William 'Bill' Burden (right) is 104 years old. He sits in the Isabella Community Soup Kitchen, 621 South Adams St., with his son Don.
Bill lives across the street and walks to the soup kitchen every day.

~JD

Occupy New York City.

JRN 422 students took a trip to NYC to shoot at Occupy, Thursday, November 17, and stayed until Sunday morning.
Here is a link to my flickr set of OWS pictures. I will make an in-depth blog post in the near future.
OWS, N17

~JD

Tell a story...

About two weeks ago, famous documentary filmmaker Elizabeth Van Meter visited CMU to talk about her work. She was fascinating to listen to. She spoke about her work like a writer, painting a story as she talked of her experiences. But what was more interesting than her speech was talking personally with her afterward.

Elizabeth speaks like a photographer. She talks about the details of the world she sees, and I found it fascinating. She said in her speech that we do not experience the environment itself, but rather the projection we create ourselves. When speaking with her, the thing I found most important to her seemed to be her love for just telling stories.

She began as an actress, and when she decided to tell stories her way, people in power tried to influence her work. But to be great, she did it her way and followed the story in her heart that she wanted to share with the world.

An interesting lesson from her was one I have particular experience with myself, and will likely encounter again; She talked about being afraid of real emotion. She told the story about an argument about disrespect by putting her name on the sign for the library that she helped fund. However, she said she was scared to record at the time, and later regretted not having the cameras roll. Stemming from this and her passion to simply do what she knew she wanted to again reaffirms my personal doubts about shooting.

She says to stick to your heart, and your passion will make you great.

She really is amazing, to just go around the world to meet someone and do a story she'd only dreamed of, then to move on and do another. So personally, it was great to meet her. And more than that, she told me she could see a passion in me by the way I shot. Which is awesome. :)

Elizabeth said to find yourself in your work, to find something you care about and that there is beauty in everything-it's alive and it exists. If you can't connect to people, there is something you are fighting against. She said to experience life and be a student of life. And eventually, you will find yourself in a place you were meant to be.

~JD

"Follow your heart"

JRN 422:

A counter culture story.





Kylee Meade and Nick Royal are a happy couple of 14 months, but 'typical' may not be the right way to describe them.

Kylee Meade of Roseville is a fifth-year senior at Central Michigan University. Kylee was also born "Kyle." Meade is a transgendered woman, in the process of hormonal therapy to change her body to match the gender she feels inside.

"I'm not trying to be a different person," she said, "I'm just trying to be me - Just a girl."

Meade and Royal met through Facebook, having no actual connections. Meade found a mutual friend and said they had met before. Royal accepted it at the time and they began to chat. They started having four- to five-hour phone conversations. Once they moved to the same town, Mount Pleasant, they began officially dating, not having an actual date, but deciding two months later that their anniversary was Aug. 1.

Royal said he identified as gay, attracted to boys only. He tried dating girls and it didn't work.

"Kylee is the exception," he said. "I fell in love with her before I knew, and that's kind of why."

The day before their three month anniversary, Meade came out as transgendered to Royal.

"I said, 'Well, I'm gay and I date boys, so we have to break up,'" he said.

"We had been dating for a couple of months and it was getting serious," Meade said. "I knew I was getting strong feelings for him. So I had to tell him soon. ... And so I told him. We were basically just crying for hours and hours that night."

Royal said they ended on nice terms, but he couldn't get her out of his head the next day. He bought her three roses for their three month anniversary and told her he was unsure what would happen with their relationship, but he wanted to try.

"He basically said, 'I don't want to put my love in a box anymore,'" Meade said.

"I said, 'I don't know how this is gonna go, but I want to try,'" he said. "And since that day, she has been breaking through my mind compartments."

Meade said she was tentative and something would probably eventually happen, but they have since been dating for more than a year and he has been supportive.

"Love is love, it doesn't really matter, but for some reason, society wants that label." Royal said.

He said right now he identifies with Queer, saying it is the only label he feels comfortable with because it is such an umbrella term.

"In my head I'm attracted to more men than women," Royal said, "but I don't see us breaking up, so it doesn't really matter."

He said he really doesn't see Meade's  physical changes as becoming a problem.

"In my head, she's a female," he said. "There's no question about it."

Meade said this summer or next December she is going to have facial reconstructive surgery to reduce her brow bone and jaw and to reshape her nose.

