Must-have images

for every photo

assignment
BY ERIC THOMAS, MJE

SCENESETTER THE STARS PEAK ACTION HONEST EMOTION

TIGHT PORTRAIT INTERACTION BEHIND THE SCENES
THE QUIET MOMENT PLAYING WITH SHAPES ARTIFACTS
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ach year at St. Teresas Academy newspaper and yearbook students

vote for their favorite photo from each publication. The photos,
displayed as prints in the publications room, also happen to provide
an example for 10 distinctive categories, each an approach that adds a
special visual bonus for readers.
The images are daunting, powerful, compelling the result of dozens of
photographers shooting tens of thousands of images. While some student
photographers intuitively understand the ethic and the aesthetic of a
photojournalist, others need examples and a fundamental definition of what
photojournalism is. Without this guidance, they can feel lost.
For instance, a junior boy who is new to the staff may be wondering how
he can achieve such photographs. He may think, I just finished taking an
art photography class. Having done that still life study of hard-boiled eggs
is not going to help me when I am shooting a Friday night football game.
A sophomore girl who has just finished Introduction to Journalism may
tangle with herself. I rock at headlines, inverted pyramid and AP style,
she thinks. But how do I make a package of memorable photos for the
yearbook?
The 10 varieties provide a set of visual reminders, an assignment sheet
or, when used best, a kind of photojournalist checklist. One way to improve
photographic skills is to target a self-challenge: Discover 10 different kinds
of durable storytelling photos.Photographers who try to shoot each kind of
photograph in each photo assignment will be on their way to giving readers
a perfect 10.
Each photograph in this collection and other examples of similar
quality achieves status by following pragmatic suggestions:
A short description (What is it?),
Tips to consider (How to),
Ways to apply tips when shooting routine classes (In a classroom),
Why readers would need an image like that (For readers).

PHOTOGRAPHERKIRSTYMcGHIE: The ultra-goofy tradition

of dressing up for a game against team rivals brings out
laughs among the Spirit Club members, who are dressed and
painted as Dalmatians.

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PHOTOGRAPHERRACHELSCHWARTZ: The use of

framing creates an interesting compositional element,
and the bare simplicity of foreground and background
emphasizes the shape of each item.

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CAPTION: Fore! At Blue River Gold Course Oct. 11,

sophomore Nina Salazar, partnered with junior Erin Andres,
tees off for the Star Scramble. We have similar ways of
playing, Andres said. We were probably the most evenly
matched of the teams [for the Star Scramble]. We were
pretty much helping each other the whole time.
PHOTOGRAPHERLAURENDAMICO: The wide-angle view
of the entire fairway helps to take the view to the day, to the
place and to the weather.

1. SCENE-SETTER

What is it? This image describes the overall environment, from the people at the center of the event to as
many people as possible on the periphery. It is great to
try this one first because student journalists can enter the
scene as photographers but can avoid immediately sticking the camera in anyones face.
How to: Photographers should step way back or get
up high as they use a wide-angle lens. Finally and vitally,
they should wait for a critical moment: a free throw in
flight in front of a sell-out crowd or a gesture of a speaker
in front of a gaggle of reporters.
In a classroom: Choices happen when standing at the
front (or back) of the class or on a desk. Photographers
should zoom the lens out as wide as possible. Sometimes
they need to be silly and adventurous to get the scenesetting angle.
For readers: Especially for exotic or unusual environments, the Scene-setter gives the reader context: a sense
for the event.

PHOTOGRAPHERMONICAWELSH: Katie Kelly was the

star of the state championship team in every way: She was
a senior, the captain, a midfielder and a Division-I recruit.
The photo shows the most important 2004-05 team member
at arguably the most emotional moment.

2. THE STARS

What is it? For this kind of subject, photographers

must ask this question: Who is vital to photograph?
Put another way, My editor will kill me if I dont come
back with a photo of (fill in the blank). Now, the job is
to go get a photo of that person. The Stars will be the
point guard of the basketball team at state championships, the class president at election time, the valedictorian at graduation or the coach during the last game of
her career.
How to: Stars are seldom nervous around the camera. That knowledge gives photographers confidence to
go ahead. Get close. Super close. Good. Now, get closer.
Stars are comfortable in the spotlight. For any photo to
look extraordinary, photographers need to give the image
a fresh look.
In a classroom: The most important person? Yes, it
is likely the teacher. Once photographers have established the Scene-setter, they must work to get close to
the leader, especially when the teacher is interacting with
students or other teachers.
For readers: Everyone can become a bit obsessed
with celebrity. The Stars are as close as high school journalists get to paparazzi images.

