Syllabus

Instructor: Andy Langager
Email: andylangager@gmail.com
Cell: 319-290-8229
Office: 3W Room 02 (the office on the left)
Class meeting: TR 2:05 p.m. — 3:55 p.m.
Text: Kobre, Kenneth. 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 & Software:

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)
• Access to Photoshop and Bridge (provided by our digital darkroom lab)
• Flickr account

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 (e.g. 70-200mm)
• 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 (No Facebook!).

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


Planned Grade breakdown:
10 Project Assignments 250 points
4 News Events 25 points each 150
Quizes & NewsU 50
Clip book (50 items) or Paper 50
5 One-on-one meetings 20 points each 100
Attendance 50
Final Portfolio ____ 50
Total 700 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. I hope everyone meets every deadline and I will try to make them reasonable.
Late assignments will be accepted up to a week late, but they will be marked off 50%.



Final Portfolio: At the end of the semester, you'll hand in a printed portfolio of your 20 best photos. They should be printed by a professional printing service (recommended: Snapfish, Smugmug, Kodak, Shutterfly).
It should be handed in with a simple black art portfolio book ($5.50 on Amazon)

Project Assignments:

• Family/Friend Photo story
• Family/Friend story portrait
• Sports assignment 1
• Celebrity Illustration
• Candid Portrait

• Photo story 2
• Studio Portrait
• Conceptual illustration
• Sports assignment 2
• Photo story 3

News Event Assignments (25 points each):
In addition to our Project Assignments, you will be responsible for 4 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.

News Events are due Jan 31, February 28, March 31 and April 14.

They should be turned in via Flickr on the day due or they will be marked late (50% off).


Your choice: Clip book or Paper (50 points):

At the end of the semester, you'll hand in either a "clip" book or a short paper (NOT BOTH).

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.

(continued on next page)

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 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 -- an easy way to do it is "Save for the Web" in Photoshop).
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 adjust 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 strive to be flexible and fair to all students.

Calendar:
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Week 1
January 11 - Tuesday
Introduction/syllabus
Chapter 8: Camera bag

January 13 - Thursday
Lecture #1
Chapter 1: Assignment
Chapter 2: Spot News
Chapter 3: General News
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Week 2
January 18 - Tuesday - Meetings I begin
2:00: Nicole
2:20: Tracy
2:40: Maegan
3:00: Courtney
3:20: Lori

January 20 - Thursday
2:00: Lindsey
2:20: Morgan
2:40: Roger
3:00: Kristine
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Week 3
January 25 - Tuesday
2:00: William
2:20:
2:40: Amanda
3:00: Erica

January 27 - Thursday
2:00: Laine
2:20: Jenna
2:40: Hunter
3:00:
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Week 4
February 1 - Tuesday
Lecture #2
Quiz Chapter 1, 2, 3, 4
NewsU.org "Language of the Image"
Have read:
Chapter 4: Features
Chapter 10: Covering the Issues
Chapter 14: Illustration

February 3 - Thursday
Work day
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Week 5
February 8 - Tuesday - Meetings II begin
2:00: Nicole
2:20: Tracy
2:40: Maegan
3:00: Courtney
3:20:

February 10 - Thursday
2:00: Lori
2:20: Lindsey
2:40: Morgan
3:00: Roger
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Week 6
February 15 - Tuesday
2:00: Kristine
2:20: William
2:40: Amanda
3:00: Erica



February 17 - Thursday
2:00: Laine
2:20: Jenna
2:40: Hunter
3:00:
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Week 7
February 22 - Tuesday
Lecture #3
Quiz Chapters 5, 7, 14
Have read:
Chapter 5: Portraits
Chapter 6: Sports
Chapter 7: Photo editing

February 24 - Thursday
Make-up meetings if needed
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Week 8
March 1 - Tuesday - Meetings III begin
2:00: Nicole
2:20: Tracy
2:40: Maegan
3:00: Courtney
3:20:

March 3 - Thursday
2:00: Lori
2:20: Lindsey
2:40: Morgan
3:00: Roger
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Week 9
March 8 - Tuesday
2:00: Kristine
2:20: William
2:40: Amanda
3:00: Erica

March 10- Thursday
2:00: Laine
2:20: Jenna
2:40: Hunter
3:00:

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Week 10
March 15 - 17 NO CLASS • SPRING BREAK!
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Week 11
March 22 - Tuesday
Quiz
Lecture #4
Have read:
Chapter 11: Photo Story
Chapter 15: Ethics
Chapter 16: Law

March 24 - Thursday
Make-up day
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Week 12
March 29 - Tuesday
2:00 Nicole
2:30 Tracy
3:00 Maegan

March 31 - Thursday
2:00 Courtney
2:30 Lori
3:00 Lindsey
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Week 13
April - 5 - Tuesday
2:00 Morgan
2:30 Roger
3:00 Kristine

April 7 - Thursday
2:00 William
2:30 Amanda
3:00 Erica
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Week 14
April 12 - Tuesday
Quiz (Mostly Chapter 15 & 16)
Lecture #5
Have read:
Chapter 12: Multimedia
Chapter 13: Video
Chapter 17: History
Chapter 18: Turning Pro

April 14 - Thursday
2:00 Laine
2:30 Jenna
3:00 Hunter
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Week 15
April 19 - Tuesday
2:00
2:30

April 21 - Thursday
Make-up meetings
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Week 16
April 26 - Tuesday
Work day

April 28 - Thursday
Portfolio, Clip-book and paper due today at 2pm.
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Finals week - Portfolio will be available for pick-up in photo classroom.