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Archive for the ‘Photojournalism’ Category

DAY 15: Raising chickens in a backyard near you

Posted in Capstone, Missouri, Photography, Photojournalism on February 17, 2010| 4 Comments »

Chickens are really funny animals. And they are, surprisingly, pretty fun to photograph.

The way they strut around and interact with each other (there’s a reason why it’s called “pecking order”) is totally erratic and unpredictable. At least, that’s how it seemed to me — your everyday girl from suburbia — when I visited the chickens owned by the Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture.

Columbia recently passed a city ordinance that allows residents to keep up to six hens in their backyards, with some restrictions on coops, waste management and etc. CCUA and its members currently keep six hens — three Rhode Island Reds, one Buff Orpington, one Australorp-Rhode Island Red mix and one Dominic — in a greenhouse across the street from its office/house, at least until they finish constructing the coop in the backyard.

Flight of the... chicken.

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DAY 13: Camera arsenal

Posted in Capstone, Journalism, Missouri, Mizzou, Photography, Photojournalism on February 15, 2010| 2 Comments »

This is where I work:

David and I serve our fellow photojournalism students by manning the department’s equipment locker, which houses more than $100,000 worth of photo, video and audio equipment (much of it is donated). It’s fun to help other students get acquainted with and appreciate quality gear, and it’s just as fun to tease those who are already gearheads when they come with a shopping list of exactly what they need to work on a project for a few days.

It’s also a bit stressful at times. Especially Mondays. This semester, I’m the only one working on Mondays, which means I get to check in and reshelf all the gear that was checked out over the weekends.

Today — as you can see by the photo — it got a bit out of hand. Students kept coming around to check in more gear or make reservations, so I didn’t get a chance to remove and charge batteries, detach lenses from cameras, replace back lens caps and camera body caps, or anything… until thirty minutes remained in my shift.

The contents within my photo for today represents probably half of the photo inventory and a third of the entire locker’s invenory.

It is a good job.

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A small part of me died – that is, my hard drive

Posted in Capstone, Photography, Photojournalism on February 14, 2010| 5 Comments »

By now, I would have blogged my Day 11 entry, and would be writing up my Day 12 entry, for the 30-day challenge.

But because my portable hard drive crashed 15 minutes after I finished editing and submitting Missouri Grand Prix photos for The Columbia Missourian early this afternoon, those blog entries will have to wait. The photos for those entries — and for many, many other projects — are stored only on that hard drive, since it functioned as my scratch/working disk.

In the meantime, I am:

  • trying not to cry;
  • doing what I can to recover my data;
  • learning, the hard way, that I should back up my data much more often (I have another external hard drive that I use for backup);
  • trying not to cry;
  • working one of my Sunday shifts at The Missourian, which qualifies the past three days as a full weekend of photo-editing; and
  • trying not to cry.

If I can get those files recovered, I’ll blog Day 11 and Day 12.

If not — oh, well.

My chief concern is not that I might have lost two days of the 30-day challenge but rather that I regain the photos I’ve taken this semester and ensure that working files of several projects are still intact. None of the data I’ve lost has extremely personal information or constitutes a security concern — it’s just a lot of work that might be lost forever.

We’ll see what happens.

Let this be a lesson to anyone and everyone who doesn’t back up data on a weekly basis.

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DAY 10: Photographing the Missouri Grand Prix

Posted in Capstone, Jeff City/The Missourian, Journalism, Missouri, Mizzou, Photography, Photojournalism, Sports on February 12, 2010| 5 Comments »

I’m spending this weekend at the Student Recreation Complex, where swimmers have gathered to compete in the fourth annual Missouri Grand Prix.

The Columbia Missourian photographers are photographing. I’m there to edit — but between card dumps and transmissions to the photo desk, I have the opportunity to roam and make pictures, too.

So that’s what I did tonight.

I’ve shot dual-team meets at the rec center before, but never a full-blown, multi-day tournament whose roster includes Olympic swimmers. Tonight, I fiddled around a bit and tried not to resort to just the “one swimmer per frame” kind of shooting. Tomorrow and Sunday morning, because I know what to expect and where I can go, I’ll do better with this.

