Press Photography 4102 — Spring 2003
Kevin Moloney

Welcome to Press Photography 4102, an advanced course in the craft of photography and Photojournalism. Hard work with your hearts, minds and eyes will make the class successful, and help you grow as a photojournalist and person.

Most class materials will be posted on the course web site, and can be downloaded or printed from there if you lose a copy of anything. There will also be postings of class schedule changes and announcements, work by students, and links to other relevant information.

http://www.colorado.edu/Journalism/photojournalism/

We have three textbooks:

Photography, 6th (Harper Collins) or 7th (Prentice Hall) Edition
Barbara London, Betsy Brill, John Upton and Kenneth Kobré.

Photojournalism: The Professional’s Approach, 4th Edition
Ken Kobré. Focal Press.

Truth Needs No Ally: Inside Photojournalism, 1st Edition
Howard Chapnick. University of Missouri Press.

Most of you will have the first two books from J3102. This class will deal with subjects we did not discuss in the first class. The third book is an outstanding guide to starting out as a photojournalist. I won’t assign the entire book, but I urge you to read the whole thing. I expect you to ask questions about the books, discuss their ideas in class, and prepare to be tested on the specific chapters I assign. The lectures will not be restatements of the text, but you will be tested on material from both reading assignments and lectures.

The object of this course is to build a portfolio and start on the road to becoming a professional photojournalist. The class will be geared toward those who wish to make this their life’s work. You will be graded on your photographic assignments and portfolios, and class participation and attendance.

Your photographs will be evaluated for:

1. Communication/News Value (How your image tells the story and if it is newsworthy)
2. Craftsmanship (Technical matters)
3. Reader Interest (Creativity, innovation and attraction)
4. Caption (IDs, name spellings, grammar and writing skills. Explain the image well.)
5. Effort (Show me you worked long and thought hard. Meet your deadlines.)


As strongly stated in J3102, journalists who are late for their assignments send a message of disrespect to their subjects and risk losing intimacy, cooperation and goodwill. BE THERE ON TIME. You cannot cover the story by phone. I encourage you to be punctual and in attendance for this class and its assignments. If without prior approval you miss three class sessions this semester or are significantly tardy three times, your final grade will drop. If you anticipate attendance problems, please see me in advance.

Deadlines are firm. Failure to meet a deadline without prior approval will result in a failing grade for that assignment. Those of you who took J3102 should know I am serious. If you anticipate a problem in filing an assignment, please talk to me beforehand and we will work out an answer.

Ethics

This class will be run like a newspaper, therefore you must be ETHICAL and RESPONSIBLE journalists. I hope when photographing for this class you will conduct yourself as a professional. Please dress and conduct yourself in a manner that is respectful toward your subject.
Any respect and trust enjoyed by journalists is earned. TRUTH is your ally and your responsibility. Your readers will trust that any picture you make as a journalist is an honest representation of a person or event. You will be required to honor that trust by not manufacturing, altering, or unduly influencing a photograph.
If you alter an image in the darkroom or computer beyond industry standards, or manufacture or reenact a seemingly spontaneous moment, YOU WILL FAIL THE CLASS.
Harsh? Yes. But as a working journalist you will be bound by the ethical standards of your publication, and failure to work within them would result in you being terminated and ostracized from the profession. Note the case of Pulitzer Prize winning Washington Post reporter Janet Cooke who created a false story in 1981. She was fired, forced to return the award, and has not worked in the field since. There will be class discussion of when it is appropriate to pose a photograph, and what degree of alteration in the darkroom or computer is acceptable.

