Photographer Portfolio Critique

I've had several friends tell me to check out Jeremy Cowart's website so I figured now would be a good time to take a critical look at it.

My first impression is good. The homepage is an easily accessible and navigable jumping off point. You get to see what kinds of photos and techniques he likes to shoot. I was especially impressed with his "texture" and "mood". He's obviously very talented in using color with his photos to convey a point.

It's a really clean, concise layout throughout the entire portfolio. Good consistency and nothing on his pages take away from the photos.

The interactivity is at an appropriate level. You're able to choose what photos you want to look at and scrolling through a certain gallery is quick and easy.

All of his pictures have a human subject in them, famous or not, and it definitely makes his photos interesting and provocative. He has photos of celebrities or well known faces and I think those can be interesting and boring at the same time. Mostly because I feel like I've seen some faces everywhere and in every arena of journalism or photography. I do like the environments he puts his subjects in, however. I was more fond of his other galleries where it wasn't so much a focus on the subject, but his technique. Which I am more than impressed with.

He even has a twitter link at the bottom. I suppose that would meet the criteria of keeping it current and interactive. It's a good outlet for people to see new content he puts up, or for others like me, to be introduced to his work.

My favorite sections of photos are his atmosphere and international gallery. He makes it easy to view with an image and the location or clever title down on the bottom right hand corner.

Besides his more "worldly" images, his photos aren't necessarily "newsworthy" since there aren't even captions on any photo to explain when it was taken, the name of the celebrity or even why. But, like I noted before, I think a lot of his photos are for aesthetic value. It could also depend on the viewer. Some may appreciate the "story" behind a profile picture. I suppose this is why he has 8 categories to browse though. Variety is good.

[LR] for Electronic Photojournalism at Mizzou

Final Story Idea

What? Human-interest
Who? Carmen, Michael, Ethan and Chloe Guenther.
Where? Kansas City (Lee’s Summit)
How? Photo, audio and text.

Why?

A close friend of mine just had her second child this past Wednesday (February 10th) and had to somehow manage to still turn in several papers and a take home exam this she had for classes because she’s still in school.

At first I thought this would be a cliché, “student with a kid” story… but I thought about it within the context of the time, the circumstances and her age. She’s 21, living with her husband (Michael) in his parent’s refurnished basement, with (now) two babies, working and still in school.
Putting it into perspective- I think about how overwhelmed I get now just taking classes. Throw in two kids, a husband and a job and my life now starts to seem pretty basic. It’s also difficult to comprehend because we’re the same age, grew up in the same neighborhood, went to the same schools, were practically sisters- and now she’s years and years ahead of me. I haven’t even graduated college yet and she already had two children.

The most interesting part of this story is that they chose to go ahead and have a second child. Why not save up money and move to their own apartment or save up for a house? It was difficult enough to balance everything before- how is it going to work with a newborn baby? Their schedules will have to change, their finances will need to be rearranged and people say that a marriage is most strained when kids come into the picture- how does this play on a young couple’s relationship?

I think this story is different because it will give insight to a situation that may seem like something no young person would want, but it began as an accident and became a choice, then became a life.

Multimedia?

This story will make a great visual piece because the dynamics of a family are always fascinating- but this is an extremely young family. You’d see the relationship between Carmen and Michael (perhaps under times of duress), Ethan and his new baby sister, or each parent juggling one or both of the kids at the same time. I don’t expect this to be a happy-go-lucky, that’s-a-cute-baby, story. It will be as genuine and as real as I’m able to capture. I already have a ton of potential image/photo ideas floating around in my head.

Audio would be a captivating with the baby, Ethan just starting to talk (make comprehendible sentences), dialogue between each family member, Michael’s parents in the house, natural sound around the house, etc.

Potential problems?
The only issue I can foresee would be having to go back to KC whenever I need to work with them. That could potentially be every weekend. However, I live nearby. I also think about the effects that my presence will have on them- they’ll be stressed and tired and probably not always in the best of moods, but that’s what will make the story truthful.


[LR]
for Electronic Photojournalism at Mizzou

The Denver Post- Critique

"Captured Photo Collection"- Media Center

The opening page of the Denver Post's Media Center immediately grabs your attention with their flash graphic of current photos and news flashing interchangeably. At the bottom, there is a clear set of links giving the viewer an option of where they want to go next. They have photo galleries, video, audio slide shows, special graphics and interactive graphics.

Of course, I clicked on the photo galleries first.
There is an array of options/links at the top- entertainment, news, etc. They have their photos well organized. PLUS. The rest of their content is arranged this way as well. Very user friendly and I easily navigated around the site without any complications.

The color scheme keeps pretty neutral (with black, grey and white with splashes of red for flare). Very neatly and professionally done.

It's extremely easy to see the current photo stories they have up. Each story has it's own thumbnail with a sample picture and short blip about the series.

The ONLY issue I had with their site would be the layout of the photo blogs (which can probably be explained by the fact that it's a blog)

One of my pet peeves is scrolling. If I could go to a website and not have to scroll too much- that would be ideal. It keeps me framed and focused on one page and keeps me from feeling like I'm missing something if I don't scroll all the way left and all the way right, up , down, etc. But, that depends on the type of site.

However, when it comes to displaying photos- it is my undying preference that they be put into a slide show sort of format. That way, I don't accidentally speedily pass a photo, or have to use hand eye coordination to center the photo on my screen if there is a tiny scroll tab and lots of pictures. The main site had this layout- which I loved.

The only problem I had with the NAVIGATION aspect on their blog is that since the photos are one after another and rather large, the links to archives and blog entries (galleries) are shoved all the way at the bottom. It would be cleaner and more succinct to have them aligned right or left alongside the photos for easier access to them.

There is also a place at the bottom to leave comments- which I like and dislike. It is my belief that when it comes to a photographer's photos, they should be put up and left to the viewer's interpretation/appreciation... or maybe not so much. Having a string of comments tagging along after the pictures gives it an amateur feel (in my opinion). I'd rather is be, "Here they are. This is my work." But, since it is a news organization, I'm sure they want reader feedback and perhaps that counts as the interactivity of the site.

That being said, it would be a complete failure on my part not to mention that these pictures are all stunning, journalistic and telling. Definitely done by professionals and worthy of being put on a good website.

The content has both aesthetically pleasing photos and current newsworthy ones. I think this mixture is pretty critical for a news organization to have. Some viewers are more news oriented and others look for more humanizing stories.


Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoy this site and it kind of makes me want to live in Colorado.

[LR]
for Electronic Photojournalism at Mizzou