Thursday, January 30, 2025

Prompt Shoot #1 Focus on Composition - Assigned 1/31, due 2/3 - MAJOR

Here is your next assignment: Prompt Shoot #1

Here is how the prompt shoots work - you will each have your own camera and about 40 minutes to go out and shoot images. You will get quick instructions with the camera again, and then when you return, you need to make time to move all of the photos off of the SD card and into a folder on your desktop called Prompt Shoot #1. I think you should have time to move SELECT images from your desktop to your Google Drive before class is over. You will NOT need to finish this assignment until next class. Next class you will make a new Google Site subpage and post your images with a reflection portion.

In the prompt shoot, I will give you a few key words that should guide your shooting that day. You can interpret the words any way you want, but you should make it clear which photo goes with which word when you turn them in.

For example, I might give you an emotion like Angry - you might shoot something that makes you angry, you might find a color that you associate with angry (like red or purple) and shoot that, or you might find someone who is actually angry and shoot them as they talk. You can ask your classmates to work with you, but be careful the photos aren't too "posed" or made up.

A couple of words of advice from me - be careful shooting through glass - those usually don't turn out too well. Also, be careful with big, huge wide shoots with lots of stuff going on, it is hard to pick details out and to show off some of these prompts. And finally, make sure you are watching your backgrounds for people - I know at school its hard, but be looking so it is very clear who your subject is.

You will, generally, be graded on the following:

Focus - is the picture in focus? If not, you will lose points
Subject - is the subject clear? Are there distracting elements in your photo?
Interest - how interesting is the subject
Uniqueness - is it something new, something I haven't seen before, were you creative?

Most people get a 90+ on this assignment unless they don't turn in the required amount of photos, or they really mess up the focus and subject portion. The rest are minor deductions. Remember getting a 95+ means you are doing something very right AND there are very few people who get all four perfect, so don't expect a 100.

Don't forget that you are thinking about composition AND the prompts. Today, you have the added layer of making sure your photos are EXPOSED properly. And then you can start thinking about depth of field and/or stopping action.

A good starting place today, since it is sunny; ISO 200-400, Aperture f8-f16. shutter speed around 350 or so. But make sure you use the LIGHT METER. If you need help, come back to the classroom. If you can't get your photos to come out - COME BACK TO THE ROOM.

Here are your prompts today:

Metal
Bowie
Square
Gate

Thursday, January 23, 2025

Composition 9/11 part 2. Assigned 1/27, due 1/31 - Minor

  Now, let's talk about composition. I will be going through the Composition Rules and giving you my interpretation of them. Once I am done, you will move on to the assignment below.

Finally complete this assignment:

Analyze and reflect on your 9/11 composition selections.

Now that you have found good examples of the different composition techniques in 9/11 photos, go back and edit your Google Site and write about the photos you picked out.

Explain your choices. Help me understand how the photo you picked meets the rule you think it shows.

What to discuss - Be specific - Describe specific elements in the photo. Explain what the technique is all about. Explain the EFFECT of the technique.

If you can't remember all the rules, here is the website again:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/192HfRA92dE7FSuc3UNKx8eswGOvWk4loZv2jcsrTE8M/edit?usp=sharing

Example:





Below you will see examples of a well written description and one that isn't so great:

Lines

Example 1 (a good one) - In this photo, the red stripes of the flag and the grey ladder all form lines that lead the eye to the man playing the bagpipe. Since these lines are diagonal, they give the photo a dynamic feel.

The above example is the correct amount of writing and analysis.

Example 2 (a not so good one) - The flag makes leading lines to the guy.

The above example is too short and doesn't really show me that you understand the rules.

Do this for all six of the photos in your post.

If you think you didn't pick a very good photo, feel free to go back and redo the assignment. Eventually you will be asked to prove your knowledge by taking photos that show me you understand these rules.

Wednesday, January 22, 2025

9/11, Falling Man extra credit

 When your done - you might be interested to read this story - if you post your reactions (meaning you create a new Google Site subpage called Falling Man extra credit and you write at least TWO paragraphs (250 words minimum and I will be checking this one, if you need a word count, write your paragraphs in a google doc and then copy and paste it onto your Google Site subpage), responding to what you read and saw, I will give you extra credit points. This is graphic and not the easiest thing to read, so if you are squeamish, you might want to skip this one. Once you click the link, hit continue and it should redirect you to the website.

 Richard Drew on photographing the "Falling Man" on 9/11

After almost six decades as a photographer, Richard Drew has learned a basic rule: "That you can be two hours early, but you can't be a 60th-of-a-second late. In other words, if you're not there when it happens, you can't take a picture of it."

