Reflection

Mercy Dankyi-Amoah
History of photojournalism
 Reflection

When I initially took this class I thought it was going to be an easy class, but I quickly came to realize it was going to be that easy and without a doubt this is by far the hardest class that I have taken, I found myself I struggled with the simplest of tasks often taking a considerably longer time to complete a task than the other students. I realized I was struggling when I missed my first assignment, and also trying to split my time between class and family it was very difficult for me. During this course, I struggled with this class not because I couldn't understand it but because I did not think it was going to be this involved. I think this course is for more of a person who is going into journalism, photography or any of the field that has to do with this course. I am used to reading books then do my research to back up what I have read, that was where my struggle was. There were many challenges that I faced with this class one was not being able to access the school library to be able to do my research and so I had to rely on my own way of research, I also didn't have the latest software on my computer so must of the time I was having issues with my computer which resulted in me completing most of my assignments at work the submitting it. I was not consistent with my work. Balancing a job and college coursework and a family is certainly challenging also.
Before this class I knew nothing about photojournalism what they have to go through on a daily basis to get the images and stories that we see and read about, I also learned the types of cameras and how far camera have come, I learned who invented the first camera and how it was used to take pictures.

 I feel like nothing went well with this class because the moment I feel to understand the first assignment and I was made aware that I was falling the course then I started to panic so I did not take time to look at my work or read it through I just wanted to do it and hand it in so I get a grade for it even if my work it wasn't quality and I also did not want to fail this class. I knew I should have withdrawn from the class but I continued through because I thought I would improve. I think my moment of satisfaction was when I was able to complete an assignment and hand it in and get credit for it and also get the comments from my teacher on what I did right and what I did wrong. I feel that doing my research I try my best while researching given the resources that I have , but the problem is, I don't have the time to look through all that information do to the fact that I had to read other course materials as well so it didn't give me the opportunity to roughly look through my research. It was very hard for me to focus on my research that can have such vast topics. And I feel this is the main problem for me.
 As far as blogging before this class I did not know what blogging is I had to do research on the web to find out what it was, I also had to ask people at work with the teenager to know what it. Although I understand how to now blog I think that I am able to use this in my future class, but it will not be part of what I will do on daily bases. Trying to understand what blogging is took me a while during this course moving forward I would not have any trouble should I take a course that requires the use of blogging, I think this semester was a bit of challenge for me because I also had another instructor say as part of the class we had to create a twitter account and I had no idea on how to do that as well, it is not that I don't know how to do the assignment I just don't see the relevance of these sites and what it has to do with school.
 I realize a lot of the time I did not give credit to the site where I got my information from and now sitting back and reflecting now I know why it is most important to always give the proper credit, there's almost never a good reason not to properly credit the artist. Now looking back it feel as if I cheated them on their hard work by just taking the information and not giving them the credit that is due it wasn't intentional it was just me not paying attention.
 overall I have learned a lot from taking this class, whether is blogging or photojournalist who risk their lives everyday to get us the news or images across the globe or the types of cameras that has been used over the decade this class was very interesting even if I did not pass it I would take it again without adding any other class to it and just focus on just this class. I feel that if I had manged my time  work and family properly and spend more time doing my home work I would have gain more knowledge from this class.

Final-Creative Experiential Exercise

At the beginning of this class we were asked to define what photojournalism means and in my first blog I defined as there were many ways of defining what it mean but my understand was differently but my initial research I understood as Based on my knowledge and research photojournalism is defined as a way of us keeping our history and preserving memories and it is also a way of telling story through pictures to provide us with information so we can understand what is going on the other side of the world. Photojournalist try to find stories to tell us that is meaningful, and would be interesting to us the reader, going back and to my old post I now realize what it to be a photojournalist, there is their ethical, moral, bias understanding to be able to report the news as it happens, and change the photos simply to want to tell their story although some people did.

The reason why it is important to know the history of photojournalism, I think like anything in history we need to keep records of it to preserve it history so we can reference it back. I think that it was just keeping memories alive and also reporting what is happening around the word and we should know more about photojournalism and the people who put their life at risk to get us the news. We should also keep looking in to this profession and their roles in history, I think that we should do more to protect our journalist because they put their lives a risk every time they go out on missions to tell their stories through their lens.

My “ah-ha moment for was when professor Nordell post two images which looked identical to each other and as I look close at that image I thought they looked similar yet different while both picture looked the same they were both taken in two different era, that gave me a little understanding of what photojournalism is.

When asked if I think photography would change the world, everyone has their own opinion about what this means to them. I said that photojournalism will changes the world in some cases we rely on the journalist to tell us what happening and here in our home state or across the ocean miles away it can also sway the opinion of the public. One example is an image that has changes the world is of this man falling from the towers during 9/11 this image captured this man falling to his death that tragic moment it is an image that we as American will never forget and same way his family will never forget him.

A person falls from the North tower of the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001.Source:Supplied

 http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/media/stories-behind-iconic-photos-that-changed-the-world/news-story/f6875a32b36e5f7f535a9f6e525cffbf

over all during this class i had the opportunity to ready and look at my class mates photojournalist profile to see different carer path and  style each photojournalist took, it also made me realize and appreciate my class mates research they did. for example I liked Matthew Jones blog post in which he profiled Lynn Johnson where is mentioned that she what motivated her explained that her motivation is revolved around being a female in a male dominated profession. Johnson stated, “documenting women’s issues feels like aresponsibility as a woman photographer”.taken by Lynn Johnson

I also liked reading Bianca's profile on Xyza Cruz Bacani, I learned that she took photography so she and earn money to help her brother with his education, and she become more and more good at she realized that photography changes her life and in turn she can also change someone elses life she is quoted as saying http://www.interaksyon.com/article/107459/filipina-maid-in-hong-kong-now-a-scholar-for-new-york-based-photojournalism-foundation

image taken by Lit Whorlow
source is Good News.










In Brittany's profile  I learn how women photojournalist like Vyarawalla went through a lot to gain the respect that they need to work in this filed ans also learned that she was the first female photojournalist in India and how it wasn't easy for her family to understand and she was quotes as saying that, “But even though her family’s traditional,conservative values may have dictated Homai’s attire, they were far more liberal and open-minded when it came to decisions regarding her life


 photo by unknown
source;http://www.thebetterindia.com/13969/homai-vyarawalla-india-first-female-photo-journalist/
 year taken was 1960

  Creative Experiential Exercise
I think that being a photojournalist is being at the right place at the right time it can also be where you place the object in the photo to get the dramatic effect you want. it was really hard for me to get this pictures in the right moment with a moving vehicle and kids screaming in the back of the car,but i had to get the perfect picture I had to take the pictures a couple of time to get the one that i wanted. i used my cell phone to take this pictures below, like David Guttenfelder find that using your cell phone to take photos are great because you get to upload them on your computer instantly or send them to friends and family right way.

 

photo by Mercy Dankyi -Amoah

year taken 12/12/16

with iphone 6plus

Here is my Photojournalist Profile