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CAPTION: Volleyball team players celebrate after winning

the first state volleyball championship in school history.
The Stars defeated St. Josephs Academy 25-22, 25-16 at
Central Missouri State University Nov. 4, 2004.
PHOTOGRAPHERMARYKATEBIRD: While the volleyball
players may not be jumping, they are living up to a peak
action moment in their on-court collision highlighted by
screams of joy.

3. PEAK ACTION

What is it? Peak Action photos are all about physicality collisions, jumping and screaming. The moment
of most intense physical exertion in the situation that
you are photographing is the Peak Action moment.
Obviously, these photos happen all the time in sports
photography.
How to: Almost every story has rising action, a climax
or resolution and then falling action. For Peak Action
results, photographers should be patient and mindful
of the climax within every assignment they shoot. This
mindfulness might mean positioning oneself for the lastsecond shot, the kiss in the school play, the pie in the
face at the pep rally or the editors celebrating a deadline
met.
In a classroom: Peak Action photographs may not
seem at all natural in a classroom environment. But think
about it. The most physical moment may be a science
student in the middle of an experiment completing the
key step. Or a teacher gesturing to something written on
the whiteboard. Or a publication class in the middle of a
goofy team-building exercise. Any of these could be seen
by the reader as intensely active and interesting.
For readers: The power of a photograph is often to
freeze action, and readers (even readers who were present at the event) cannot see a moment frozen as a camera
displays it.

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CAPTION: Juniors Anna Bouisseu and Paris Mantz

participate in a vigil and rally for peace Jan. 11, 2007.
Students and citizens assembled by the J.C. Nichols
fountain were prompted by Bushs Special Address to the
Nation in which he announced a plan to send more troops
to Iraq.
PHOTOGRAPHERKATHLEENPOINTER: We get the
feeling that the student at the peace rally is displaying her
true self, quiet and reserved, while other people are more
demonstrative. Getting close with the camera makes the
personal reaction more intimate.

4. HONEST EMOTION

What is it? Staffs instinctively know that emotion is

vital to any honest photojournalism. So this is the question: How can we tell how someone is feeling? How can
we tell what a person is feeling? The three-part answer
is (1) face, (2) gesture, (3) posture. Of course, the way
people contort their faces communicates what they are
feeling. Gestures, whether raising hands to praise God or
banging fists on desks in frustration, are a great second
clue. Often ignored is the subjects posture: the so-called
body language.
How to: Photographers can try to get ultra-close and
telephoto close to their subjects to narrow in on her face.
Of course, they will be able to communicate emotions
with tears, smiles or furrowed brows. But photographers
must remember how the entire body explains a subjects
feelings. To photograph that action, it is occasionally a
good idea to back up to show those gestures and posture.
In a classroom: When walking through the halls
of any school, anyone glancing through doorways will
probably see students detached and bored emotions:
the girl nearly asleep with her contorted cheek resting on
her palm, her legs flopping out in the aisle and her eyes
half-closed. Consider this: If that emotion is so common,
if that situation is so ubiquitous, why isnt that photo in
most school publications? What a great challenge for
photographers and their staffs: Photograph sleepy afternoon boredom or any other emotion.
For readers: The human face seems a hard-wired
magnet for attention in photographs. A clear and emotional face in a photo will draw the viewer into a page
even if played relatively small. Photographers can capitalize on this human curiosity with personal and emotional images.

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PHOTOGRAPHER MORGANSAID: The key to this

tight portrait is the aggressive in-camera crop that the
photographer did by standing close and using a telephoto
lens. The added layer of the student blurred in the
background makes the image more meaningful.

5. TIGHT PORTRAIT

What is it? The Tight Portrait is essentially the opposite of Scene-setter. Instead of being distant and wideangled, now photographers are going to move in close
and grab their telephoto lens. And it is vital to do both.
They need to get so close that it is challenging to focus
and hold the subject in the frame. The resulting image
will be arresting and unique among more distant images.
How to: Success happens by following a technical tip:
Work with a wide-open aperture when shooting Tight
Portraits. Aperture is the size of the lens opening. When
photographers choose an open aperture, it changes the
appearance of their photos. Open apertures such as
f/2.8, f/4 or f/5.6 reduce the amount of stuff in focus in
your images (defined as depth of field).
In a classroom: What makes an interesting subject
for a Tight Portrait? Great eyes. Whether expressive,
beautiful, handsome, curious or simply well-lit, eyes
make great portraits. Photographers should take the time
to scan a classroom for those eyes in their photos.
For readers: Photographers should look through
their publications some time with this one thing in
mind: How often does the publication have candid photos (not mugshots) that are tightly cropped photos of
faces? Most publications, including professional ones,
struggle to find photos that are tightly cropped portraits.
When they have those Tight Portraits, they use a huge
print for one reason: Readers love it.

