Day 1

Well, after a late flight out of MSP, a long wait to pull in off the Tarmac in MSY, and Becky sacrificing her tour ticket to await the rental van that wasn't cleaned yet--even though we were late....we are on the bus for the tour of New Orleans!

Don't forget your sunscreen!

See you bright and early Sunday morning! In the meantime, enjoy this link on fighting lens fog in humid climates!

Packing Tips #1

BATTERIES!

I thought I'd share the TSA link on traveling with batteries, so everyone has the actual information. But most importantly do not put any Lithium batteries in checked baggage. None. Click on the picture for more info:

Building the Visual Narrative

The Visual Narrative

When photographing a picture story, there are several important elements that you need to be looking for while shooting. These will help you to build a coherent story as you edit.

The Lead Picture:

All stories need a picture that sums up the essence of the message you are trying to communicate about your subjects. Keep asking yourself, while you spend time with your subjects, what is the story here? What, in a few short sentences, describes the arc of these people’s lives and how can I show that? Give your story a title, this will help you sum up what your story is about.

The Scene Setter:

We need to have a sense of place in every story. Where are we? Where is this story taking place? A farm, hospital room, a street a kitchen?

The Portrait:

If your story is about people, as most of them will be, we need to get a good look at their faces. A portrait can be something captured in the course of covering their daily lives or it could be something more formal with or without eye contact.

Interaction:

This is the meat and potatoes of most picture stories. We need to see spontaneous moments where your subjects are interacting with their families, friends, environments, pets, or even themselves. These should be telling moments that give further information supporting what you are trying to say about your subjects.

Moments:

In all of your pictures look for moments. A moment is a place in time when the action in a photograph reaches some kind of resolution or peak. All the elements in the frame converge for a split second to reveal the essence of that particular situation. Look for moments that reveal the inner story of our subjects. How do they feel about their lives, their partners, friends and their situation.

Details:

You can add texture and visual variety to a story with a telling detail of personal objects, a pair of shoes, an old wedding photo, dirty hands, a tattered hem, a treasured toy, etc.

Shooting any idea or assignment as a picture story will give you an organized way to cover any subject. Even if ultimately only one photograph will be used from your take you will know your subject better and give editors more options which may lead them to run more of your pictures.

This technique is also useful if you aspire to do longer projects for magazines or books. Working to create visual narratives will help you organize your approach to a subject and you will begin to create a body of work that is about something and goes beyond a collection of unrelated single images.

Week 5 = Week 1 for the 2011 Class!

We had our first meeting of the NOLA Travel and Study group last Wednesday. Becky gave us a great round of NOLA trivia, that stumped even me at times. I was in charge of throwing Mardi Gras beads for correct and nearly-correct answers!

We talked about the expectations for the class, and how the weekly schedule works. And I think this sums it all up: We're going to New Orleans!

Some Things to Consider Over Spring Break!

Suggested Digestion
You need to be inspired in order to get where you are going here are some great tools:


READING

* Zeitoun – by Dave Eggers (textbook required) – Vintage
Since this is the required text, at the least, you should get on Amazon end order it, but start reading it, and you will be ahead of the game! It is a very fast read. So you are prepared, you will be asked to write a reflective essay on the book, so keep notes for your NOLA blog!

Suggested Reading:

Doing Documentary Work – Robert Coles - Oxford University Press

Witness in our Time: Working Lives of Documentary Photographers – Ken Light – Smithsonian Books

The Journey is the Destination - The Journals of Dan Eldon - Dan Elson – Chronicle Books

A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge - Josh Neufeld – Pantheon

The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast - Douglas G. Brinkley – Harper Perrennial

Breach of Faith: Hurricane Katrina and the Near Death of a Great American City – Jed Horne – Random House

Why New Orleans Matters – Tom Piazza – Harper Perennial

The Ravaging Tide: Strange Weather, Future Katrinas, and the Coming Death of America's Coastal Cities– Mike Tidwell – Free Press

A Streetcar Named Desire – Tennessee Williams (Play, 1947)




WATCHING
*American Experience: New Orleans – PBS (required during pre-travel course)

*When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts – Spike Lee (required during pre-travel course)

*The True Meaning of Pictures: Shelby Lee Adams’ Appalachia (required during pre-travel course)

These are the required films. You may want to watch them in advance of the rush of the quarter. So you are prepared, you will be asked to write a reflective essay on each, so keep notes for your NOLA blog!


Suggested viewing:

Treme – 2010 – HBO Series

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans – 2009

Angel Heart – 1987

All the King’s Men – 2006

The Big Easy – 1987


LISTENING

This American Life - NPR - thislife.org
#296 "After the Flood"


This American Life - NPR - thislife.org
#297 "This is no my Beautiful House"


This American Life - NPR - thislife.org
#372 "The Inauguration Show"

June 19-27, 2011 * JOIN US!

Summer 2011 New Orleans Trip Registration Now Open

The Photography Program is happy to announce the 2011 New Orleans Travel & Study Program! The class will travel June 19-27, with pre-travel session meetings starting in March.

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

Take Photographic Essays and Visual Narratives (PH3410) which can be subbed for Short Media Production (DF3430) 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 six years after Hurricane Katrina and one since the disastrous BP oil spill. (Prerequisite PH2470).

See Michelle Bean in Academic Advising (LaSalle 316), Becky Olstad, Faculty (Pence 321), or Colleen Mullins, Academic Director (LaSalle 341) for details, or email Colleen at cmullins@aii.edu 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.