals for this class are:

1. Learn how the heck to use my camera
2. Learn how to take beautiful news story photos
3. Gain confidence in photographing strangers

Topic Two: PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE WEEK

1. Three facts about Eliot Porter:

1. He started by taking black and white photos but then moved into color
2. He traveled A LOT for his work
3. He was the first professional artistic photographer

2. Eliot Porter's 'claim to fame' I believe is his beautiful detailed photos for the time he was taking them. Not a lot of people back then took such amazing photos or even had the materials to.

Topic Three: LBCC PHOTOS

1. Two ideas for our next photo assignment:

1. I could just sit in the courtyard and wait for something cool to happen or
2. I could see what the volleyball team is up to.

2. For my first idea, it could take place at any time, any date, in the courtyard and anything could happen! For my second idea, the time would have to be while they're practicing sometime during the week in the gym.

WEEK ONE

WEEK ONE CAMPUS PHOTOS

A close up fabulous red pumps being fashioned by Linn Benton student Kamran Mirza. He is raising gender inequality awareness and collecting donations for a drag show put on by the Diversity and Achievement center. 

The oh-so fierce Kamran shrugs as he attempts to convince Giovanni Ontiveros to talk a walk in a woman's shoes, literally, on October 9th.

Kamran Mirza speaks to some women about their own experiences of gender inequality in front of the student union at Linn Benton Community College.

Week 6 Forum

Forum- Week 6

Topic 1- Guest Speaker

Karl Maasdam

http://www.karlmaasdam.com/photographs/qjzyhh5tfjrzinpitk6f3yqubxbzma

1. My favorite photo was of Tracy Daugherty. I enjoyed this photo a lot because I usually don't prefer black and white photos but this one still managed to catch my attention in a good way. The subject was still very obvious. I really liked his angle of the environmental shot. He really captured what he is all about and beyond just the book. It's obvious from the computer and all of the books behind him that perhaps he writes books himself. His subject was obviously comfortable with him. I like also that he got on level with his subject; he didn't shoot from super high or super low.

2. Three questions for Karl

1. How did you get into photography?
2. What was the hardest thing for you to improve on when shooting?
3. What's your best advice for someone that's new to shooting sports photos?

Topic 2- My Neighborhood 

1. One of the biggest challenges of shooting this assignment was getting people in the photos. My neighborhood wasn't that busy and the only time people are out, I'm not home. Lighting was also a tricky one. I had to mess around with the lighting a lot. Finding a landmark was a little tricky too until I went on a run and found my subject!
2. My favorite image was the environmental shot. I like this because I got to get creative with how I shot it. I like the angle from which it was shot as well as the focus. Planning payed of for sure because I was able to shoot it fairly fast and got a variety of shots.
3. If I was to do this assignment again, I would shoot my neighborhood back home. I like that one a lot more than the one I'm in here in Albany, I'm more familiar with it and I find it to be more interesting. I would also try to shoot during the prime photo hours, not at night or middle of the day. 

Photographer of the Week- Eliot Porter

Eliot Porter

             Eliot Furness Porter was an amazing American photographer that captured and produced both black and white and color photos. He was born on December 6^th, 1901 Winnetka, Illinois to an upper middle class family. Porter had four other siblings, one of which later became a realist painter. His mother and father both graduated from college with degrees. His mom was actively involved in liberal social causes and his father managed the family’s real estate. They gave Eliot Porter his first camera in 1911 and he tackled taking nature photos at the family’s vacation home on Great Spruce Head Island in Maine. These photos later on became his claim to fame.

                Eliot Porter followed in the footsteps of his mother and father and went to Harvard to seek a degree. He graduated with a degree in chemistry and was working for Harvard as a biochemist. Porter couldn’t shake his love of photography though and after encouraging talks with his family, he chose to seek a career in the art. He was the first American to hold a career as an artistic photographer. While black and white photos were the preferred medium of his time, Porter preferred color photography and often times had to battle his colleges over it. Eliot was also different from many other photographers. He got to do what a lot of people didn't do in this time; travel.

                Porter traveled long, far and wide for his photos. He took pictures of their architecture, famous landmarks and, his favorite, the wildlife. More specifically, Porter had a passion of shooting the birds of the region. He was good at it too. It’s amazing to think he could use such a slow and old camera to get close enough to get the shots he did of the birds. He traveled to places such as England, where his mother’s side of the family is from, Greece, Egypt, Baja, the Galapagos and many other exotic regions. His color photography was some of the first to represent these areas back in his day.

                The process of color photography in the early 1940’s was a strenuous one. This process involved Porter spending hours in a dark room, mixing his dyes, changing acidic levels and soaking different colored matrixes in dye baths. Once the dyes achieved his preference of color, Porter would have to write down the mixtures for future purposes of reprinting the image. It was hard work and involved a lot of time.

                Eliot Porter was married twice and a father of four children. His final and permanent home was in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Porter had published over 25 books and was working on more. He passed away on November 2, 1990.

This is my favorite photo Eliot ever took:

This is my favorite photo because even though Eliot Porter took very beautiful pictures of everything natural, I think this picture is amazing. There's so much detail, it looks like it could have been taken now with the technology we have now. It captures the child's expression well and the lighting is perfect. I like that it's in black and white because that's how Eliot got his start. This photo is a picture of his son Stephen Porter and was taken in 1946 in their New Mexico home.

A link to Porter's work:
http://www.cartermuseum.org/collections/porter/