Merrill College-Photojournalism: May 2020

Monday, May 18, 2020

final Biamon

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1RC_fGiBMHBo4tASZ9nWLcS1k2CfNhEhWdNKBLooGZ-c/edit#slide=id.p

Kim Brent, a Texas based photojournalist for daily newspapers including The Beaumont Enterprise, weighed in last Friday on the impacts of the pandemic on daily news publications and the challenges she and her colleagues had faced since the given of the stay-at-home order in Texas.

Although Texas, as most other states, had been in lock down after the stay-at-home order, the work of Brent and many of her colleagues had been much the same, if not more occupied, at home as they must adapt to new sets of challenges.

One of the foremost challenges which Brent had faced was current social distancing guidelines forbid her to capture her subjects with perspective and intimacy. Getting close to subjects usually enables journalists to create photographs which reflect intimate perspectives while share the experience with the audience.

Brent must also find a new way to present emotions as face masks had become problematic in portraits as they often shield the facial expressions. Brent instead attempted to focus on her subjects’ eyes.

“…There’s kind of a great sense of pressure to do your due diligence…to cover your community in how it’s been impacted by this historic moment, and you can’t sit around and wait for somebody to tell you what to do,” said Brent “…so it’s really just been a lot of taking ownership of myself to just go out and pursue those stories and pursue those images…”

Sunday, May 17, 2020

Assignment #6_Zhao

At 8:30 a.m., starting the day with a breakfast for Haomai, the Aussie shepherd

Can't go wrong with an omelette for breakfast

The weather seemed suitable for outdoor photography in the trails.

I must wear a face mask, gloves, and change the outer layer of clothing.

Elevators are limited to single-family use only.

Apartment lobby door

I could barely see anyone.

Greenbelt Park, Perimeter Trial

Making up a missing assignment for JOUR370, experimenting with natural light in woods

I came back to the mail room to pickup packages.

The LuxerOne system requires residents to use sing-time pass codes.

However, others were left on the floor which could be taken by anyone.

Back to apartment room

Playing with pup indoor

Dinner

Friday, May 15, 2020

Assignment #3_Zhao

Greenbelt Park, Dogwood Trail and Perimeter Trail. May 14, 2020

Final Portfolio - Levinson

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Djsz2Yy74yR7AnsDvIG37jIwGRf3zb5b6XrezI7-Vr0/edit?usp=sharing

Final Assignment, Tuerk

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1CXoxrO1u-8ajNU6qhiCwjcT_ou4bxUslnysMrG4ouCI/edit?usp=sharing

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Final Portfolio - Lappas

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1EpN3vYB1Jam5NV4Yjv4K4R6ylINDdirfejddXONxmSo/edit?usp=sharing

Final Photo Story, Marsh

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/11zV3OVFkucZ9YxCFQvYYLzAiHxauko448pBd4Mg0Qzw/edit?usp=sharing

Final Photo Essay - Shulman

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1vN0kbdyjwVq1W7Ktm3kcvTjRUkzKya7pytE3P5w96mY/edit?usp=sharing

Final Portfolio Akerman

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1BBNcqNmmnlIX_3bDB8zpWa2TrLrb61tH4FP-Wm078L4/edit?usp=sharing

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

Final Portfolio, Noechel

Link to final portfolio: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1fpfaheTVzOwS1MJptolBYGVq0czmaYVxVnurq8oH6Pg/edit?usp=sharing

Final Portfolio, Fields

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1BELF2A5H9MDAC5WDZj7jvTW_NydIK9nxxvTOzS76uUo/edit?usp=sharing

On Friday, we had the opportunity to hear from and speak to photojournalist Kim Brent. Kim Brent spoke to her changing career as she navigates the world of photojournalism during the coronavirus pandemic, and talked about the obstacles she is learning to overcome throughout this process. One of the main points she touched on was attempting to combat the difficulty of social distancing as a photographer. For a photographer, it is crucial to be able to get up close and personal with your subjects, because that allows you to take the most authentic photograph. She pointed out that a lot of the people she has been photographing lately have been wearing masks, but this presents its own set of challenges because it becomes more difficult to photograph facial expressions when half of a subject’s face is covered. At the same time however, it allows for a unique opportunity for a photographer to tell a story only from the subject’s eyes, which can truly tell a powerful story. Because she mentioned that a photographer’s work cannot be done from home, it is necessary that she be out in public photographing, but she said she has stuck to social distancing guidelines and has been wearing a mask at all times while out in public.

