Technology hates me. And the feeling is mutual. My four year old laptop is getting ready to kick the bucket, and froze up on me (AGAIN) while I was putting the finishing touches on my project... so here's what I was able to recover and fix up in time for class!
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Thursday, April 24, 2008
shooting turkeys
Well, my final project topic looks like it's changing again, for a 4th time. Either way, it looks like I'll be shooting animals. You know, shooting video -- no need to alert PETA.
At any rate, a good friend of mine is headed to veterinary school this fall, and some of my favorite college memories are of our animal-related adventures around UNH and the surrounding areas, going to random farms in Lee to pet horses, goats, etc. Earlier this semester she gave me an informal tour of the UNH dairy barns, having worked there for a semester as part of a class, and it was so neat I figured I'd enlist her help as a guide for this project by shooting cows and their caretakers in their element. She one-upped me today by calling to say that someone she works with in her lab has a working bird farm in Lee, and would love to show us around. So as long as this guy is OK with my filming our tour, that'll be my project.
Does anyone have any advice on how to shoot animals? I know we're not supposed to zoom in or out too much, or try to pan around all the time, but what if your subjects are constantly on the move? Just stick with wide angles to capture motion, and closeups to capture detail, assuming the subject will cooperate? I really like soundslides better than video to tell a story, so I'm thinking for at least part of it anyway I'll use still shots and audio. I have a feeling the audio would be better from my spiffy digital recorder than from the camera... should I just be constantly rolling with sound as well? How am I supposed to hold all this equipment at once while trying to avoid stepping on or being attacked by ducks, chickens, and turkeys?
Ah, and some interesting turkey-related news I came across while googling. Enjoy!
At any rate, a good friend of mine is headed to veterinary school this fall, and some of my favorite college memories are of our animal-related adventures around UNH and the surrounding areas, going to random farms in Lee to pet horses, goats, etc. Earlier this semester she gave me an informal tour of the UNH dairy barns, having worked there for a semester as part of a class, and it was so neat I figured I'd enlist her help as a guide for this project by shooting cows and their caretakers in their element. She one-upped me today by calling to say that someone she works with in her lab has a working bird farm in Lee, and would love to show us around. So as long as this guy is OK with my filming our tour, that'll be my project.
Does anyone have any advice on how to shoot animals? I know we're not supposed to zoom in or out too much, or try to pan around all the time, but what if your subjects are constantly on the move? Just stick with wide angles to capture motion, and closeups to capture detail, assuming the subject will cooperate? I really like soundslides better than video to tell a story, so I'm thinking for at least part of it anyway I'll use still shots and audio. I have a feeling the audio would be better from my spiffy digital recorder than from the camera... should I just be constantly rolling with sound as well? How am I supposed to hold all this equipment at once while trying to avoid stepping on or being attacked by ducks, chickens, and turkeys?
Ah, and some interesting turkey-related news I came across while googling. Enjoy!
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Thursday, April 3, 2008
venturing into the UNH kitchens...
My soundslide presentation is UP!! Except you'll have to tilt your head to the side through a lot of it, because I toggled all of my pictures to line up with quotes before realizing you couldn't rotate photos in soundslides... but oh well, not bad for a first try :-)
Friday, March 7, 2008
preparation paralysis and photography
Well, now that my perfectionism is no longer getting in the way of my productivity (at least in this particular area of my life), I've made some great progress on my soundslide presentation. I'm really happy with the direction it's taken; it's especially nice to have reached a point where I can better assess what needs to be added to make it more complete, namely more pictures and some audio narration. I was surprised by how much time was required to use audacity, but so far soundslides is a piece of cake.
And speaking of cake, I was wondering if anyone more experienced in photography would have some advice for me. My project is aimed at giving students (and other patrons of the dining halls here on campus) a window into the UNH kitchens, and the process the food goes through to get to your plate. I already have one great detail shot of tomatoes in a sink (trust me, it's a cool photo even if it sounds boring here), but I'd like to go back into the kitchens and then venture into Holloway to get more closeups of the food. My question: are there any tips you all have for taking these kinds of detailed, up-close photographs? I'm pretty comfortable with my point-and-shoot, and using the macro-focus feature (the button with the picture of the little flower), but I didn't know if there were any other tricks to taking well-lit and in focus detail shots of food in particular.
Let me know if you've got any advice!
And speaking of cake, I was wondering if anyone more experienced in photography would have some advice for me. My project is aimed at giving students (and other patrons of the dining halls here on campus) a window into the UNH kitchens, and the process the food goes through to get to your plate. I already have one great detail shot of tomatoes in a sink (trust me, it's a cool photo even if it sounds boring here), but I'd like to go back into the kitchens and then venture into Holloway to get more closeups of the food. My question: are there any tips you all have for taking these kinds of detailed, up-close photographs? I'm pretty comfortable with my point-and-shoot, and using the macro-focus feature (the button with the picture of the little flower), but I didn't know if there were any other tricks to taking well-lit and in focus detail shots of food in particular.
