Hundreds of kites take to the air during Smithsonian's annual Kite Festival - by Karen Carmichael

Photo story on the Kite Festival can be found here.

Tina Irgang: A Walk Through Eastern Market

You can find my Flickr slideshow plus captions here.

Slides from Week 6 (Photo Story)

Mm Spring Week6

Details On Next Homework -- Photo Story

As we discussed in class today, the next assignment is to put together a slideshow. Think of it as a news or feature story you're telling with images.

Here are the details:
* Must include between 8 to 12 pictures
* Should tell a story -- you should be able to explain to me why you selected the order that you did, and try to have it progress in a logical flow.
* Must include a headline/title frame
* You don't have to check the topic with me in advance unless you have some doubt that it will fly.
* Can use any photo service to put it together (Google’s Picassa, Flickr, etc), and please paste the "embed code" or link from Picassa or Flickr into the blog. If you can't get those to work you can post the images directly into a blog post.
* Write a caption and credit each image. These captions should be just one sentence each in most cases -- think of it as equivalent of the caption that would run in the paper with the image.
* Each image should be as well composed, color corrected, and cropped as possible.
* As usual, due at start of next class.

E-mail with any questions....

Group 2

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stacyannj/sets/72157623584337493/

Open House at the University of Maryland

Anthony Massa enters the Knight Center on a self-guided tour with his daughter who has been admitted to the University of Maryland. (UMD Photo/Alix Farr)


Tour guides wait at Stamp Student Union to guide admitted students through campus. (UMD Photo/ Tina Irgang)

Testudo the Terrapin advertises campus tours for accepted students on March 26, 2010. (UMD Photo/Jessica Harper)

Accepted student Maria Massa and her father Anthony Massa explore the journalism building. Maria hopes to be a journalism student. (UMD Photo/Alix Farr)

Accepted student Maria Massa explores the Knight Center on March 26, 2010. She has been to campus before but this was her first time in the new building. (UMD Photo/ Ilana Yergin)

Arab Americans Celebrate Community in Montgomery County by Alix Farr

For my project, I would like to do an audio slideshow centered on the Arab American Heritage Festival in Gaithersburg that is to take place on April 11. I have done reporting recently on the Census and how the Middle Eastern community is hoping to use Census data to better define and understand its own population in Montgomery County. I would like to combine this idea with the festival and what it means for the community as a whole. I hope to do interviews with leaders in the Arab community, as well as participants in the festival. Pictures will be of the festival activities, which will include dance, music, arts and crafts. I expect runtime to be 3-4 minutes.

Progressive Hip-Hop Artist Christylez Bacon Plays at Twinbrook Library-- Alix Farr

Southeast Washington D.C. native Christylez Bacon, 24, is a Grammy-nominated progressive hip-hop artist who has garnered a reputation for reaching audiences not typically targeted by other musicians in this music genre. Some of his recent concert venues have included the Kennedy Center, Strathmore and, recently, Montgomery County public libraries. His goal, he says, is to foster "cultural acceptance and unification through music." (UMD Photo/Alix Farr)

Although the human beatbox was his first instrument-- it came free, he says-- Christylez has also taken up the acoustic guitar, the African Djembe drum, the ukulele, the spoons, and the piano. He likes to mix styles, often combining beatboxing with jazz, swing, or bossa nova to create unique sounds. (UMD Photo/Alix Farr)

Christylez likes to rhyme about his everyday life, like in his song about a native DC condiment called mambo sauce and another about the roaches in an apartment he once shared with his mother. He also likes to add his own style to classic songs, like his hip-hop version of "Humpty Dumpty" that appeared on the album "Banjo to Beatbox," a collaborative effort with Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer that earned a Grammy nomination. (UMD Photo/Alix Farr)

Project Porposal - Yergin

For my project, I plan to cover the first ever Amnesty International Human Rights Arts Festival being held in downtown Silver Spring from April 23-25. I would like to present this as a video. There are many local businesses and artists participating in the event, so the video will include interviews with at least one artist, one business owner, and one guest at the event. I'm not sure about running time, but I assume it will be between 3-5 minutes. I think this will make an interesting story because it will be both visual from all of the art in the area and because the people will be interesting. There are to be visual art shows, spoken word performances, new media events, performance events, and more. The people who are going to be at this event will most likely feel passionate about what they are supporting. Every event there is meant to be related in some way to human rights. Proposed headline: Human rights and the Arts come together in first ever Amnesty International Human Rights Arts Festival.