Final Portfolio - Fortson

Final Photo Story

Here is a Google Sheets link to my final portfolio.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1rn8Xyl6HGB-SePTcVnsMM2QUmhwO1bPBNhAgXr7E5P4/edit?usp=sharing

Monday, May 11, 2020

Final Portfolio, Smith

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1eB4q4s9eTnkylPsiw58uhdvZO5csDyAhswaHR5kK4dI/edit?usp=sharing

Final Portfolio - Zegler

Jacqueline Zegler: Final Portfolio

Assignment 12, Sibel

Kim Brent is a photojournalist based out of Texas. Brent shared her experience as a photojournalist, particularly during the time of Covid-19 to the JOUR370 class last Friday. Brent explained how virtually everything has been affected by the Coronavirus and her work has not been spared from this fact. Brent shared that one thing that has been challenging to her is social distancing in regard to her work. As she is a photographer, something that is important is getting close to her subjects. Because of new social distancing guidelines that state people have to be six feet a part from each other, this has been challenging in getting the pictures she wants. Brent said that she tries to wear a mask when shooting, and she notices that many of her subjects also wear masks. However, a difficult aspect of this is that she cannot read people's facial expressions when they are wearing masks. Brent has also been working at home because of the virus and she says that she has still been working a lot and much of the time does not know when to stop working because of the fact that she is home.

Aside from her professional photo career, one of Brent's favorite personal works to do is to use Hipstamatic, a photo app for phones. Brent enjoys going to downtown and exploring reflections and old abandoned structures and nature.

Friday, May 8, 2020

Assignment #6, Soto

Starting off my day at 6am to head to school.

As a commuter student, I'm on the highway no later than 7am.

During my French class Maggie, a service dog, sat with us in class.

Heading towards my last class of the day at Knight Hall.

While doing homework Loki, my kitten, like to keep me company.

To end the night, my mother and I have dinner then head to bed.

Assignment #5, Soto

At Pike and Rose in Rockville, leading lines are seen through the remaining christmas lights.

Best Buy in Rockville show a stairway to the top parking lot.

The only road on the Golf Course in Rockville leads to the entrance.

On a walk through Downtown Rockville, the walking paths create lines.

Assignment #3, Soto

1st Overall: Entrance of a Gap Year event for graduating seniors at Richard Montgomery high school.

2nd Overall: Exit of the Gap Year event for graduating seniors at Richard Montgomery high school.

1st Detail: Different stands offer different experiences for these students to explore.

2nd Detail: Different stands offer different experiences for these students to explore.

1st Medium: Spokeswoman for Gap Year Solutions held the biggest crowd of seniors and parents.

2nd Medium: Parents gathered around different stands to get information on the different opportunities.

3rd Medium: Students and parents have q&a with spokespeople from the different stands.

Assignment #12, Wiatrak

Kim Brent's talk with our class was extremely insightful. It was interesting not only to hear about her personal perspectives and experience, but also to evaluate how the job of a journalist can change so drastically depending on what area of the U.S. they're based. Hearing how Texas is not only behind on testing but shutting down testing sites anyway wasn't news to me, but her concerns about being a journalist/photographer in the midst of COVID-19 struck me in a way other news about the pandemic hasn't. While it was nice to hear how Brent's editors were concerned about her team's wellbeing and safety, it still didn't seem like proper, effective precautions were taken--but are they able to be taken? She was absolutely right in saying photographers are simply unable to do their jobs from home like writers and reporters typically can. I also resonated with her thoughts on how being a journalist amid this crisis is especially hard when communication can be so easily insufficient, which must be especially frustrating when corporate is still pushing for clicks and revenue that will hardly reach pre-COVID numbers.
What stuck with me most from her discussion with us, however, was the challenges of practicing photojournalism out in the open amid the pandemic. The 6-feet bubble can't be so easily avoided when needing quality photos. And then with the necessity of face masks, it's more difficult than ever to determine people's emotions and reactions in these photos, which are key to any sort of storytelling. The combination of this distance from people and lack of emotion that's able to be conveyed--it makes for a very difficult job as a photojournalist.