Let me know if you've got any advice!
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
wooing a distracted populace for 400 years, and counting
Damon's presentation in our class last week was both fascinating and frightening. It is exciting to know we are entering the field in such turbulent times, and will be part of a major movement of change. However, many of the things Damon said in his presentation rubbed me the wrong way.
Some of this comes from what I perceive to be the different attitudes we have towards journalism. I regard it as a craft; he sees it as an industry.
He marveled over the popularity of a video posted on the Nashua Telegraph website of floodwater flowing under a bridge. I was unimpressed. So what if it's popular? So people watched a video. What's the point? Did we educate them? Did they learn something new or gain useful information? Not really.
I reject the idea that just because we are in a new digital age, any yahoo with an opposable thumb and point-and-shoot camera can now be a journalist, or that we are now merely another form of entertainment that must compete with the ipods of our intended audience.
He threw up a slide with a picture of the first newspaper ever printed, sometime around 1605, and then one with a recent cover of the New York Times. After a pause, he asked "Don't you think it's time for a change?"
Well, maybe, but the first thing that struck me was "Gosh, I guess we must have been doing something right for the past 400 years!"
I agree that we need to adapt and expand our coverage far beyond just ink on paper, and think in alternative mediums: photos, audio slide shows, and video, etc. But the important question to answer is how we are going to maintain our journalistic integrity in these new mediums and continue to educate and inform the world, not just catch the momentary attention of a distracted populace.
Some of this comes from what I perceive to be the different attitudes we have towards journalism. I regard it as a craft; he sees it as an industry.
He marveled over the popularity of a video posted on the Nashua Telegraph website of floodwater flowing under a bridge. I was unimpressed. So what if it's popular? So people watched a video. What's the point? Did we educate them? Did they learn something new or gain useful information? Not really.
I reject the idea that just because we are in a new digital age, any yahoo with an opposable thumb and point-and-shoot camera can now be a journalist, or that we are now merely another form of entertainment that must compete with the ipods of our intended audience.
He threw up a slide with a picture of the first newspaper ever printed, sometime around 1605, and then one with a recent cover of the New York Times. After a pause, he asked "Don't you think it's time for a change?"
Well, maybe, but the first thing that struck me was "Gosh, I guess we must have been doing something right for the past 400 years!"
I agree that we need to adapt and expand our coverage far beyond just ink on paper, and think in alternative mediums: photos, audio slide shows, and video, etc. But the important question to answer is how we are going to maintain our journalistic integrity in these new mediums and continue to educate and inform the world, not just catch the momentary attention of a distracted populace.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
the first dispatch
The title of this blog is a tribute to one of my favorite poets, Don Marquis, who was a New York newspaper columnist in the early 1900s. Marquis is perhaps best known for creating the character Archy, a cockroach who had been a bard in a former life. Late at night, Archy would write letters and poems on Marquis’ typewriter, all in lowercase, as he was too small to reach the shift key for capitalization or punctuation.
Not that I could ever hope to offer as unique a perspective on the world as Archy did, but in some ways I feel that that is what journalism is all about: telling a story in such a way as to get others looking at something from a new angle. As media mogul William Parrish says in the movie Meet Joe Black, “The more we all know about each other, the greater the chance we will survive.”
Beyond just informing the public of what’s going on in the world, newspapers serve to offer people new perspectives and fresh takes on old stories. By visiting the NPR studios in D.C., I've gotten a glimpse of what it might be like to work in radio, but having only ever worked in print journalism, I’m excited to learn about other mediums for telling these stories, especially digital photography. I’m fascinated with the concept of capturing moments in time, and communicating through pictures. I’d really like to learn more about photography, from how to frame a shot to editing techniques.
Not that I could ever hope to offer as unique a perspective on the world as Archy did, but in some ways I feel that that is what journalism is all about: telling a story in such a way as to get others looking at something from a new angle. As media mogul William Parrish says in the movie Meet Joe Black, “The more we all know about each other, the greater the chance we will survive.”
Beyond just informing the public of what’s going on in the world, newspapers serve to offer people new perspectives and fresh takes on old stories. By visiting the NPR studios in D.C., I've gotten a glimpse of what it might be like to work in radio, but having only ever worked in print journalism, I’m excited to learn about other mediums for telling these stories, especially digital photography. I’m fascinated with the concept of capturing moments in time, and communicating through pictures. I’d really like to learn more about photography, from how to frame a shot to editing techniques.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
