POYi Reaction: Picture Story

The Pictures of the Year International is hosted at the University of Missouri and the most prestigious photojournalism competition in the world. I had the honor of working in the competition and also watched several of the categories. I was astounded at the amazing photography and broad topics shown in each category. For my Picture Story class, we were asked to write a reaction to a picture story category. I chose the Issue Reporting Picture Story by a Freelance/Agency category.

There were around 380 entries in this category and were defined as: A story or essay that explores an important social, economic, or political issue; twelve photographs maximum per story according to the POYi web site. While going through the entries, the skill of the photography was evident. However, more often than not, I did not understand what the stories were about. In the first round, there are no captions or text to explain the stories, so the pictures relied heavily on visual story-telling. I could not tell whether the story was about a person, place or idea. I also rarely saw the standard formula of scene setter, portrait, mid-range, transition, environmental portrait, closer, etc.

However, a few definitely stood out. The babies from nuclear mutations in Kazakhstan touched me as well as a simple story about two elderly people taking care of each other. However, the story that I understood and really just GOT was “Love Me.” The story ended up winning the category. I would describe it as more of a photo essay on the globalization of beauty and the high standards that come with society’s standards. I don’t know whether this story moved me because I am female and face the battle of being thin and attractive or because it was just that good. But by the third picture, I understood every concept of the story- and the global impact it had. The winner photographed 17 countries in 5 continents with subjects ranging from beauty queens to Iranian women to musclemen.

I was also impressed with the judges’ ability to sift through the graphic images to find good stories. I think one of the faults with our profession is the confusion between graphic and dramatic issues and good photojournalism. Is it good because the victim is deformed? Or because the photographer portrayed them well? The dramatic stories still need to be told with skill, but a lighter story can be just as good with excellent photography. That being said, I thought the dramatic stories that were selected for awards reiterated the point. The poverty in Moldova and drug struggles in Tijuana illustrated the struggles without going overboard on graphics to make up for poor photography.

Anyway, I’ll get off my soap box. Because I worked the voting box, I found certain images to be automatic ‘outs’ for the judges. Many of these images were pictures of pictures, unfocused images and very wide-open space images. When I am shooting my 30-day project, I will remember these auto-outs and hopefully not include them in my story. Watching this judging was extremely inspiring.

Picture Story - One Day Photo Story

For this assignment, we had to photograph a story- in one day. I chose the Albanian family who runs the restaurant Felini in downtown Columbia. Let me know what you think.

Alex Baumhardt serves Saganaki to a couple eating dinner at Felini in downtown Columbia. Felini is a Greek and Italian cuisine restaurant run by the Canhasi family. Saganaki, or ‘flaming cheese’ is one of the many traditional Greek dishes they offer. After the cheese is breaded and fried, it is doused with a mixture of Everclear and Brandy, set on fire for presentation, and finished with a yell of: “Opa!”

Leonora Canhasi prepares Spanakopata, a spinach-filled pastry in the kitchen of Felini. Leonora is one in the family of twelve Albanian refugees who escaped Kosovo in 1999. During the Kosovo War, NATO bombed their city and the family was trapped in their home for 19 days. Then, while they were eating lunch, cries came that the town next to them had been completely destroyed. The family fled with only small possessions in their hands. They traveled to the US, and were matched with a sponsor in Mexico, Missouri. One of the few possessions from Kosovo is a wedding portrait of Leonora and her sister, dressed in gold-threaded dresses. After fleeing, they were left with almost nothing.

Ilir Canhasi pours broth over lamb shanks. The shanks cook for one hour and then slow marinade cook for three. According to Ilir, “the kitchen is the heart of the restaurant. It sets the beat because you have to time the food perfectly.” Ilir and his family owned a restaurant in Kosovo named Felini after the Italian director of “La Dolce Vita.”

