Final Portfolio

(ISO 800, 1/50 sec, f/1.7)

The raindrops on the meter of a motorbike after the rain in Pike Market, Seattle, Jan. 11, 2016. I this photo I use long aperture to get the background blurred.

Rebecca, 9 and Melat, 6 is talking and playing while waiting for the Ethiopian Orthodox baptism ceremony in The King Hall, Seattle on Sunday. Jan. 25, 2016.

Stacy Rea, 60 was picking tiles during the game of Mah Jongg Fever in Uptown Espresso, Seattle, Washington in Feb. 3 afternoon.

Mah Jongg Fever, a Mah Jongg meet up group in Seattle had their regular day time session in Uptown Espresso, Seattle, Washington in Feb. 3 afternoon.   

Video Project: Wuna Zhang and Meihui Lu, the Kongfu brothers and sisters are now operating their Martial Art School in International District, Seattle. They are not only teaching kicking and punching, but also spread the spirit of martial art.

Reflection Post:

This is the best journalism class I have ever taken in UW.I love to take photos in my spare time, but that's the first photo course in my life. 

My favorite lesson is about the dynamic light. The photos you show during the class gave me the idea that how to use light to reflect people's emotion, which was the base of future assignment. 

My favorite assignment is the video assignment. I spent one day in the martial art school. But when I was editing the video, I still felt that I didn't have enough clip. This was my first video story. From building the connection to shoot the video, and edit the video, I made my first "documentary" . It is an impressive experience and I do really love video shooting. 

It's not the really stressful class, but I spent enough time on each assignment so I could make sure I did my best. And I am really thankful to my instructor, Erika Shultz, who has provided me support and sources throughout the whole quarter. She is probably the most supportive instructor I have ever met. 

I do really love this class, and I hope to go one step further in photo journalism, and this class is a good start for me. 

Video Project

Reflection:

When I was editing the video I felt that I didn't get enough material. But the truth was that I spent around 1 day in that Martial Art school and shooting my clips. I didn't have much difficulty during editing. I think I still need to take some time to practice my video shooting skills so I won't miss any shoot I need in the future.

Tom, a Vietnamese American who has operated his Gundam model shop for over 20 years, is showing his work. Graduating from art major Seattle Central College, he built up his own studio in his garage. “I regard making Gundam models as a kind of art, like painting or sculpture.” He has a diverse customer group: from 20 to 50 years old and different ethnic groups. 


Reflection：

The most difficult part in this assignment is to find interesting people in limited time. I spend the whole afternoon in International District to find the story and can attract me. Tom is an interesting character for me.But it's hard to find an angle to shoot both him and his work. And I waited for around an hour because there were so many customers there. 

Story Pitch

The project is about an Martial Arts School in the International District. I will work with the Asian American community. The story will be fun because it is Chinese New Year these days so people may be interested in Chinese and Asian culture. The story is suitable for a video story because Tachi itself is a body exercise so it’s easy to show it through video. 

I have contacted the honor of the school and she agreed to help me. And I haven’t decided the other characters in the story. There will be a show next Saturday and I’m looking for a chance for shooting during weekdays.

Photo Essay

Mah Jongg Fever, a Mah Jongg meet up group in Seattle had their regular day time session in Uptown Espresso, Seattle, Washington in Feb. 3 afternoon.  

Mah Jongg Fever, a Mah Jongg meet up group in Seattle had their regular day time session in Uptown Espresso, Seattle, Washington in Feb. 3 afternoon. They put money to this bag after each game and they donated the money to different charity groups each month. 

Mah Jongg Fever, a Mah Jongg meet up group in Seattle had their regular day time session in Uptown Espresso, Seattle, Washington in Feb. 3 afternoon.  

Mah Jongg Fever, a Mah Jongg meet up group in Seattle had their regular day time session in Uptown Espresso, Seattle, Washington in Feb. 3 afternoon.   

Lily Bogash, 62, was playing Mah Jongg in Uptown Espresso, Seattle, Washington in Feb. 3 afternoon.She had played Mah Jongg for around one year.

Randee Frost, 60, was arranging tiles during the game of Mah Jongg Fever in Uptown Espresso, Seattle, Washington in Feb. 3 afternoon.

Randee Frost, 60, was picking tiles during the game of Mah Jongg Fever in Uptown Espresso, Seattle, Washington in Feb. 3 afternoon.

Stacy Rea, 60 was picking tiles during the game of Mah Jongg Fever in Uptown Espresso, Seattle, Washington in Feb. 3 afternoon.

Rea and Bogash were discussing reading the rule book after a game in Uptown Espresso, Seattle, Washington in Feb. 3 afternoon.

Rea and Frost were discussing reading the rule book after a game in Uptown Espresso, Seattle, Washington in Feb. 3 afternoon.

Rea published a book about Mah Jongg which could be bought on Amazon.She exhibited the book on the table when they met in Uptown Espresso, Seattle, Washington in Feb. 3 afternoon.

Reflection Journal:

One challenging part of the story is the light. The light inside the cafe is quite dark so it's hard to freeze the motion. Another challenge is to think about the story during taking the photo. So I just take as many as possible. When I was checking the photo at home, I still felt that I missed some moments. 

Candid Moment

Rebecca, 9 and Melat, 6 is talking and playing while waiting for the Ethiopian Orthodox baptism ceremony in The King Hall, Seattle on Sunday. Jan. 25, 2016. 

Rebecca, 9 and Melat, 6 is talking and playing while waiting for the Ethiopian Orthodox baptism ceremony in The King Hall, Seattle on Sunday. Jan. 25, 2016.

Abrham, 11 and Samuel, 9 is playing Madden Mobile while waiting for the Ethiopian Orthodox baptism ceremony in The King Hall, Seattle on Sunday. Jan. 25, 2016.

Reflection Journal 1

The most difficult part for this assignment is that all the kids are moving so fast and it's really hard to find the moment of interaction in so many people. And because of the strong sun light, I always need to change the aperture when I want to take the photo, which is quite hard because sometimes I just forget to adjust aperture.

Reflection Journal 2

To be honest, I haven't decided my photo story. But what I am thinking about is a group of Japanese American who go to the primary schools and tell their story about being incarcerated during World War II to the students. If I finally decide to work on this story, I will work with Elsie Taniguchi, who is the president of JACL, Puyallup chapter. I will also try to find some people who plays Mah Jongg because I know some of American play that traditional Asian game. I'm also interested in African American community and Muslim community but I don't have any connection with them. 

Composition

Tatum Pickett, 9, and Jakwaun Shannon, 11, walked at the front of the Martin Luther King Rally in Seattle on Monday, Jan 18. 

A policeman is watching the crowd in Seattle on Monday, Jan 18. 

G Dean Britschgi, 57, clapped his hands after speech in Seattle on Monday, Jan 18. 

Marianne Mullin, 61, clapped her hands and smiled after speech in Seattle on Monday, Jan 18. 

The seething crowd in downtown Seattle on Monday, Jan 18.



Reflection Journal:
Everything was changing when I was taking those photos, the light was changing, the people were moving. So it was really hard to get all the settings correct immediately and I got ton of useless photos in my camera. What I have learnt from this assignment is that I still need to do this kind of practice so I can get everything correct and have enough time to think about the frame of the photo.