30 days - Work Report - Happy Motoring

Here are several shots of the most interesting story that I've ever shot. Please enjoy!

Just as the headline of this photo story, “Happy Motoring”, I also have a “happy shooting” process that I really enjoy. I appreciate that other people rejected my shooting requests so that I finally found Brad Montgomery, an “old silly country boy” (that is how he call himself) who loves vintage cars and all the older, junky stuff.

The beginning was tough for both him and me. At first he only allowed me to shoot his antique store. But from his reaction, I guessed that he was just too shy. So I tried to push it a little bit and decided to talk with him first. Then I got to know the old car story and also photographed the car restoring process. But he still didn’t invite me to his home, even though I’ve stayed in the garage, which is about 20 feet from his home, for 5 or 6 hours.  

So Rita had a brilliant idea for me (Thank you so much, Rita!), that is to print out several photos of him and his 1953 chevy pickup. This idea worked out perfectly, because after he saw my pictures, he said (with big smile on his face), “I’ll show them to my mum, and you should go with me.” So, without any effort (I mean, I even didn’t say a word), he let me visit his house and introduced me to his mum. So, next, every thing became much easier. 

I have to say, Brad’s story is the one that I am looking for a very long time. I am always curious about people living in a small town who have their own living style, and are separated from (or maybe left behind) the mainstream society. I don’t plan to present or prove how exotic or peculiar they are (although many of them are eccentric), I just intend to explore a different, creative living style.

Brad and his old cars just fit my intention perfectly. But I never thought it would be that difficult for me to understand what he was talking about. After living and studying in MO for almost 2 years, I am get used to my outsider identity. But this time, I realized that me, as a foreigner, the language barrier and culture differences were really an obstacle for my work. I could not stop thinking what did I miss or ignore. So I had to ask him very stupid questions again and agin in order to understand what he was talking about.

Luckily, Brad and his mum are very nice people. They are very patient to all my questions. Also, they were very interested in my Chinese background and kept asking me questions about China, which makes me feel a little bit better. I mean, this is kind of like the advantage of being an outsider, because your subject may be interested in your story as well. So the interaction will make you two better understand each other, which helps to explore the story.

Another problem is that, with the story going deeper, I felt get lost and didn’t know what should I focus on - old cars? family life? antique store? Brad is a very interesting character and there are plenty of things that I can explore. Due to the time limit, I finally chose to focus on his love of old cars while also mentioning about his mum. Because after several failed relationships, old cars and his family are the only two things that he cares about. Thus, even though I really really like several antique store pictures, I don’t include them in the final editing. 

Also, I had really difficult time to choose the portraits. Here are three shots I really like.

      

At first I planned to choose the first and the second, but then I realized that they just look too similar - both are close-up and have a similar composition. So I decided that I should use the third pic to replace one of them. Although the blue truck has been appeared twice in the story, this photo gives you a more close look of the truck. You can see the cute little things that Brad pasted on the window. Also I like to see his teeth. lol.  And the caption of the third photo is more interesting. Because Brad was firing the truck to check the engine by listening to the sound. So I decided to include this photo as the last picture of the story. In addition, in the second photo, Brad has a more 1950s-look. So I decided to use the second and the third.

Overall, the shooting is very fun, and I got to see many classic vintage cars that I never would be able to see in China. In addition, I feel like that the shooting is not only about photojournalism, but also about experiencing a different living style. 

job profile

Here are several shots from the Job Profile Assignment - I conducted a story about an illusionist, Jeff Copeland.

Jeff held a magic wand during his performance for the Upward Sports Celebration at Memorial Baptist Church on Tuesday night, March 20, 2012. In his opinion, a top hat, a magic wand, and a rabbit coming out the hat are the three things when people think of a magician, and he tries to include all of them in his performance.

Jeff practices a trick featuring coins at the Memorial Bap- tist Church on Wednesday afternoon, March 7, 2012. It usually takes 6 months to 1 year for him to prepare a trick.

Jeff interacts with an audience during his performance for the Upward Sports Celebration at Memorial Baptist Church on Tuesday night, March 20, 2012. He used the snow-spray to act as the stinky liquid sprayed by a skunk.

Jeff always puts a box of cards and several coins in his pocket. He has been involved with magic since he was 8 years old.

