The American Teenager Project Overview

The American Teenager Project is all about empowering teens around the world through portraits.  The goal is to have young voices be heard in hopes of creating a better future.  The portraits showcase the teens and their stories.  Overall, the project wishes to fight social division among teens.

Examples:

 

Brief bio of Robin Bowman:

Robin Bowman is a photojournalist of 38 years who captures pictures of various social and political issues.  She got her start as a photographer when doing an independent study of photography after college and became more serious about it when working at Magnum Photos.  Her photos have been spread worldwide through different publications.  Bowman's most recent book is titled "It's Complicated: The American Teenager" and it has won several awards.  Photos from the book have been featured in many collections and exhibits.  The book has been used to promote tolerance and social awareness for teens. Bowman now resides in Brooklyn, New York.



Analyzing Bowman's work:
Looking at the provided examples, it is easy to tell where the teens are from and what their background is like.  Her portraits are very nicely executed due to the details incorporated and even the expressions of the subjects.  I like how her portraits easily express the message that she is trying to send about social divisions.  All of the portraits have great composition as well.  There really isn't anything I can find that I dislike about her style or her portraits.

This project falls under the category of photojournalism because the portraits are being used to tell the teens' stories. However, it is different than traditional photojournalism because there is not a certain event being captured.  Instead, the photos are various stories from teens all around the world.

Processing the News

The article discusses how much photoshop can poorly impact photojournalism shots.  It states how the photos you take should not need much editing, and they should be near perfect before you "edit" them.  The public is starting to not trust the media due to photo-manipulation.  People should not have to question if a photojournalist's piece is real or fake.  Also, now professionals are going to have to start making their photos verifiable.  The overall message of the article is that photoshop is only good in moderation. 

Something interesting I learned was from Reuter's Brief Guide to Standards, Photoshop, and Captions.  It listed all of the things that are ok to do to photojournalism pictures.

This article will help me with my project because now I know to only use photoshop when necessary and to not go overboard.  The shots should remain realistic, and I should only do things like cropping, brightening, and sharpening.

Student Yearbook Guide

Student Yearbook Guide

Reporting

1.     Good Reporters

a.     Look and listen to their readers

b.     Ask participants about their experiences

c.     Seek out individuals with a variety of viewpoints

d.     Information gathering: who, what, when, where, how

2.     Research

a.     Find background information

b.     Look at previously published material

c.     Use interviews, polls, surveys etc. to gain knowledge

3.     Interviews

a.     Different types of questions: open-ended, closed-ended, follow-up

b.     Make sure to actively listen

c.     Take detailed notes

Writing          

1.     Notes

a.     Figure out what the story is about through the questions

b.     If there aren’t enough notes, you may need to do more reporting

c.     Keep organized notes

2.     Stories

a.      

                                               i.     Lead – intriguing opening paragraph

                                             ii.     Quotes –word for word statements that relate to the story

                                            iii.     Transitions –details that give context to the quotes and make them more meaningful

                                            iv.     Conclusion – tie the story back to the opening

3.     Good Writing

a.     Provide specific information

b.     Lively writing and straight to the point

c.     Write the article like a narrative story

d.     The story should be fresh and original

Read the article by Mallory Summers & see all the components working together

Writing effective headlines requires creativity, effort, and attention to details

What can you take from this page to help in writing creative headlines?

Describe the 3-step process to writing dynamic headlines

1.     List 10 to 15 key words that describe the story topic; make them interesting

2.     Find rhyming words for the key words you found

3.     Create phrases from the key words that capture the story

Captions                        

1.     Content

a.     Use effective verbal elements and give detail

b.     Answer the readers’ questions about the photo

c.     List names and other essential information

d.     Incorporate direct quotes from individuals

2.     Describe the 3-step process to writing captions

a.     Answer the questions: who, what, when, where, why, and how

b.     Create a list of attention grabbing words

c.     Write a summary caption (short) or an expanded caption (long) using the list of interesting words

Photography

We will be discussing this section in class

Penn Live Article

This is an example of a photojournalism article from Penn Live

Article title: Plane Crashes into House in Chicago, Killing Pilot
Writer: The Associative Press
Link: http://www.pennlive.com/nation-world/2014/11/plane_crashes_into_house_in_ch.html#incart_river

The article was about a small twin-engine cargo plane that crashed into a house at 2:40 AM in Chicago.  The event was fatal for the pilot, but the couple living in the house made it out alive.  The plane crashed 8 inches away from the couple and they were not physically harmed in any way.  The plane was headed for a runway about a quarter of a mile away from the accident.  Luckily, only one person was in the plane.  The neighbors claim that there wasn't a loud crashing sound, they only noticed their houses shaking.  They were very surprised to see the sight when they walked outside.

I liked how the photos showed the crash from different angles rather than just one.  Also, I liked how pictures were taken right after the crash and the following day as well.  I thought that the article was very interesting and I think that it will help me to do my project.

Photojournalism Project Proposal

My idea for the photojournalism project is to shoot at a service dog banquet and fundraiser for Susquehanna service dogs. The banquet is going to be hosted at the Sheraton Harrisburg Hershey Hotel.  I decided to do this for my project because my mom works at the hotel and I can get access to this event that other people can't.  Also, I think it would be fun to shoot this event because I love dogs.

Portraiture

Final Piece

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My model for the project was my best friend Lucy Hummer.  I showcased her personality through the portraits because she is a genuinely happy person.  Also, she loves nature and being outdoors, so I took pictures in trees and in wooded areas.  One of Lucy's hobbies is rock climbing, so I thought it would be cool to try to incorporate that.  I posed her on the rocks in the black and white picture to create an interesting variation of one of her favorite things.

I really enjoyed this project.  It was probably one of my favorites that I have done so far in my time as a student photographer.  I liked going to different locations and having my model change outfits.  I thought that my project turned out very well in the end, and I am proud of my work.  Lucy loved the finished piece and the class responded well to it too.

Some tips I would give to other people who are doing  assignment are: watch out for sun spots, pose for the model so they know what you want them to do, and shoot during the prime lighting hours.

The most challenging part of this assignment for me was definitely creating the expression panel.  It took a while for me to decide what I wanted to do, and it was annoying trying to make sure all of the photos were spaced out evenly.  One thing I think I did well on was having a variety of angles for my shots.

Expression Panel Plan

this is a rough sketch of what my final piece will look like

Editing

1. Actions for regular shots 

2. Actions for artistic shots

3. Actions for black and white shots