Syllabus
Photojournalism
JRN-320-10 / PRE-320-10
Department of Mass Communications – University of North Carolina at Pembroke
Maymester 2005
Professor: Dr. Anthony Curtis Office: 247 Old Main Office hours:
Meeting: MTWRF 10:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. Phone: 521-6616 Monday: 1:00-1:30 p.m.
Classroom: Old Main 238 E-mail: acurtis@uncp.edu Wednesday: 1:00-1:30 p.m.
Welcome to the world of photojournalism – possibly today's most exciting, fun and fulfilling line of work. Photojournalism is about people, places and things. Photojournalists record the human condition in good times and bad. Photographs have been known to stimulate action among communities, nations and even the whole world. This basic photography course will be a visual adventure. You will learn the basic visual and technical aspects of photojournalism in a series of experiences that will include hard news, soft news features, sports, entertainment, portraits, and community events both on and off campus. Your learning opportunity in this course will reach fulfillment in a capstone project – a photo essay where you tell a story through a series of your images.
This is an upper-division university course about the basics of still photography for use in mass communications, especially for public relations professionals and journalists, but of use to all who experience photographs. The latest digital photographic techniques will be employed throughout, including digital still cameras and digital darkroom software on computers. Simple digital still cameras will be used along with departmental computer labs.
In this course, we will look at how public relations and journalism professionals can make their own photographs as well as work with professional photographers. The work output should be suitable for publication in newspapers, magazines, company publications, brochures, pamphlets, broadsides, flyers, announcements, bulletins, circulars, folders, handouts, leaflets, tracts, and digital slide-show presentations.
You will gain an understanding of the basic visual and technical aspects of photojournalism. Your understanding of these will be acquired through a series of assignments in which you photograph general news events, feature stories, sports, personality portraits, community events, and other standard newspaper, magazine and public relations subjects.
(SEE BELOW: PHOTO ASSIGNMENTS)
Discussed extensively throughout the semester will be the history and impact of photojournalism on American culture, and the ethical and moral questions about editing, cropping and digital image manipulation that circulate through photojournalism today. By providing a basic appreciation of photojournalism, this course should be of value to aspiring photojournalists as well as writers and editors seeking a broader visual awareness.
After completing this course satisfactorily, you should be able to:
§ Manually operate a digital still camera.
§ Apply photographic content and composition techniques to your photography.
§ Manipulate digital images at an elementary level using digital darkroom software.
§ Apply your elementary photographic skill to a field of study.
§ Tell stories with photographs.
§ Combine words and pictures to tell your story on the printed page and on virtual pages.
§ Produce photographs of near professional-quality standards.
§ Evaluate photographs based on professional standards.
§ Differentiate between various branches of photojournalism.
After completing this course satisfactorily, you should understand the:
§ Difference between being a photographer and a photojournalist.
§ How photojournalism has developed and its relative importance in a visual world.
§ Requirements of professional-level photojournalism.
§ Journalistic ethics and responsibilities as they apply in photojournalism.
§ Minimum technical skills for equipment essential to contemporary photojournalism.
§ Basic techniques used in photojournalism.
§ Basic freedom of the press, business practices and copyright.
§ The benefits and drawbacks of fulltime and freelance careers in photojournalism.
Horton, Brian. Associated Press Guide to Photojournalism - 2nd Ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2001 [ISBN 0-07-136387-4].
Other recommended readings:
Burian, Peter . and Robert Caputo. National Geographic Photography Field Guide - 2nd Ed. Washington D.C.: National Geographic, 2003 [ISBN 0-7922-5676-X].
Zavoina, Susan C. and John H. Davidson. Digital Photojournalism. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2002 [ISBN 0-205-33240-4].
While working on your academic degree here at UNCP, and later in your professional career, you should find it essential to stay up-to-date on current events and the state-of-the-art in news gathering and packaging technology. In the case of photojournalism, you will find it important to view the works of professional photojournalists as they appear in print and on the Internet. Events, as reflected in mass media, change constantly. To maintain current knowledge, especially as to the state-of-the-art in photojournalism, you should read a major newspaper every day. For instance, you might select the Charlotte Observer, Raleigh News & Observer, New York Times, Washington Post or USA Today. In addition, you should read a weekly newsmagazine such as Time or Newsweek.