Christopher Nolan's old film The Prestige and another animated film the Illusionist made me intrigued by the life of an illusionist. So when we were assigned to shoot a job profile, I just thought it might be a chance for me to explore this profession a little bit. Fortunately, I found Jeff Copeland, the only "full time" illusionist in Columbia. But when I got to know him and his work, I realized that my previous impression about illusionists/magicians actually is not accurate - they are not always poor, old men with long grey beard; and they are not always perform on a fancy stage with beautiful ladies and fabulous props. By just using a ring and his fingers, jeff produced an amazing trick - and it took one year for him to prepare it. Thus, in this job profile project, I hope to present the actual live of being a professional illusionist in a small city (I mean, compared to St.Louis or New York City and the like), how did he get into this field? Why did he chose to be a professional illusionist? What intrigued him most? Could being an illusionist earn a living? What are the attitudes of his family?

Actually it's very hard to capture the tricks, because the movements are just so fast. I did spent some time on getting used to the fast speed movement of Jeff's hands. Also, because Jeff usually doesn't use many props to conduct the trick - cards and coins are the most frequent props he used - sometimes it's very hard to tell that is magic performance. Luckily (again), the close-up sequenced photos of his hands turn out to be a great illustration of magic tricks.

Another issue is that the lighting condition of all the situations are very bad, even terrible, to be honest. I thought it would have colorful fancy lighting, but it turned out that most are fluorescent light. And I can't use a strobe because that will disturb his performance. Thus it took me lots of time on toning the photographs.

Reflection 3 - the Great Photographic Essays

“When it came to pictures, one and one didn’t equal two”. Our brains just inherently make new meanings by comparing or connecting the two by using our knowledge and experience. Thus, we have photographic essays. Through introducing the work from acclaimed photographers, such as Leonard McCombe, W. Eugene Smith and Bill Eppridge, Chapick illustrated what is a great photography essay and why it is important for us - through conducting an idea that has “depth, breadth, and visual possibilities”, photographic essays achieve “the highest truth”. 

Chapick also mentioned the structure of photographic essay, such as we should start with an idea that is cogent and concise; if it is a story about an individual, it must reveal the essence of that individual, and the like. All of these are very helpful to me. It’s interesting that he emphasized the importance of words for photographic essays. Although personally in most cases I am not willing to focus on the power of words, I have to say, in photographic essays, we need words to explore deeper, to tell those behind the photos, and most importantly, “to interpret photographic ambiguities”. And nowadays, in the digital era where we have multimedia platform, photographers have more choices to amplify the photographs, that is sound - interview, voiceover, natural sound, music and the like. But do words and sound have exactly the same function? Do they work in a same way in photo essays? I doubt it. For example, sound usually create a “real” feeling for the viewers whereas words always leave more imaginations. I think this is an interesting issue that we could explore.

In the Jay and Hurn’s article, they first pointed out the importance of pre-design for photo essays, for example, the photographer should go to the spot and observe the whole environment before the shooting; he/she need to consider all the situations he/she intend to shoot and make a list for what kind of shots he/she needs (wide, middle, or close-up).


Then they discussed the importance of quantity. Jay thought that “photography is a medium of quantity as well as quality”, whereas Hurn mentioned that the practice must “concentrate on a subject, plan the actual shooting and critically evaluating the results”. Personally, I preferred Hurn’s saying that the practice need to have a direction. In other words, you have to think carefully before click the bottom, rather than just use your fingers to attain a large amount of frames. 

Their discussion about the shyness/forbearance of photographers is also very interesting. At least it make sense to me. I am not an “aggressive” photographer. Sometimes I even feel scared because of that fact that as a photographer, I have to use or get involved in others’ real live to construct my story. I want to be respectful because they allow me, a stranger to enter into their worlds.

POYi Reaction Paper

I watched the feature multimedia story judging of POYi. There are lots of excellent and creative pieces this year. I really enjoy the whole process. 

It’s really funny that the first place of this year is “Home|Front” while the first place of last year is “The Home Front”... And, yes, these two indeed talk about a same issue - the families suffer from being separated because of the war. But as the titles illustrated, they did use different approaches to narrate the story. “Home|Front”, like the “|” separating these two words, split the screen to two parts - the left side displays the photo of a father who works as a doctor in Afghanistan while the right side shows the live of the mother and the daughter in U.S. 

As one of the judges mentioned, this distinctive storytelling method really made this piece stand out, especially after we have seen lots of similar stories about the same issue. The maker successfully built a relation/interaction by comparing the left and the right, such as the father was wearing his shoes in the left whereas the mother was helping the little girl to wear shoes in the right, or when the father was making an operation with a little child in the left whereas his little baby was crying in the right and the audio is the father talking about that “I have a similar girl at home who is healthy while here...they can’t take care of those kids”. This method just work PERFECTLY for the story! It not only makes interaction among photos or among the three family members, but also helps to establish an “apart-together” relation. And in the end, although the screen is still split, we saw that the context/environment of the left and the right became similar and then the same, so we knew the father was back and they were together. 