Drew, who has worked for the Associated Press for the past 51 years, was there in time to capture Frank Sinatra escorting Jackie Onassis … Muhammad Ali delivering a knockout punch … and Ross Perot bursting into the 1992 presidential race in a way that so captured the pepper pot billionaire, it helped AP win the Pulitzer Prize.

But on September 11, 2001, when he made one of the most searing pictures of that day, he was not at the World Trade Center at 8:46 a.m., or 9:03 a.m., when the planes hit the towers. He had been on assignment at a maternity fashion show in Midtown when his office called: "'A plane has hit the World Trade Center,' very calmly," he recalled. 

He dove into the subway and emerged on the southern tip of Manhattan.

Correspondent John Dickerson asked, "When did you start making pictures?"


"The minute I came out of the subway," Drew replied. 

"What's going through your mind when you're taking them?"

"It's all reflexive. You just do it. You just do your job."Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Richard Drew.CBS NEWS

"All of your senses are heightened – then, on the other hand, you have to basically shut something down in order to do your work?"


"You do," Drew said. "You have to just pretend that it's not there. You just do your thing." 

Richard Drew has been "doing his thing" since age 19 when, growing up in a suburb of Los Angeles called Temple City, he bought a police scanner: "And I would listen to the police, and then I could, you know, go chase a car accident or a fire or something." 

If he wasn't chasing breaking news, he learned to put himself near where news might break.

On June 5, 1968, he decided to see presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy speak at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. "The office didn't know I was there; I just assigned myself to go to this job," he said. 

Drew went into the kitchen looking for a glass of water. Robert Kennedy was there, too. So was a gunman. 

As the 42-year old junior senator lay on the ground, Drew climbed on a table, photographing the chaos. Kennedy's wife approached Drew and the other photographers.

"I also have a picture of Ethel going like this. You know, like, 'Don't, please, don't take pictures of that.' She was asking us, myself and the UPI photographer, not to photograph it."


Dickerson asked, "What did you think when Ethel said, 'Don't take the picture'?"

"Well, that was her choice, but not mine."

"What's your choice?"

"My job is to record history, and I record history every day." 

"What happens if you mess with that rule?"

"You're not a journalist," Drew replied. "Then, you're just a person with a camera."

Dickerson asked, "What's the difference between a photograph and just a picture?"


"Whether you're gonna wanna look at it." 

Or, in the case of his most famous photograph, whether you're going to want to look away. 

Warning - Graphic image: Richard Drew's photo of a man falling from the burning Twin Towers on 9/11.RICHARD DREW/AP

Dickerson asked, "When you made the 'Falling Man' picture, did you know that you had done something extraordinary?"

Drew said, "I didn't take the picture. The camera took the picture of the falling man. And when these people were falling, I would then put my finger on the trigger of the camera and I'd hold the camera up, and I'd photograph and follow them going down, and then the camera would open and close and take the pictures as they were going down. I have, I think, eight or nine frames of this gentleman falling, and the camera just happened to cycle in that time when he was completely vertical. I didn't see that picture really until I got back to the office and then started looking at my stuff on my laptop. I didn't see it." 

"Were you scared when you were making pictures on the day you were at the World Trade Center?" Dickerson asked. 

"Not really," he replied. "It's interesting that this camera's a filter for me. I didn't know that the building, the first building had collapsed because I was looking at it through a telephoto lens. And I'm only seeing a piece of whatever's going on."

Drew's image, which came to be known as the "Falling Man," appeared in a number of newspapers the next day. Many people found the lonesome vision too shocking.  

One high-profile viewer was mesmerized by its deeply-human pull. Five years ago, Sir Elton John told "Sunday Morning" correspondent Anthony Mason that that he had to purchase the photograph for his personal collection. "It's not a shot that a lot of people probably would want to hang on their wall," John said.

Mason asked, "Why did you want it?"

"Because it's, again, it's just the most incre … it's the most beautiful image of something so tragic. It's probably one of the most perfect photographs ever taken."

Twenty years after the attack, it captures, perhaps more than any other picture, the horror of that day.

Drew said, "It's still sort of that 'verboten' picture. I'll show it to somebody and they'll say, 'Oh, the "Falling Man" – Oh, no, I don't wanna see that.'"

"Why do you think they have that reaction?"

"Because they can identify with it. They can identify, I think, that that could be me."

"When you look at the pictures you made from that period today, what do you think?" 

"I think that I would do it the same," he said. "I wouldn't change anything, 'cause, like I said before, it's my job to record history."

Dickerson said, "A picture stops a moment in time. It captures a moment in time."