"I don't really have any fat, but the hormones will place the fat in a different area," she said, moving her hands over her thighs and hips.

Meade is a vocal major and the hormones affect her every day. Her voice is always changing. She said she is concerned about the vocal shift.

"I want to keep my singing voice," she said. "It's my life."

But whatever changes Meade is going through, Royal is by her side and plans to stay. He said he wants people to ask questions and not to make assumptions. He said there is really only love and has one piece of advice:

"Just follow your heart."

Counter culture Single

JRN 422: Counter culture single.

For my assignment, I am shooting a couple - Nick Royal and Kylee Meade. The two became a couple several years ago as gay men. Kylee later came out as a transgendered woman and is now going through the hormonal therapy process, with her boyfriend still faithfully by her side.

Kylee Meade, left, laughs as her boyfriend, Nick Royal, tries to attack her with kisses on Wednesday evening, Sept. 28, in Kylee's residence hall room.

~JD

Football Champ

JRN 422: Sports feature picture story.


Brandon "Champ" Champion, a Cadillac senior, is known for his love of sports.

"Brandon is football," said John Manzo, Clinton Township junior and friend of Champion.

On Saturday, Oct. 1, Champion went out to watch the Central Michigan-Northern Illinois football game at Kelly/Shorts stadium with his roommates and friends. After about an hour drinking with his friends in the tailgate lot and passing out Monster energy drinks to other tailgaters, Champ strolled into the stadium with his arms around his friends' shoulders, straight down to about the fourth row in the student section.

Brandon Champion, senior of Cadillac, watches the Central Michigan-Northern Illinois football game Oct. 1 at CMU's Kelly/Shorts stadium.

Brandon Champion of Cadillac, right, and his friend Shonda Smith of Detroit cheer for the Chippewas in the Oct. 1 Central Michigan-Northern Illinois football game at Kelly/Shorts stadium at Central Michigan University.

The smile never left his face, despite the chilly wind and small student section present at the game. He cheered with his friends, danced to the music and never quite stayed in one place during the game.

His friend, Detroit sophomore Shonda Smith, looked up from the game at one point to find neither Champion nor his roommates around her.

"They'll be back," she laughed. After about 15 minutes, she realized the boys were in a completely different row, two rows back. Once Champion saw her, he squeezed between other students to come to her level, only to leave again after about five minutes.

Champion and his friends left the game at half time to watch Michigan State football from his apartment at Lexington Ridge, U12.

Cadillac senior Brandon Champion throws his arms out in exasperation while watching Michigan State football on Oct. 1 at his Lexington Ridge apartment, U12, in Mount Pleasant.

Not only does Champion watch football, he also plays on two Intramural teams; he plays quarterback for the co-ed team the Honey Badgers and is also a part of an all-male team.

"I'm like a die-hard sports person," Champion said with a large grin while describing himself.

He also covers soccer for the student paper, Central Michigan Life.

Quarterback of the co-ed Intramural flag football team the Honey Badgers, Cadillac senior Brandon Champion runs with the ball on the cold Oct. 3 night game at Central Michigan University IM fields.
The Honey Badgers lost 19-12.

After a game of Intramural flag football, the Honey Badgers team's quarterback Brandon Champion, of Cadillac, looks over the Central Michigan University IM fields.
His team lost in the 19-12 game.

Brandon Champion and Ashley Scheetz walk away from the Central Michigan University Intramural fields after the co-ed flag football team, the Honey Badgers, lost a game Monday night, Oct. 3. The final score was 19-12.

After his co-ed IM game on Oct. 3, Champion headed away saying he was mad they had lost 19-12. He went home to watch baseball on TV.

~JD

Farm Family Story

Jim Parrish drives his girlfriend Patty Cuzack and nephew Jason Hall past his son Lucas Parrish (far right) and his friend Phil Graszler, who try to start the broken tractor Sept. 3 on the Deloria family farm property in Newberry, Mich.

Jason Hall takes his son Cole, 5, for a ride on a four-wheeler Sept. 3 on his great-grandmother's farm property in Newberry, Mich.

Jim Parrish prepares to work on fixing the roof of the old garage Sept. 4 on the Deloria family farm property in Newberry, Mich.

The Parrish and Hall families take a day off from farming Sept. 2 to visit the nearby Tahquamenon Falls state park.

