Six IU students heard advice and feedback from prize-winning photojournalists at the annual National Press Photographers Association’s "Flying Short Course" in Chicago last weekend.
The event is in several locations on the same weekend, offering short, intense workshops to NPPA members and photography students across the nation. Each stop is a two-day event featuring national faculty one day and local faculty the second. The second day also features multimedia workshops.
The School of Journalism provided funds to send the small group to Chicago. Journalism graduate student Ben Weller was among the student attendees.
“This was an opportunity to bump shoulders with some of the best photojournalists in the field, and that was literally what we did,” he said of networking with professionals such as Renee Byer, 2007 Pulitzer Prize winner for feature photography, and David Gilkey, 2007 Emmy winner for outstanding current news coverage. “It was a small-scale conference with big names, which meant we could ask questions of, and engage in conversation with, people who are covering some of the most important stories of our time.”
Beyond the photography techniques, faculty-professionals discussed how they gained access and built trust with their subjects. They also counseled attendees on the job market and the importance of visual storytelling, Weller said.
“The photograph often gets treated as an accessory to the story, but photographs by people like Carolyn Cole and Renee Byer really are the story,” he said. “In an age when newspapers get just a passing glance from readers, a good photograph can capture the attention of audiences and often moves them toward a greater understanding of the world and the people in it."
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