Rights

Understand your legal rights as a journalist, but please be considerate and compassionate in their exercise.
You have the right to photograph anyone or anything seen in a PUBLIC place. The common defense cited by photojournalists when confronted by a startled or unwilling subject is “if they are in a public place, anyone can see them. Therefore anyone can photograph them.” This is wholly true. But please be compassionate and considerate enough to look through their eyes.
If you were lying on a beach in a small bathing suit, you have probably reconciled with the fact that a few dozen people will pass by and perhaps even stare at you. But you have not gone out there with the understanding that a photojournalist may steal up and freeze you to be stared at by thousands of readers of the next day’s paper. If a subject seems unwilling, and photographing that person in particular is not the specific goal of the assignment, please defer to their unease and go on your way.
In a situation where you have been invited into their private world, please balance your need to make a telling photograph with sensitivity to the subjects feelings, privacy and personal space, and you will earn trust and intimacy.
Businesses, even if they invite the public in to shop, do not necessarily invite you in to photograph. You are legally required to have verbal permission to photograph in malls, stores and business offices as well as someone’s home. Do not be surprised if the answer from a national business is “no.” They are watching their liability as you are.

NO LICENSE is required to be a journalist. You do not need a credential or official approval to photograph a spot news story occurring in public, despite what an uninformed police officer or official may think. But you do not have the right to INTERFERE with the work of emergency personnel. STAY OUT OF THE WAY while you photograph.

Police do not have the right to CONFISCATE your film. A subpoena is required. This does not mean an uninformed officer may not try to take your film. Be diplomatic and polite when dealing with someone who can arrest you, and carefully judge the value of resistance. It may be in your interest as a student photojournalist to give up the film and call the officer’s superior to get it back. If you have nothing to do for the next few hours or days and want to stand your legal ground, I applaud you. But always avoid reacting impulsively.
If you make a photograph with the subject’s understanding that it is for journalistic purposes, you cannot use it any other way without WRITTEN PERMISSION of the identifiable subjects, or the owners of recognizable property.
You can only shoot through WINDOWS if you are standing on public property and the scene inside the window is easily visible from the street. Respect the privacy of those on the other side of the glass.

Formats

The standard photo size will be 8x10 cropped for maximum IMPACT. Use the area of the 8x10-inch paper well, meaning fill at least one of the two dimensions of the paper.

All photos must be accompanied by a CAPTION that will answer the questions, “who, what, when, where, and how.” Please also include from where your subject is, and their age if they are under 18. Please follow Associated Press style in writing your captions to keep them concise and informative. There will be an AP Stylebook available in the lab for consultation, but if you don’t have a copy I highly recommend investing in one. It will be valuable to you for years to come.
Captions must be TYPED and attached to the back of your prints.
I agree with author Wilson Hicks who said, “Photojournalism is the fusion of words and pictures.” A photo alone cannot tell the complete story.

Reporting with the camera is the first goal of a photojournalist. Please get all the FACTS of the situation for your caption. All recognizable people MUST BE IDENTIFIED, and I want people in all your pictures. The CORRECT SPELLING of the subject’s name is required. If you fail to correctly spell the name of a subject in your photographs you can invite serious legal problems as well as offending the subject and the readers who know them. A libel suit can be based on a name spelling.
If you incorrectly spell the name of a subject, or make a factual error that would require a correction in a newspaper, you will fail the assignment. You will also be required to write a letter of explanation to the journalism school dean. On a newspaper staff, journalists who make such errors are required to explain in writing to the executive editor why the error was made. These letters usually wind up in their personnel file.
For decades photojournalists have fought the image of being “illiterate button-pushers,” not journalists or colleagues of reporters and editors. Write your captions well. Poor grammar or spelling in your captions will adversely affect an editor’s opinion of you like it will affect your grade in this class. Know the difference between to, too and two; there, their and they’re; its and it’s; and affect and effect. I have my problems with spelling and grammar, but I overcome them by careful proofreading. Please use a dictionary and stylebook. A well-written caption will earn you the respect of your colleagues.
The second goal of the photojournalist is craftsmanship. Know your technical processes well. Watch the way light changes through the day and in various situations so you can use the QUALITY OF LIGHT to your advantage.
Study the wealth of information in the London and Upton book to make well-crafted photographs. Like a poet cannot be successful without a great command of his or her language, a photojournalist cannot be successful without developed skills in exposing film and printing images. Know and use appropriately all the tools available to you.

