Assignment Prompt
Final Photo Story/Spark(Express) Page Assignment
Peattie – JMS 435 – Fall 2021
Rationale
All visual journalists need to be able to shoot quality news, feature, or sports multiple image packages. Just like any good journalism piece, your idea has to be of impact to your local community, whether generated in that community or originating in national or global news, shot with a focus on the local connection/impact to your community. Your understanding of the narrative structure of visual storytelling will be demonstrated through your editing process.
Explanation
Much like we did with your Day in the Life photo essay, this project will be comprised of a set of 12 original images that you shot specifically for this assignment, a one-paragraph story summary, and short, individual captions for each of the 12 images. In this assignment, you will be presenting your work on a Spark/Express page instead of turning it in as a .pdf. As you can see on the syllabus, there are multiple assignments and lab sessions devoted to making sure you learn the fundamentals of photojournalism, editing multiple photos into visual narratives, and creating Spark/Express pages. This final project will demonstrate your mastery of all those skills.
Directions/Deadlines
You are responsible for finding an appropriate topic or subject, and having that topic or subject approved before you begin shooting. That story proposal is graded, and is due at the end of class 11/16. (Details of what goes into a story proposal is explained in that specific assignment). The second step is to shoot 20 images relating to your topic and turn those in unedited, by midnight prior to the next class on 11/23. No captions needed! (Details on “First 20” are in that specific assignment). Your classmates and I are you sounding boards, to help you refine your story and determine what is missing, or help in any other way. The third and final step is uploading the photos, summary, captions and links to any relevant outside resources onto a Spark/Express page. You will be presenting your pages in class on the last day of classes, 12/7, or during finals depending on how things progress. Turn in the url for your published page in Canvas.
Resources for reference
Pictures of the Year International multiple picture categories:
POYi Daily Life Picture Stories of the year: https://www.poy.org/78/11.html
POYi Local News Picture Stories of the year: https://www.poy.org/78/12.html
POYi Issue Reporting Picture Stories of the year: https://www.poy.org/78/10.html
World Press Photo Contest winners (photo stories and long term projects) https://www.worldpressphoto.org/collection/photocontest/2020
Best of Photojournalism POY Feature Picture Stories 2021: https://bop.nppa.org/2021/stillphotojournalism/2021/feature-story/
Rubric
This assignment is worth 20 points
Captions/Summary: 5 points
Spark/Express page: 5 points Photos: 5
Editing: 5
Captions/Summary: 5 points
Spark/Express page: 5 points Photos: 5
Editing: 5
Student Example #1
Student Example #2
Student Example #3
Student Example #4
Student Example #5
Student Example #6
Dr. Peggy Peattie is a part-time lecturer in the School of Journalism and Media Studies and teaches photojournalism and solution journalism. Over a career of 40 years Peggy Peattie has been dedicated to visual storytelling, amplifying the voices of traditionally marginalized communities, documenting the definitive moments that reveal our shared humanity.
She earned her Ph.D. in Leadership Studies from the University of San Diego, developing visual critical ethnography as a research method - using visual storytelling to inform designing solutions-based approaches to homelessness. She earned her Master’s Degree from Ohio University’s VISCOM program and her BA degree from the University of Washington. teaches photojournalism at San Diego State, digital journalism at SD City College, and other classes at USD and UCSD extension.
After ten years as a photographer and writer in L.A., primarily for the Long Beach Press-Telegram, she joined the staff at The State in South Carolina where she was inspired to document the racial tension surrounding the confederate flag. Her work earned a grant from the Alexia Foundation for World Peace and Cultural Understanding, which allowed her to complete a body of work just as the resistance movement was getting fired up, producing the book Down in Dixie. She joined the San Diego Union-Tribune to concentrate on border stories, culture and crime in Mexico, local sports, the homeless community, as well as other issues of social and environmental justice. Currently she is an independent photojournalist, providing a space for San Diego’s unhoused cmomunity to share their stories at www.TalesoftheStreet.com, and teaching visual journalism to the next generation of storytellers.
She has been regular faculty at Missouri Photo Workshop, Mountain People's Workshop, the Honoring Ida Workshop and the International Photojournalism Workshops in Bulgaria and Hungary. Peattie has won numerous awards in the POYi and NPPA contests, winning Photographer of the Year for Region 10, and Greater LA POY six times, Southern Photographer of the year, POY at the Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar and has been keynote speaker at several journalism conferences. She was the winner of the first Alexia Foundation professional grant, and numerous Knight Fellowships. She has served as judge for College POY, professional POYi, Best of Photojournalism and the Alexia Foundation grant.
Peattie can usually be found kayaking or canoeing on the ocean, hiking, or photographing the local wildlife.
