Syllabus

Photojournalism
Syllabus • ART 289


Instructor: Andy Langager
Email: andylangager@gmail.com
Cell: 319-290-8229
Office: 3W Room 02 (the office on the left inside)
Class meeting:
Text: Kobre, Kennth. Photojournalism: The Professionals' Approach (6th Ed.)

Course Objectives:
Students will learn basic visual and technical aspects of photojournalism, using a digital camera, while photographing a series of general news, feature, performing arts, sports and community events.

Equipment:

Required: DSLR Camera that can shoot RAW, 2 gig memory card (at least), reporter's notebook, photo portfolio, lens tissue and fluid, Q-tips, Rocket

Recommended (roughly in order of importance):
• Print supplies: 2-sided scotch tape, acid free "art" tape, sharpie, photo paper (type will be announced), photo mats, foam core board for arrangement assignment
• extra memory cards
• Travel bag
• External flash (Canon Speedlight, for example)
• Tripod or monopod
• Small tripod or beanbag
• UV filter (to protect lens)
• Wide angle lens
• Telephoto lens (135mm or longer)
• 50mm (f1.4 or f1.8)or 35mm (f1.4 or f2) recommended for low light situations, although image stabilizing lenses and higher ISO settings with lower noise make these less needed
• Battery grip and/or extra battery
• Point and shoot camera (as a backup)
• 3-ring binder for handouts


Attendance:
Attendance is required unless otherwise noted as an optional work day. Much of the work we do will depend on you being in class. Please try to make it on time to class. If you cannot make it, please try to email or call me to let me know ahead of time. If you have an excuse (note from doctor, etc.) please bring me a copy.

If there is an assignment opportunity during class time, please just let me know ahead of time.

Class and computer etiquette:
Please only use the digital darkroom computers for work related to our class. Checking your school email and uploading assignments to Flickr is fine, checking your Facebook is not. Also, no texting during lecture, please. If you need to use your phone, please leave the room.


Grade breakdown:
15 Events 20 points each 300 points
5 Assignments 25 points each 125 points
Quiz 25 points
Clip book (70 items) 50 points
Chronicle work/Attendence 25 points
Total 525 points

Late assignments: Five points off per day (that's two full letter grades on a typical assignment!). I'll try my best to give you reasonable deadlines. If you know you will be late with an assignment because of extenuating circumstances, please talk to me and we can try to arrange something that is fair. Unless otherwise stated, assignments are due at the beginning of class.

Project Assignments (25 points each):
Arrangement (Photo essay)
Illustration (Studio or other)
Portrait (Candid and studio)
"Scoop" / spot news
Sports (DMACC Bears or other)

"Weekly" Assignments (20 points each):
In addition to our five project assignments, you will be responsible for 15 other assignments of your choice throughout the semester. You can shoot sporting events, concerts, performances, media events, spot news, protests, or anything else newsworthy. If you are unsure whether it's newsworthy, talk to me! But if time is limited, shoot first, ask questions later.
You should turn these in on a CD at the end of the semester, each assignment in a different folder. The folder should have a slug (one or two word description of the story) and the date. For example: DMACC CHOIR 4-12-09
All weekly assignments are due the day of our final. It is strongly recommended you finish 9 by spring break.
Flickr will be another option for your assignments. We'll talk about this.

Clip book:
To keep up with what local photojournalists are doing, I'd like you to clip photos, along with their captions (cut lines), and paste/insert them into an album to hand in at the end of the semester. You'll need a 3-ring album that has the full-page static cling style pages (not the 4x6 pockets) and has enough pages to fit 70 clips (usually 1 clip per page). You can find clips in the Des Moines Register (you can get a free paper with a gas refill at Kum and Go), Des Moines Juice (free), CityView (free), Datebook (free),or any other local paper.

I'd like you to critique 10 of the photos positively or negatively according to what we've studied in class. You can paperclip or insert a short (150 words or so) typed critique next to the photo.

If you clip 5 photos per week, you'll spread the work out through the whole semester. Don't leave it to the last minute! (tip: if you know anyone who gets the Des Moines Register, ask if you can have their old copies)

Flickr:
I'd like you to turn in your "Weekly" assignments in via Flickr (or, if you have another photo service like Picasa or Photobucket, that is okay too). If you already have an account, great. If not, it's free to sign up. The free account is limited to 100 MB per month, but that should be enough. Add me as a contact or send me the link to your profile so I can bookmark you. Then, all you have to do is upload your weekly assignments and add a slug and caption. No hassles with CDs. If you don't want your photos public, you can set the privacy level, just make sure to add me so I can see them. Note: if you do have a pro account, be aware of your copyright settings and sizes that people can download your photos. If you want, add your classmates and share what you've done.

Expectations:
Come to class. Do the assignments on time. Please contact me if you will miss class or are struggling to meet a deadline. I try to be flexible but above all fair to all students.

Calendar:
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Week 1
Tuesday January 13
Introduction/syllabus

Thursday January 15
Chapter 1: Assignment
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Week 2
Tuesday January 20
Chapter 2: Spot News
Assign: "Scoop" / Spot news due March 12

Thursday January 22
Chapter 3: General News
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Week 3
Tuesday January 27

Thursday January 29
Chapter 4: Features
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Week 4
Tuesday February 3
Chapter 11: Photo Story
Assign: Arrangement due March 24

Thursday February 5
Chapter 6: Sports
Assign: Sports due Finals week
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Week 5
Tuesday February 10
Chapter 7: Photo editing

Thursday February 12
Chapter 5: Portraits
Assign: Portrait due March 24
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Week 6
Tuesday February 17
Chapter 8: Camera bag

Thursday February 19
Chapter 10: Covering the Issues
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Week 7
Tuesday February 24

Thursday February 26
Chapter 14: Illustration
Assign: Illustration Due April 28
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Week 8
Tuesday March 3
Chapter 15: Ethics

Thursday March 5
Chapter 16: Law
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Week 9
Tuesday March 10
Quiz

Thursday March 12
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Tuesday March 17 SPRING BREAK - NO CLASS

Thursday March 19 SPRING BREAK - NO CLASS
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Week 10
Tuesday March 24
Chapter 9: Strobe

Thursday March 26
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Week 11
Tuesday March 31
Chapter 12: Multimedia

Thursday April 2
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Week 12
Tuesday April 7
Chapter 13: Video

Thursday April 9
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Week 13
Tuesday April 14
Chapter 17: History


Thursday April 16
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Week 14
Tuesday April 21
Chapter 18: Turning Pro

Thursday April 23
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Week 15
Tuesday April 28

Thursday April 30
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[Finals Week May 4-8]
Portfolio due