Supplies

A 35mm camera. A single lens reflex type camera with interchangeable lenses and manual exposure control is required. There will be assignments requiring the use of a hot-shoe flash. If you don’t own them, borrow or buy them. You can also rent equipment from Mike’s Camera at 2500 Pearl Street (443-1715, see Harold). If you are unsure of the suitability of your camera, please consult with Kevin.

I encourage you to experiment with any and every film and developer combination so you are fluent in many processes. Know your films and developers and how they interact. In a change from the previous classes, I am asking the J3102 students to avoid T-Max 400 film. It is a film designed for the perfectly balanced light of the studio and is often difficult to use in existing light situations. As advanced students you should learn to use it, but you will probably get better results from Tri-X or Delta 400. Experiment with all of the films below:

Kodak Tri-X (E.I. 400)
Ilford Delta 400
Kodak T-Max P3200 (E.I. 3200 for low-light photography)
Ilford Delta 3200

Half of your assignments must be turned in color, scanned and toned on the computer system in the room 4 lab. Only half. I want you to polish your darkroom and black and white skills. Same as above, I’d like you to experiment. Out of the half of your assignments done in color, I want at least one shot on color slide film. Exposure of slide (or transparency or “chrome”) film requires critical metering. Learn how to read light and your meter well. Try the following color films first, then experiment with others.

For Negatives: For Slides:
Fujicolor Superia 100 Fujichrome Sensia 100
Fujicolor Superia 800 Kodak E200

I want you to shoot at least two rolls of 36 exposures for each assignment. The more frames you shoot the better chance you have to improve your work and examine your subject.

You have a choice of one of these three printing papers:

Kodak Polymax RC, glossy (F) surface
Ilford Multigrade IV Deluxe, glossy surface

Buy the papers in envelopes of 25 sheets, replacing your stock as needed to avoid wasting materials and money.
I recommend you buy a dust removal aid like Dust-Off™ or Beseler Dust Gun™ compressed gas, or Ilford Antistaticum™ cloth to clean your negatives. This time dust and scratches will count.
Ask Harold at Mike’s Camera, 2500 Pearl St. (at Folsom), or staff at Jones Drug on The Hill, for these materials. The basic film and paper chemicals described below will be provided in the lab.

Portfolios

The final goal for the class will be a PORTFOLIO or collection of your best images designed to convince someone to hire you. They will be due on the last day of class, May 1. What makes a good portfolio will be discussed in detail throughout the semester, but here at the starting point, think of filling these general categories:

Sports (action, sidelines, jubilation and dejection)
Wild Art (found feature photos)
Portraits (make them journalistic)
Breaking News (fires, accidents, disasters, murders)
General News (issues, politics)
Feature Stories (soft news, fashion, humor)
Photo Essays (a story told in a series of pictures)

This assignment will be due the day of the final exam but please start reviewing what you have now. It will take time to shoot top quality images for these categories.
I do not advise that you procrastinate on this. Good work TAKES TIME to complete, and many retries. Start thinking now about where you need to go, and what you need to do to gather the material.

Due to the shooting workload, I’m not offering extra credit. Improve your grade by reshooting weak material to polishing your final portfolio.

You will be required to review two books of photojournalism or documentary photography. There are titles and call numbers listed below for good books available in the library. You may choose others, but get approval from Kevin before you start.

