Nineteen and Savvy

Sophomore. J-School Student. Mizzou. Welcome to my ramblings.

[emeliapatterson]

Stress, stress, and more stress.

I don't think I've understood stress fully until this year. Stress is this final project. Stress is scrapping a finished final project and starting over with a week to go. 

But, journalists are supposed to work well under pressure. Right? Yep. Okay.

And somehow, some way, the perfect story seemed to fall into our hands.

I fostered a husky from a local woman earlier this year. She breeds and shows dachshunds and also takes in abandoned dogs from around the area. Interestingly enough, she also started the pet dorm at Stephens College here in Columbia, one of the first and only college dorms in the United States that allow pets in a dormitory environment.

Our goal (within the next four days) is to talk to the woman about her experiences taking in abandoned animals, and also showing and raising dogs, and how she came to open the dorm at Stephens. 

We also want to talk to students that have pets in that dorm, and how it is to be one of the only colleges that allows such a phenomenon.

An article on that can be found here.

It's going to be a strong visual and audio piece. I'm excited.

Deep breaths.

We can do this.

Here we go.

[emeliapatterson]

The open sign glows outside of U Knead Sweets downtown Columbia, Mo. on Tuesday, November 6, 2012. Owner Allen Shih says although they've only been open for a month, the shop has already seen great success.

[emeliapatterson]

The Sweet Taste of Downtown Columbia

Only a short month ago, Helena and Allen Shih opened their pastry shop, U Knead Sweets, downtown Columbia.

Located at 808 Cherry St., the shop glows with an “Open: Bakery” sign and delicate white writing across the window that advertises “Artistry in Fine Pastries.” Inside, it’s cozy and smells of freshly baked lemon bars.

“My wife loves to bake,” Allen Shih, U Knead Sweets’ owner said. “One day, I just said to her, let’s do this.”

Helena and Allen sell both classic and unique treats in their shop, from breakfast pastries and cinnamon rolls to macaroons to even a red bean sweet bread, and their daughter, Erica, also helps them out. Although they’ve only been open a short while, they’re finding success so far.

“We’re doing well,” Shih said. “It looks like it will get better from here.”

Pastries range anywhere from $1 to $7, and cakes can also be specially made upon request.

[emeliapatterson]

Blogging is a Full Time Job

Blogging is stressful. Keeping up with my blog is a challenge. At least, for this one.

I have a personal one that I have a tendency to spend most of my time on, but hey, it's like my child.

These past couple weeks have been a little hectic, so forgive me for being a bit behind the times. The iPad Mini has been revealed, Hurricane Sandy has hit, and the serial bear-hugger has been captured. It's been quite the 14 days.

With that being said, the devastation from Sandy is still quite real. I have a close friend who lives out east and spends many weekends during the spring and summer in Atlantic City, and seeing a roller coaster in the ocean just makes it all the more real. Sometimes I'm relieved that I don't live on the east coast and can avoid such damage, but then I go back to thinking about the tornadoes we face in the midwest, such as with Joplin a few years ago. It's just crazy to think that with all the technology we have, we can't predict the damage better or have a more effective means of evacuation. It's sad, and it's awful.

The weather channel put together a giant slideshow of the hurricane and what it has left behind. The link can be found here.

Have a great weekend, and remember to give your loved ones an extra hug.

[emeliapatterson]

Just like chivalry, are media ethics "dead"?

The public has a right to the news. The public has a right to be informed. 

However, the public does not need to be repulsed or disgusted or terrified by images presented in the media. There's reasons that photos of dead children or fatal car accidents before cleaned up aren't released to the public. It's disrespectful to the families, and it's crossing the line between what's appropriate and what's not. Sure, journalists are supposed to report the truth and be independent, but we also have to treat our sources and subjects with respect and have a sense of compassion and sensitivity.

That's just one side of media ethics.

What about all of the "photoshopping" going on? How do we even know what pictures are real anymore? News photographers are combining pictures to tell a story that never even took place, and 15 year old girls are editing their Facebook pictures to make themselves look better on their profiles, all stemming from the photographs plastered on magazines of women with unattainable figures, features, and beauty.

I came across this blog during my search over the weekend, and it shows many examples of photo doctoring, dating back as early as the 1860s. Just goes to show that the media wants to please the public, trying the best they can to make people look more attractive, more powerful, or more dignified.

Regardless, it's wrong.

Can we all be real here, please?

[emeliapatterson]

One of the most stressful weeks so far in class...

Soundslides was awful. My experience was awful. Everything was absolutely awful. 

First, my subject locks his keys in his car in his hometown of Rolla, Mo. I'm planning on shooting pictures in Jefferson City, Mo, which is an hour and a half away and 45 minutes away from Columbia. He can't get to the gym in time for me to shoot him (pictures, of course), and can't meet up with me anytime later in the week. The only day he's available is MONDAY. And the project was due THURSDAY. He had to send me the majority of the pictures I used. I took about 150 while I was at the gym, but they barely fit anywhere with the audio. On top of that, Soundslides took forever, and Blackboard refused to let me upload my project.

Let's just say it was a really stressful week. And I'm freaking out about that grade.