That’s right. I volunteered to live-edit during almost my entire weekend. But I made a point not to volunteer for the Sunday evening shift — because I’m sure as hell not missing the pairs short program for the Winter Olympics.

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DAY 8: You can always go downtown

Posted in Capstone, Internships/Careers, Missouri, Mizzou, Photography, Photojournalism on February 10, 2010| 1 Comment »

Walking downtown.

Today, my Business Practices in Photojournalism class visited L.G. Patterson‘s studio in downtown. (His Web site either is down or won’t load on my computer, which is why I linked to his Twitter.)

L.G. — whom I’ve seen at various MU athletic events — is an Associated Press photographer who also does a lot of commercial and portraiture work. Among the tips he gave us:

  1. Meet people, and make it meaningful. Don’t just sit in front of a computer screen or hand out business cards because…
  2. …The business of photography — like many others — is often more about whom you know.
  3. We as students often undersell ourselves.

In other news, today was my last day with the 14-24/2.8, at least for a while. I shot the above image on our way back to the journalism school. Here’s an outtake:

BOO!

On our way out of L.G.’s studio, Jason kinda popped out at me and I snapped this frame. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have cut off his fingers or foot. If not for that, and if Jessica weren’t in the background, I think this would have been my designated photo for today.

Oh well.

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DAY 7: When photo distortion is (kinda) okay

Posted in Capstone, Missouri, Mizzou, Photography, Photojournalism on February 9, 2010| 8 Comments »

Who doesn’t love a little distortion in photos?

The stairs/amphitheatre outside of the Reynolds Journalism Institute.

I’ve checked out a 14-24/2.8 lens for a few days, and it’s a lot of fun to use on a full-frame camera body like the D700.

I remember David telling us in Fundamentals — the first photojournalism course in the sequence — that we should distort our photos only when distortion enhances or adds to the photos’ quality or storytelling ability. So I’ve been keeping this in mind, and am on the lookout for scenarios and environments where warping the image via the lens would contribute to the image.

Here’s another one:

Some gnarly little tree near Middlebush.

And one more, which I took last night:

Some poor abandoned sweater in a tree next to the Manor House graduate apartments.

I have this lens until tomorrow evening. I’m bound and determined to have fun with it until then.

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DAY 6: A tale of two Joels

Posted in Capstone, Journalism, Missouri, Mizzou, Photography, Photojournalism on February 8, 2010| 3 Comments »

Patrick T. Fallon has way too much time on his hands.

Patrick, a junior photojournalism student here at MU, is known by all and beloved by many. It’s prudent, accurate and inoffensive to say simply that he is a character.

Patrick (center, in Mizzou sweatshirt) shares his newest Facebook album with MU photojournalism chair David Rees (center right, with glasses). From left to right, fellow photo-j students Grant, Sam, Nick and Jeff gather around. I shot this photo with a D700 and a 14-24/2.8, which explains the distortion.

Patrick’s latest Facebook album consists of diptychs of two Joels: Joel Kowsky and Joel Hawksley.

Joel Kowsky is a fellow photojournalism senior at MU. He photographs for the university’s athletic department and is generally a gearhead.

Joel Hawksley is a photojournalism sophomore at Ohio. He photographs for the university’s athletic department and seems to be a gearhead.

I’m not sure what Patrick was thinking, but he went through photos of the two Joels on Facebook and found seven uncannily similar photos of the two, who, it’s safe to assume, have never met.

Here’s an example of one of Patrick’s diptychs:

Click the image above for more diptychs of Joel and Joel.

Patrick shared with me the public link to the Facebook album where you can view more eery diptychs of these two photographers doing very photographer-y things (like taking photos of themselves in mirrors). You can view this album either by clicking on the image above or here.

My photo for today in the 30-day challenge is the first photo, which shows Patrick showing the album to photojournalism chair David Rees. I daresay David enjoyed Patrick’s efforts, as has hopefully everyone else who knows either Joel.

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DAY 3: This former roommate was on Jeopardy!