Review Books:

In Art and Architecture (2nd floor of Norlin next to the copy center):

Karsh: The Art of the Portrait
TR575 K34

Henri Cartier-Bresson: Photographer
TR647 C3613

André Kertész
TR647 K4713

World Photography
TR650 W67

Stay This Moment, the photography of Sam Abell
TR654 A222

The Concerned Photographer
TR653 C65

W. Eugene Smith
TR654 S57

Witness to Our Time, the photographs of Alfred Eisenstadt
TR680 E34

Other Americas, Latin American photographs of Sebastião Salgado
TR820.5 S3313

Workers, a documentary on the demise of manual labor by Sebastião Salgado
TR681 .W65 S35

Hot Light/Half-Made Worlds, Third World photographs of Alex Webb
TR820.5 W43

Leonard Freed: Photographs 1954-90
TR654 .F74

Marc Riboud: Photographs at home and abroad
TR820 R5313


In the general stacks:

The Americans, Robert Frank’s 1950’s depiction of American life
E169.02 .F713

Telex Iran, the Iranian Revolution by French photojournalist Gilles Peress
DS318.81 .P47

Memories of the Southern Civil Rights Movement, by Danny Lyon
E185.615 L96

Powerful Days: The Civil Rights Photographs of Charles Moore
E185.61 D94

In Sciences Library:

Minimata, a monumental photo essay by W. Eugene Smith on chemical pollution in a Japanese city.
RA1231 M5 S65

Basic Recipes

Kodak Tri-X 400 or T-Max 400 film

Use Kodak X-tol developer diluted 1:1 (one part stock X-tol solution to one part water). After use the developer is to be discarded according to TA Daniel Schaefer’s instructions.

Temperature Time
68°F 8.75 minutes
70°F 8.25 minutes
75°F 7 minutes

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Ilford Delta 400 film

Use Kodak X-tol developer diluted 1:1 (one part stock X-tol solution to one part water). After use the developer is to be discarded according to TA Daniel Schaefer’ instructions.

Temperature Time
68°F 10.5 minutes
72°F 9.5 minutes
75°F 7 minutes

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Kodak T-Max P3200 or Ilford Delta 3200 films

Use Kodak X-tol developer undiluted according to instructions. Discard after use.

Temperature Time
68°F 11 minutes
70°F 10 minutes
75°F 8 minutes

Film developing will be stopped with Kodak Indicator Stop for approx. 10 seconds, and fixed with Kodak Rapid Fix for 3 to 5 minutes.

Agitation is extremely important in film developing. During any portion of the developing process, you must agitate — invert and twist — the developing tank three turns each minute. Failure to do so will have bad results. Optimum developer temperature is 75°F.

TA Daniel Schaefer will be on hand during scheduled lab hours to assist you, and Kevin will try to offer some lab hours as well. Lab sessions will be announced Wednesday, 1/22. See Daniel or Kevin if you have a problem scheduling lab sessions. One and a half hours are required, but you should try for two to three hours per week to afford yourself time to do good work.

Class Schedule

1/15 Introduction to Press Photography 4102.

Conceptual Photojournalism — Shoot an assignment given in class using documentary images to convey a loose concept give to you in class by Kevin.
Prints or digital output files Due 1/29. Don’t forget your captions!

Read chapters 1 and 2 of Chapnick, Photojournalism as Eyewitness to History, and Realism and the Receptive Eye: The Responsibilities of Documentary Photography.

Pick a book of photojournalism (of pictures) to review. Examine the work in it and write a 2-3 page typed evaluation of what makes that work notable, fabulous or bad. How well did the photographer do? Due 1/22.


1/22 Review papers due.

Seeing and reacting to LIGHT.

Experiment with light. Produce images — either B/W prints or color scanned into the computer — using all five different qualities and angles of light: Specular, diffuse, front light, back light, and side light. Turn one in with contacts or neg sheets showing all your work. Make images with your portfolio in mind. Due 2/5.

Read Chapter 3 in Chapnick, The Concerned Photographer


1/29 Evaluation of your concept assignments.

Composition — How choice of camera angle and view change an image.

Video: “Sight and Insight,” The Photography of Sam Abell

Read London and Upton, Seeing Photographs, and Chapnick chapter 15, Developing a Photojournalistic Aesthetic. Read Molly Bang, Picture This, on reserve
at Norlin.