In addition, you should read the weekly business journals for media professionals such as Editor & Publisher (newspapers), Folio (magazines), Broadcasting & Cable (radio and television), or Advertising Age (advertising). These publications are in the UNCP library and all of them have affiliated websites, which can be great way stations during your daily excursion through the world of mass media in search of examples of professional photojournalism.
This course will include in-class discussion, brainstorming, and individual, group and instructor presentations, as well as work outside of classroom facilities and outside of class hours on individual photography projects. Your assignments will result in collecting, researching, designing, shooting and preparing relevant photojournalistic images and making single and group presentations. All of these efforts throughout the semester will help you develop a working knowledge and understanding of the role of photography in journalism and public relations.
Class will meet at the scheduled times in Old Main room 238. You may process your photographs on computers in the classroom, as well as on your own home computer if you wish. Your photography shooting assignments generally will be carried out beyond the classroom.
Motto: Sıasseoir aussi loin que possible du sac gonflable.
NOTE: As we proceed through Maymester, the exact dates listed below may change as more or less time may be required to complete topics. This syllabus and schedule should be seen as a guide to course activities and expectations as of the beginning of the semester. Some topics may be added or not covered due to developing semester time constraints. Content areas may not necessarily develop or be presented in an order planned at the outset of the semester. Your professor reserves the right to amend the syllabus and the schedule, as needed, depending on work accomplished in class meetings and the needs of students enrolled in the course.
EACH CLASS: 10 a.m. – presentation of overnight assignments, critique, discussion
11 a.m. – one-hour shooting assignment
12 p.m. – presentation of one-hour assignment, critique, discussion, review
Overnight – homework shooting assignment
WEEK 1: Monday-Friday 5/9 – 5/13 Introduction, syllabus, cameras, daily shooting and critique assignments
WEEK 2: Monday-Friday 5/16 – 5/20 Daily shooting and critique assignments
WEEK 3: Monday-Friday 5/23 – 5/27 Daily shooting and critique assignments, portfolios and reflection
This course is project intensive. You will shoot many photo assignments. Your submissions in response to the assignments will be judged subjectively by the professor on creativity, craftsmanship, originality of contribution, graphic organization, communicative value, quality of content, uniqueness of vision, and how publishable an image is, as well as technical aspects such as use of camera and lighting.
Grades for each of your assignments are based upon a professional standard. Although you may be taking your first photographs in this class, the professor will evaluate your work according to its suitability for publication in a newspaper or magazine or on a news website where standards correspond to the industry-wide norm.
At the outset, your photographs are likely to be weak in technique and composition. The professor will take this into account and your semester grade will be based on consistent effort, improvement and growth.
o Excellent (A) – Professional quality work. Insightful, relevant photos of newsworthy subjects. Images involve the reader with drama, humor or pictorial beauty; distinctions between objects in foreground, middle ground and background are clear and the composition is balanced. Captions are complete and accurate. Technique is flawless: properly exposed and composed. Color exposures are precise. Color balance renders clean neutrals and flesh tones or is manipulated for an appropriate effect. Multiple photo presentations explore different levels of the story and do not simply make the same point from different perspectives.
o Good (B) – Competent, functional story-telling. Journeyman photojournalism. Clean, simple images that make a significant point efficiently and which support the story. Environmental portraits with appropriate expressions and lighting. Active, believable, documentary moments that reveal a key event. Captions are thorough and accurate. Technique is of a high order: properly exposed. Color exposures accurately color balanced.
o Acceptable (C) – Average, run-of-the-mill picture making, publishable but undistinguished. Properly exposed, but the content is average quality that may or may not be publishable. A record shot of a person, event or scene which goes with the story, but which offers little insight into why the subject is newsworthy. Composition is adequate to identify the subject but may be cluttered or poorly lit. Technique is good.
o Poor (D) – Unpublishable work. A combination of flaws in conceptualizing and shooting render the photo unsatisfactory. This is work, which with better luck, planning or extra effort, could have been published.
o Unacceptable (F) – Not publishable and decidedly unprofessional. Weaknesses in journalistic thinking, photographic technique and or professionalism can result in failure of an assignment. Inaccurate or misspelled captions and missed deadlines can reduce an assignment to 0.