Jason Hall (left) plays in the Tahquamenon Lower Falls with his wife Gina, son Cole, 5, and son Damon, 10, (pictured under the fall) Sept. 2 in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

The family sits together inside the Deloria farm house for breakfast on the chilly Sept. 5 morning on the farm property in Newberry, Mich.

Lucas Parrish prepares to rake out an area to plant deer feed for the upcoming hunting season Sept. 3 on his great-grandmother's farm property in Newberry, Mich.

The Deloria family farm is now kept by fourth-generation adults, some of whom even have young children.

The Delorias bought the property in the late 1930s/early 40s and it was originally used to farm strawberries and potatoes. Although now, the 40 acres has become overgrown forests and dirt trails.

Generations of the family have been coming up to the land in Newberry, Mich. since they were children, growing up on what they still fondly call ‘The Farm.’

Different members of the family frequently take weekend vacations to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to repair the old farm buildings or prepare for the winter deer-hunting season.

“(Farming) is an interesting way of life,” said Ron Hall, grandson of the original Delorias. “It’s work, but it’s rewarding work.”

Many of the Deloria family descendants have been traveling north to the property since they were children. Five-year-old Cole Hall, fifth-generation descendant, explores the dirt trails alone and his 10-year-old brother, Damon, rides four-wheeler around the edges of the property for hours on end.

The families spend most of the weekends outdoors, setting up camp chair circles and pit fires.  During the day, the children play while the adults work on the upkeep of the property. They are also very familiar with Upper Michigan’s attractions, having visited them frequently during family outings. 

The Hall and Parrish families took a day to visit Tahquamenon Falls state park’s upper and lower falls, taking advantage of the low water levels to wade across the river to an island and play in the water on Sept. 2.

The family is very close. People drop by all weekend long, some stay for the day, some for half an hour. Although sometimes things go awry and the family has problems or arguments, this is always the atmosphere– a family.

~JD

Real-life experience.

Job shadow assignment, 422.
- -
We were given the assignment to job shadow a real photojournalist at a legitimate news paper. After much worrying, I was given the contact information of the photo editor of the Bay City Times, Michael Randolph. I picked up my phone, terrified that the person on the other end would be some big, hot-shot photojournalist who wouldn’t have much time to bother with some college kid that wanted to follow them around, much less a kid that had a partner who needed to follow a different photographer, simultaneously. As my heartbeat was practically making my hands shake, it was then that I remembered why I like to be behind the camera, not talking to important people I don’t know. But, I bucked up my courage and called. There was no answer.

I left a message explaining that I was a student photojournalist at Central Michigan University, and that I had an assignment for which I needed to job shadow someone. I left my contact information and waited for an answer. No answer came. So, I decided I needed to be brave, assertive and persistent. That’s how you get what you want, that’s how to be a journalist.

So I called back and finally got ahold of him. He was very cooperative on the phone. He helped me figure out (through several phone calls and messages on my part) a time when both myself and my partner could meet with him and another photographer. And it was settled.

I walked into the building with my partner on Tuesday morning, and we waited for our photographers to return from assignment. I was expecting to go out and shoot stories and find features. Unfortunately, it was a slow news day and there was next to nothing scheduled. I sat around with Mike as he edited photos from the shoot he had been on that morning. We talked, learned about one another and I asked as many questions as came to mind.

Mike began his interest in photography as a child. His father’s hobby was photography, and Mike spent a lot of time “tagging along” as his father drove around Northern Michigan taking pictures.  He said, like most photojournalists, he dreamed of shooting for National Geographic one day. However, he says he “fell into” photojournalism because realistically, it was more accessible.

The internship Mike held was at the Miami Herald. After that, his first staff position was at the Cadillac News, local to his hometown. In 1998, he joined the Bay City Times as a photographer. Then, there was a large staff of photographers. He said the biggest change was having a professional network to dip into their knowledge. Six years ago, he became the photo editor at BCT, and when they changed from a daily paper to less frequent and online, he became Chief Photographer.

I asked Mike which type of lens he preferred. His answer pretty much sums up my entire experience with him; a 16-35mm lens, because you have to get close to people. If a person is closer to the camera, it is more interpersonal. He said his biggest fear was talking to people and getting names, but was forced to get over it simply because he wanted to take better photographs.

Michael Randolph (right) talks to a road worker while out shooting ongoing construction Tuesday, Sept. 6 on Walnut St. in Midland.
"A big part of the job is just striking up conversation with people," Randolph said.