Posted in Capstone, Missouri, Mizzou, Photography, Photojournalism on February 5, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Answer: “Who is Lindsay Eanet?”

Yes, I took a photo of a CRT TV screen.

Lindsay and I met while working at The Maneater student newspaper in our freshman year. I don’t remember exactly how we met, but we became friends when we worked together on a fashion story for MOVE, which is The Maneater‘s biweekly arts and entertainment magazine. The next year, when everyone was moving off-campus, we became roommates.

Linds tried out for the College Championship series in Jeopardy! that year as well as the next. She didn’t make it until this year — and earlier this evening, a large group of us all gathered at The Heidelberg for a watch party to see Lindsay win $22,100, triumph in her first round and sail into the semifinals.

At the "Jeo-party." This is THE photo for Day 3 of the 30-day challenge.

Lindsay’s semifinal round airs on Wednesday, so check your local listings to see when Jeopardy! is played wherever you are. For those of you in Columbia, be sure to tune to ABC/KMIZ-17 at 5 p.m. on Wednesday the 10th.

On an unrelated note, I carried a camera around with me all day to see what I could get. Here are a few more photos that almost made the cut:

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DAY 1: Why I’m furious

Posted in Capstone, Journalism, Missouri, Mizzou, Photography, Photojournalism on February 3, 2010| 11 Comments »

I’m furious.

Today in Picture Story class, we watched a video chronicling photographer Jim Brandenburg’s self-challenge to take one photograph a day for 90 days in his extensive backyard near Ely, Minn. He undertook this project in 1994 — an age predating digital technology and 16GB memory cards, but photographers of his pedigree were unfazed by shooting thousands of frames per day while on assignment. I encourage you to check out the gallery. Each photo is technically and aesthetically wonderful, and the visual variety is stunning.

I’m not sure exactly what prompted him, but David suddenly proposed a challenge: Each of us should post a new photo to our blogs every day for 30 days. We accepted this challenge.

That’s not why I’m furious.

I’m furious because I have to read this book:

"Money-Driven Medicine" by Maggie Mahar

I’m in my final undergraduate semester, and only now am I taking my first-ever political science course. The class is Public Policy, and for our first paper, we are to read this entire book and write a book review.

That’s not (exactly) why I’m furious.

I’m furious because I’m learning, in detail, about the failures of the American health care system according to one author-journalist.

I’m furious because I procrastinated in starting this book, which has prevented me from going out and making pictures and blogging a real photo for my first entry in this 30-day series.

I’m furious because, although I’m far more interested in being a photographer than in being a student, my academics and work schedule this semester are severely limiting the time and opportunities I could have to pursue better photography.

My weekly schedule, not including my occasional photo-editing shifts on Fridays, Saturdays, and/or Sundays. The purple are classes; the green are worktime or photo-editing duties.

I’m excited about this 30-day challenge. I want to incorporate a theme or motif — and soon, so I can pursue that for the remainder of the challenge. I just hope I can find enough time to make good pictures to blog every day.

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Mad as hell: Journalists and photographers must stop selling themselves short

Posted in Journalism, Photography, Photojournalism on February 1, 2010| 12 Comments »

I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore.

I’m tired of seeing student photographers/journalists getting ripped off and taken advantage of.

I’m tired of knowing that companies — big and small — and individual clients think they can offer us little to no pay or, even better, “exposure” and a credit line in exchange for our hard work.

I’m tired of seeing fellow (photo)journalists willingly give up their work for little to no pay and/or not realize they should charge for their work.

I attribute my fury to two incidents/events in the past week: First, a large company’s trying to take advantage of another photographer and me, and second, a Twitter debate over content farms.

How a big-time company tried to rip me off

Almost two years ago, Esten, some other friends and I hopped in a car and drove 1200 miles roundtrip to Mangum, Okla., for the Mangum Rattlesnake Derby. For three days in this annual event, rattlesnake hunters comb through the nearby hills in search of rattlesnakes, which are brought back to town and butchered. We were there purely for the novelty of it all — and to photograph it, of course.

