Prompt Shoot

Pause

Pose

The End

Yummy

Best of 2014

Best Photos of 2014

I think this is one of the best photos from 2014 because of its beauty. To me, its magical that an image as beautiful as this is a real thing, not just a painting of some sort, which makes me eager to learn more, And thats an aspect of photo journalism, is publishing things that give insight to people who don't get to see this kind of thing everyday.

I absolutely love this photo in its entirety. Its so interesting to me how the blur in this photo, that would be usually frowned upon, has turned into something beautiful in this photo. The color of the stage lights mixed with the blur in this photo gives the image a ghostly feel; eerie, yet incredibly beautiful.  

This photo, in my opinion, is one every aspiring photographer dreams of taking, for myself at least. The scene is set up so perfectly, the loveliness of the kissing couple mixed with the presence of the incredible moon is perfection. I especially like how in this photo, the moon almost appears to be unreal. It looks like a perfectly imperfect circle, giving it the illusion as if the moon is being viewed from a telescope. 

Song

My favorite song of 2014 was (is) Thinking Out Loud by Ed Sheeran. Although I was a little late to listening to this song, once I heard it I fell in love with it. I love Ed Sheeran's musical style. Its so soft and calming, but not slow enough to but you to sleep. It has a beat, and a nice rhythm. It also has a nice story, and I'm just a sucker for nice love story. Which made this song even more my favorite.

Movie 

I didn't see that many movies in 2014, but If I Stay is definitely one of my favorites. Honestly, I didn't think it was as phenomenal as the book (but honestly what movie is as good as its book). Regardless, If I Stay is one of my favorite books, and Gayle Foreman is one of my favorite authors. So, seeing one of my favorite books come to life and have it be almost exactly how I imagined it was incredible. I loved seeing everything be projected onto the big screen, and have the same feelings I had while reading the book as I had in the movie.

News Story

To me, one of the most important, and scariest incidents of 2014 was definitely the Malaysia Airline flight MH370. It was so incredibly and amazingly alarming to me how a plane could just disappear; without a trace. I fly enough to know that I like flying, and most of the time, I know I'm safe. However, its accidents like these that play as the little voice in the back of my head, saying something is going wrong. And for this plane to just vanish into literal thin air made lots of news and raised lots of eyebrows.

Person

In my opinion, although he didn't do a ton in 2014, the most memorable, and important, person of 2014 would be Robin Williams. Shortly after passing a tragic death earlier this year, Robin Williams was greatly remembered and admired for his work. He was a great actor; the best of his time; and so many people acknowledged that. He has participated in so many movies that made him dearly beloved in our heart. I honestly think whether you have seen none of his movies, or all of his movies, you were impacted in at least one way by the death of the amazing, Robin Williams.

Entertainment/Sports Story

Basically anyone who was not living under a rock has heard about the retirement of famous baseball star, Derek Jeter. I myself am not a baseball fan, nor did I even really know who Derek Jeter was until this story appeared on the news; he was a name without a face in my head for the longest time. To be in one business for that long, you're going to get some fans, and boy does he have fans. The only thing filling up all my feeds for days were images of Derek Jeter; and outpours of respect. That is what makes this story the most important sports story of 2014.

My Holiday

1. The most exciting thing I did over winter break was visit London on the Bowie Band trip; which was exciting and amazingly beautiful.

2. I have the same, typical new years resolution that I've had for many years, which would be to stop procrastinating, which is a really bad habit of mine.

3. In 2015, I'm really looking forward to getting a "fresh start", and becoming a sophomore, that should be fun.

Finals extra credit

1. Ki Suk was trying to calm a panhandler town that was harassing people, when he was harassed himself and pushed onto the tracks. He wasn't strong enough to lift himself onto the platform, and the photographer, Umar Abbasi, started taking pictures, flashing how flash to try and tell the conductor to stop the subway car.
2. Abbasi said he took the photo to try and get the conductors attention and tell him to stop.
3. I think if he really meant for the flash to try and stop the conductor, taking the photos was inevitable, if he already had it on flash photography, but just because he took the photo, didn't mean he had to publish the photos.
4. I think the photographer definitely could have tried harder to pull the man up, at least until the subway car was closer. So no, I don't think standing around and waiting for the car to hit him was the best choice.
5. I don't exactly disagree with putting it on the front page, considering it would be giving people information about what happened, but I feel that the story has become more about the photographer than the man that killed, and I think the photographer brought that upon himself by publishing the photo
6. I think there can be a nice balance between the two, because not every photo a journalist takes is going to be a life or death situation, and when a situation like that comes, it all depends, on sometimes the split second decision of the photographer.
7. I think so, because if its a life or death situation, it would be extremely hard to not involve yourself
8. I don't think always, because eventually someone is going to capture something like that, but the photographer has to be ready to take on the aftermath.
9. The best thing to do would be, and its easier said than done, to tell the absolute uttermost truth, stand by your word, and try to keep living your life.

Finals Exam Review

1. Captions

Pope Francis bows to the wreath in a mausoleum of the founder of modern turkey as his guards take their position next to him. The Pope visited Turkey to make ends meet as the violence continues in Turkey against Christians and other minor religions.

Young student Lily Lee studies intently for her upcoming final for school. The students were allowed very little time to study, which added much stress to Lily and her classmates.

2. Rules of Photography

Rule of thirds - placing the subject on one of the outer thirds of the grid, where the subject is slightly off center.

Balancing Elements - having an equal amount of things on either side of the picture, and not having one side more subject heavy than the other
Leading Lines- having a line that draws the eye straight to the subject
Symmetry or Pattern- having a certain object repeat in a picture in the same position, often in a straight line. A commonly used example is a row of chairs or a row of computers
Viewpoint- changing the angle of the camera, like birds eye view, which is taking the picture from above; or worms eye view, which is taking the picture from a lower point that the subject
Background- having nothing interfere with the nice background in the picture, which tends to happen a lot.
Depth- a picture where the background has a lot of dimension to it, where the viewer can see how far back the picture goes. Shadows enhance this even more
Framing - using the subjects surroundings to make a 'frame' around the face
Cropping- cropping the picture to avoid busyness around the picture
Mergers and Avoiding them- mergers is when the subject of the picture blends in with background, creating an illusions as if the background element and the subject were one thing in total. To avoid them, be aware of the background surroundings

Magazine

portrait and self portrait

Portrait

Self Portrait

Magazines Part 2

1. Early Magazine Covers

Way back when, they didn't really have a standard magazine covers. Often, the first page of the magazine has the title and the table of contents. Magazine covers usually had the same sort of look as books, and gave no insight to what the magazine was about like how we have now. Other magazines had a symbolic cover with a picture to evoke publication. Slowly, the magazine cover began to evolve a little bit, as intricate pictures and more crazy fonts were invented to be put on these magazines.

2. The Poster Cover