In other news, there's a really cool website out there called multimedianewscenter.com, in which journalists are given the option to view all types of multimedia regarding specific stories. For example, one story may have audio, video, a broadcast, and an online news article. It's up to the reader to decide what piece of the story they want (or want to start with).

It's sad, but the amount of attention given to the written word nowadays is minimal. This completely sucks for me, because I absolutely love reading. And writing. But honestly, I can see the appeal in focusing more on pictures, video, and audio (or all combined). I just feel like writing should be more appreciated...and more people should actually take the time out to read.

Okay, I think I'm done ranting for now. Have a wonderful weekend.

[emeliapatterson]

A picture's worth a thousand words...but really.

This is one of the coolest websites I've ever come across. 

Basically, it's a collection of user-submitted photos that have the photo from one point in time in front of the location where it was taken at the present point in time. Does that make any sense? If not, just click on the link. It's pretty self-explanatory. Hahah. 

Beware though, you may lose quite a bit of time scrolling through the website.

I think it's awesome how powerful an image is. But the captions make the photograph even that much more powerful. Take, for instance, a picture of a little boy hugging a tree. Cute, until the caption, by the boy's mother, reads that the boy passed away in his sleep three days after the picture was taken. Heartbreaking.

IOr the picture of a grandfather and granddaughter in the past on top of the present. Touching, but even more so emotional when the author states that her grandfather now has Alzheimer's and going back to that spot with that picture "and now the path has led me back home so I can take care of him." 

I've definitely underestimated the power of an image to tell a story, caption or not. But I guess that's why I'm taking this class. To learn otherwise.

[emeliapatterson]

Are we being annoying or forward-thinking?

I found this article particularly interesting.

In summary, the article talks about all of the photographs that have been taken throughout the years since the beginning of the camera, dating from as early as 1838 to as recent as a few seconds ago. 

With the mainstream acceptance of Facebook and Instagram, pictures are becoming increasingly easy to share and post wherever at the click of a button. The technology is fascinating, and it certainly comes in handy for journalistic purposes, or even sharing pictures of a baby's first birthday party with far-away family members. 

My question is, where do we draw the line?

As I'm scrolling down my Instagram feed at this moment, I'm seeing multiple self-shots, pictures of food, pictures of quotes, pictures of shoes, and headless models showing off the latest fashion. Not exactly newsworthy, but the appeal is there for some.

I'm just wondering, are we as citizens becoming "over-sharers"?

Now I won't name names, of course, but as I was scrolling down my feed, and someone posted a picture of one of their friends passed out drunk. Why in the heck would you need to take a picture of that, put a filter on it, and post it on a social media website? I don't need to see that, and neither does anyone else.

I think taste is a huge problem, especially with some of our generation today.

And I'm sorry, but I don't need a constant reminder of what someone has had for breakfast. Unless it looks especially nice, of course.

Instagram is great, but there's a point where people need to remember that once it's out there, it's out there. Just like food, or anything, everything should be kept in moderation.

Or maybe photography sometimes should just be left to the professionals.

All the pictures below were taken by me and posted on my Instagram. 

Sometimes I get lucky, and sometimes they turn out like crap.

[emeliapatterson]

When will my stories move people?

The video we watched on Monday during lecture brought me to tears. That's so cliche and corny, I know, but it really did. That was such an inspiring story, and the combination of stills and audio and video, combined with all the different camera angles and the periods of silence from the parents added so much to the video that could easily have just been filmed with one camera in one location at one period of time.

It just gets me thinking. When will my stories matter? When will my work matter?

Because we're so young and just getting into this, we really have barely any experience (except for a select few) with putting pieces together like this that have the potential to be emotional and powerful.

One day soon, I want my story to be talked about.

I want my story to make waves.

I want my story to move people.

Just like this video and the video from lecture moved me.

http://mediastorm.com/publication/a-shadow-remains

*Must be a subscriber to view.

[emeliapatterson]

Beginnings

Okay, I'm not going to lie, multimedia scares the crap out of me. 

Not because I can't operate a computer or figure out how to open Photoshop. No. It's because media is progressing so rapidly; I feel as though I'm unable to keep up with everything that's going on.

Sure, I've dabbled with Photoshop and Windows Movie Maker (mostly for high school projects and putting myself and my favorite celebrity together...no shame), and I have a personal Twitter account and two other Tumblr pages, but other than that...I'm getting lost in this giant, technological world. Final Cut Pro and Soundslides and everything else just seems so out of my league. For now.

In the journalistic world, especially, no story is ever fully complete without some sort of multimedia, whether it be an audio clip or a professional quality still. And the public wouldn't have it any other way. Not that I would either, but it's a lot of pressure to put on those who have to go out and find a story and make it presentable in the first place. Gah. 

Don't get me wrong. It's exciting. And I'm excited. 

I'm just nervous about being successful with it all.

On that note, here's a story that I thought did particularly well at integrating multimedia into it, on top of being an interesting story that I feel relates to people in our age range. At least somewhat.

http://mediastorm.com/clients/twenties-and-money-for-y-and-r

Warning: It's about 15 minutes long.