About a week ago, a representative with a very well-known travel guidebook company sent me the following message via Flickr Mail:

Hi Chris,

We produce and distribute one of the Web’s most popular travel guide products and have selected the Mangum Rattlesnake Derby to be included in the guide.

We are in the process of enhancing our listing with photos and would like to request an image from you (http://www.flickr.com/photos/chris_dunn/2458007330/) that can be used alongside the description of the event.

The image will appear alongside our editorial review of the Mangum Rattlesnake Derby and will go live on http://www.whatsonwhen.com, http://www.frommers.com and selected partner sites, reaching around 5 million unique users a month and generating 30 million page views.
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Three years ago in Lawrence, Kan.

Posted in Missouri, Mizzou, Photography, Photojournalism, Sports on January 25, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Three years ago, I was a freshman staff photographer for The Maneater student newspaper, and I was in enemy territory to cover the 2007 Border Showdown basketball game.

With former Maneater photo editor Ryan beside me, I was shooting only my second basketball game ever. Hell, it was also only my second sports event to cover as a photographer. I’d long overcome my timidity as a student photojournalist, but at that point, I had no confidence in my ability as a sports photographer.

But I came out of that game all right. And I captured this moment, which has remained in my portfolio:

Missouri forward Leo Lyons tries to hold onto the ball as Kansas guards Sherron Collins and Brandon Rush grab at Lyons' forearm on Jan. 15, 2007, at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kan. The Tigers attempted a failed three-point play in the game's final 11 seconds and lost the Border Showdown 80-77 to the Jayhawks.

Missouri lost that game. And the Tigers have lost every Border Showdown basketball game since, with the exception of one in Feb. 2009. And the Tigers will probably lose tonight’s game against No. 2 Kansas.

But, even though Jeff has turned the TV off with the Tigers down 20 points at halftime, I’m sure it’s at least a good game to shoot.

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The Texas Bowl: The last college football game I’ll ever shoot

Posted in Jeff City/The Missourian, Journalism, Missouri, Mizzou, Photography, Photojournalism, Sports on January 3, 2010| 5 Comments »

It’s the end of football season.

Missouri sophomore quarterback Blaine Gabbert and the Missouri players walk off the field after losing the Texas Bowl game.

Which means, on New Year’s Eve, I shot my last college football game.

Carrying two backpacks (one covered by the pink jacket), a camera messenger bag and a 400mm lens on a monopod, on the way to the media entrance at Reliant Stadium. Blame the wind for the bad hair. Photo by Jeff.

Okay — more accurately, the Texas Bowl game was the last college football game I’ll ever have shot as an undergraduate photojournalism student. And boy, was it a tough one.

I’d like to think that I’ve improved with every football game I’ve shot this season. I started out a little rough with the Illinois game, which I chalk up to my previously not having ever used Nikon equipment and shooting with a D3, a D2H and a 500/4 lens. Photographing the Nebraska game turned out a lot better, despite the personal misery associated with the inclement weather conditions. And I felt really on top of things when I shot Missouri’s unexpected victory at Kansas State and happened to be in exactly the right places to capture most of Missouri’s touchdowns.

But boy, did the Navy throw Missouri — and me — a curveball with the Texas Bowl game.

Marching Mizzou bandmembers Elysia Gooding and Alyssa Cowman perform as members of the Naval Academy band pass by and shout their cheer before the game outside the Reliant Stadium in Houston.

Going into the game, I had a few thoughts that shook me up a bit:

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From a former unpaid intern: Are unpaid internships a necessary evil?

Posted in Internships/Careers, Journalism, Photography, Photojournalism, washingtonpost.com on December 23, 2009| 5 Comments »

Being on winter break, I’ve had more time to patrol the Twittersphere than I do during the academic year. In the past day or so, I’ve noticed more tweets about unpaid internships and the dis/advantages thereof.