CAPTION: Freshmen Mary Lee Ptacek, Amanda Backer,

Maura Lammers and Elizabeth McNamara skip across the
quad during the passing period on a sunny Thursday in
January. When the weather was satisfactory, girls played
outside and enjoyed the beautiful campus.
PHOTOGRAPHERSHANNONVanBUSKIRK Catching goofy
moments is hard unless you know where to find them. On
the St. Teresas Academy campus, the walkway between
the buildings, known as the quad, is where students release
their energy between classes.

6. INTERACTION

What is it? Images from many of the previous categories (Stars, Honest Emotion, Tight Portrait) could focus
on only one person. After photographers have been making those kinds of photos, they should try to branch out
to more sophisticated and challenging photographs. The
Interaction photo portrays the relationships present in
the scene. Whether a hug between two football players
after a season-ending loss or a senior tutoring a freshman
in the library, relationships are best described through
Interaction photos.
How to: Anticipation contributes to Interaction photos. If photographers can anticipate what will happen
between two people, they are halfway to getting an image
that communicates a connection. Imagine this scene:
One sibling pokes another sibling in the ribs at the dinner
table. The sibling responds by punching back. Alert photographers can anticipate what will happen next. More
poking leads to more punching back. Photographers do
not need to capture the first Interaction. Chances are that
they will not get it the first time. But by the 28th time, if
they anticipate what is about to happen, they may submit great Interaction photos.
In a classroom: Teachers and students act in predictable ways. If a teacher always jokes around with
students in the hall during passing period, well, there is
the image. Or if a student whispers to another student,
chances are that she will whisper again.
For readers: Many stories stress themes such as
team bonding or friendships. Unfortunately, often
the photos let us down. Photographers should match
the intimacy granted to the writer by being present when
storytelling interactions are taking place.

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CAPTION: Life under a bridge Kansas Citian Steve

Johnson sits under the Plaza bridge, which often doubles
as his bed. Being homeless has been made worse this year
because of the freezing temperatures.
PHOTOGRAPHERTRACYBURNS-YOCUM: Our students
have seen this man panhandling in the upscale shopping
district, and they have driven over this bridge countless
times, but they have never seen him living below that bridge
on a freezing day.

7. BEHIND THE SCENES

What is it? This is the chance to focus on students

who may not otherwise be included in the yearbook.
Productive students and workers participate in activities
away from the limelight: the stage crew working backstage, the managers filling water bottles, the cleaning
crew that comes into the school at night. All of these
people enhance school life in stories that should appear
in effective publications, but they often are overlooked
because they are not the Stars.
How to: If photographers ever get bored when they
are shooting a photo assignment, it is likely because they
have been photographing the same people doing the
same thing. Instead of staying in the same place, they
should move around the edges of a scene when they
get bored. The subjects of photographs will be excited
and, yes, even surprised to see photographers behind
the scenes.
In a classroom: If the classroom is at its most active
and obvious during class time, the opposite is true
during a teachers planning time. What does a biology
teacher do when no one else is around? Does the orchestra teacher spend his time practicing trumpet or scraping
gum off the music stands? Both of these examples point
out one more important tip for Behind the Scenes photos: Arrive early and stay late. Those times provide the
unexpected glimpses of the unusual.
For readers: Media receivers, meaning readers or
viewers, often trust journalists to go behind the scenes
on their behalf. Indeed they need photographers to go
behind the scenes because, as readers, they cannot have
that access. However, a camera, curiosity and a confident
smile will get photographers access to many places usually off limits to other students . . . and certainly to most
readers.

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PHOTOGRAPHERKATIEKENNEY: This moment at crosscountry sectionals communicates so much about the

individuals, the team and the relationships that it does
not matter who won or lost. In this case, stepping back a
bit from the moment with a telephoto provides respectful
distance and a clean background.