Final Project Proposal - Jessica Harper

As the economic downturn forces businesses to close their doors, privately-owned operations especially struggle to stay afloat. Still, some manage to keep their doors open. I want to visit five or six family/privately owned restaurants and clothing shops and interview owners and customers. How has the financial fallout affected the way the owners operate ther buisnesses? How has it affected the way their customers shop? Have they made any adjustments as a result? Has business fluctuated? Has it stayed the same? I plan to visit businesses in the U Street, Eastern Market and Adams Morgan neighborhoods to get a variety of perspectives. I propose a 3-4 minute audio-slide show and the topic, "How the District's Small Businesses Weather the Economic Downturn."

The Shoe Shine Man - Jessica Harper

Vietnam Veteran Eddy Bennett has been shining the shoes of politicians, lawyers and businessmen outside the District's Judiciary Square metro stop since 2004. Over the years, Bennett's clientele roster has included a few famous names, most notably activist Julian Bond.(UMD Photo/Jess Harper)


Bennett shines the shoes of Raymond Northbey, a cooking instructor at Howard University. Northbey, a District resident, is one of Bennett's most frequent customers. He says he visits the shoe shiner's station whenever he can.(UMD Photo/Jess Harper)


Bennett assembles his brushes and other cleaning supplies as he awaits customers. The Brooklyn, NY native says he serves 20 or more passerby each day. He typically charges $6 for his services, and tips, he says, are always welcome. (UMD Photo/Jess Harper)

Project Proposal: The U Street Corridor Transformed

For my final project, I would like to assemble an audio slide show documenting the 30-year transformation of Washington's U Street Corridor. In the last three decades, the area has morphed from a predominately black and low-income enclave to a high-end, multicultural hot spot. During the early 1990s, many small businesses and wealthy homeowners abandoned the area, priming it for drugs and violence. A city-wide revitalization effort launched in the early 2000s, brought dozens of new businesses, new visitors, new condominiums, new residents and a significant amount of criticism. The people who had lived in the community for decades were, in many cases, forced out. I would like to speak with business owners, residents (new and old) and patrons that frequent the area about the impact that the transformation has had on them. Time alloted 3.5 to 4 minutes.

Portrait Photo - Yergin

Rabelais Batchaji, a University of Maryland College Park gardener worked outside on March 24, 2010. Batchaji moved to the United States in May 2007 from Cameroon where he grew up on a farm. (UMD Photo / Ilana Yergin)

Rabelais Batchaji worked on the grounds of the College Park campus of the University of Maryland on March 24, 2010. He says he enjoys the work he does because it reminds him of the work he did on his father's farm growing up in Cameroon. (UMD Photo / Ilana Yergin)

Rabelais Batchaji takes a short breather as he works on the grounds of the University of Maryland College Park. Batchaji has worked for the University since June 2009. (UMD Photo / Ilana Yergin)

Final Project Proposal

For my final project, I will prepare an audio slideshow of approximately 3-4 minutes in length illustrating one Washington, D.C., neighborhood’s efforts to achieve a “greener,” more sustainable community. In particular, I will feature Cleveland Park (Ward 3F) residents who are participating in the city’s first Neighborhood Sustainability Indicators Pilot Project (NSIPP) with the city’s planning office. Residents serving voluntarily on the NSIPP’s Technical Advisory Committee are brainstorming ways in which the community can become more green – through group purchasing and installation of solar panels, advocacy for more bike lanes, or more comprehensive recycling programs in the community, for example. Several of these Technical Advisory Committee members are already renovating their homes to make them greener. I will provide background information about the project and will interview a few of these residents about their greening efforts for the audio component of the audio slideshow, and will present a series of photographs illustrating their greening efforts to accompany the audio component.

Project Proposal: Fishermen vs. Catch Limits

Maryland fishermen recently took part in a “United We Fish” rally in D.C. on February 24 to protest severe federal fishing limits that they say have been harming their livelihoods. The limits were first enacted in 1976 and amended in 1996, largely due to overfishing. Now, however, some fishermen are saying some of the fisheries have rebounded to the point that the current limits are far too strict, and are putting them out of business. Others agree, saying there needs to be more flexibility in federal rules.

I'd like to talk to a couple Marylanders who depend on fishing in the Chesapeake and Atlantic, an official from the National Marine Fisheries Service, a scientist/marine biologist, and perhaps a representative of an environmental group. The piece could touch on why the limits were put in place, the state of the Chesapeake now, how fishermen are faring, and possible options these people see for the future.

Format: audio slideshow
Run time: 3-4 minutes

All the Way Turned Up: Preparing for the Event

University of Maryland student Allyn Custer took a break from practicing for her upcoming concert performance "Voila Viola" to pose for a brief photo shoot. The photos were taken in the outdoor gallery of the university's performing arts center. The performance will be held Friday, March 26, in the Clarice Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland.