Earlier, @greglinch tweeted a link to a Christian Science Monitor opinion piece asking, “What if interns went on strike?” The author argues that hard-working interns are often not guaranteed or even tempted with employment with a company, despite their value in the workplace:

Interns are valuable. And as part of the workforce, they are expected to do many of the same tasks that professionals do (along with the menial jobs that no one cares to do).
Many people have, at some point in their lives, worked without pay. Some start businesses, others devote time to charities or nonprofits, and still more apprentice in lucrative mechanical fields. I am all for entrepreneurs, mechanics, and bleeding hearts.
However, conceiving of the unpaid internship as a means to secure paying jobs is as archaic as the corporate ladder model of employment itself. We no longer live in a society where hard work at one company ensures that we will someday reach the zenith of the American dream.

Greg also tweeted a link to a blog post with an internship opportunity offer from famed war photojournalist James Nachtwey‘s studio. Like so many other journalism internships out there, Nachtwey’s offer is unpaid. Unlike so many other journalism internships out there, Nachtwey is ultra-specific about what entry skills he wants his eventual intern to have. These include proficiency with particular scanning equipment and certain Photoshop tasks.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with setting a high standard for an incoming intern — but for those kinds of higher-end technical skills and know-how? For no pay? For at least three days a week for three months? In New York City?

Nachtwey is out of his mind.

But let’s back up and examine the general idea of unpaid internships altogether.

Many larger workplaces — such as big-name newspapers/magazines, law firms and more — don’t pay their interns for a variety of reasons. In many (or, I hope, in most) cases, these workplaces simply don’t have the budget for paid internships but still want to extend an offer so young people interested in that industry can still get good experience. In other cases, some workplaces justify not paying their interns by asserting that the internship experience is so valuable that the experience itself is payment.

(more…)

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What this journalism senior is doing during winter break

Posted in Atlanta, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Jeff City/The Missourian, Journalism, Mizzou, Photography, Photojournalism on December 15, 2009| Leave a Comment »

It’s finals week at many universities and colleges, including Missouri. Because I’m not entirely engrossed in scouring the on-line Oxford English Dictionary for my History of the English Language take-home exam, I’ve taken inspiration from an old 10,000 Words post and am instead announcing my journalism-minded goals and plans for this winter break.

(For those of you not familiar with the 10,000 Words blog — it’s a great resource for journalists/journalism students where blogger Mark S. Luckie provides tutorials, pontificates on relevant issues/questions in the industry and frequently refers to other examples of good journalism and/or branding.)

Without further ado, here’s what this journalism senior is doing over winter break:

  1. Revamping my Web site, especially the setup and some CSS. I’ll be changing some things around in my photo portfolio section and adding my written reporting clips. And nope, I’m not going to link to it now — once it’s more complete, I’ll post the URL and invite everyone and anyone to provide any feedback/criticism/praise.
  2. Going through the last two months’ photos. Thanks to projects, I haven’t had time to go over my recent Missourian assignments or my just-for-fun photos (Texas Renaissance Festival?). But starting next week, I’ll have time to do that, as well as post them for you to see here.
  3. Continuing/finishing posting New York City summer photos. Okay, so these photos are about four and a half months old now, but I’m still proud of and excited about them. So you can expect to see those soon, too.
  4. Tweaking my photo final projects. For one photo class, I produced an audio slideshow about on-site beer brewing at the Texas Renaissance Festival. For another photo class, I created a two-story package about what happens on a dairy farm after the farmer is killed by lightning. Both these projects are complete and on-line, as of yesterday, but I’m going to clean them up a little more before linking them to my Web site and sharing them with the general public.
  5. Covering the Texas Bowl game for The Missourian. As far as I know, Ivy and I are the only Missourian photo people credentialed to go — and she’s the designated editor, which means she’ll be in the photo workroom for most of the game. Which means I’m the only actual Missourian photographer for the game. Which is a lot of pressure. But hell if I’m not excited.
  6. Start reading The Atlanta Journal-Constitution regularly. If I’m going to be there this summer, I’d best get started on learning about the city and the paper.

Time for me to hit up the Oxford English Dictionary now. But — got any more suggestions for my winter break? I’d love to hear what you think!

(Of course I’ll also be sleeping and eating far more than is healthy for me, but that was already a given.)