"And, hopefully, I can stop a reader for that moment in time to catch their attention. And that's what it's really about."

"And is it about transporting them back to that moment?"

"It's to show them what happened in that moment in time, that they weren't there to see," Drew said. "I have that privilege that I can do that."

"And the reader can then come to their own conclusions?"

"They can come to their own conclusion about the 'Falling Man' also, and that's what that's about."

The identity of the falling man has never been determined, though journalists have found two possibilities. Their names, Jonathan Eric Briley and Norberto Hernandez, are only one name apart on the parapets of the 9/11 Memorial. 

But Drew was able to help identify another victim on that day: "I can't remember how many actual people I photographed during it, but it wasn't just one or two people. A gentleman called the AP and said that he knew what his fiancée was wearing that day, and they had not recovered her body or anything. And he was wondering if he could look at my photographs at the AP. I actually sat with him on my laptop, and we looked at it, frame by frame, of the people falling from the building. And he saw it. Yeah, he said, 'Oh, that's her.' And that was it."

For a month after the attack, Drew photographed the aftermath: "And my cell phone rang. And it was my daughter. And she says, 'Dad, I just wanna tell you that I love you.' And to this day, she calls me on September 11th no matter where I am to say, 'Dad, I love you.' Because I might not have survived."

Twenty years of phone calls that, in an instant, conjure the searing emotions from that day … just like Richard Drew's photographs.

For more info:Follow Richard Drew on Instagram
The 9/11 Memorial & Museum, New York City

Story produced by Jay Kernis. Editor: Joseph Frandino.


EXCERPT: 20 years on, ‘The Falling Man’ is still you and me

BY RICHARD DREW
Published 11:48 AM CDT, September 9, 2021Share

EDITORS: This story first ran in 2021 for the 20th anniversary of 9/11. It is being republished for the 22nd anniversary.

The following account from Associated Press photographer Richard Drew is excerpted from the book “September 11: The 9/11 Story, Aftermath and Legacy,” an in-depth look at AP’s coverage of 9/11 and the events that followed. On that day, Drew made one of the most indelible — and harrowing — images of the 21st century. It accompanies this story, but not as the main image. 
___

My family calls it “the picture that won’t go away.” Most newspaper editors refused to print it. Those who did, on the day after the World Trade Center attacks, received hundreds of letters of complaint.

The photograph was denounced as coldblooded, ghoulish and sadistic. Then it vanished.

Yet 20 years later, I still get asked about it. I’ve been invited on national talk shows, interviewed by foreign TV crews and asked to speak about it at universities across the country. Esquire magazine published a 7,000-word essay that hailed it as an icon, a masterpiece and a touching work of art. Entertainer and photo collector Sir Elton John called it “probably one of the most perfect photographs ever taken.”

All this for a single frame out of hundreds shot in haste before I was pulled to safety as the second tower of the World Trade Center tumbled toward me. 

My fellow photographers called it “the most famous picture nobody’s ever seen.” But, in fact, it was seen. Whenever it’s mentioned, people say, “Oh, that’s the one where the guy looks like he’s swan-diving.” Or, “That’s the one where the guy’s body is lined up perfectly with the lines of the World Trade Center.” And then there is: “I know — it’s the one where, if you turn it upside down, it looks like the guy is sitting on a chair.”

I find that ironic. Here’s a photograph that was considered too upsetting for readers to look at. Yet people were turning it upside down to take a second look from a different angle.

I look at it from my own angle. I was below the north tower that morning, on the corner of West and Vesey streets. The smoke was so thick, it was tough to see and tougher to breathe. Rubble was falling, and when I heard the first of a series of loud cracks, I thought it was the sound of concrete debris striking the ground. But I was wrong. It was the sound of human beings hitting the pavement.

I focused on one person falling through the air, and shot eight frames. Then there was a huge noise, like an explosion. I just kept shooting; I thought maybe the roof had collapsed. I had no idea the whole building was falling, because I was too close.

An emergency technician saved my life; he yanked me away. The tower leaned toward us as we ran, and I stopped and shot nine more frames.

Stupid, probably, but when you’re in shock, it’s like you’re on automatic pilot.

Watching the tragedy unfold messed me up for a long time. I still take note of every plane I hear flying overhead, wondering if it’s friend or foe. But neither the photograph nor the initial reaction to it disturbs me. People ask how I could cold-bloodedly photograph someone dying. I never saw it that way. I made a photographic record of someone living the last moments of his life. And every time I look at it, I see him alive.
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I have photographed dying. As a 21-year-old rookie photographer on a supposedly routine assignment, I was standing behind Robert F. Kennedy when he was assassinated. That time, there was no telephoto lens to distance me. I was so close that his blood spattered onto my jacket. I saw the life bleed out of him, and I heard Ethel’s screams. Pictures that, shot through my tears, still distress me after 35 years. But nobody refused to print them, as they did the 9/11 photo. Nobody looked away.