Shoot two 36-exposure rolls of film never looking at your subject from a standing, waste-level point of view. Experiment with odd angles, light and composition. Be creative. Contact sheets and best print, or film and digital image Due 2/19.


2/5 Evaluate light assignments.

Starting a career in photojournalism — Where to begin, how to get “there.”

Read chapters 5, 6 and 9 in Chapnick, So You Want to Be a Photojournalist? and Launching Your Career in Photojournalism, Specialist or Generalist?
2/12 Portrait Lighting — How to use artificial lights to bring drama, or to aid in communication.

Read London and Upton, Lighting, and Chapnick chapter 18, The Portrait

Shoot a lit portrait, or artificially light a situation to improve your photograph. Use table lamps, flashlights, any available source other than electronic flash. Film and prints Due 2/26.


2/19 Evaluate composition assignments.

Color — Color balance, color theory, color corrections.

Video: “To Dream with Open Eyes” The Photography of Ernst Haas

Read London and Upton, Color.

Shoot a 36 exposure rolls of color slide film in artificial lighting, making exposures in fluorescent and tungsten lights. Scan the best image — one that will hopefully contribute to your portfolio — and file it to NMC with the color corrections made. Original slides and scanned image Due 3/5.


2/26 Evaluate Portrait Lighting assignment.

Electronic Flash, Part 1 — How to use your small flash in news situations.

Read the chapter on Strobe in Kobré.


3/5 Evaluate Color slides.

Flash, Part 2

Read chapter 13, in Chapnick: Ideas: The Life Blood of the Photojournalist.

Work on another image for your portfolio using an electronic flash, using it both on and off the camera. Experiment with distance, angle, shutter speeds. Film and prints Due 4/2.


3/12 Again with the Photo Essay

We revisit the photo essay with deeper discussions on depth, style, and what makes a successful photo essay work.

Read Chapters 4 and 15 in Chapnick, The Great Essays, and Personal Projects.

Start work on a new photo essay, with a subject of your choice. As before, approve the idea with Kevin. Limit yourself to 5-10 images. Final project due 4/30.
3/19 Midterm Exam

Over spring break, shoot a self assignment to fill a hole in your portfolio. (Spring break is a good time to improve your feature shooting!) Contacts or color film ONLY will be due for editing by a classmate on 4/9.

Review another book of photojournalism and write a 3-5 page, typed evaluation of the work shown there. Due 4/9.

4/2 Evaluate Flash assignments.

Portfolio building.

Video: “The Portfolio,” Rich Clarkson, Clarkson and Associates, Denver.

Read chapter 7 in Chapnick, Developing Your Portfolio.

4/9 Review papers due.

Picture Editing — Determining the news and aesthetic value of the single image, and choosing the best picture for the job. “Anatomy of a Photo Director,” Rich Clarkson on editing.

Read the chapter on Photo Editing in Kobré.

Exchange your contacts with a classmate and edit each other’s images. Be ready for class discussion on why you made that choice, what works about the photography and what does not. Prints due 4/16.


4/16 Evaluate class-edited material.

Editing the photographic essay — Determining the order and placement of images in a series. What is the lede image, what is the kicker?

Revisit Kobré’s chapter on The Photo Story and examine his pointers for narrowing your focus and ensuring complete information is delivered in your essay.


4/23 Social skills for the photojournalist. Portfolio and Essay Consultations.

Read chapters 8 and 12 in Chapnick: On Dress, Manners, Behavior and Intercultural Sensitivity, and Twenty-nine Careers in Photojournalism.


4/30 Evaluation of new photo essays.

Read Chapters 20 and 21 in Chapnick: Ethical Concerns in Photojournalism Today, and Finding and Ethical Structure in Photojournalism.

5/7 Jury evaluation of your portfolios.

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