Week 7 blog forum questions

TOPIC 1: SHOOTING SPORTS -- Our guest speaker Scobel Wiggins offered a variety of suggestions for shooting action and sports.

1. Write in detail about TWO TIPS that stood out in Scobel's talk.
2. For each tip describe how you can use that suggestion for your own sports/action assignment.

Scobels talk made me realize that I need to be more patient when I go out and take photos. I usually make time to go shoot photos for this class around once a week for 2 hours, but Scobel in her discussion told us to go to the same spot on different days to see if you can come up with a better shot. Im currently being pretty patient for my hometown assignment by taking pictures of landmarks in my hometown on different days and on nights to see if I can come up with a more interesting photograph.

Another tip that stood out in Scobels talk was anticipating the moment. I can relate with this very well because I play sports and video games. You often anticipate moments in sports and video games so that you can have the upper hand on your opponent. The more you play the better you're at anticipating your opponent. That is why for my action/sports photos I will try and anticipate the moment so I can take a better photo.

TOPIC 2: ACTION/SPORTS PHOTOS -- Now that you've got some tips on how to shoot action ...

1. WHAT is your Sports/Action subject?
   Soccer, surfing, fishing, skateboarding, pickle ball, pingpong.
2. WHEN and WHERE are you going to shoot it?
   Most of my shots will be done outside at the sports park, although some shots will be done on the beach. I will shoot my subjects from 12-2 because I feel like thats the brightest time of the day.
3. Scobel talked about her approach to shooting sports/action. Your approach must include an "overall,” "medium” and a "closeup/detail” shot. While one of these can be a “sideline” shot, you must have at least one good ACTION PHOTO. List your ideas for:
1. OVERALL -- I was going to try and get an aerial photo of a soccer match.
2. MEDIUM -- For a medium I was either going to go with a ping pong serve, or someone reeling in a fish.
3. CLOSEUP/DETAIL -- I really want my close up to be of a skateboarder doing a 360 flip.

Photographer of the Week

Photographer of the week

Neil Leifer was born December 24th, 1942 in New York City. As a young boy he would scam his way into baseball games for free; he would bring his camera along and place himself with other fellow photographers to blend in and be able to take photographs of his own. He was fortunate enough to retrieve a free ticket to the 1958 NFL title game between the Giants and Baltimore Colts where he took many photographs which he eventually sold to Sports Illustrated. Those photographs ultimately jump started Neil Leifer's photography career landing him his first cover photo for Sports Illustrated at only 19 years old. Neil eventually went on to work for various companies such as Time, Life, and Newsbook.

His claim to fame definitely came when he was working for Sports Illustrated. I say this because Neil took a different approach to traditional sports photography. He would take photographs of sporting events from an aerial perspective, which would give the viewer a different field of view of an iconic moment in sports history. Neil was very good at captivating an intense moment in a very abstract manner, and that is something not many photographers can do. A couple examples of Neil's abstract manner would include the photograph of Cleveland Williams VS Muhammad Ali in 1966 at the Houston Astrodome where he suspended a camera from the rafters and took a photograph via remote control; capturing the moment where Ali knocked out Williams. Leifer did another one of these remote controlled photographs at a basketball game between the Kentucky Colonels and the New York Nets. This time he set up the camera behind the backboard where he took a picture of Rick Barry floating the ball over a couple defenders at the Island Garden in West Hempstead, New York. This photo gives us a very profound field of view; fish-like almost. I feel like the lights also add to the depth of field in the photograph. These are just a couple of examples of Neil's creativity with the perspective in his photographs

This project had a series of anecdotes which ultimately led to me choosing the photograph of Muhammad Ali knocking out Sonny Liston as my favorite photograph of Neil Leifer.  I say anecdotes because this photograph has been a poster on my wall since I was six. I chose Neil Leifer at random from the list of names, and when I googled his name the first photo was the one that's been on my wall since I can remember. Now the reason this photo is so important to me is because it was a part of the first 100 page plus  book I ever read which was Muhammad Ali’s autobiography. I understand the significance in the photograph and how Ali predicted he would knockout Liston in the first round. What stands out to me the most about this photo is how jaw dropping most of the spectators are. Really adds to Ali being the focal point of the photograph.

https://www.si.com/longform/neil-leifer/index.html

Sources

http://rarehistoricalphotos.com/muhammad-ali-knocks-cleveland-williams-astrodome-houston-1966/

http://neilleifer.com/biography/

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/gallery/2014/oct/30/muhammad-ali-25-best-photographs-cassius-clay-legendary-boxer

https://athlonsports.com/nfl/5-conspiracy-theories-changed-sports-history

http://www.sportsshooter.com/news/2043

Blog forum for week 6

TOPIC 1: MY HOMETOWN -- Next week’s assignment is to post three photos from your “hometown” -- a news or feature photo of an activity; an environmental portrait; and a landmark, preferably with people in it.

1. I will be going to Newport, Oregon for this assignment. I have chosen this city because it is my hometown, and I want to share it with my class.
2. For my portrait photo I was planning on taking a picture of Amber Morris a local fish dealer holding up either a crab or a fish. My landmark will probably be either the bridge or the lighthouse. For an activity shot I might do my friends and I long boarding down a hill or playing soccer on the beach.
3. I think all of these photos will be very difficult because it tends to rain a lot in Newport, and its fairly windy so it might be hard to get a good shot.

TOPIC 2: TWO PHOTO STORY IDEAS (See assignment explanation below) --  Begin thinking about the Photo Story that you will do to culminate this term in Photojournalism.  A Photo Story is a photo series that takes multiple visits to your subject.  it will be comprised of 5 photos, including at least one overall, one medium and one closeup. 

1. I plan on taking pictures in Newport, Oregon. The series of pictures will consist of restaurants, seafood processing plants, commercial fishing vessels, and locally own fish markets. I will be photographing how  seafood is caught, processed, and sold. I have friends who work in all of the fish industries so obtaining access to these places should be fairly easy for me. One problem I may encounter is weather; Newport is a very windy and cloudy city so I feel like that could hinder the quality of my photos. Since Ive worked in all of the fishing departments I think its safe to say that I wont need to make prior arrangements. 

2. I plan on taking pictures of the Willamette river. The pictures will mostly be of the river, its bridges, and parks. I will be photographing how polluted the river is, and examples of littering. I might lurk around the park and try to snap a picture of someone actively littering I can go to the river whenever I want the only problem would be the weather. 

Week 3 School Activity photos

Here we see Casey Faulconer examining the dark eyed fusia for aphids in preparation for the Mothers day plant sale on the 12th of May.

Students gather around Miriam Edell to receive instruction on which plants still need trimming.

Skyler McCollaum takes action on watering off the last section of plants before class ends.

Week 4 Portrait/Mug photos

Luis Felipe Yanez of Newport Oregon works as a choke setter for the prestigious Lee Way logging.

Luis Felipe Yanez