Photo Story: Cigarette butts in Corvallis

A cigarette butt rests at the edge of a storm drain on Jackson St in Corvallis. Without intervention, this butt would have washed down the drain and straight into the river.

Cigarette butts litter the ground at the "unofficial smoking area" near the Pride Center on the "non-smoking" campus of OSU.

A cat walks by a homemade ashtray installed in a campus neighborhood north of OSU. This ashtray was created in response to the increased cigarette litter caused by the prohibition of smoking on campus.

Litter and cigarette butts in a red wagon from an individual cleanup effort by Corvallis resident Cheyne Willems

These bags of cigarette butts were collected over Labor Day weekend to serve as a visual aid for the Corvallis City Council meeting to show the need for proper smoking receptacles

Richard Arterbury, founder of the Ocean Blue Project, receives bags of cigarette butts to be shipped by train to be recycled into new products - September 11, 2015

Week 10 Blog Forum: Favorite Photo(s) & Goals

Topic 1:

Favorite Photo(s)

This one is my favorite, but I didn't put it up on my blog because it didn't have enough people in it. Or it wasn't newsworthy. Or whatever.

A discarded M&M's wrapper in the dew-dappled grass on the campus of OSU - November 12, 2015

But I like it. I loved the dew on the grass, so I MACRO-ed in on the candy wrapper and composed my shot. Yes!

But seriously, my favorite picture that I actually put up on my Photojournalism blog is this one, of Hayden Smith jumping over a rail on his skateboard.

Skateboarder Hayden Smith hops off the deck, as his skateboard rolls under the rail, at the skate park in Corvallis - November 14, 2015

This photo stood out because I'm a sucker for this kind of picture. The stopped motion always gets me, and I end up looking at these pictures longer than I look at the others.

Topic 2:

My Goals

I set some goals way back in Week 1, three to be exact, and these are them:

My goals for this class include getting some of my work published, improving my ability to take news-worthy photos, and gaining the confidence necessary to take pictures of strangers making news.

First goal: Get some of my work published. Yes! Multiple times my pictures were featured in print in the Commuter.

A woman holds a burning candle at the candlelight vigil for Umpqua Community College, at LBCC - October 7, 2015

Second goal: Improve my ability to take news-worthy photos. Yes again, my skills have improved. (Unfortunately, my name-getting skills are still not-so-good.)

Foodservice workers serve food in the courtyard of LBCC - November 12, 2015

Third goal: Gain confidence necessary to take pictures of strangers making news. Yes, I have gained confidence in taking pictures of strangers, now I need to get their names.

Week 9 Blog Forum: Turning Pro

Topic 1:

Turning Pro

Leaves on a tree outside the greenhouse at LBCC in Albany - November 9, 2015

This class gave me an opportunity to create a professional platform on which I can build a portfolio to showcase my photography in a clear and focused way. That is a mouthful-of-words way of saying that I made a blog, and it looks legit, and I will continue to update it after the class is done.

I'm glad to have the experience, but journalism is not my major. My next steps are to seek employment and reduce my course-load at school; delay my "graduation" further, in a futile attempt to reduce debt...

"Where are the jobs? Where should I look?"

Jeremy Smith gets some help from his friend Cheyne Willems in bungee-ing his dodecahedron to the basket on his bicycle - November 20, 2015 (Photo credit: Sha Lindsay)

I learned about the vital necessity –as well as the accompanying difficulty– of writing complete captions. Captions could be easier for me to complete if I carried a dedicated audio-recording device to record names and information as news is happening and I'm taking pictures. Unfortunately, I don't carry a dedicated audio-recording device, but instead rely on my crummy memory and a little notebook in my back pocket. My system works pretty okay, but it often results in [unknown names] and questions over who is who.

"Is 'Steve' in this picture? Too bad I just wrote a name without any context in my notebook."

Foodservice worker Mercy Love serves hot ready-to-eat food in the courtyard at LBCC - November 12, 2015

Topic 2:

Henri Cartier-Bresson made the biggest impression on me, of the Photographers of the Week we learned about in class.

Cartier-Bresson, Henri (1908-2004) - 1960c. Self-Portrait

His candid photography is quite iconic, and the people in his pictures look natural. The pictures he took capture an un-repeatable moment in time, and his skill allowed him to capture the best shots as they occured. If my pictures can look at all like his, I'll feel like I'm a pro.

Coronación del Rey Jorge VI, Londres, 1937 Henri Cartier-Bresson