Tuesday October 28th, 2014

Today some of the recurring points that were made were keep evolving, location, and keeping the long view in mind.

The first stop of the day was at the Wallstreet Journal which has only in the last 10 years begun to use photos in their publication. Some of the points I took away were to make your own way, that there are more and more opportunities for photo editing, and a strong emphasis on being able to do video. The main piece of advice was that "having integrity is the one thing you can take everywhere."

We were introduced to Evan Simon who is very successful for a young age which was really encouraging. He is the same major and minor as I am (Photo and environmental studies) and yet he is working heavily in video which he taught himself. I think that meeting him and hearing his story gives me a lot of hope for our futures.


The next stop was Bloomberg, another publication that is more focused on financial/business stories. Both the Journal and Bloomberg mentioned that they are looking for more people in between NYC and San Francisco because there are a lot of work in those people but also a lot of photographers capable of doing the work. They are looking for more people in Miami and everywhere in between those two big cities that can freelance and pick up assignments for them.

They also mentioned that being versatile is really important to them. A lot of these places are looking for an employee who can do it all. A good piece of advice from them was to move to a smaller market and then work for a bigger market from that location.

Sports Illustrated is also having similar problems with the location of their shooters and not having enough spread out through the country. They really need shooters in Ohio and all the southern states. I was surprised that they actually had a 7% increase of readers of their print magazine last year. I think that says a lot about the publication and gives me some hope for the industry. They are looking for versatile people as well as problem solvers.


At Reauters we saw some really incredible work but Bob Sache and others. This visit really showed the variety of work we can be doing. First we saw work from National Geographic Photographer Bob Sache. He told the story of lighting the statue of liberty from one helicopter and shooting it from another and I think that was a really great example of how he got where he is.

We saw work from a wire shooter in Ferguson and learned about all the gear he takes with him during dangerous assignments. He emphasized that he spends a lot of time talking to his subjects before he ever takes his camera out because of the sensitive situation. He also talked about when to lay back and get out of a situation because there is nothing more you can shoot without causing a lot of trouble and getting your gear damaged.

Later his wife, Victoria Will Jackson spoke about her commercial work with lighting and portraits. Her work, although usually posed, has a very photojournalistic style to it. She gave many tips on getting your subject to loosen up, starting with having your lights set up and being ready to go when they arrive, don't get lost in the lighting, slow down, be present.


Wednesday October 29th, 2014

Today started with Mashable, an interesting company that mixes journalism, technology, and humor. They refer to themselves as the news source for the connected generation. This company showed me how photography and video are going to remain relevant because we rely to heavily on them for everything now. We also were given the great advice to ask question during an interview and don't say that you understand it all.

At Getty Images I learned that "maybe the old ways are done but there's still a rich way to do photojournalism.." These last few days have given me a lot to think about and hope for for the future. I also took away that it's not good enough to make great images once, you have to go out there and make good images consistently of any situation. Other pointed included, don't worry about everyone else, make mistakes and "high and low 360" for shooting angles, and to show something different. I also learned that they have many freelances all over and that we should be figuring out how to be successful without a job because it is possible and it's the most probable option.

The last stop was Teach for America. I really appreciate that this company is using visual storytelling for their advertising I just don't think it's very journalistic. There photos and videos all have to lead back to Teaching for America and can't just cover an issue in the education system. They use stories to campaign for themselves while they tell the story of a real student.

Monday October 27^th, 2014

The day began at 9:30am in the office of Blue Chalk, a young multimedia company that looks to tell stories about social issues. I felt very inspired leaving there reflecting on how much the company has accomplished in such a short amount of time. I took away a lot of important key points from this company that were definitely repeated throughout the day at other companies, just in different ways.

            We were told that the most important thing we can to do market ourselves is to be likable and to “not be an island.” I think that during rush of trying to make portfolio worthy images we often forget that how we present ourselves and how we interact with the world also play a big part in getting hired later on.

            The other point that was made that I found to be important was that “its not about the F stop and exposure, its about storytelling.” This holds a lot of value to me and makes me think back on something that was said to me a while ago that a poorly composed image with a good moment is still better than a beautiful photo that has no substance.

            At Mediastorm I took away the emphasis on character driven story. We saw an example in which the characters story was apart of a bigger issue and was made relatable by connecting a common issue amongst many people. The issue is that a high percentage of men will end up in prison at some point in their lives, the character was one who is an activist against this issue and has also experienced it first hand, and it was made relatable by showing his struggle of balancing work and family.

            Brian Storm made many great point but the ones that stuck with me the most were, “don’t take a photo, give your subject a voice,” it’s not YOUR story,” and “there’s only one way to become better and that’s to tell stories.” I was inspired by that fact that he had spent 0$ on marketing up till this point and that he still watches a film every night to continue seeing how stories can be told.

            POV was an interesting place to see since it is a very different platform of storytelling from what I am used to working on myself. I am familiar with some of their documentaries and am now more aware of the unique ways of storytelling tactics. POV also looks for stories that are strong, socially driven, and character driven.