(UMD Photo/Michelle J. Nealy)

Allyn Custer, a double major in music performance and music education, has been playing the violin for 12 years. She also plays the piano, the viola and sings. She has always loved music. Her parents used to play music for her when she was very young. (UMD Photo/Michelle Nealy)

Music, Custer says, is the biggest part of who she is. Custer is a third-year student at the university. (UMD Photo/Michelle Nealy)

Project Proposal: Silent Hybrid - Tami Le

On Feb. 25, 2010, the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act reached 200 cosponsors. The bill was introduced by the National Federation for the Blind on Jan. 28, 2009. Its purpose is to protect blind people (and pedestrians) from injury and death due to silent vehicle technology of hybrid cars. Accidents caused by silent cars has been an issue since 1996 but the a bill has still not been passed. I would like to get sound bites of of a normal car and a hybrid car and interview pedestrians, runners, blind people, and maybe someone from the NFB. I might do it via video but I feel that having it all on audio might have a better effect. Running time: 4 minutes

Project Proposal: Penn Relays

I'll be attending the Penn Relays on April 24. For those that haven't had the pleasure of attending this event: It's a huge national track meet that also features Olympic runners. There's a lot of friendly camaraderie in the stands among regular attendees, but there's also an exciting sense of rivalry too. While the Penn Relays mostly feature high school and college runners, the events labeled "USA vs. The World" get a ton of attention. Jamaica and the U.S. have had a long-standing competition to boast the world's fastest runners. Jamaica has edged us out in the past few years and I'd love to talk to some people about the apparent feud. It's a very LOUD event, so I'd like to interview organizers and UPenn historians/archivists before the event, take photos while I'm there and get some ambient sound of the crowd going wild. This event happens every year. However, I haven't seen any multimedia presentations that deal with the U.S.A.-Jamaica rivalry. If I can set up a few important interviews in one day, I'd like to drive to UPenn to talk to people in person to avoid audio issues from doing interviews over the phone. Proposed run time: 5 minutes. Proposed format: Audio slideshow.

Capt. John Brandt Portraits

Captain John Brandt of the University of Maryland Department of Public Safety poses with his bike outside of the Pocomoke Building near fraternity row on Wednesday, March 24, 2010. He'll be retiring on April 1 after 30 years at the university and has never taken a sick day. "I never wanted to. I had things to do here," he said. (Stacy Jones/UMD Photo)

Brandt became a bike officer in 1991 after pushing the department to consider the advantages of having officers on bicycles. He said police bikes are modified to allow riders to sit more upright and scan crowds and lack the clicking noise that usually alerts pedestrians to move for a cyclist. (Stacy Jones/UMD Photo)

Brandt brings his bike, one of the first the department purchased, into the garage to demonstrate how officers navigate in tight spaces. He said it's one of the hardest skills to teach new bike officers, who undergo 40 hours of training before being asked to navigate the Comcast Center steps on their bikes as a final exam. (Stacy Jones/UMD Photo)

Karen Carmichael Photo 4 - Portraits

Denzel Nottage of Little Farmer's Cay, Bahamas, stands in the sprawling garden surrounding his one-room cottage on March 19, 2010. Located in the Exuma Island chain, the cay's single settlement has about 50 residents; supplies from Nassau come only once a week on the mailboat. (UMD Photo/Karen Carmichael)

Denzel Nottage of Little Farmer's Cay, Bahamas, shows off his hand grown produce on March 19, 2010. Nottage grows tomatoes, sweet peppers, bananas, soursop, and tamarind for the island community and visiting boaters, who frequently stop for the cay's well-sheltered anchorage. (UMD Photo/Karen Carmichael)

Denzel Nottage relaxes on a rock in his yard that overlooks the Small Harbour of Little Farmer's Cay on March 19, 2010. Like most rural Bahamians, Nottage keeps chickens; sometimes they get loose, he says, and eat most of his tomatoes. "I grow some for me, some for them," he said. (UMD Photo/Karen Carmichael)

Gena Chung: Final Project Proposal

Days End Farm Horse Rescue is celebrating its twentieth anniversary. Since 1989, this non-profit organization has rescued over 1,500 abandoned and abused horses, leading to the safe adoption of over 94% of them post-rehabilitation. Last year alone, over 1,200 volunteer gave over 33,000 volunteer hours to care for over 60 horses, including Arraber horses, horses used by street merchants in the city of Baltimore that are no longer being used. I propose to do an audio slideshow that details the history of the farm, current horses and why and how they were brought to the farm, and goals for the future. I'll interview staff, volunteers and maybe local residents. Proposed headline: Local Rescue Farm Celebrates its Commitment to Horses. Proposed Running Time: 4 minutes.

