Tag Archives: visual journalism

Rollergirls Doing Right: a video

Hey folks! Long time no update. We’ll just skip past the I’ve-been-busy bit and jump into what I’ve been busy with.

My final project for my advanced photojournalism class in the spring was to find a story in the community and shoot and edit a video on it. I chose to highlight the community service work done by the local women’s roller derby team, the Classic City Rollergirls. I’ve done a few community-based stories in my time in varying formats, but my first time shooting video was… well, I’ll illustrate with an anecdote. I had a very short-lived stint in my high school’s marching band, and when I was told to play the music from memory AND step to my spots in tempo (which was 180 beats per minute, by the way), I just stood there, wondering if I was destined for marching band failure. (I did eventually get it, but man, was it hard at first.) Everything I had learned in previous classes about composing shots, establishing a visual hierarchy, etc. just went out the window as soon as the picture started moving. I kind of know how Harry Potter felt the first time he saw the people in the picture frames move, because as someone who is primarily a photographer, it was totally foreign for me.

Still, it could’ve been worse for my first time, right? Deep, deep thanks to the ladies I interviewed in the video, as well as the Classic City Rollergirls as a whole. They do a lot of wonderful work in Athens, Ga., and I can’t wait to see what they accomplish in the future. Also, big thanks to the Chattanooga Roller Girls, who were kind enough to comp me a ticket so that I could film at their bout with CCRG up in Chattanooga. (I travel far and wide for my stories.) Be sure to watch in HD, because it’s just more fun that way.

(Note: I’m so sorry to High Jinxxx, the spelling of whose derby name I failed to verify before exporting the video! I know, total journo fail. I’ll go back in and edit and re-upload when I get a minute.)

First Sunday: an audio slideshow

Back to back audio slideshows that both take place in churches, but were created a year apart! Pure coincidence, I assure you.

I spent a weekend in late February of this year traipsing around Lavonia, Ga., with my photojournalism class for what’s known in the UGA visual journalism program as Weekend Workshop. It’s mentioned from the intro class and alluded to as a time of intense immersion and exponential learning. And it is. You’re literally immersed in your story by staying in the city where it’s happening for three days (well, two and a half, but who’s counting). I learned a lot about shooting, about people, but I also bonded with my classmates in a way I hadn’t before that weekend.

(Another funny coincidence: I saw a photo I took of myself from last year’s weekend workshop that I attended briefly, and I wore the exact same chunky white scarf both times. It’s now the Weekend Workshop scarf in my mind.)

I’ll recount to you how I fell into finding my story subject. There I was, standing at the front counter in the newsroom of the Franklin County Citizen-Leader, paging through the newspaper in a desperate attempt to find a story (since my first three had fallen through in a matter of hours) when in walks a very confused-looking man.

My many years of working customer service-related jobs trained me to greet and try to help such confused-looking people, so I piped up and said, “Hi! How are you? How can I help you?” Like I owned the place. Given my intermittent social anxiety, I surprised even myself with that.

He introduced himself as Adam Tripp, the pastor at the Lavonia Church of God. He said he was looking to talk to someone who worked there, so I directed him to my professor (who, for the record, doesn’t work at the Franklin County paper, but I figured he would be able to direct Pastor Adam to someone who does). They chatted for a bit, and when the pastor revealed that he was new in town and had just been hired but days before, I decided then and there that if it came to blows between myself and the other students looking for stories, I wouldn’t go down without a fight.

Thankfully, we avoided that nastiness altogether (though let it be known that I would’ve won). I went full Hermione Granger in my enthusiasm in claiming coverage of Pastor Adam’s story. And the rest, as they say, is an audio slideshow that you can watch below.

Oh? That’s not what they say? I’ve been living a lie.

Anyway. I don’t know if I can really say that I’m from the South in the same way that the people around me can. But no matter how much time I spend down here, I’m still consistently floored at how warmly I’m welcomed by strangers. Pastor Adam, his family and the rest of the congregation were unspeakably, astonishingly kind to me and I will forever be grateful for, and touched by, their generosity of spirit. A genuine thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone at the Lavonia Church of God who had a kind word or a smile for me that weekend. And there were many.

In Good Faith: an audio slideshow

I had fun with this one.

My darling roommate (who was simply my friend at the time) was talking to me about her sister about a year ago, and when she told me that her sister worked in campus ministry and lived off of donations, my ears perked up, as they are wont to do when I hear something that would make a great story.

(Thankfully, this journalistic instinct has developed over the years. I used to pass on things like this with little more than a “cool story, friend! Now what am I going to do a story on?” I know better now.)

I told her that I just so happened to be looking for a good story for my photojournalism class, and her sister Adeline graciously agreed to let me follow her around with a camera and do a brief interview. The results are below.

Actually, before we begin: I swear on Flying Spaghetti Monster that my photos were sharp. I’m not sure what happened between Soundslides converting the slideshow to a video and uploading it to Vimeo that made the images look like they were shot on a cell phone camera from 2003. Please just trust that yes, I know how to focus my camera and yes, the photos were originally sharp.

Cool? Cool. Here we go.