8. THE QUIET MOMENT

What is it? All of those collisions and screams

described in Peak Action are balanced by attention to
the Quiet Moment. Often these photos will take place
behind the scenes. But more specifically, the Quiet
Moment is a chance to take photos of the incidents
that occur between key moments. In-between moments
might sound, well, boring. But consider the kinds of
emotions and interactions that happen in silence: concentration, insecurity, contemplation, meditation, tension . . . and on and on.
How to: Observant photographers will keep a finger on the shutter button so they are poised for action.
When something moves, they shoot. They will need
to concentrate and change their habits. Sometimes
they need to resist shooting the active situations and
moments. Instead, they can redirect their attention to
the in-between moments and turn those into click
moments on the shutter button.
In a classroom: A student sits down to write an essay
for a timed writing. She dives into the essay with her pen
blazing on the notebook paper. The words are flowing
easily. Then a quiet moment strikes. She cannot think
of quite the right word to finish her introduction. She
pauses, looks out the window to her left and ponders.
Click. A photographer documented the Quiet Moment.
For readers: Lets be honest. How often do camera
operators for a television station work hard enough
to film the compelling Quiet Moment? How often do
writers effectively describe these kinds of moments?
Emotional moments such as these stand out in a media
environment of noise, conflict and volume. Attention to
silence will lure readers as they stop to look closely while
turning the pages quietly of course.

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CAPTION: Coach Jack Garvin stretches in preparation for a

golf match with seniors Erin Andres and Casey OFlaherty.
Garvin teed off with Andres and OFlaherty in a celebration
of the golf season.
PHOTOGRAPHERELLERAUCH: The weird and funny
interplay of shapes includes the legs of the golf bag
mirroring the golf coachs open legs.

9. PLAYING WITH SHAPES

What is it? To go beyond emotions, photographers

can change their tactics by Playing with Shapes. This
variety of photograph asks photojournalists to treat people in their photos as nothing more than objects, simply
like shapes. Their faces become much less important.
Instead, the photojournalists take time to care much
more about the forms and lines of bodies. The kinds of
photos are familiar and comfortable for many art photographers who sometimes are more interested in form and
composition than photojournalistic storytelling. Playing
with Shapes is a chance to play with this technique.
How to: Photographers should learn to canvas the
room for any line or shape: squares, circles, octagons,
squiggles, diagonals. Then they can try to arrange them
in compelling ways. Perhaps a pattern of squares can be
interrupted by a circle. Or perhaps a collection of hard
vertical lines can be cropped to emphasize an interesting
color pattern.
In a classroom: There are many repeated geometric
forms in classrooms to play with. Whether those forms
are human shapes or the shapes of objects, they are all
over classrooms. Need a list? The repeated feet of students sitting in desks. A bored student framed by the
hands of other students raising their hands. A line of
desks leading to the figure of a teacher at the front of the
classroom.
For readers: Clever. Artsy. Funny. These are
the words that many readers will attach to Playing with
Shapes photos. Playing with Shapes photos are often
quite colorful as well and readers love that.

PHOTOGRAPHERLUCYEDMONDS: Critter was our

campus cat at St. Teresas until he died in 2009. If there
were ever an iconic image for our year, it would not have
had any people in the photo only a cat standing watch
outside the academic building.

10. ARTIFACTS

What is it? How can a photograph show a persons

personality without showing the person in the photo?
How can it explain the character of an event without
photographing any of the action of the event? Artifact
photos can. Artifacts themselves are literally things that
describe or illuminate something else. Artifacts of the
current teen generation include iPhones, TOMS shoes,
Hollister T-shirts and feathers in girls hair. Seeing any of
those items reminds photographers of what it is like to
be a teenager in 2011, or in the case of a timeless yearbook, reminds readers what it was like to be a teenager.
How to: A great photojournalism teacher called these
photographs People Without People. To accurately
represent a person, and not caricature them, photojournalists will need to know a lot about the subjects
personality, hopes, fears and daily life. For this reason,
photographers become true visual journalists by interviewing to make an Artifacts photo. Sitting down and
chatting with the subject can reveal so much. Perhaps
they will remember some poignant and relevant item
that tells a story.
In a classroom: Let me share a secret: Right now,
the desk next to me is a mess. Jolly Ranchers. Almonds.
Ungraded papers. A broken film camera. Five USB
drives. A 1985 Chicago Bears Super Bowl mug. You
could show many things about me or any teacher
through those desk details. But dont worry. The papers
will get graded.
For readers: As mentioned above, yearbooks can
embrace people without people photographs, not only
because the items explain the person but also because
they describe the era, a time that will soon be history.
Consider all of the fads of the past: mood rings, Furby
toys, Game Boy handheld game device, Pokemon cards,
bell-bottom jeans. Any conscientious historian or journalist of teen culture is obligated to remind readers of
these trends.

There you go: 10 kinds of images to shoot on every photo assignment. The list opens
the photographers eyes, the camera lenses and the staffs imagination to a range of visual
possibilities. The goal, of course, is to score a perfect 10 on each image.
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