It’s hard to say why not. The RFK assassination changed the fabric of American history. But then, so did the destruction of the World Trade Center. The Kennedy pictures were more graphic and, in one sense, more personal. We knew him, as a public figure, a brother, a father and a husband.

It took me the better part of a year after Sept. 11 to even address the question. I was fending off post-traumatic stress syndrome, and I didn’t want to think about it. Then The Associated Press sent me to a camp run by former British special forces for training in how to survive in a hostile situation. You’d think simulating being attacked or kidnapped would have increased my anxieties. But I found it comforting. Knowing how to take even a few preventive measures gave me back a sense of control over my destiny.

As my anxieties abated, I continued to wonder why people reacted so differently to the photos of RFK and the World Trade Center.

One editor who objected to my photo said, “Americans don’t want to look at pictures of death and dying over their morning cornflakes.” I disagree. I think they’re fine with it, as long as the victims aren’t American.

During the Vietnam War, my friend and colleague Nick Ut took a photograph of a girl who’d been napalmed, running down the road in flames. The picture became an instant icon and won the Pulitzer Prize. But no one in the States worried about getting napalmed. The photo evoked sympathy, not empathy.

In the World Trade Center photo, it’s about personal identification. We felt we knew Bobby Kennedy, but we didn’t identify with him. We weren’t wealthy scions of a political dynasty or presidential candidates. We were just ordinary people who had to show up for work, day after day, more often than not in tall office buildings.

Just like the guy at the World Trade Center.

That’s what unsettles people about the picture. We look at it and we put ourselves in the jumper’s place. And we ask, “Which option would I choose? Would I wait and pray for help as the flames licked at me, or jump through fresh air and sunlight, to certain death?”

You see, the girl in Nick Ut’s picture was on fire. You can see the agony on her face. It’s horrifying, but it is not the face of America. The man in my picture is uninjured. He does not look like he’s in pain. But you know he is moments from death. And you can’t help but think, “That could have been me.”

Tom Junod, who wrote the article for Esquire, interviewed the families of several victims trying to identify the man he called “9/11’s Unknown Soldier.” He found their reactions varied according to their own feelings about mortality.

Some were insulted at the suggestion that their relative might have chosen death when he had a family at home (ignoring the fact that death was certain in any case). Others praised his decision to jump as an act of courage (ignoring the possibility that the man might have been forced to leap from the smoke-filled tower in order to breathe).

Though his quest proved fruitless, Junod eventually concluded, as I did, that the point was moot. For we already knew the identity of the man in the picture.

He was you and me.


9/11: The truth behind the famous Falling Man and his real identity

news.com.au
11 Sep, 2020 04:54 PM7 mins to read

The usually bustling express subway was completely empty on the morning of September 11, 2001. Except for one man.

It was unusual for a carriage speeding from Times Square downtown into New York City's financial trading district during morning peak hour to have just one solo rider, and Richard Drew had no idea he was about to capture one of the most compelling and controversial photographs in history.

Drew, an AP photographer, had been shooting a maternity fashion show for New York Fashion Week in Bryant Park, in the city's midtown area, when he received a tip from a CNN cameraman that a plane had just crashed into the north tower of the Twin Towers. Sixteen minutes later, another would strike the south tower.

He took a gamble and headed for the subway.

What he saw when he emerged, one block from the World Trade Centre, was utter mayhem. Both buildings were on fire. Smoke filled the air. He had no idea a second plane had hit until he was standing between a police officer and an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT).

"The officer said the second plane was a big effin' plane," Drew recalled.

He could see both towers by this stage.

"There goes another," said the EMT nearby, and as Drew looked up, flickering objects appeared above. At first onlookers thought it was debris; American Airlines Flight 11 had crashed into the building only a few minutes before. It was 8.46am.

"It took three or four to realise: They were people," James Logozzo told USA Today at the time. Logozzo was with co-workers on the 72nd floor of the south tower when the plane hit.

"Then this one woman fell."

Logozzo remembered her face, her dark hair, olive skin – and the way she fell.

Many survivors of that day still say the bodies falling from the sky were one of their most haunting memories. The north tower held for 102 minutes after the plane hit. People jumped constantly, consistently, through that entire time. Most jumped from the north tower; a handful from the south.

