HURRY HARD! If you know me you'll know that I love curling and anything to do with the sport. So when we were asked to pick a subject for our montage it was pretty clear to me what I was going to do. I really found out how rewarding editing and shooting video is. I truly know that media production is the major for me. I can't wait to second year CreComm!
I'll also be sure to add more video and other related/super awesomely interesting content on the blog throughout the summer!
Audrey Magazine is the result of a semester's work. It seemed like a fever dream first; Come up with a concept to make a magazine about.
After that, go through multiple names that suits the feel of your magazine (Hush, Marilyn).
Once you finally land on a name you create a logo, think of article topics, create a brand identity, write the articles, take photos, design it, edit it, design and edit it some more, cry with happiness, print it, and finally plan an entire booth for a trade fair.
The entire recipe of blood, sweat, tears, subway crumbs, paper cuts, and hugs has brought me to the end product that is Audrey Magazine. The trade fair will be a chance for you the reader to come check out, not only Audrey Magazine, but all other CreComm magazines and their respective booths. Hopefully I'll see you there!
Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images
As a photographer, how do you remain invisible? How do you capture the emotion, the "right moment" when you have a huge lens pointing out from your face directly at someone else?
I found an article written by Coburn Dukehart which was published on NPR's website (link to article) which deals with taking photos in sensitive situations. Here's a quip from the article:
"On the night of the shootings in Newtown, Conn., a woman named Aline Marie attended a prayer vigil at St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church, which was packed with local residents and the media. After about 45 minutes, Marie saw the statue of Mary and knelt down to pray.
"I sat there in a moment of devastation with my hands in prayer pose asking for peace and healing in the hearts of men," she recalls. "I was having such a strong moment and my heart was open, and I started to cry."
Her mood changed abruptly, she says, when "all of a sudden I hear 'clickclickclickclickclick' all over the place. And there are people in the bushes, all around me, and they are photographing me, and now I'm pissed. I felt like a zoo animal."
What the photojournalists didn't do was to take the time to talk to Marie and ask for her permission. They were afraid of ruining the moment and their shot. Something I've learned from Nahlah Ayed's book A Thousand Farewells is that you have to choose your subjects tastefully and make sure they understand that you want to show what they're going through.
As a photographer your subject needs to know that you have a mutual understanding. It's a fine line of ruining a moment and being considerate.
A Thousand Farewells is a book about Nahlah Ayed's experience reporting from the Middle East as well as the spaces in between the media's coverage.
The book begins with her life in Winnipeg but then changes pace when her family decides to move to a refugee camp in Jordan. She is introduced to living amongst a cramped house of multiple family members, and using a hole as a toilet. After a handful of years they move back to Canada and Ayed becomes a journalist after writing for Carelton University's school newspaper.
The Labneh and Hummus of the story come after the events of 9/11 which motivates Ayed to return to the Mideast but as a reporter for CBC.
What I really enjoyed about this book was the subtleties and the details Ayed throws in. For example she explains how in her taxi ride in Amman the driver talks to her about politics and how that is the go to subject for Arabs much like the weather is Canadians. Sort of a weird tidbit for my brain to remember but it was something that I didn't know about that culture and it stuck.
Something that didn't stick with me were the names, especially early on. The names of the Mideast to me are hard to remember. Ayed does do a fairly good job of reiterating how she knows the person but the names still get lost of whose who from time to time. An example would be instead of saying Huessein she will add uncle to the front of his name just in case you forgot. I wish I had a reference card for all the names in the book so I could keep going back to see who was who but that's asking a little much from a memoir like this.
Something that Ayed showed throughout the book is that as a reporter (and I know Joanne Kelly has said this) you shouldn't check your humane side at the door. You need to build those connections with people to have really personal, great stories. It's those decisions that Ayed makes of who to interview and when. Instead of interviewing the woman who was grief stricken at the sight of the mass grave in Iraq, she turns to a man who was surrounded by a small group of people. She is judged by the man for being Canadian and has this quote to say about it from the book.
"in the Mideast you are the sum total of the blood that runs in your veins."
She eventually reasons with the man saying that she has lived most of her life in Canada but she understand the circumstances and the goes on to tell his story. It's moments like this one, throughout the book that emphasize the connections to the people you interview or as a photographer the people that you photograph. You can't fake emotion, you can act sure but real true believable emotion that is real isn't acted it's felt.
