Summer Baseball
Posted: April 12, 2012 Filed under: Blog, Photo Journal, Portfolio, Video / Photo | Tags: baseball, kentucky baseball, NCAA teams, University of Kentucky baseball, Wildcat baseball Leave a comment
Feb. 27, 2012: Fraternity Vigil
Posted: March 16, 2012 Filed under: Blog, Photo Journal, Portfolio, Video / Photo | Tags: Delta Sigma Phi, fraternity vigil, University of Kentucky, vigil Leave a comment
March 3, 2012: West Liberty Tornado damage
Posted: March 16, 2012 Filed under: Blog, Photo Journal, Portfolio, Video / Photo | Tags: kentucky tornado, photos of west liberty, tornado damage, west liberty, west liberty ky, West liberty tornado Leave a comment
Dec. 4, 2011: UK Hoops vs. Louisville
Posted: December 9, 2011 Filed under: Photo Journal, Portfolio, Video / Photo | Tags: Kentucky Louisville, Lady Cards, Louisville Kentucky, UK, UK Hoops Leave a commentGrandparents Gone Wired
Posted: December 6, 2011 Filed under: Portfolio, Writing Leave a commentThis Thanksgiving I made the not-so-astute observation that all the adults were thoroughly connected. Not to each other in deep, enriching family conversation, but rather connected to the Internet.
I noticed my parents surfing on Facebook, uploading photos of family in tryptophan-induced comas. When I couldn’t find the UK basketball game on TV, my grandpa easily navigated to the live stream feed online, commenting on the high-resolution picture quality in contrast to other games he watched earlier that week.
I have four sets of grandparents. All of them have a presence on Facebook. Two sets use Skype fluently. One grandpa has more apps on his iPhone than I do, and I’m kind of an app freak.
But I shouldn’t have freaked out.
Baby boomers accounted for more than 25 percent of all active users on social networking sites in 2010, according to a study from the Pew Research Center. In 2008, people over the age of 50 accounted for only 11 percent of all cyber-socialites.
Compare those numbers to the percent of college-age students, which took a significant decline from 28 percent in 2008 to 16 percent in 2010.
The exact demographic Mark Zuckerberg targeted when founding Facebook has become a minority on it.
And if your grandpappy is still wired on coffee instead of to a keyboard, don’t expect that to last. DoSomething.org launched a campaign to educate grandparents on how to use new technology called “Grandparents Gone Wired.” It plans on rewarding little Jimmy down the street from grandma to teach her how to use her laptop in exchange for sweet iTunes gift cards and other rewards.
With the average Facebook user more likely bound on an express train to a mid-life crisis than an entry-level job opening, perhaps it is time to re-evaluate how youth and young adults view social media.
Growing up with social networks, students have become acclimated to the perception that they were a part of an exclusive club. Now, that club is family friendly.
When teachers and community members would preach to me in high school about “keeping my online profile clean,” I took the advice half-heartedly. I didn’t know who was looking at my profile, unless they liked or commented on a status. If they didn’t like it, oh well.
This is not the case anymore. My family serves as a constant reminder that I’m being watched every time they like a post I know they don’t understand.
I’ve realized our use of social media should be maturing with our age. But even if it does, social networks are getting older faster than we are.
Remember, Facebook is not a party house. It’s your mammaw’s house. And every day is Thanksgiving.
Brandon Goodwin is a journalism junior and Kernel’s web director. Email bgoodwin@kykernel.com.
Nov. 5, 2011: UK Football vs. Ole Miss
Posted: November 5, 2011 Filed under: Blog, Photo Journal, Portfolio, Video / Photo | Tags: Brandon Goodwin, football, Kentucky football, Mississippi, Ole Miss, photo diary, photojournalism, UK Leave a commentOct. 30, 2011: Zombie Parade
Posted: October 30, 2011 Filed under: Blog, Photo Journal, Portfolio, Video / Photo | Tags: Brandon Goodwin, michael jackson, photo dairy, photojournalism, thriller, zombie Leave a comment
Picture Kentucky 2011
Posted: October 23, 2011 Filed under: Blog, Journalism, Portfolio, Storytelling, Video / Photo | Tags: Dave Labelle, David Stephenson, Derek Poore, Jahi Chickwendiu, Jonathon Palmer, Kentucky, Matt Detrich, photojournalism, Picture Kentucky Leave a commentAfter attending my second Picture Kentucky workshop, the photojournalism workshop that inspired this blog, I have come back with similar feelings to those I had when I left the first. I couldn’t be happier about that, either.