They were either "forced out by the smoke and flames or blown out", Ellen Borakove, the New York City medical examiner's office spokeswoman, told USA Today.

It took just 10 seconds to fall. They weren't unconscious as they fell, but death was instant. Some jumped alone. Some jumped in groups. Some jumped in pairs.

Drew, watching the horror unfold, began to take pictures. By this stage both towers had been hit and were billowing smoke.

Then he heard the boom of the south tower as it began to crumble. It toppled around him, "exploding like a mushroom".

Some of those in the south tower included Joseph Visciano, whose family told news.com.au he was on the 89th floor when the tragedy struck.

"Joe was 22, and a graduate of Boston college. He had only been working for six weeks. He was training to be a trader. He was so happy he got the job."

Images and footage of the horror unfolding in New York were seen around the world. But one photo captured the tragedy like no other: The Falling Man.

Drew told The Telegraph that while his subject's story is still shrouded in mystery, he "likes to think of him as the unknown soldier, let him represent everyone (for whom) that was their fate that day".

"I hope people can look at it now and accept that it's a part of what happened that day. We saw pictures of the rescuers, we saw pictures of the planes hitting the building, we saw the recovery effort and now we can also try to accept that as part of what really happened that day."

THE TRUE STORY OF THE FALLING MAN

As newspapers published shocking images from the most photographed and videotaped day in history, some were deemed too awful, too confronting for the public to face.

In particular, the pictures of the estimated 200 people who fell to their death from the Twin Towers.

One photo, though, was the most controversial of all: the Falling Man.

"On a day of mass tragedy, Falling Man is one of the only widely seen pictures that shows someone dying," said Time magazine.

After The New York Times ran the photo on page seven the next day, it was branded "disturbing", "exploitative" and "voyeuristic".

It was struck from the record, until two years later it appeared in an Esquire article in 2003.

In the days following the terrorist attack, which killed almost 3000 people, images of heroism and triumph in the midst of tragedy were emblazoned across newspaper front pages.

But as time passed, there were calls for Drew's image to be investigated; who was the Falling Man and what was his story?

Captured at 9.41am the man, falling from the north tower of the World Trade Centre, is believed to have been trapped on one of the upper levels.

Although attempts have been made to formally identify him, none have proved successful.

Toronto Globe and Mail reporter Peter Cheney, initially tasked to solve the mystery, found him to be of Latino origin, with a goatee, black pants and a white tunic; similar to that of a restaurant worker.

It's possible the man worked at Windows on the World, a restaurant at the top of the North tower, which lost 79 of its employees.

It's also possible he worked at catering service Forte Food, which lost 21 employees, who were mostly Indian, Arab and Latino. Many had short hair and goatees.

One of the men most often linked to Falling Man is Norberto Hernandez, who worked at Windows as a pastry chef.

Cheney took the picture to his brother Tino and sister Milagros who both identified the Falling Man as Norberto.

He then tried to show the image to Norberto's wife Eulogia who refused to speak with him or confirm it was her husband. With nowhere else to go, Cheney took the photograph to Norberto's funeral and showed it to the eldest of his three daughters, Jacqueline.

She looked at the photo, then angrily responded: "That piece of sh*t is not my father," reported Esquire.

The picture has since divided the Hernandez family.

"They said my father was going to hell because he jumped," Catherine, one of Norberto's daughters, said.

"On the internet. They said my father was taken to hell with the devil. I don't know what I would have done if it was him."

One detail in the Falling Man's clothing could be the key to discovering his identity – a bright orange undershirt he was wearing under his tunic, seen in a number of the 12 images captured by Drew.

"I dressed him," Eulogia said.

"Every morning. That morning, I remember. He wore Old Navy underwear. Green. He wore black socks. He wore blue pants – jeans. He wore a Casio watch. He wore an Old Navy shirt. Blue. With checks.

"My husband did not have an orange shirt."

Someone who did regularly wear an orange undershirt though, was Jonathan Briley.

Briley was a 43-year-old sound engineer who also worked at Windows and was a light-skinned black man, with a moustache, goatee and short hair. His co-workers believe the Falling Man is him.

His brother, Timothy, who was tasked to identify his brother, knew him by his shoes – black high-tops, similar to those pictured.

According to Jonathan's sister, Gwendolyn, he had asthma and the billowing smoke would have made it hard for him to breathe.

He wore an orange undershirt so often that Timothy used to tease him about it.

"When are you going to get rid of that orange shirt, Slim?"

But it's unlikely we will ever know with any certainty who the Falling Man was.

Now, 19 years later, while still confronting, we can look at the image and acknowledge the bravery of those souls who had no other choice, who experienced the full horror of September 11, and who need to be remembered, not struck from the record.

