Feature Hunting

Last Saturday at MDN

Today is my last Saturday at the Midland Daily News and figured it was the best time to reflect on my internship here. The past two months have been incredible in the sense of what I learned from Nick and Neil, learned about myself, and what I've gotten to work on.

I don't know that many other internships do what Nick and Neil did for me. Every 2-3 weeks either both of them or one of them would sit down with me and go through my past assignments. This was awesome, hearing feedback on what I was doing right and what needed some tweaking is so important not just in college but throughout your professional career. I think if you can find a few people who's opinion you not only trust but respect that can only make you a better photographer.

This internship I only shot with 2 fixed lens, and occasionally a telephoto zoom. I would recommend this to anyone that feels like they rely to heavily on a zoom. My crutch was absolutely the 17-35. I got lazy about what was entering and exiting my frame, thinking that since I was wide enough I could just crop to what I wanted. Using the 35 and 50 helped to change that; instead of zooming with my hand I used my legs. I'm still young with good joints and a good back so I crouched more and ended up laying on my stomach more, this not only helped clean up my backgrounds but gave me more control over my composition. I recently read that Garry Winogrand never cropped his photos, I hope to one day do that.

Another thing that Nick and Neil helped me with was my cropping. They are all about maintaining that aspect ratio...I wasn't. It is something that is still difficult for me to grasp (or maybe I'm too stubborn to grasp) but I understand the reasoning and see that in stories especially it helps to keep the photos cohesive. It also comes back to be more picky about what I want entering and exiting the frame. There are things that as a photographer you can't control but the things you can, be picky about it.

I think what I'll miss most is their excitement and passion for their work. It's refreshing to work with people who know certain things about the job stink but continue to work hard and enjoy what their doing. Also I'll miss the jokes and the lingo that I still don't understand. Banger = good/awesome Grenade = bad/horrible, I think?

Homer Townships 150th Birthday

Fair Queen

 

 Here's my fair queen edit and two shots I like that didn't make the edit. Big thank you to Nick King and Neil Blake for their help with the editing and Nick for the layout design.

Some Fair Features

Small Animal Auction

Pinched

This past weekend the Eckers went to a family pig roast and I got to come along. Michael likes to play with door handles or anything that will open and close, pinched his fingers in the car door. He rarely gets upset or cries but did when he hurt himself. He didn't stay upset for long.

testing the light

Cats

Ballet Class

New Sheriff in Town

'Lympics and Pow Wows

Some of Michael and Barb. I want to somehow incorporate the picture of the little boy praying that hangs in Michael's room, not sure if this is that photo. Barb was supposed to get her haircut but couldn't decide on a style so she took Michael and Saige to get some ice cream. Though Michael didn't enjoy the ice cream he loved the horses.

Big Sister

Today I got to spend some more time with the Eckers and Michael. I was looking for photos of Michael and his older sister Saige. I wanted to show something about their relationship that is special. While Saige gets frustrated with Michael, she takes a big role in helping Michael and watching over him, in big sister protective manner. I think I relate to Saige because I too am a big sister and really wanted to show her in a way that shows her love for a her little brother.

Kevin Draves

I was driving some back country roads looking for features and I saw a man in the middle of a field pulling weeds while talking on the phone. I wanted that photo but I think I got something much better. While this isn't a great photo, I had the opportunity to have such a great conversation with Kevin that I didn't mind my lack luster photo.

He and I spent a good 40 minutes talking about farming, what a trillion dollars looks like, why Japanese beetles are awful, and wild boars. It's not just taking photographs that are important when you're a photojournalist, I think listening is equally important. If you're unwilling to listen to the person or people you're photographing, how can you expect to learn more about them?

Kite Flying