Audio slideshow: The Lost Village of Imber

BBC News: The Lost Village of Imber

"The village of Imber on Salisbury Plain was abandoned nearly 70 years ago when the residents were forced to leave their homes in 1943."

Rex Sawyer, an author who wrote a book about the former British township, is interviewed about Imber, its history and the recent project to restore its church.

Most of the narration is done by Sawyer, lending credence to the story. The pictures, taken by BBC photographer David White, add mood and context to the spoken words. Additionally, the audio is crisp and clear and the sounds of war in the background contribute an ominous ambiance to the entire proceedings. The additional music sounds like traditional Anglo fare, which adds to the piece's historic bent. The other interviews are interspersed professionally and offer seamless transition in the long show.

The juxtaposition of tales of American soldiers in Imber with the images of young British soldiers in the pictures completes a ghastly motif of war. The entire thing, while sadly depressing, offers a glimmer of hope in its closing moments about the church's restoration, which brings the township of Imber full circle by the end of the rather long slideshow.

Audio Slideshow: The last Pullman Porter

Audio slide show: Pullman porter and family patriarch - latimes.com

This is an audio slideshow dedicated to the life of 100-year-old Lee Wesley Gibson, the oldest surviving Pullman porter. Pullman porters were train attendants that were hired after the end of the Civil War. As the slideshow's description says, Gibson was one of thousands of African American men whose lives were transformed for working for the Union Pacific Railroad.

What I love about this slideshow:

- In 2 minutes and 52 seconds, the show tells the story of Lee Wesley Gibson by giving us the essence of the man, even though we don't know many of the details. In that relatively short period of time, we learn that Gibson is a really hard worker (he looks really good for a hundred, huh?) and a dedicated family man. We learn that his life probably was fairly average of Pullman porters, yet Mel Melcon (the guy behind the slideshow) is able to eloquently show the beauty and complexity of this man's seemingly average life.
- Instead of Melcon narrating this guy's story, he lets him tell it himself. After watching this, you know that there would be no better way to tell this story.
- The pictures: The minor details Melcon utilizes make this a striking collection of shots. One of the first shots is of the living room in Gibson's house-- you can tell by the way his living room looks both bare and used that he is an older man who lives alone. The teddy bear sitting on a coach in a tidy, if not somewhat threadbare, living room seems indicative of this. The close-up shot reveals the spirit of Gibson in his eyes-- old, wise, and content.

Still Photo: Julian Casablancas

This is a photo of Julian Casablancas performing with his band, The Strokes, at the Isle of

Wight Festival in Newport, Isle of Wight. This photo was posted on Zimbio (an interactive online magazine) as part of a photo gallery from the festival. The photograph was taken by Simone Joyner of Getty Images Europe.

• The photographer does a good job of utilizing depth of field to make the photo more dramatic. Everything is completely faded away in the background, so the subject is much more prominent.
• The photographer also balanced aperture and shutter speed very well. Enough light was let into the lens to get the correct exposure, but the shutter speed was fast enough to avoid blur.
• The lighting in this photograph is also very good. The photographer uses top light (that ray of light beaming down), but because that light is very difficult to work with, you can also tell that there is another lighting source illuminating the subject from the side and therefore eliminating shadows that would have gotten in the way.

Photo Source: Zimbio

Still Photo: Garrett Gilbert

-This photo was taken by Becca Rushworth of College Pressbox, a weekly show about Texas athletics on Texas Student Television.
-This is new quarterback Garrett Gilbert, calling an audible before the snap in a play against Rice in the season opener at Reliant Stadium in Houston.
-Stadium lighting ensures good lighting conditions.
-Having the Rice player a little unfocused and the audience completely out of focus, and Gilbert crisply focused, emphasizes him.
-Perfectly caught him in the action of yelling out the play; there's a look of intensity in his face and he's angled perfectly.

Still photo from Time

• Although the picture shows a reflection of the man in the water, the focus is on the rose.
• The lighting and exposure are both good.
• The red color of the rose sticks out a lot since everything else is kind of a dull color.

Pictures of the week

picture from the statesman photo of the day

• The image has too much detail. The woman in the middle seems to be the main character but, she is too distant from the viewer
• It is not clear what the purpose of the picture is or what is happening
• The image could have been cropped so that there would have a focus point

To view the rest of the slide show from the statesman photos of the day click here

Still Photo from New York Times Magazine

-The lighting in this photo is good for being an "indoor" photo. The sunlight is coming in and there's no overhead lighting.
-The focus is on the action and intensity of the two girls learning in an Afghanistan girls' school.
-It's not too busy although there are a lot of people in the background of the photo. The angle is right.
-The yellow color in background adds to the photo since both of the girls are wearing black.

Click here to read the story on the Mirwais Mena School for Girls in the outskirts of Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Photo post

This picture from New York's Fashion Week is a lovely, crisp photo.

The lighting for runway shows is perfect for photography.

The girl in the front is the only one completely in focus, so although she commands most of the attention you can still see that action is clearly going on behind her.

The diagonal line is very attractive and easy to follow.

You can read the entire story at NPR.

Audio Clips for Practice

Here is a great site with free sound effects and music to use with Audacity.

http://www.freeplaymusic.com/

Still Photo Post

This is a picture of the first living Medal of Honor recipient since the Vietnam War.
- picture is focused on him
- This looks like it was taken in the middle of the afternoon so the shadow is a slight problem
- There is nothing in the picture to distract you from him.

Still Photo from The New York Times

The New York Times - Still Photo

*It is the third image in the slide show*
This is an amazing photograph that immediately grabbed my attention. The colors in the photo are extremely crisp and vivid. The vantage point that the photographer chose draws you into the photo, particularly to the eyes of the young boy in the middle. There is no wasted space or extraneous detail to distract from what the photographer is trying to communicate. Overall, this is a powerful image that has a lot to say.

Still Photograph

NPPA Monthly News Clip Contest

This is a compelling photo because:

-It uses the frame EXTREMELY well. There's no dead space, but it's not too cluttered. 

-The exposure is good and the colors really pop.

-The alignment of the kids' legs with the drain is very graphic and pulls you in.

-Kids are ALWAYS good subjects

How to Understand the Economy

This American Life is by far my favorite podcast. It presents human interest stories in a fascinating and exciting way, and if I could be Ira Glass (the host), I would be in heaven. Every now and then they collaborate with writers from another podcast called Planet Money and National Public Radio and, in this podcast, they explain how the economic crisis began. Normally my brain inevitably shuts down when I hear phrases like "stock market" and "cash flow," but this podcast made me "get it" and kept my interest the whole time. This podcast helped me understand the economy more than any other medium at the time when it was first released in May 2008. I highly recommend listening to any other episode--they're all pretty good.

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/355/the-giant-pool-of-money

An interesting NYT story on Twitter

http://bit.ly/9PvR10
Shared by Isabella

Photoshop exercise

Examples 1-2

Example 3

What is the difference between 1080i and 1080p?

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_difference_between_1080p_and_1080i_HDTV_sets

Photoshop tutorials

There are numerous free software tutorials online. Here is one:
http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-editing/dodge-burn/

This is a well-known tutorial site: http://www.lynda.com

Mac tips for PC users

Here is a friendly summary of some nice tips:
http://www.morgandayphotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Helpful_Mac_Tips_Shortcuts_for_PC_users_.pdf

A full list of Mac keyboard shortcuts:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1343

Q: Is HuffingtonPost.com credible?

A: Here is an analytical piece in The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/apr/06/huffington-post-us-newspaper-industry