Composition 9/11 (AND extra credit opportunity). Assigned 1/22, due 1/27 - MAJOR

 Overview Like great pieces of art, great photojournalism shots are well composed. The photographer carefully places the elements of a photo within a frame in order to tell a story in the most visually powerful way possible.

Unlike art, the content of photojournalism is not, for the most part, controlled by the photographer.
This was never more true than during the attacks of September 11, 2001. This has been called one of the most photographed events in history. Most of you weren't even born when this event happened, but it is still a very important moment in the collective memory of most Americans.

Imagine being a photojournalist on that day, running into this disaster while most people are running away. In the midst of this misery and chaos, it's a photojournalists job to capture the the human side of the story in an orderly and effective way.

Assignment

You will learn about some composition techniques and find examples of how photojournalists applied them to the chaos of 9/11.

First - Everyone must read about the the rules of "Simplicity, The Rule of Thirds, Lines, Balance, Framing, and Avoiding Mergers" on the following web site:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/192HfRA92dE7FSuc3UNKx8eswGOvWk4loZv2jcsrTE8M/edit?usp=sharing

Next- Go to the four websites below, and find excellent examples of photos shot on 9/11 that follow each of the rules. When you find one that you think fits the Composition rule, save it into your AISD Google Drive. I would suggest you make a new folder called Composition 9/11 inside the folder you made for my class.

On your Google Site, create a new subpage called Composition 9/11 and share one example of each of the six techniques from the composition web site, that you saved into your Google Drive

Make sure to title each photo with a text box that tells me the name of the technique.

For example- Post a photo with "Framing" as the title. You will need to do a post for each of the composition techniques. Which means you should have SIX photos on your page today, labelled correctly.

Here are the websites - they should be clickable links, if not copy and paste then into a new browser window.

https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/911-attacks-photos-aftermath/13/

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/09/pictures/110908-about-911-september-9-11-twin-world-trade-center-towers-indelible/

https://time.com/3449480/911-the-photographs-that-moved-them-most/

http://www.thedailybeast.com/galleries/2013/09/11/iconic-911-photos.html

(for the Daily Beast website above, there are 25 pictures make sure you find the clickable link labelled NEXT and look at all 25 photos.)

It may be hard to get these images to right-click and save to your folder on the server. If you want, you are welcome to do a google search for specific images and save those images. The important thing is that you are picking photos that show me you understand the six composition rules and getting them onto your Google Site. 

When you have found 6 photos for each of the composition "rules" we looked at today, make sure you have them labeled and then push Publish. Don't forget you have to push that button TWICE.

EXTRA CREDIT

When your done - you might be interested to read this story - if you post your reactions (meaning you create a new Google Site subpage called Falling Man extra credit and you write at least TWO paragraphs (250 words minimum and I will be checking this one, if you need a word count, write your paragraphs in a google doc and then copy and paste it onto your Google Site subpage), responding to what you read and saw, I will give you extra credit points. This is graphic and not the easiest thing to read, so if you are squeamish, you might want to skip this one. Once you click the link, hit continue and it should redirect you to the website.

https://www.news.com.au/world/north-america/the-falling-man-story-behind-the-most-powerful-image-of-911/news-story/33c7bd71bf1de7f158c02e372c3244c1

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/mggbey/long-fall-the-most-famous-9-11-photo-is-still-suspended

Tuesday, January 14, 2025

Feature story work day 2 & instructions on how to turn it in. Posted 1/15 - Multiple Grades associated with this assignment

  Turning in your feature story:

1. Make sure your google doc was created on your school account.
2. Make sure you have the sharing done correctly - it should be set to >Anyone with the link can edit
3. Share the link with: mreeves1@austinisd.org
4. Make sure the sharing is correct.
5. Make sure you put a CLICKABLE link to the assignment on your Google Site on a new subpage called Feature Story Draft.

ABSOLUTELY CRUCIAL - MAKE SURE IT IS SHARED PROPERLY AND I CAN READ IT!!

Friday is the last day to work on this in class. I will not start grading these until next week, so you have until Monday morning to finish. On Monday we will move onto the Photography unit and leave writing behind for a while. The Feature Story Draft is a MAJOR grade. When I am done reading them and give you a grade, there will be a chance for any grade under 90 to rewrite/fix to make corrections. There will not be another grade associated with this assignment. You will get a grade and you will have a chance to make corrections if necessary (if you do not get a 90+ the first try, the highest grade you can get with corrections is a 90).

