The Masters in Photojournalism at the LCC has begun.
This blog will now also serve as a musing on the courses, assignments, and my life and thought process throughout the program.
(If you’d like to see only the LCC related postings, you can view them here)

The first informal webinar was a good kickstart. I’m looking forward to pushing myself and my photography–developing a style and a visual voice; and gaining more clarity on the what/why/how I shoot. I feel less experienced in photojournalism compared to the broad range of the other students, but am looking forward to getting to know them and gain some insights from their experiences.

One thought Paul mentioned that resonated with me was the idea that this program should create reflective practitioners who understand what they’re doing and why they’re doing it–practitioners who are critically aware and self aware, who are curious enough to tirelessly explore and engage themselves in a story.

David Hurn‘s name was brought up as the man who essentially structured the classic magazine photo essay in his 1970′s Newport program. The concept is to break a story down into building blocks of relationships, scenes, portraits, items, etc. and to photograph those building blocks. Then you begin to build the story back up with a visual pace, sequencing, editing, packaging, presenting. The presentation would include a variety of shots–wide, medium, close, horizontal, vertical– and a variety of content, but with common elements and threads to tie the package together.

I’ll plan on using this approach for my upcoming assignment from Austin Monthly, which wants me to shoot a feature on the variety of cultural restaurants in Austin. My last editorial for them was a behind-the-scenes look at the chaotic kitchens in the best restaurants–so I hope I’m not being pigeon-holed as the restaurant-guy.