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The best day: A summer internship and a college bowl game

Posted in Atlanta, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Internships/Careers, Jeff City/The Missourian, Journalism, Missouri, Mizzou, Photography, Photojournalism, Sports on December 9, 2009| 5 Comments »

Today, I accepted a summer photo internship at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

And got credentialed to photograph the Texas Bowl on Dec. 31 in Houston.

Today is a good day.

In other news, I’ve been working on various projects for the past few weeks. These include:

  • my final project for Staff Photo (about a brewery at the Texas Renaissance Festival),
  • my final project for Electronic Photojournalism (about a dairy farm) and
  • my portfolio Web site.

These projects are the main reason why I haven’t had much time to continue posting New York City photos and other photography expeditions I’ve recently had. Rest assured, these blog entries will come soon. I’m hoping to unveil my portfolio Web site and share my final projects in the middle of next week, and to pick up the NYC and other photos during winter break.

But in the meantime, I’m thrilled to spend the summer in Atlanta and honored to receive the internship offer. I really can’t wait to work in a larger newsroom and be in a new city. And I’m pumped to photograph the bowl game — I’ve come a long way in my football photography this semester, and I’m excited for the opportunity to cover a big game.

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Why I’m thankful: More lessons from the courtroom

Posted in Introspection, Jeff City/The Missourian, Journalism, Missouri, Mizzou, Photography, Photojournalism on November 25, 2009| 7 Comments »

Introduction

As perhaps thousands of people now know, my conflict (for lack of a better word) with the Boone County Courthouse didn’t end a month ago.

If anything, these people know that:

  • the judge rejected my written apology and offered a second opportunity to send another apology,
  • I declined that second opportunity and did not send another apology; and
  • the judge declared a 30-day ban for me to enter the Boone County Courthouse effective Dec. 15 unless I filed a request for a hearing.

What the vast majority of those people do not know is this: I never declined that second opportunity. Additionally, the 30-day ban has — as of yesterday around 10:45 a.m. — been lifted.

In this entry, I will attempt the following:

  • explain how it was that I’d never declined that second opportunity,
  • divulge all relevant details, including associated court documents and e-mails,
  • discuss the importance of reporters’ getting ALL sides of a story and
  • express my gratitude to the many who helped me and supported me through this tough time.

This account will be told chronologically. As was the case with my first account pertaining to this incident, it will be long. But so many people have read my account about how I made my mistake and tried to atone for it, and I can only hope that at least half that many will read this follow-up.

How it happened

As was published first in a Columbia Daily Tribune article and then picked up by the Associated Press, I received a statement from the court on Friday, Nov. 20. This statement came almost a full month after the Missourian director of photography, the photo editor who edited with me on that assignment and I sent letters of apology to the judge.

Click on the image to view/download the full-resolution PDF file.

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How everything came together: Missouri defeats Kansas State 38-12

Posted in Introspection, Jeff City/The Missourian, Journalism, Missouri, Mizzou, Photography, Photojournalism, Sports on November 15, 2009| 1 Comment »

Somehow, Missouri got it together and knocked the socks off of Kansas State yesterday, when the Tigers pulled off a 38-12 victory in Manhattan, Kan. This was a victory completely unexpected by almost everyone I talked to before leaving for the “Little Apple” to photograph the game.

A player (yet to be identified) embraces Missouri junior tailback Derrick Washington (No. 24) after Washington ran a 13-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.

But I’m not here to ponder, consider or explain how or why the Tigers secured their victory.

Senior Leslie Horn reaches out to senior linebacker Sean Weatherspoon after Missouri defeated Kansas State 38-12 at the Billy Snyder Family Stadium in Manhattan, Kan.

Rather, this entry’s title refers to the facts that:

All this means that, now that I know the game and know I can get the action, I can and should focus on working different angles and getting shots unlike what editors, fans and readers expect to see from a football game.

But as it is for now, I’ve got a few action shots from the game I’d like to share with you.

(more…)

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Flashback to the 90s: A Third Eye Blind concert

Posted in Jeff City/The Missourian, Journalism, Missouri, Photography, Photojournalism on November 11, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Third Eye Blind lead singer Stephan Jenkins likes to perform barefoot, apparently.