Because there wasn’t really anything on schedule, we went out to shoot some photographs of an ongoing construction site. It wasn’t anything spectacular, we just shot the men working and a gentleman watching. Unfortunately, he did not stick around very long, and the photos weren’t particularly interesting.

Laurence Wolfe, maintenance worker at Fabulous Fashions, 108 Walnut St., Midland, watches the construction in front of his workplace, Tuesday, Sept. 6. The construction has been going on since last spring, and should finish in November.

Workers continue to dig up the street Tuesday, Sept. 6 in a year-long construction project on Walnut Street in Midland.

We returned to the news room and I asked Mike to help me edit the photos I had shot, and for advice on how to improve my shooting. He explained to me the idea of “layering” your photos to bring three-dimensional reality into a two-dimensional medium. We compared my photos to his, and he showed me where he thought there should be more information in the foreground or background of various photos. He recommended always shooting in RAW, as it may some day save an image with the wrong exposure or white balance.

Cars are waved through the construction zone Tuesday, Sept. 6 on the intersection of Walnut and Midland Streets, Midland. Businesses remain open throughout the road work.

Laurence Wolfe, maintenance worker at Fabulous Fashions, 108 Walnut St., Midland, walks away from the construction in front of his workplace. He says business has been down since the road work began last spring.

The shoot itself did not teach me much I did not know, except perhaps another perspective of the same scene. However, the experience I gained from simply having a conversation and asking questions was nearly indescribable. Throughout my questions and observations of his work, not only did Mike answer what I wanted to know, but he gave me important life lessons, perhaps inadvertently. For example, he was a very pleasant, light-hearted kind of guy when we were talking, but I asked one question to which he instantly became solemn: Do you ever look at other people’s photos and think of what you could do better?

Mike became very serious and turned to me. He said, “No. Never.” I was admittedly shocked a bit. He looked right in my eyes, freezing even my pencil from scratching across my mini-notebook. He spoke, soft and serious, a voice that clearly showed personal experience. Don’t judge work if you don’t know every thing about it, he said. It could be the best of what the photographer had, in which case it would be good. Or, it could be great, but if great photos were happening, then maybe anyone could point a camera.

There was a moment of silence where I sat to simply think about what he had said, before I quickly scrawled it down, knowing it would be something to take away from the day.

When explaining what made a photo good, Mike told me the story it tells is equally as important as the interest of the composition. The elements in the photo should add context and make a story, but just as important, the photo should be interesting and true to reality. This leads me to the most important thing I have learned from the entire experience, the one lesson he felt most important; Shoot for yourself.

Mike said most photojournalists are shooting because they have a love of taking pictures. His advice: “Take that joy and fascination they have with photography and transfer it to work. Try to find the aspects of your photography.” He says photography should be a balance of art and information. One of his favorite photographers at the moment is James Nachtway “(His photographs are) everything all in one, the beauty in photography, but communicate serious ideals about the world.”

So, he concluded our session repeating this lesson; Shoot for the love of it. He said to always shoot personal projects that don’t have to do with work. Then take your own style and incorporate it into daily work. This is how to be great.

He gave me his card and told me to contact him if I was interested in an internship. Of course, many people try for internships, and many are rejected. However, it isn’t necessarily because you aren’t good enough. On the contrary, the internship is meant to teach you. Sometimes, they think your work is not right for daily news, that you could be “bored to tears.” Sometimes, they just don’t think you could learn anything from being a part of their particular team. But whatever you do, don’t get discouraged. Just keep learning, from everyone you meet and from every photograph you see.

I walked away from the day with a feeling of contentment. I thought about all of the things everyone tells you. I thought about the technical issues, the emotional issues and all of the clashing opinions people try to teach you. “Shoot this way, pay attention to this, pay attention to that. Don’t shoot this, don’t shoot that. Blahhhhhh....” I thought about how no matter what people try to tell you, the only real way to gain experience and figure out who you are is by doing it, experiencing life and talking to people to learn what they have learned.

I walked away and I thought about Mike’s advice. And I knew, I now am more reassured than ever, that I know a picture when I see one. I need to trust my gut, and do things my way. If I want to succeed, it will come with time, with work and with practice. I do shoot for me. I shoot because I love to do it.

And as I walked away, I thought to myself, ‘I can do this. This is what I want to do. It’s okay to do it my way, and always continue learning.’


~JD