Monday, July 28, 2008

Opps, I forgot about PIG RACING! A nice 43 second video that will make you laugh for one reason or another, I guarantee it.
DEMOLITION DERBY VIDEO!!!!
Check it out. There were some technical difficulties that forced me to exclude some interviews, but overall I think it turned out nicely. I hate it when my vision is altered by limits of technology, grrr.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Fair weather

Clever title, right?

I was sent out to the fair grounds Tuesday morning to get some wet weather pictures. These are the results (the last one went online at the Missourian):





Puddles all around and water dripping everywhere, the overnight thunderstorm put a damper on Tuesday's fair activities.

Monday, July 21, 2008

A busy weekend

Multimedia #3



Multimedia #4 (first attempt at video)

I don't have Quicktime Pro on my laptop, so you'll have to follow the link I've provided below.

Cowboy Church Multimedia

Both of those were published at the Missourian. Unfortunately, direct links aren't available and navigating to them can be confusing for those not familiar with the site.

I figured out Avid Express Pro, kind of. It still does things that I nor the more experienced convergence student that helped me finalize it could understand.

To sum up my weekend, I'll just give a nice little time line...

Saturday
5 p.m - 9 p.m: at the dog show
9 p.m - 12:01 a.m.: in the Missourian newsroom editing
1:00 a.m.: to bed

Sunday 6:30 a.m.: wake up
7:30 a.m - 9:00 a.m: covering the Cowboy Church Service
9 a.m - 2 p.m.: figuring out Avid and editing
7 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.: called back into the newsroom because the video didn't work on the website. Why didn't it work? Because a vital step in the exporting process was unknown to me, and it wasn't something that
could just be "figured out."

Friday, July 18, 2008

Slideshow #1



Just published at the Missourian - 1:08 p.m. - July 18, 2008.

This is the result of a long and painful day trying to figure out Avid Express Pro, a video editing program. The learning curve for that program is extremely steep. Some may think Photoshop or InDesign is difficult to learn, but Avid takes the cake. If the ease of use of Soundsides Plus is like building a wooden box, Avid is like constructing the Eiffel Tower.

As you have noticed, the project above isn't a video project. I was working with a fellow reporter/photojournalism student, Angie, and at the end of 5.5 hours of trying to get something halfway decent, we scrapped it. We left frustrated with Avid and without a project, but did have a learning experience in both video editing and shooting.

The best thing about my Treasure Hunters Roadshow experience:

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Multimedia project #2 






This is my second finished multimedia piece for the Missourian. I was brought onboard for this assignment early last week (a full length article by a different reporter will accompany it once it is published). In total, I made pictures and gathered audio with Nina twice, and her teacher once. I did all the editing today, most of which was sifting through audio, picking out the right sound bites, and then finding the appropriate place to put them.

Unfortunately, I feel the visual variety is somewhat forced. Nina is a great person, but I wasn't able to relay the fact that she didn't have to put on a show for me. On several occasions, she took me through her work tasks, and by my photojournalism ethics, I couldn't use those pictures. 

Why exactly couldn't I use them? Because I am meant to capture unstaged, un-suggested and unaltered scenes or scenarios. This did lead to the exclusion of many photos, but ultimately I'm glad that I have presented an ethically sound presentation.

What I learned:
1. Absolute silence can work
2. When creating text slides for Soundslides via Photoshop, create a "New" document and under "Preset" select "Photo." That way, you can safely save as a JPEG
3. Editing the audio to fit the photos creates a better finished project than editing the time length of photos to fit the audio
4. I love my new lens

Friday, July 11, 2008

Way back when I was in Fundamentals of Photojournalism (2 months ago), my final project for the class focused on the Mizzou club baseball team. Initially, I had thought this would be a good chance to dive into sports action photos, however, over time I took a different path.

Although the action photo is interesting in and of itself, I found out that trying to tell a story about a team via action photos wasn't going to work. With help of my teacher and TA, I changed my initial idea. This meant setting aside the long lens and breaking out the short ones.

Having been on a handful of baseball teams throughout my life, I told myself it was my duty to convey how it felt to be these guys on this particular team. A few select pictures are below, to view the full project, story and all, go here .



Tony Ounanian watches intently as a University of Kansas pitcher hurls another pitch.



Though not the most exciting task, Adam Doerr takes his turn in recording every action that takes place during the game. From the scorebook, Danny Mehigan then places stat information on the team’s website.

Monday, July 7, 2008

To get the ball rolling I've posted two more pictures. One, obviously, from the 4th of July and the other from a carnival that I covered for the Missourian. If you are interested, here is the link to the story: http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2008/05/31/missouri-theatre-hosts-carnival-and-circus/


The scene at Webster Grove's firework show on the 4th of July.


Bill Randolph asists his daughter Harmony at the hammer slam game at the Missouri Theatre carnival.

Saturday, July 5, 2008

This was my first complete Soundslides project. It was published in the multimedia section of www.columbiamissourian.com. I started reported at 9 a.m. and walked out of the newsroom at 6:30 p.m. This is the result:


Today, I got my 21st birthday present. Though it was a mere four months after the fact, the gift will still be by my side in a mere four years: opening, closing, opening, closing, time and time again. What is it? A 24-70 mm F 1:2.8 Cannon Ultrasonic Lens. What's the big deal? This glass will be my workhorse for years to come, allows me to shoot in far darker situations with far better results than any other lens I have, and has an auto focus faster and more quiet than a mute Jackie Joyner-Kersee (yes, this too is on steroids).

On a side bar, I realize I haven't posted any pictures yet, but that isn't due to a lack of effort. I'm trying to get a soundslides project to be the first up but am having difficulties... stay tuned.