Just as the maker said, “separation is nothing new”, but yes, we can use creative methods to tell the story! I think this multimedia piece proves that, no only the story but also the story telling way really matters to a work. 

And for the second place of this year, “A Little Girl’s Fight To Live”, I think the content/subject herself is the most compelling part of the story. The 5 year-old girl, Marisa has a lovely voice, for me she is singing instead of talking. Also, she has a strong love toward the life, and she is very positive even though she is diagnosed as having a rare and dangerous disease. I like how the maker combine the photos of the little girl and the interview of her parents together, for example, when her mother was crying and said she was terrified, what we saw was the cute and lovely photos of Marisa that showed her positiveness. It is just easily present the cruelty of life, the cruelty that everyone has to confront with. Another thing is that although the maker used some audio of the girl, most are just her conversation with her parents, so I hope to hear more thoughts from the little girl. She is young so maybe we don’t need to ask her serious questions involved life and death, but I just like her voice a lot and hope to hear her perspective, maybe her habits or her favorite toys or her classmates, and I think it can help to create a more vivid character.

In addition, personally, I am not that impressed by the one won the third place. There is no ambient/nat sound, the audio sequence only include the interview. And I always feel like that the girl was reading a script, rather than saying something with a real/natural mood. Also, I don’t like the fake camera movements. But those still photos are very beautiful. And one of the judges mentioned that she liked how the maker told the story by not focusing too much on the differences between the girl and the others (The girl also got a disease). I agree with this point but I do think there are some pieces are more interesting/creative.

One is “The Recycling of Souls : Life in Warsaw” (Check here: http://vimeo.com/channels/piotrmalecki#34605876 ), which talks about a group of people work for a recycling plant, and they are people who have learning difficulties or mental health issues. But actually you wouldn’t realize it until the end of the story. At first what you see is just a group of people happily picking up trashes. The music and the beautiful sunshine really helps to create a joyful and easeful mood at the very first beginning. Then, when the interview went on, when the maker focused on their faces with close-up, you saw something weird and you just suddenly realized that there are something different. Also, the maker used a shot from a same composition for both the opening and the ending. But the only differences is that at the beginning, when you look at them, you thought they are just old or poor people, and they are going to start their work; but at the end, there is still that group of people, but now you know the difficulties they have and you understand how lovely they are, especially when there was a lady waving to the camera to say bye and then the room became empty, then the last people, a young guy with some problem of his leg, was slowly walking out of the frame while smoking happily.  I really like the comparison there. And I think it’s not only the maker make the comparison, but also ourselves. I don’t know whether the maker hide the camera or not, but I do like how he just put the camera there, from a high angle, like a monitor. I mean, sometimes, this is just the angle how the public look at those living on the edge - looking down on them, regarding ourselves as having superiority, and not giving them a chance to express their thoughts. But is there any difference between them and us? I doubt it. Ok..... I think it goes too further, but I really really like this story - not only the lovely subject, the story telling ways, but also the perspective/point of view of the maker.

One of the judges said that he didn’t like it because he thought the maker should focus on one person, so that could explore it deeper. I understand that, especially due to the time limit, we prefer to focus on one or two person when telling a story. But I think this is just a story about a group, an integrated group of people who work hard to earn a living, and they really enjoy the job even though most people never want to work in this field. Although there are many individuals involved, but for me, there is only one subject, that is this group of people! So in this case, I would like to see an overall view of their living condition and their thoughts.

Another story impressed me a lot is “American Dead Sea” (Please check: http://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/244341/). This really is a remarkable piece because finally I see someone deal with audio in this way. This is a story about the Salton city, which was once a hustle-bustle tourist destination but now only has toxic water, dead tree and fish, abandoned cars and houses, and desert. So the maker, Jim Lo Scalzo used an audio sequence from an old movie/video that was talking about how prosperous the city is and how enjoyable the visit will be, while presenting photos of the dying, but beautiful landscape. This is a brilliant idea to tell the story, no cliche interview and no boring talking head. He just simply put these two together, and yes, you will contrast and figure it out by yourself.

This method actually is common in filmmaking. And I do like it a lot. I like the simpleness, and I like the irony brought out by the strong contrast. But I have to say Jim should edit the audio sequence more, like delete the background music or maybe put it in a lower level, because it is a little bit distracting. Especially the ending music for me is just too happy and would let the viewers misunderstand what he intend to say. Also, some pictures are just too beautiful so they would convey error information as well. Like one judge said, she only saw gorgeous photos. So I think overall this is a brave experiment and a smart idea, but the way to present it need to be adjusted to some extend.