Your final semester grade will be based on the professorıs subjective evaluation of the work you complete and submit during the course. Also very important considerations will be punctuality on assignments, attendance and participation in class and in-class activities, and written materials such as captions. Attendance and enthusiastic participation will form a significant portion of the semester grade.
The grading scale used for this course is :
100-90%=A to A-; 89-80%=B+ to B-; 79-70%=C+ to C-; 69-60%=D+ to D-; 59% and below=F.
Photographs: Your photos will be presented for class discussion. Please be prepared to discuss the strategies and techniques you employed in the acquisition of each image, as well as technical aspects of your camera work.
Critiques: There will be photo critique sessions in all class meetings. During these sessions, please comment openly and freely on the work submitted by all members of the class. Refer to the standards described elsewhere in the Grades section of this syllabus. Your comments may be positive or negative, but should be delivered diplomatically, in good taste, and free of ad hominem arguments. We must be sensitive to the work and feelings of others at all times. Your comments should be insightful, helpful and considerate. Critiques are intended to help each member of the class improve her or his work through the semester. If, at any point, you feel a critique is unwarranted, hateful, or mean-spirited, let the professor know as soon as possible.
Captions: Each photograph submitted must be accompanied by a complete, accurate caption (cutline).
Writing and Reading: Written assignments must be printed on one side of the paper. Be sure your name and course identification is on your work. Handwritten work is not acceptable. Please complete any reading assignment PRIOR to the day it is assigned so you can take part in discussions in class and apply the techniques learned from reading.
Portfolios: Portfolios are tools for tracking development. They are the way you present yourself to professionals. Portfolios are required when applying for photo scholarships, internships and jobs. For this course, you must keep an electronic portfolio for submission at the end of the semester. You are encouraged to carry a camera at all times. You never know what photo opportunities you might find while walking around campus or town or driving in the countryside. Take pictures, even if a photograph isnıt right for a particular assignment. Your portfolio grade will include credit for the number and types of photographs you took that were not part of specific assignments. Your portfolio should include your best work during the semester.
Equipment: A university-owned camera and USB flash drive will be assigned to you for use in meeting the assignments of this course. You must sign a check-out agreement form when you take charge of the camera. You must protect the equipment from breakage and return it in good working order at the last class meeting. You will provide replacement batteries as they become necessary during the semester. The camera alone can meet your needs as you complete assignments for this course. Any other accessory equipment you feel you need to use with the camera will be provided by you.
Attendance and Participation: Classroom communication is a process of sharing. Your observations, insights and analyses are valuable to the whole class. Your participation will be reflected in a concrete way in your semester grade. Attendance is very important, while absence is counterproductive. This is a fast-paced, tightly scheduled course. Take it only if you seriously intend to work both in and out of class. Your active presence in class is essential. You must be present for ALL activities and presentations. Regular attendance will be reflected in your course grade. Class attendance will be checked in every class period. At the end of the semester, class attendance and participation will be used in composing the final semester grade. Multiple unexplained and/or unexcused absences will result in extra penalties deducted from your term grade. Multiple excused absences also will lower your grade significantly.
Excusable absences are illness with a note from a doctor, death in the immediate family, with a photocopy of the newspaper obituary, required appearance in a court of law with a note from the court, representing the college in an organized and preplanned extracurricular activity with an advance note from the faculty or adviser of the activity. Some extracurricular activities do not justify an excused absence, so prior approval of the absence by the professor of this course is necessary. Athletes who plan to miss class for a game must notify the professor before each absence. Inexcusable activities include regular employment work schedule, job interviews or fairs, weddings, vacations, or completing work for other courses.
