Syllabus

Photojournalism
Syllabus • ART 289 • Fall 2010

Instructor: Andy Langager
Email: andylangager@gmail.com
Cell: 319-290-8229
Office: 3W Room 02 (the office on the left inside)
Class meeting: TR 12:20-2:10p.m.
Text: Kobre, Kennth. Photojournalism: The Professionals' Approach (6th Ed.)
Website: http://photo289.blogspot.com

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 (notebook you can fit in your back pocket)
• USB drive or portable hard drive (at least 4 gig recommended)

Optional
• Cleaning supplies: lens tissue and fluid, Q-tips, Rocket
• Extra memory cards
• Travel bag
• External flash
• Tripod or monopod
• Small tripod or beanbag
• UV filter (to protect lens)
• Wide angle lens
• Telephoto lens (200mm or longer)
• Battery grip and/or extra battery
• Point and shoot camera (as a backup)


Attendance:
Attendance is required for "lecture" days. 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 a news 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, but please no Facebook in this lab during class time.

Also, no texting during lecture, please. If you need to use your phone, please leave the room.


Grade breakdown:
6 Project Assignments 25 points each 150 points
6 News Events 25 points each 150
2 Quizes 50
Clip book (50 items) or Paper 50
5 One-on-one meetings 20 points each 100
Attendance 50
Final Portfolio ____ 50
Total 600 points

Grade descriptions: Want an "A" in the class? Read on to see what I'm looking for.

"A" work: Deadlines met regularly for assignments; student has gone above and beyond to demonstrate he or she understands the concepts of the assignment. Shows time and effort put into every assignment. Overall work is excellent.

"B" work: Deadlines met for nearly every assignment; student has shown he or she has a strong understanding of the concepts of the assignments. The basic requirements of the assignments are fulfilled with good, solid work. Overall work is above average.

"C" work: Most deadlines met, but some missed. Not all assignments fulfilled to specifications. Student shows some understanding for the concepts at hand, but some of the work could have benefited from more time or effort put into it. Overall work is average.

"D" work: Deadlines missed regularly. More than one or two assignments missed. Student does not fully demonstrate an understanding of the concepts. Not much effort put into work. Overall work is below average.

"F" work: Deadlines missed regularly. Assignments left incomplete. Student shows distinct lack of effort towards the class. No demonstration of learning the concepts at hand. Overall work is far below average.

Grading scale:
95-100% A
90-94 A-
87-89 B+
84-86 B
80-83 B-
77-79 C+
74-76 C
70-73 C-
67-69 D+
64-66 D
60-63 D-
59 and lower F

Late assignments: Journalists work on a deadline. If a deadline is missed, they miss the window of opportunity for their photo to be printed. Late assignments will not be accepted.

However, I understand that conflicts can come up at the last minute. If you miss an assignment you will have an extra credit opportunity later in the semester (but it will only be enough to make up one assignment).

Final Portfolio: At the end of the semester you'll hand in an electronic portfolio (website gallery or PowerPoint presentation) of your Project Assignments and your best shots from your News Events.


Project Assignments (25 points each):
• Photo story
• "Scoop"
• Conceptual Illustration
• Candid Portrait
• Studio Portrait
• Sports (DMACC Bears, I-Cubs, or other)

News Event Assignments (20 points each):
In addition to our six project assignments, you will be responsible for 6 other News Event assignments of your choice throughout the semester. You can shoot:
• Sporting events (basketball, volleyball, baseball, wrestling)
• Concerts
• Performances
• Media events like press conferences, ground breaking, etc.
• Speeches or appearances
• Spot news like fire, accidents, anything you come across
• Protests
• Or anything else newsworthy.

For every news event, you'll turn in your 5 best shots with captions on each one. We'll talk more about captions later.

What is newsworthy? Newsworthiness is made up of such factors as importance, impact, human interest, celebrity, proximity and timeliness. One test is, ask yourself: Can I imagine this photo the local paper? If yes, then it is probably newsworthy.

Your news assignments must be handed in to me (or posted on Flickr) on time or they won't be accepted. See dates below:

Due dates for News Events:
News Event 1: Sept 23
News Event 2: Oct 12
News Event 3 & 4: Nov. 4
News Event 5 & 6: Nov. 30

Clip book or Paper (50 points):

At the end of the semester, you'll hand in either a "clip" book or a short paper.

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 or scrapbook that has enough pages to fit 50 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.

Paper: I'd like you to write a 1000-word paper on one of these four topics:
• A famous photojournalist (Margaret Bourke-White, Weegie, Dorothea Lange, Robert Capa, Roger Fenton, Eddie Adams, etc.)
• The history of photojournalism
• Photojournalism ethics (for example, dealing with Photoshop)
• Take a single issue of The Des Moines Register and critique all the photos chosen for that issue. What works? What doesn't? How are the captions? How would you improve the photos? Do they tell a story? Does it match the copy (words) of the story?

Flickr:
I'd like you to turn in your six News Event assignments in via Flickr. 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 (just make sure to shrink/compress your photos after you edit them).
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 for each event (one or two word descriptive title of the story you covered) and caption. If you don't want your photos public, you can set the privacy level, just make sure to add me as a contact so I can see them.

