Minimo Workshop

Mary Rose's Last Election








For my photo story class, we went to St. James, Mo for a four day weekend in October to find a story of our own that will eventually be published in a book on the town of St. James, Mo.

A couple of weekends before, participants of the Missouri Photo Workshop spent a week finding a story in this small, Missouri town. This was our opportunity to find those stories that had yet to make it into the book and complete the story of St. James.

Because of the prominence of the election, I decided to do a story on the GOP office in town. It was the first year that St. James opened a Republican office, and it did quiet well, say the organizers, Mary Rose and Clark Harrison. "St. James is 99% Republican," says Mary Rose, who is the main director of the office in St. James.

Both Mary Rose and Clark have volunteered their time with the GOP. Mary Rose started at the age of 19 with the Young Republicans, doing door-to-door campaigning for candidates. Today, Clark is a committee man for the party.

This will be Mary Rose's last year to run an office, however. She is almost completely blind. It is a sad for her, as she has dedicated her life to the Republican Party. She hopes to dedicate her time to Pro-Life, instead.

Staff Photojournalism Photo Story - Judith McKenney

Judith McKenney had been preparing for the Ms. Missouri Senior Pageant for three months, since Feb. I took photos of her at the second of the three practice run-throughs. The pageant was held on July 12, 2008 in Florissent Civic Center in Florissent, Missouri. She won second-runner up.

Top Pics from Staff Photography Spring semester '08

Working as a staff photographer for the Columbia Missourian was more than I could chew at times, but I found myself to be quite the sports shooter. For some reason, it seemed to fit. It's another cup of joe than I enjoy, considering that my start in photography was art based. And I consider the training a much needed purpose of my journey.


Some top pics below of my staff experience:

Multiple Flash

Whitney Colvin, a senior at Halias High School, puts away ice skates at the Washington Park Ice Arena in Jefferson City, Missouri, Sunday December 2, 2007. This is her second season at the Ice Arena. She says that the Ice Arena is a very interesting place to work because of the type of people she gets to interact with. “When schools like the Missouri School of the Deaf come in, I know I’ll have the chance to connect with the students over the season. It’s a great place to work, because I get that kind of interaction.”

Critique

I have to say this was the hardest of all our assignments. Multiple flash doesn’t seem that hard, but when you can’t get your flash to sink with your partners, or the equipment guy at the window didn’t give you all the equipment that you needed, what can you do? I'm not very HAPPY about this pic or the circumstances I was given to get this done, so with that said:

My select was shot from the left side of the skate rental desk. My flash was off- camera and then Colleen flashed toward the inside of the room about 10 feet to my right. It was shot at f8 at 1/20 at an ISO of 800, at 95 mm focal length. I set my white balance to florescent and we gelled our strobes green. I dialed my flash up to +3. Because of the grid in front of me, I had a hard time with my automatic focus, but I felt she was in focus with good lighting on her face and with the skates a little out of focus, it gave a little movement to the picture.

Multiple Flash Lighting

Audio Slideshow Selects

Here are a few slideshows that I thought had some interest. I looked through a lot of slideshows - it seems that none were perfect, but I picked these either because the pictures, the audio, or both were good. Some are better than others.

St. Louis Dispatch
From Afghanistan by David Carson
http://www.stltoday.com/multimedia/

Elvis is Leaving the Building
By David Carson
http://www.stltoday.com/mds/news/html/673

Dallas News
*Evi’s Still Evi
By Cheryl Diaz Meyer
http://www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/photography/2007/EviHulls/

Elvis is Leaving the Building had an intriquing way about it - I'm guessing it is the story that is intriguing - who does this. The pictures aren't that great, but the audio is what captures the story. But I did feel that it did a good job showing what the museum was about, from the flow of the pics with the overall sound. It had a good variety of pics (indepth pics of the memrabilia to normal shots and wide angle shots) of which it enhanced the story, but also the interview was very well done and enhanced the story. Had good opening pics, with the Elvis recording that drew the viewer in (I was definetly intrigued), and I felt the closer pic wrapped up the story. Although most of the pics show what is inside the museum, I felt that was part of the narrative. The owner was selling the contents of the museum, and those things he enjoyed. For him, it would be hard to let them go.

I liked From Afghanistan by David Carson because it showed the different aspects of issues going on in Afghanistan. Each segment brought the viewer into the story. The segment on the hosipital was probably the best, because the sound and the pictures give it more depth. I don't feel that this is a perfect piece - it seems there could be less pictures, and the pictures could line up better with the sound. But overall, I understood what was happening there. The pics captured what was lacking for the hosipital in this community, and the sound gave the listener the intent of its doctors and the community's desire to keep the hospital running. I had wished that the audio had lined up better with the pictures, but in some ways with the doc talking about his experience within the hospital, the audio backs up the story, and the audio doesn't necessarily have to match up.

Eve's Still Evi
I felt this soundslide was overall put together well, from the technical aspects to the sound meshing well with the story. It just seemed to flow. And I liked how they opened up with the song, the focus on the subject of the story, the little girl. The pics showed her personality, her courage, and her adjustment to life with her new legs. The story portrayed hope for her life and her ability to handle her circumstances well. I also thought the pics were strong, good content, and they kept the viewer interested. The only flaw is the ending. I think it could have been cut off at the end of the mother speaking. The girl's voice was distracting and it confused the viewer as how it related to the story.

Fill, Balance, & Blend

An Elvis impersonator dances with one of the women from the Wilson’s Total Fitness booth at ‘Dream Night in the Tropics’, a fundraising event for Dreams to Reality on Saturday, November 10, 2007. Dream Night in the Tropics is a fun-filled evening for woman to have a girl’s night out. The event brought together area merchants and service providers such as spa services, boutiques, wellness centers to area restaurants and local chefs. The proceeds from the event goes toward the daily operations of Dreams to Reality, a not-for-profit organization based in Jefferson City that serves low-income women from Mid-Missouri counties. Their mission is to provide interview-ready apparel to low-income women of Mid-Missouri who seek employment, thus promoting self-esteem and enhancing their employability.


Critique

For the blending technique, I shot at an event on Saturday, called Dream Night in the Tropics, at Truman Hotel in Jefferson City. But it was extremely difficult to shoot there, because the room was packed with people elbow to elbow in this tiny conference room. I tried to shoot the Elvis impersonator, but he was constantly running around and (I couldn’t catch him fast enough through all the people), get a good picture compositionally, or without so many people jammed into me, pushing me out of the way. This is pretty much the only one I got that looked good. I think my select is pretty cool, and it was pretty much given from the Photo God.

For my select, I shot in front, off center just a tad, with my flash on camera, directed at the subjects. I shot at F4.5 at a shutter speed of 1/1/6 at an ISO of 250. I used TTL flash, dialed down to 1 stop. I also had an orange gel on my flash for the tungsten light. This is from my blending outtakes.