If you arrive late in class, be sure to check with the professor at the end of that session to be certain that your attendance has been recorded. If you arrive excessively late, or leave class early, you should expect to receive only partial credit for attendance that day. If you are continually late to class, please expect the professor to hold it against your final grade.
Assignment Deadlines: Attention to deadlines is extremely important. Deadline dates are very important. You must deliver finished assignments at the beginning of class on their due dates to receive full credit. If you miss a class or part of a class, it remains your responsibility to turn in assignments due that day by the start of class that day and to complete the assignments for the next class day. Late assignments will be penalized one letter grade for each class day late. Submissions will not be accepted one week after the due date.
Public Conduct: In carrying out assignments outside of the classroom, you must act professionally at all times, on and off campus.
Student Academic Honor Code: You have the responsibility to know and observe the UNCP Academic Honor Code which forbids cheating, plagiarism, abuse of academic materials, fabrication, or falsification of information, and complicity in academic dishonesty.
Special Assistance: Please see the professor as soon as possible if you have questions or difficulty. Any student with a documented disability needing academic adjustments is requested to speak directly to Disability Support Services and the professor, as early in the semester (preferably within the first week) as possible. All discussions will remain confidential. Please contact Mary Helen Walker, Disability Support Services, DF Lowry Building, 521-6695.
Photo Assignments
Getting started...
Seeing Colors MULTIPLE SHOTS OF THE SAME COLOR
Seeing the Alphabet MULTIPLE SHOTS OF THE SAME CHARACTER
Natural vs. Artificial Light NOTICING THE SHADOWS
Night Photography LIFE AFTER DARK
The Photo Cliché DISCOVERING THE ORDINARY
Shooting people...
Candid People WALKING & WORKING
Kid Pix CHILDREN SHOULD BE SEEN AND NOT HEARD
Hands or Hats SHOOTERıS CHOICE
Portraits...
The Portrait A FORMAL PERSON
Still Life A FINE ARTS PORTRAIT
Product Shot PORTRAIT OF A THING
Shooting stuff outside...
Exposing Flora UNEARTHING PLANT LIFE AROUND CAMPUS
Capturing Fauna FERRETING OUT THE CAMPUS ANIMAL KINGDOM
Greenhouse Moment SEEING THE ENVIRONMENT
Things Out of Place NOT WHERE YOU WOULD EXPECT THEM TO BE
Ugly Picture of a Beautiful Scene REVOLTING TO THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER
Macro World GETTING DOWN AND DIRTY WITH THE NATURAL WORLD
Movin' on up...
Capture the Times THE WAY WE LIVE NOW
Feature Photo HEART OF A STORY
Human Interest Feature SHOOTING A TEAR-JERKER
Picture Story / Photo Essay A SPREAD PAGE LAYOUT
Photo-Phone Reporter SLIDE SHOW OF CAPTIONED IMAGES TELLS STORY
PR Shots for a Client PHOTO ESSAY PROMOTING A PERSON. PRODUCT OR IDEA
Traveling Gnome SAME OBJECT IN MULTIPLE PLACES
Avant Garde Photo REVEALING TOMORROWıS MAINSTREAM
Surreal Photo INCONGRUOUS JUXTAPOSITION OF FANTASTIC IMAGERY
Five-Layer Photo A MONTAGE
Photo Cliché Redux INTENTIONALLY MUNDANE
BOLO... BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR
Spot News WATCHING FOR SOMETHING TO HAPPEN
Rainy Day Photos WATCH OUT FOR SPRINKLES AND REFLECTIONS
Sports Action CAPTURE THE EXCITEMENT
Issue Photo ILLUMINATING THE CONTROVERSIAL
Long-lead assignments...
Information Booth PR PHOTO TEAM SHOOTING DEPARTMENTAL SUBJECTS
Campus Life STOCK PHOTO AGENCY SHOOTS UNCP IN AND OUT