The workshop assigns the 16 students to small groups, each lead by an accomplished photojournalist from around the country. Mine was the great Matt Detrich, a photographer from the Indianapolis Star and multiple winner of Indiana photographer of the year. He was a coach from the Beattyville workshop, and his presentation on the power of photojournalism had already changed how I perceived the career.
Now, I got four days of his time. I couldn’t imagine how much I would grow with his guidance.
My assignment this year was at the Deaton Funeral Home. The slip of paper I was given said that the embalmer was an interesting fellow, and to see what I could learn about him. When I got to the small funeral home, the embalmer was nowhere to be seen or heard of. The lady who answered the door, Mary Deaton – the owner, and eventual centerpiece of my story – delivered the bad news, but invited me in to talk.
After spending the first day with Mrs. Deaton, a retired Kentucky state social worker, Detrich and I decided she should be the focus of the story. (The embalmer was out of town that week). Her story was touching and real. See the video below:
Deaton and her son had taken over the family business when her husband passed away in 2008. Her home was fixated above the funeral home, keeping her in contact with business 24/7, but also tying her to it. What was special about her was her deep thoughts about death, and how it isn’t something to be feared, something to be ignored. Death is part of her daily life, and in some ways, she has already coped with the looming reality of the life cycle.
Photographically, the story was challenging. Her job on most days was simply to stay close to the phone, in case another body was to arrive, or need to be picked up. Sitting in an office all day doesn’t give a photographer a lot of options. But the light at the end of the tunnel was the funeral on Friday, the last full day of shooting for the workshop, where she would be more busy and interacting with other people.
Some things I learned from my four days as part of the Deaton Funeral Home family:
1. “That body ain’t gonna get ya, child,” – I had never personally seen a dead body in my life, until the day I introduced myself to Mary Deaton. Of course, I had seen pictures and videos, but the sudden rush of adrenaline and shock that flooded me with my first peak into that open casket snapped me back into reality. That quote was Mrs. Deaton’s response to my reaction. Too true, Mrs. D.
2. Don’t forget about that white balance – Natural light, flourescent, incandescent… they were all there. I thought to myself that every room must use a different type of light bulb, because even my automatic setting couldn’t keep up. I’m more aware now of that particular setting’s importance than ever before.
3. Stay focused – I’m talking about the photographer. Sitting in the office all day made me feel like I was wasting my time. That was wrong. Detrich put me in my place when I decided to skip out on Mrs. Deaton to hang out with the grave diggers for the afternoon. They weren’t the story. She was. Stay Focused.
Of course, the assignments only make up one part of the Picture Kentucky Workshop experience. In the evenings, like in previous workshops, each photojournalism coach gave what turned about to be huge inspirational talks.
The highlight this year was Jahi Chickwendiu, a staff photographer from the Washington Post, whose photographs of conflicts in Africa and the Middle East easily awed the audience. But his speech was more than just a display of his own talents. He was setting a fire in us, giving us a piece of his own passion that threw him from being a high school math teacher to his current position at one of the most prolific newspapers in the industry.
Words cannot due justice to the passion Jahi’s speech instilled in me about photojournalism. Here is that speech. Enjoy:
https://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Fusers%2F8237262 Latest tracks by lexpjjp
If you are interested in learning about photojournalism, and want to be pushed past your limits and more, check out Picture Kentucky’s website, and watch this video below:
Oct. 22, 2011: The Pickers
Posted: October 22, 2011 Filed under: Blog, Photo Journal, Portfolio, Video / Photo | Tags: Brandon Goodwin, Kentucky football, photo diary, photojournalism, trash pickers, UK football Leave a comment