Photojournalism
Photography, like any art form, has the ability to boil down a large portion of time or complex themes into a single image. For a high school journalist, photos are all about capturing moments that tell the story, as well as make a reader interested in reading the print story. While photography is not my top skill, I realize its importence and have and have grown more comfortable getting pictures over my high school career.
Camera Work
Sports
When shoot photos for a sporting event, I try follow two simple rules. First, track the ball. No matter if your team is on offense or defense, the ball is where the best action is. The second rule is to get a variety of angles. Where one photo might look unimpressive in one angle it, could be a masterpiece from another. So, to capitalize, I constantly move to capture different angles of the action. In the photo on the left, it was a straight on shot. In the photo below, it was a low angle shot.
Wes Allen
I always want to try and get the most dynamic angles possible when I take photos. In this case, I took a low angle to capture Hagerty's new head football coach, Wes Allen, as he addressed parents and players at a meet-and-greet event.
Using a phone for photos
These last two photographs, as well as a lot of my video footage in my football promo videos were done using my camera on my iPhone 8. In a time of social media, a photojournalist needs to become proficient in using what they can. In my case, I actually used my phone to take photos and record video just as much as a camera.
Irma Cleanup
With a small staff of 11, covering Hurricane Irma was a whole staff effort. I took this photograph of a group cleaning up a school property in Bithlo a few days after the storm.
Videography
Many of what I learned about camerawork and shot composition came from my time with Hagerty's TV Production program. While it's very similar to photography, there is one small difference. Instead of capuring one moment, you're capturing several. I pride myself in using a variety of angles in my shots, which keeps them more engaging for viewers. To the left is a compilation of footage I shot at our school's Homecoming Week pep rally.
Captions
Mass Captions
With 8 photos in a cutout of the football player, there was no room for captions next to the photos. So, I utilized a labeling system that would direct readers to the bottom of the design, where each caption is labeled with the number that matches its corresponding photo. Each caption also provided some much needed context to each of the photos, as some of them ranged from being over a decade old to just a few weeks old. Writing these captions was like wrtiting another story within the one I was already writing, but those are the captions that are the best.