POYi Reflection

Machine Man won the first place for Long-Form Multimedia Story. It is more of a photo essay on "modernity and global development", as the filmmakers stated.

The judges had some great discussion in this category about the narrative layering and cinematic/ journalist quality in multimedia pieces, chaptering big piece as in A Chance in Hell or A Darkness Visible/how it can work or not and the visual quality of the pieces. I could agree on most of their ideas, except for the first place winner.

Machine Man is definitely a great piece on some grand topic. On the other hand, for some reason, the filmmakers used this lensbaby and its strange distorting effect in this piece, which I still can't understand why. I don't see anything added to the story by the usage of this visual effect. And it definitely affected my pinion of the piece. I really liked the second place, A Chance in Hell and the third place, Half-Lives, winners. They were beautifully shot and very well put together.

I had mixed feelings about A Darkness Visible. I was already familiar with photographer's that specific work that he has been shooting for a really long time. They are amazing images. But I don't know if they work that well as a multimedia piece. It feels like there was a vast amount of work that was really good as still images and they wanted to see how they would look in a multimedia work.

One Day Picture Story Critique

I am not vet thrilled with what I've got from this shoot. It was a fun even to shoot. But I think my mind and eye got too busy with trying to fulfill the kind of shots and the variety that I need to get a picture story done. At the end I missed the main point of making good, story telling pictures.

Unfortunately, this was pretty much the very first time I approached an assignment this consciously in terms of visual story telling. Therefore I think it is not surprising that I got lost in the details. I am hoping as I continue shooting, this will become a natural part of my shooting.

I am planning to shoot something new and resubmit this assignment within this month.

One Day Picture Story-Mr. Mizzou

Chris Henry juggles three water bottles to practice before the Mr. Mizzou pageant
Wednesday, Feb 22, 2012 at his Columbia home. Henry learned juggling
from his father.

The sash for the winner of the Mr. Mizzou pageant is laid out on the table along
with the name sashes for the contestants before the contest Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2012
at Stotler Lounge in Memorial Union.
Five contestants of Mr. Mizzou pageant dance on the stage Wednesday evening,
Feb. 22, 2012 at Stotler Lounge in Memorial Union.
Audience, that consisted of mostly females, gives an applause while one of the
contestants shows his talent Wednesday evening, Feb. 22, 2012 at Stotler
Lounge in Memorial Union.

Chris Henry unties his tie after the Mr. Mizzou pageant Wednesday evening,
Feb. 22, 2012 at Stotler Lounge in Memorial Union.

Outtakes:
Chris Henry, right, walks on to the stage with Mizzou clappers along with Apollo Song Wednesday evening, Feb. 22, 2012 at Stotler Lounge in Memorial Student Union.

Five contestants of Mr. Mizzou pageant dance on the stage Wednesday evening,
Feb. 22, 2012 at Stotler Lounge in Memorial Union.

These are probably the most brilliant lines I have read about photography in a long time. How pure the act pf making pictures should be and how all the egos should be pushed aside is pretty much summarized. Approaching your subject with a motherly curiosity and love but maybe excluding the protective attitude seems essential to make honest and intimate images. This sounds like the maturity level that each one of should eventually reach. Reading these lines reminded me works of Eugene Richards and Craig Walker. I have been fascinated with the amazing level of intimacy in their photography. It looks like Richards is up on the faces of his subjects yet somehow invisible. On the other hand Walker's work feels a bit more distant, not in a negative way, but still really honest. After reading these two paragraphs, what I feel about the photography of these guys started make more sense. They both put the subjects first, before themselves, which eventually leads to more honest images.

Also this part made me worry about my own MA project. Even though I still would like to shoot documentary images of my subjects, my reasoning behind shooting it started to seem too personal. Would rest of the world care about this? Why would they do? Yes, it might possibly help me or my subjects but what is the point that I am trying to make with it?

The two chapters from Bird by Bird are quite inspiring like always. According to Lamott, we can write about pretty much anything and everything, same in photography. We can photograph whatever we wants and we shouldn't suffer from lack of subject matter to focus on photographically. She also advices to get edited along the way, though. Have first drafts and edit them, go back and reshoot, find the missing points, try to figure out ways to fill in the gaps. It amazes me how pretty much everything she says about writing is applicable to photography. A great read!

POYi prep

After a six-month long break from blogging, I started again this semester as it is a requirement for my Picture Story class. After posting some course work, here is my first post upon a long silence.

This semester, I am working as one of the graduate coordinators for the Pictures of the Year International (POYi). My coworkers, Ben, Stuart and Caitie and I have been intensely working on the contest preparation for the past three weeks.

We moved to the Fred Smith Forum at the Reynolds Journalism Institute this past Sunday. After setting up everything, we spent last night and tonight finishing up the preparation of shows.

Tomorrow is the kick off. And, I can't wait to see the next three weeks of judging. It is going to be fun.

Road to the Crown