Grape leaves surround beef and rice as Leonora compiles the Greek Combo Special. Coming to the United States was starting over for the Canhasis. They got jobs in a factory in Mexico, Missouri working 84 hours a week. “We all worked and saved to rent an apartment and buy one Dodge Spirit, dreaming of rebuilding Felini,” said Ilir. After four years of hardship, the family saved enough to buy the restaurant without loans. Ilir, Leonora and her husband Bekim are the primary cooks at Felini, with cousins and nephews filling in as servers. Ilir has taught his two children to cook traditional Albanian and Greek dishes as well as speak Albanian. “They will grow up American, but it is important for them to know about our language and our old home.”

Ten years have gone by in America, with six of them wrapped in the dream of Felini. Some of the family still lives and works in Mexico, searching for satisfaction after the destruction of their home and former life. Felini, like many other businesses, has had to adjust their hours to comply with the economic recession. At the end of the day, Ilir counts the day’s wages, only totaling $300.

Picture Story Reading 5

Radio: Glass and Abel

This was my first collegiate reading in the form of comic book. Seriously, I felt like I was reading ‘Sally Forth.’ I loved it. The reading focused on collecting and editing good audio for a radio story, but was applicable to any audio interview. Glass and Abel said, ‘a story can be told as a sequence of actions,’ and that a character was needed to relate to people and tie the story together.

I agreed with their pre-interviewing tactics: to go in with a general plan with key plot questions and then obtaining details whenever possible. One thing I need to improve upon is asking the subject to create a visual picture: where they were standing, what they were doing before ‘it’ happened, etc.

Lastly, I had never heard of logging and audio interview. I thought editing was listening in Audacity and cutting out the parts that didn’t make sense/weren’t relevant and then ordering it so it told a story. The idea of a log simplifies the process and creates a story automatically. Thank you, comic audio lesson.

Sound in the Story

Not quite as entertaining, but still useful. The reading was a very strict, to-the-point commentary about what to do and not do in an interview. Necessary, but redundant of things we have covered in other classes. Still, the refresher was nice. The components a good audio can piece include: interview, ambience, natural sound, voice-over and supplemental music. I’ve never questioned ambient sound as being inauthentic. The thought that some audio shows may incorporate sounds not from the story is shocking.

Picture Story Reading 4

This week’s reading from Anne Lamott’s book Bird by Bird focused on character, plot and dialogue. While discussing character, Lamott requires answers to important character questions: why should we care about them? And what makes us want to know about them?

Especially in photojournalism, we strive to describe people without literal descriptions. Lamott gives the example of how teaching her son peace chants tells more about Lamott’s political beliefs than a more straightforward “these are my beliefs” description.

Also with characters, Lamott highlights on one of my weaknesses: not forcing your characters to be who you want them to be. One can’t choose what the characters do or how they act- they must be allowed to act on their own with you recording it.

Lastly, relating to plot, Lamott discusses a formula Alice Adams created for stories. The formula is ABDCE, standing for action, background, development, climax and ending. The similarities to the photo story formula (for lack of a better word) are obvious. A lede photo, detail scene setter, an interaction shot, a transition for development and lastly a closing. Both models are excellent starts to photo stories.

Picture Story Reading 3

The readings for this assignment were both a history lesson in photojournalism. Langton began by giving a brief history of the camera and it’s awkward start with slow shutter speeds and portraits. As technology advanced, the camera became smaller and more versatile. I found it unbelievable that photographers had to bring their darkrooms around with them. Life and Look emerged as the industry’s leading photographic outlets and soon they featured a different medium to tell a story.

Chapnik traces the modern picture story back to a German publication and two photographers who discovered a relationship could exist between two images. His chapter on great photographic essays illustrates examples several photographers and their adventures in photo essays. Chapnik closes his reading with requirements (if you will) for a great photo essay: time, cooperation, an abandon of preconceptions, detail and most of all, passion.

The message I took from these readings was simple: do what has not been done before. We see many photo stories on drug abuse, but Bill Eppridge was the first to do it, and do it well. Gene Smith developed the modern photo essay himself, leading to thousands of stories. Obtaining the access these photographers had with no precursor is just downright amazing.