Here is how you deal with names:

The first time you reference someone, use their full name (and title as appropriate): journalism teacher Michael Reeves
From then on, UNTIL you introduce someone else with the same last name, use their last name: Reeves
When you introduce someone else with the same last name the first time, use their full name and make sure you give the relationship (for that specific story): his daughter Flannery Reeves
From that point forward use their first names: Michael or Flannery

Self-editing advice:

For those of you who finish today or early on Friday and want to look through your story in an effort to do some self-editing, here are some things you can do:

Double check the following and answer the questions on your Google Site in a post titled Feature self-edit. (If you do this before Wednesday, Jan. 22, I will give you 1-5 bonus points on this story):

1. Who were the sources (you should have 3)?

2. Summarize in 1-3 sentences the story (make sure you have covered what you want your readers {me} to know about your subject/topic):

3. How many paragraphs is the story (I would expect you to have around 20-30 at least)?

4. How many words is the story (you should be between 750-1500)?

5. How many direct quotes are there in the story (remember LTQT style, every other paragraph should be a direct quote, so between 10-20)?

6. How many different people are quoted in the story (you should have 3)?

7. Which quote is the most impactful of all the ones included (where is this quote located? It should be near the top or at the end)?

8. Where is that quote located in the story (beginning, middle, end) (see above)?

9. Does the lede effectively capture the readers attention (think about if you were reading this story, would you want to keep going after you read the first few paragraphs? If not, try to do more story telling in the lead, go back and look at this link: LEADS )?

10. If their could have been one additional person interviewed for the story, who would it be (you have time, maybe you could get ahold of that person and add it in before tomorrow afternoon)?

11. Is the story objective, which means are all non-direct quotes statements of fact and NOT the opinion of the writer (and are you in third person? NO use of the words I, me, we, us, and make sure if your source referenced anything like your aunt - that should be changed to her sister)?

12. Are there any unanswered questions that you have after reading the article (if you have questions, someone else will too, ANSWER THEM)?

13. Write a headline to go with this story:

14. Sum up your opinion of the story:

15. Give yourself a self grade from 0-100

I also encourage my newspaper staff to do the following: 

Spell check - and be careful with words that spell check can't fix like there, their and they're.

If there are green, blue, or red marks in google docs, there is a problem - FIX it.

There are grammar helpers in google docs that do help, but there are others you can find online - run your story through one of those.

Read every sentence out loud (to your self quietly) - does it make sense like you are talking? If not - fix it.

Have a friend who is also done read your story - ask them for advice.

Spell check again....


If you want to access more self help - here are some links:

https://ijnet.org/en/resource/self-editing-tips-journalists

https://www.writermag.com/improve-your-writing/revision-grammar/self-editing/

https://journalistsresource.org/tip-sheets/style/copyediting-for-reporters

Thursday, January 9, 2025

Feature Story work day. Assigned 1/10, due 1/17 - MAJOR (other grades taken)

 Feature Story Work Day

Here are some specific instructions for your feature story. I will provide more information on Wednesday, January 15 with final instructions and a few minor things that you will need to know to get full credit. This story must be turned into me by Friday, Jan 17 at the end of the school day for full credit. I will take points off for missing the deadline beyond that point at 10 points per block day.

I WILL BE TAKING A GRADE FOR COMPLETING THE INTERVIEWS ON MONDAY, JANUARY 13. It will be a minor grade and will be the second grade of this cycle (the first grade of the cycle is having Welcome Back 2025 by the end of this class period).

For now, use these instructions to help guide you as you start writing.

1. Must have a lengthy interview with a specific family member who is your primary source. You are trying to write a story that tells me about a specific moment, event or tale that they relayed to you.

2. You should have two additional sources that will provide supporting quotes for your main source. 

3. You will need to write at length in LTQT style. You may write an extended intro that may be multiple paragraphs without a quote, but within 4-5 paragraphs you should have your first direct quote.

4. You should follow all other news writing styles and structures you learned.

5. You story needs to be formatted in the following way, please keep in mind that you have all of next class to complete this task. 

6. Please use ONE Google Doc for this assignment. Put your notes at the top, and then your first draft underneath. Make sure to label it first draft. Make sure it is shared properly so I can EDIT it. 

7. Please set your document up to meet the following requirements.

a.  I want it in Times New Roman

b. Size 12 - should be at least 800 words, push for 1000 if you can. No more than 1500.

c. I want a space between each paragraph, so at the end of each paragraph, hit enter ONE time

d. Please make sure your name and period number are at the top either in the actual document area or in the header.

e. You are not required to hit tab to indent each paragraph, but you may if you wish.

f. Make sure you have done all quotes correctly. Here are two examples:

"My mother and father moved here from Canada when I was ten years old," senior Josh Smith said.

or

"My mother and father moved here from Canada when I was ten years old," senior Josh Smith said. "So I technically have dual citizenship and I can go back to Canada for college and be considered a Canadian citizen."