Overall I see more videos in this years’ pieces. And I see many use music in their work. I like videos because I like motion in multimedia stories. But music, well, I understand that this is a convenient way to create mood and drive the audience crazy, but for me this is also the laziest way to do it. So I never is a big fan of using music, not mention that I would have to deal with complicated copyright issue. 

Also, because of the videos and music, those stories have a more cinematic look, although I still won’t agree that they are short films. But “The Recycling of Souls : Life in Warsaw” and “American dead sea” really surprise me. And my mind about what is multimedia and how to make a good multimedia piece is keep updating through watching those stories and listening to the critique from the judges.

ONE DAY - Dogs' Carnival

Dogs' Carnival

1,326 dogs with costumed attire set world record in St. Louis on Sunday, Feb.12, 2012.

Sky waits in costume before the 19th Mardi Gras Beggin’s Pet parade in Soulard on Sunday, Feb.12, 2012. His owner, Ben Hoadley has participated in the event for 14 years.

Veela, a standard poodle marches in the 19th Mardi Gras Beggin’s Pet Parade in Soulard with her owerner, Lindsey Johnston on Feb.12, 2012. Lindsey designed the peahen-look for Veela.

Thousands of people and pets flooded the streets of Soulard for the 19th Mardi Gras Beggin’s Pet Parade on Sunday, Feb.12, 2012. With a count of 1,326 dogs, the parade smashed the Guinness World Record for “mosts dogs in costumed attire gathered in a single location”.

Pandora, 4, tries to get the treat from her owner Anna Kreuter before the 19th Mardi Gras Beggin’s Pet Parade on Sunday, Feb.12, 2012. Anna used two days to design and make the clothes and crown for Pandora. She also made a hat for herself.

John Ratelff walks with his dog, Winston during the 19th Mardi Gras Beggin’s Pet Parade on Feb.12, 2012. Winston is a 10-month puppy and this is his first parade, so John designed a lion-look for him.

OUTTAKES:

Rozi Z, a welsh terrie waits in costume before the 19th Mardi Gras Beggin’s Pet Parade on Feb.12, 2012 with his owner Jeff Zavadil from Waterloo, IL. Jeff and his wife Debi have participated in the parade for 19 years. This year they made alligator outfits for both themselves and their three dogs: Rozi, Magi, and Zizi. Jeff also made an alligator-look cart for the parade.

Sheri Kattenbraker and her dog waits in costume before the parade on Feb.12, 2012. Sheri bought the butterfly outfit online and then made a butterfly hat for herself.

Veela, a standard poodle marches with her owner, Lindsey Johnston in the 19th Mardi Gras Beggin’s Pet Parade in Soulard on Feb.12, 2012. Thousands of people and their pets wearing costumed outfits and marching together set a Guinness World Record for “mosts dogs in costumed attire gathered in a single location”.

CRITIQUE

This really is a fun story. I met with lots of interesting people and "weird" dogs. I really enjoy the insane atmosphere, especially since I woke up at 7am and then drove 2 hours on that morning, I have to say, if it was a boring story, I would fall asleep during the shooting. 

As planned, I took lots of portraits by using similar techniques - low depth-of-field and close-up. I think those portraits appropriately reflect what I intend to say by focusing on the faces/details and excluding other distracting elements. Then as what Rita has suggested, I found an image shot from the top, so that we could see the overall scene of the event - lots of costumed people and dogs flooded in the street. Also, I chose interaction shots, since I consider the interaction between people and their pets are very important to the story.

For the outtakes, I really really like the first / alligator one because of the similar gesture ( both look at the left and wear an alligator hat) between the owner and the dog, whereas they have totally different face expressions. I think it helps to express my point of view - I mean, although I really enjoy the crazy and funny atmosphere there, I still wonder that are these costumed dogs really like it? Especially their owners dye their hairs, paste beads on their faces, and put heavy outfits on them. I understand that it is a carnival, but do the pets enjoy it?

Then, talking about the techniques, well... the light was very harsh on that day. I always took overexposed pictures. And I can't see anything from the small screen. So I used the histogram and Raw, but some of the shots are still a little bit overexposed.

Another thing is that I think I don't get enough detailed captions for the story. Although I arrived at there very early, most people came just right before the parade. And it was very crowded and maybe I should use "chaos" to describe the situation (More than one thousand of dogs were on a same street!! They just keep barking and barking and barking......... ) So.....I was kind of lost at some moments and forgot to ask some questions.... :(

Overall I really enjoy this one-day assignment. I never thought this parade would break the world record. I was lucky to experience and document the whole event.