Portrait: Salvation in a Saddle- Gena Chung

Tina Snyder prepares her horse, Baker Bean, for a training session. Snyder, who owns Safe Haven Farm in Sykesville, Maryland, credits Bean for her physical and mental rehabilitation after her trailer was T-boned by a snow plow going 60 miles per hour in December 2006. (U of MD Photo/Gena Chung)


Snyder leads Bean from the stable for a warm-up in the training circle. Snyder adopted Bean from a rescue farm after he was found abandoned and starving, weighing less than 300 pounds. He is training for his debut show in May 2010. (U of MD Photo/Gena Chung)


Using the whip, Snyder illustrates the trust that has formed between her and Bean, whom she calls her "best friend." "We think we're the ones saving them, when they're really saving us," Snyder said. (U of MD Photo/Gena Chung)

Portraits of a Stranger - Tami Le

Lance Quesenberry, 22, works on his last customer for the night at Floyd's Barbershop in College Park on March 23. Quesenberry has been working as a barber at Floyd's for three months. (UMD Photo/Tami Le)

Quesenberry sits down to eat a taco from California Tortilla at 8 p.m. Tuesday. He usually eats at the end of his shift before he begins his hour-long commute back to Calvert County. (UMD Photo/Tami Le)

A pool table sits in the middle of Floyd's Barbershop. Quesenberry plays a little pool after his last customer left Tuesday, something he usually does when business is slow. (UMD Photo/Tami Le)

Photo Assignment No. 4 - Portraits

When she's not singing or teaching others how to sing, play the piano or strum the guitar, Eliza Burnham - a middle-school music teacher in Middleboro, Mass. - practices the culinary arts in the sunny kitchen of her 19th-century home. (UMD photo/Laura L. Thornton)













Burnham strikes the conductor's stance - a habitual pose - while working in the kitchen. Burnham teaches general music and leads the chorus and band at the middle school in Middleboro, a small town in southeastern Massachusetts. (UMD photo/Laura L. Thornton)













Small pots of ready-to-pick cooking herbs hang over Burnham's kitchen sink. (UMD photo/Laura L. Thornton)

Final Project Proposal: Tina Irgang

For my final project, I propose a 3-minute audio slide show on the subject "Capitol Hill: An Unlikely Black History Landmark."
To the casual observer, Capitol Hill is the upscale backyard of the Capitol building, home to wealthy government employees and interns. Few would identify it as a major black history landmark, yet it is home to the city's first school for African Americans, its first independent black congregation and a traditionally black yacht club. In addition, the neighborhood is bordered by the Supreme Court, many of whose decisions changed African American life forever (Brown vs. Board of Education comes to mind), and Union Station, where black Washingtonians could come for a meal when other public spaces were segregated. I propose to structure the piece chronologically, meaning I would start with the landmark that goes the farthest back and work my way up to the most recent one. I would speak to employees at landmarks such as the Frederick Douglass Museum and Ebenezer United Methodist Church about the neighborhood's black history and also include quotes from neighborhood residents.

Photo Assignment #4: Portrait: Tina Irgang

Jim Toole poses in front of Capitol Hill Books, the used-book store he has owned since 1994. The store is famous for using every available surface for book storage, including stairs, desks and the shop window seen in the background here. (UMD Photo, Tina Irgang).














Toole spends most of his days at this desk inside Capitol Hill Books. He he loves the book business but is sometimes nostalgic for his 30 years serving in the Navy. (UMD Photo, Tina Irgang).
















Toole is currently reading "The Dharma Bums" by Beat author Jack Kerouac. "The Beat generation is my generation," Toole said. The note to his right reads "Ron Dies," an (inaccurate) spoiler for the final Harry Potter installment and an example of Toole's distinctive blend of humor. (UMD Photo, Tina Irgang)

Slides from Week 5

Mm Spring Week5

Homework for Mar 26 Meeting

As discussed in class, there are two homework assignments for next week - a photo project, and the first draft of your final project proposal. Here are the details:

Photo Assignment #4: Portrait:

* Find a stranger, faculty member, athlete, coach, journalist, etc and take three distinctly different portraits that say something about the subject’s life, profession, major, personality, background, etc.
* Write a full caption for each photo.
* Turn in exactly 3 photos to the blog by start of class on March 26.

Final Project Proposal:

Your pitch can be informal -- this is a quick note to your editor explaining what you'd like to do and why it will be interesting. The pitch must be posted to the blog by start of next class, and it must include the following elements:
* Format you plan to use. (video or audio slideshow)
* Story arc and hook
* Types of people who will appear
* Proposed headline for the piece
* Expected run time

You can change the elements or topic later, though final project ideas *must* be approved in advance. Major deductions for turning in some surprise project on the last day that you never mentioned before. Communicating with your editor is an important part of the process.

Have a great break.

Photo 2 - Edits

Photo Assignment 3: Photo Editing

Photo 3-- Alix Farr-- Photoshop edits

Gena Chung/Photo 3

Ilana's Photo Assignment 3 - Photoshop