Planning and Scheduling for the Right Light

I know you will all be fully equipped with the latest in Pocket Wizards, Speedlights, stands, umbrellas, etc., but just in case you have an itch for some of the most beautiful light you've ever seen, click here. This is the U.S. Naval Observatory website I discussed in class. Enter the city, and date, and it will tell you exactly when the sun will rise and set. Now for the fun part: Civil twilight (when the light breaking before sunrise) is really when you want to be ready and in the car to your outdoor destinations for nice natural light in the morning....not too long after the sun rises, you lose all those yummy orangy tones. Likewise, at the end of the day, there may still be some usable and beautiful light after sunset....though not for long!

How the Levees Broke

Hi everyone-
Great brainstorming last night. We are getting closer to some very powerful stories! Since there was a lot of conversation about the levees last night, I thought I'd post a link to a really interesting animation I just found on NOLA.com with Kristyna Nielsen, our newest class member! This is really amazingly detailed. Be sure to note the short timeline in which everything occurred. Truly staggering.

Travel & Study Program Hits the NYC Blogosphere!

New York photographer and old friend, Sean Justice, covered the NOLA Travel & Study Program today in his blog Considering Pictures! Check it out!

Pre-Course Starts Tonight!

(page from PDNedu Vol. 7, Issue 2, Fall 2008 about this project)




















The pre-trip course for the Summer 2009 New Orleans Travel & Study Program meets for the first time tonight! We'll start off with the short film I made of the Fall 2008 group and talk about multi-media and its role in being a relevant image maker in today's photography community; fine tuning blogs and how we will be using them before during and after the trip; genreating story ideas; and much more!

I'm very excited. But I suppose I always am about this program. I really believe in getting students outside the four walls of the school, and their feet wet in the real world. You all have chosen a path that will have you as deep as the water was shortly after Katrina. Becky and I are both really excited about watching you grow as photographers over the next couple of months!

See you at 6pm in room 321!

83 Days

About two and a half months from now, the third NOLA Travel & Study Program will embark on a journey of exploration, discovery, and documentation!

As participants in the program, we ask that you do two things here online: Set up your own blog for the program, and set up an account on NOLAstock. The former is not only a great way for you to reflect on your expectations, and reflections, but a really great way to communicate with loved ones while you are away, so they can take this journey with you. The blog is also a course requirement. You will learn more about that when you get the syllabus in the coming weeks leading to our first official class meeting, May 7th. But in the mean time, go to blogger.com and set up an account--you can get all fancy with the titling (see examples already on the right menu bar) or just use your name (like Amanda T. on the right menu bar). Once you have the blog set up, please email it to Colleen Mullins at cmullins@aii.edu or Becky Olstad at rolstad@aii.edu, so one of us can put you up into the right hand menu bar as well! Former program participants are already posted, and can simply continue to use their original blogs.

NOLAstock accounts may be set up by clicking here, and filling out the form. Dig around NOLAstock, and you'll see what it's about--as a funtion of this particular Essay section, there is a focus on the ethics of disaster photography. We created NOLAstock with the help of Chris Teterault (Wi'09) to allow you a safe way to provide royalty free photographs back to any non-profits with which you partner while in New Orleans. Whenever any registered user (you select them) representative of the non-profit goes to the gallery and downloads an image, it will send you an email instantly, notifying you of where when and even how large the image will be published. So you get a great resume line, while helping the people who help you while working on your project!

On this blog--scroll down on the right side to browse all sorts of news items and non-profit organizations that might help you hone in on the right project for you! Only 83 days until we leave!

Registration Now Open for June 22-30 New Orleans Course!

New Orleans Travel and Study Program III

June 22 - 30, 2009

The trip will include visiting photographers and curators to critiques, museum tours, a whole city tour, behind the scenes tour of the Time Picayune newspaper, and muc much more!

Take Photographic Essays and Visual Narratives (PH3410) in America's rich cultural southern capital, New Orleans! Learn about the culture, history, and fantastic cuisine, that make this amazing city so famous. Work on a project that captures that spirit, in the midst of recovery (almost four years later) from Hurricane Katrina. (Pre req. PH2470 and/or PH3410)


See Colleen Mullins or Michelle Bean for registration forms and tentative itinerary!

Minimum 2.5 GPA to participate in the program. Appeal letters for students falling below that level should accompany registration forms and deposits. Letters should describe the project you plan to undertake while in New Orleans. Deposits will NOT be cashed unless student is approved for entry.

NEW THIS TRIP:

$500 Support Grant**
Applications for the support grant are due
Friday of Week 6 (Friday, February 20) at noon.

Email the following to cmullins @ aii.edu
with "NOLA Scholarship" in the subject line:

1. Letter describing financial need, why you want to study in this program, what ideas you have for an essay project, etc.

2. Five (5) jpgs. No larger than 800 on the longest side. 72ppi. Optimized to srgb profile.

**All Support Grant applications MUST have a CGPA of 2.5 or higher.

The Most Scenic Disaster

This is a very interesting web piece on OxfordAmerican.com about Katrina as topic on film, and includes some good clips as well as writing.