essay

Writing for Media

Final Assignment: Digital Photo Essay

Mandatory Minimum, Words: at least 20 grafs of writing (plus headline and dek)

Mandatory Minimum, Images: at least seven images

ASSIGNMENT OVERVIEW

A journalistic photo essay.

In order to compose this project successfully, make sure you closely read the materials I have placed in the required readings section for Week 8. By definition, a journalistic photo essay must be: 1) A true story, and; 2) A story that combines clear, evocative writing and carefully selected images into a meaningful and informative story package.

BIG TIP: Make sure that you use some type of Word-Wrap software to incorporate your images and your text in a meaningful way—don’t just plop your images at the center of the page, and don’t simply save all your images for the end. Instead, try to intersperse your images throughout your story in a way that provides visual balance and harmony.

PITCH YOUR BIG IDEA

By Thursday of this week, you will post your big idea for a photo essay on Canvas. This will comprise your assignment pitch. I may not accept your idea without suggesting modifications. This is typical for the editorial process.

Your big idea should comprise something you feel passionately about, and a topic that will be conducive for good photos—because you are going to build your assignment around these photos. Who is going to take the pictures? You are. Can you use your smartphone to take them? Yes, you can use any apparatus that will take pictures—your iPad, your cell phone, your GPS. Anything.

Once you have The Big Idea for a photo essay, ask yourself who you are going to interview for your story. You should have at least one expert source who knows something about your story on a professional level, and at least one person who can relate to your content on a personal level (not a family member).

If you are really stuck for ideas and can’t figure anything out, here are some ideas I thought up in about five minutes time over coffee this morning. All it takes to have a good idea is a cup of coffee and the willingness to think outside the box. If you can’t think of your own idea, then feel free to select one of them and/or cannibalize it to suit your interests:

· A day in the life of a playground during COVID times

· The child care center at OSU and what’s going on there during COVID times

· What is happening with the Climbing Wall during COVID?

· Fishing for steelhead on The Mckenzie River

· The reality of actually hunting for your own Thanksgiving Turkey

· The tourist resources at the top of Marys Peak

· The High Desert Museum in Bend

· Parking at OSU

· The new Art Facility at OSU

· Do people still smoke at OSU, even though there’s a campus ban?

· What’s happening at The Horse Center at OSU (starring all the pretty horses)

· The rollout of the new Tesla Model X at your local car dealership

· How to navigate a sailboat

· Political activism on Portland’s Burnside Bridge

· The Mustang Rescue Facility near Burns, Oregon

· The Crabtree Creek Fish Hatchery

· A day in the life of Gathering Together Farm

· The First Congregation Church of Christ’s “Safe Camp” for homeless people

· The homeless camp near the First Alternative Coop

All of these ideas have merit, all of them would make good photographs–and I am sure with a bit of spit-and-polish, you could can up with some even dandier ideas of your own. Because I would always rather that you formulate your own idea—but if you are really stuck, borrow one of mine.

ASSIGNMENT CONTENTS

1. Name and Slug

2. Headline and Dek

3. One of the kickers I taught you

4. At least 20 grafs of body copy, including

a. A clearly identifiable lead graf

b. At least two interview statements from an expert source

c. At least two interview statements from a non-expert source

d. A clearly identifiable research graf that attributes your research sources clearly, and not in MLA style

5. At least seven images

a. At least five of which must be photographs related to the story

b. Two of which can be supporting media such as maps, charts, audio files, video clips, etc.

6. At least three embedded hyperlinks in different grafs of your body copy—NOT URLS, but working embedded hyperlinks that connect to information that relates to your story somehow.

SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

I will create a Digital Photo Essay Gradebook and place it in the Week 10 Study Module. You will place your story there in whatever format works best for you—provided it works well for me, too. This means all your hyperlinks should actually work, your images should be clear and visible, your videos should actually run (if you used video). Everything should actually work.

ALERT: DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES USE GOOGLE DOC.S FOR THIS ASSIGNMENT. I cannot open, and refuse to open Google Docs for this type of work—it is not a professional-grade processing program, so do not use it. Feel free to use WORD, Wix, or any other platform that works for you, providing that you first test it to make sure it will also work for me (your grade depends on it), and providing that it is not Google Docs.

FINAL TIP: Be creative, feel free to get as wild and risky with your writing as you like—I do not balk at colorful or adventurous language and no topic matter is off the map for me (trust me, I have a thick skin), provided it does not damage or threaten to damage anyone’s health. This is your chance to get outside. Do not put your health in danger, but please feel free to climb a mountain, kayak a stream, try something new for the very first time and document the experience—or document somebody else’s life-changing experience in a way we can really touch and feel.

In the days that come, I will post some amazing and fantastic photo essay materials in the Week 9 Photo Essay Gallery—but for right now, make this project your own.

J.