As I wrote last week, I photographed a Third Eye Bind concert last Tuesday. Two projects and a wedding weekend later, and upon the insistence of my friend Cat, I’m finally posting these photos.

Third Eye Blind guitarist Tony Fredianelli.

When I was assigned to cover the concert, one of the editors referred to Third Eye Blind as “everyone’s favorite band from 2000.” Since I’ve had my head (and ears) stuck in a 1960s/70s rut for the past 21 years, I wasn’t sure I was familiar with the band’s music.

So Jeff had me listen to six or seven songs. And of those, I immediately recognized at least five from the opening chords.

It was definitely a throwback to contemporary radio play during my adolescence, and it definitely helped explain why the concert at The Blue Note was sold out.

(more…)

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My new resume, because it’s that time of year again

Posted in Internships/Careers, Journalism, Photojournalism on October 27, 2009| 8 Comments »

Because it’s that time of year again — internship application season — I’ve completely redone my resume.

For two years or so, I’ve used a variation of the following format and style:

cdunn-resume

I’ve been pondering my new brand and style for several weeks. One thing that I knew I wanted to change was how regimented my old resume is. So last night, I played around, and here’s what I turned out:

ChrisDunn-resumeWeb

My actual new resume is a little different from the one I’m showing and have uploaded. Namely, I removed my mailing address and cell phone number for privacy reasons and, accordingly, shifted the top heading (“(photo)journalism by Chris L. Dunn”) a bit.

But I really like my new resume. The new format — two columns all the way down, indentations instead of bullets and no lines — is clean, airy and organized. To punch it up a bit for impact (and save on what would be excessive costs for color printing), I’ve introduced an 80-percent opacity on the body text. Finally, the new heading typeface gives the whole page some pizazz and a creative feel.

Now it’s time to whip up a letterhead that’s congruous with this resume — and pump those applications out before deadline! Wish me luck. And, as always, I’d love to know what you think about my new (or old) resume.

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Lessons from the courtroom: A photography faux pas

Posted in Introspection, Jeff City/The Missourian, Journalism, Missouri, Mizzou, Photography, Photojournalism on October 23, 2009| 30 Comments »

  • UPDATE (10:38 a.m., Nov. 25, 2009) — By my general reckoning, at least thousands of people know there’s more to this story, as of this past Friday. Various editors, journalism school faculty and I have since worked to remedy the situation. Now that we’ve tied up our loose ends, I believe now is the time to clarify exactly what happened — at least on my part. Please read my blog entry for the second (and final) component to this incident.

“Hello, this is Chris.”

“Hi Chris, this is Josh. You need to tell me the truth about what happened in court yesterday. And don’t lie to me, because lying isn’t going to get you anywhere.”

That’s how, via a phone call today at 9:13 a.m., I found out I was in trouble.

Here’s why:

Yesterday, I spent almost six hours in the Boone County Courthouse as the pool photographer for the fourth day of William Clinch’s first-degree murder trial. Armed with a 300mm lens, a 70-200mm and a 17-35mm, I knew the following before I entered the courtroom at 12:45 p.m.:

  • Do not photograph the jury.
  • Do what the judge tells me to do. Do not anger or even mildly irritate the judge.
  • Be respectful and quiet. This means not firing off more than three frames at a time.
  • Do not photograph the jury.

I photographed the jury.

That is why:

  • the Missourian reporter was kicked out of the courtroom this morning,
  • the photo director (Josh, above) called me,
  • I had to explain exactly what happened to several editors,
  • I could have been put in jail for contempt of court,
  • I spent the next hour tearfully worrying and wondering what would happen next,
  • I wrote a letter of apology to the judge,
  • I ended up on A1 of The Columbia Daily Tribune and
  • I am writing this blog post.

More specifically, I am writing this blog post to clarify exactly what happened. I believe in transparency, and I believe that other journalism students and journalists can learn from my mistakes.

Therefore, I am laying out everything that happened. This is the truth and is consistent with my letter of apology and my explanation to various Missourian editors and colleagues. And the truth is long, so this blog post is long. But I hope you’ll keep reading.

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