One-on-one meetings:
When we don't have lecture, we will be doing one-on-one meetings to talk about your work. Always bring your latest photos, edited, with you on a USB drive. We'll discuss your News Events photos or Project Assignment photos.
I will make a schedule for our meetings. We'll have 5 meetings total. (These are very informal, it's just a chance to chat about your work)

Expectations:
Come to lectures and one-on-one meetings or reschedule if you can't make it. Meet deadlines for assignments. Please let me know if you are struggling with the assignments. I try to be flexible and fair to all students.

Calendar:
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Week 1
Thursday, August 26
Introduction/syllabus
Chapter 8: Camera bag
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Week 2
Tuesday, August 30
Assign: "Scoop" / due September 16
Lecture #1
Chapter 1: Assignment
Chapter 2: Spot News
Chapter 3: General News

Thursday, September 2 Meeting I - Talk about assignment ideas/cameras/Photoshop
One-on-one meetings
12:20: Ashley
12:40: Matthew
1:00: Amy
1:20: Austin
1:40: Nicollette

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Week 3
Tuesday, September 7 Meeting I - Talk about assignment ideas/cameras/Photoshop
12:20: Stephen
12:40: Amber
1:00: Larry
1:20: Tiffany
1:40: Brianne

Thursday, September 9 Meeting I - Talk about assignment ideas/cameras/Photoshop
12:20: Laura
12:40: Kimberly
1:00: Jessica
1:20: Joseph
1:40
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Week 4
Tuesday, September 14
Catch-up/work day

Thursday, September 16
Due: Scoop assignment
Lecture #2
Chapter 4: Features
Chapter 10: Covering the Issues
Chapter 14: Illustration
Assign: Illustration due October 5
Assign: Photo Story due November 2

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Week 5
Tuesday, September 21
Catch-up/work day

Thursday, September 23 - Meeting II - Bring one news event and "Scoop" assignment
12:20: Amy
12:40: Austin
1:00: Nicollette
1:20: Ashley
1:40: Matthew
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Week 6
Tuesday, September 28 - Meeting II - Bring one news event and "Scoop" assignment
12:20: Larry
12:40: Tiffany
1:00: Brianne
1:20: Stephen
1:40: Amber

Thursday, September 30 - Meeting II - Bring one news event and "Scoop" assignment
12:20: Jessica
12:40: Joseph
1:00: Laura
1:20: Kimberly
1:40
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Week 7
Tuesday, October 5
Due: Illustration
Lecture #3
Quiz (Chapters 5, 7, 14)
Chapter 5: Portraits
Chapter 6: Sports
Chapter 7: Photo editing
Assign: Sports, due November 16
Assign: Portrait due November 2

Thursday, October 7 -
Make-up meetings if needed
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Week 8
Tuesday, October 12 - Meeting III - Bring 2nd news event and Photo Story
12:20: Nicollette
12:40: Ashley
1:00: Matthew
1:20: Amy
1:40: Austin

Thursday, October 14 - Meeting III - Bring 2nd news event and Photo Story
12:20: Brianne
12:40: Stephen
1:00: Amber
1:20: Larry
1:40: Tiffany
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Week 9
Tuesday, October 19 - Meeting III - Bring 2nd news event and Photo Story
12:20: Laura
12:40: Kimberly
1:00: Jessica
1:20: Joseph
1:40

Thursday, October 21
Catch-up
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Week 10
Tuesday, October 26
Work Day

Thursday, October 28
Work Day
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Week 11
Tuesday, November 2
Due: Portrait
Assign: Photo Story Due November 30
Lecture #4
Chapter 11: Photo Story
Chapter 15: Ethics
Chapter 16: Law

Thursday, November 4 - Meeting IV - Bring 3rd & 4th news event, Portrait assignment
12:20: Ashley
12:40: Matthew
1:00: Amy
1:20: Austin
1:40: Nicollette
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Week 12
Tuesday, November 9 - Bring 3rd & 4th news event, Portrait assignment
12:20: Stephen
12:40: Amber
1:00: Larry
1:20: Tiffany
1:40: Brianne

Thursday, November 11 - Bring 3rd & 4th news event, Portrait assignment
12:20: Laura
12:40: Kimberly
1:00: Jessica
1:20: Joseph
1:40
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Week 13
Tuesday, November 16
Due: Sports
Quiz (Mostly Chapter 15 & 16)
Lecture #5
Chapter 12: Multimedia
Chapter 13: Video
Chapter 17: History
Chapter 18: Turning Pro

Thursday, November 18
Work day
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Week 14
Tuesday, November 23
Out of class Work day

Thursday November 25 - Thanksgiving Break -- No Class
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Week 15 - Final Meetings
Due: Photo Story
Tuesday, November 30 - Bring 5th & 6th news event, Sports and Photo Story
12:20: Amy
12:40: Austin
1:00: Nicollette
1:20: Ashley
1:40: Matthew

Thursday, December 2 - Bring 5th & 6th news event, Sports and Photo Story
12:20: Larry
12:40: Tiffany
1:00: Brianne
1:20: Stephen
1:40: Amber
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Week 15
Tuesday, December 7 - Bring 5th & 6th news event Sports and Photo Story
12:20: Jessica
12:40: Joseph
1:00: Laura
1:20: Kimberly
1:40

Thursday, December 9
Make-up meetings
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[Finals Week December 13-16] -- Portfolio due