8. Make sure you link the Google Doc on your Google Site in a new subpage called: Feature story draft. Verify that you have shared it correctly and that I can EDIT it. This means ANYONE WITH THE LINK CAN EDIT it. I need to be able to read it from anywhere, not just here at school. If you do not know how to do this, please ask for help.

Today you should be typing and checking your notes, maybe creating an outline, and certainly writing at some point. You are welcome to use headphones to listen to your recording. 

But, Mr. Reeves, I forgot to do my interview. What do I do?

Well, you better get an interview set up ASAP. You do have this weekend to get those done. There is no extension on this story. So, if you don't have an interview, you really, really should look at this assignment as HOMEWORK and work on it at HOME as much as possible after today. 

Next week I will have some additional work on both your Opinion Story #2 and your News/Club Story. There will be grades associated with making edits for those stories. I will allow for class time to complete that work as well.

I cannot stress enough that you need to stay on task and work diligently on this feature story. You will have multiple class periods to just write. If you need a break during a class period to get away from the computer, that will be fine. Take 5 minutes. Get up, walk around, if you need to get out of the room for 3-4 minutes, come see me for special pass. I know concentrating for 90 minutes is a lot of work. Build in a couple of breaks each day for the next few classes.

Monday, January 6, 2025

Welcome Back to 2025!! Assigned 1/8, due 1/10 - Minor

Today let's get 2025 started with a fun little assignment.

Since it's a new year I think it's appropriate that we look back at the year 2024 and reflect upon the things that happened in that year. 


First - let's make sure your Google Site is ready for the new semester.

Under Pages in the main panel on the right, create a new subpage and title it 2nd semester (you can break this down by 9 weeks if you would prefer, but at least make a new one for the second semester).

Once you have this subfolder made, move it on top of your home page. You can tell what your home page is because it has a little House next to the name.

When you are done with this, your Pages pane should look like this:


I have a 1st semester folder, but you may not, you might have a 1st 9 weeks or even a 1st and 2nd 9 weeks folder. That is fine. You can make a subfolder called 1st semester and put the ones from last semester in it if you want. Your organization system should work for you, but I also want you to make it easier for me to find your work. As a reminder - it is always so much easier for me when you title your subpages the same as the assignment, for example, today's assignment should be called Welcome back to 2025!! The better you name things, the easier it is for me to find it and give it a grade.


Once your Pages pane looks like mine, make sure you use the 3 dots to the right of 2nd Semester to make your subpages. I have it highlighter here so you can see it easier:


If your Pages pane is a mess, and you need help getting it all cleaned up, please let me know so I can help you. I want to stay organized and I want to be able to easily grade your work.

Now, let's move onto today's assignment and look at some photos and think about 2024 a little bit.

Go to the following websites and look at the photos there. On your Google Site post your THREE (3) favorites and tell me why it was your favorite photo of the year. I have included a few websites for you to look at, spend at least 20 minutes looking at these sites. You may have to wait for the images to load AND you may need to search out the images on Google as you probably can't download the image directly. You will also probably have a slideshow to look at - please make sure you are looking at more than the first photo. You should read the stories of those photos you find compelling if there is a link to do so.

https://time.com/7176286/top-100-photos-2024/

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/year-end-2024-photos-best/



https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2024/specials/year-in-pictures/

Second, lets write about some things you found interesting this year. Below I have listed 5 prompts - on your blog please find a photo that goes with each prompt and then write a paragraph about each. Why did you chose that as your main choice, what things attracted you to that choice and why was it the best of 2024? To help you a little I have put a link below the prompt that may or may not help you. You are free to find your own sources.

1. What was the best song of 2024?





3. What was the most important news story of the year 2024?

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/26/briefing/the-year-in-news.html


https://abcnews.go.com/US/us-stories-talking-2024/story?id=115979843

4. Who was the most important person of 2024 in your opinion?

https://time.com/7200122/person-of-the-year-2024-shortlist/

5. What was the biggest sports OR entertainment story OR sports/entertainment person of 2024 (you should Google what is appropriate for your choice), I leave this one to you to find a photo for.

Finally, I want to know more about your holiday break.
.
1. Tell me what is the one thing that happened on your holiday break that you will remember? 

2. What are your resolutions (things you want to do this year, your major goals) for the 2025 year?

3. What are you looking forward to in 2025?