Website designed by...me

I know, I know. My last post is getting old. It’s been a month since I last posted; so let me show you one of my class projects that’s been taking up nearly every spare moment I have…

I built a 5-page website from scratch!

That’s right. I started with a blank Dreamweaver page and built it one code at a time. Dreamweaver is a website design software, and I have to admit - the learning curve is very steep. But I have a great online instructor, so the guidance is thorough and necessary.

As most of you know, I’m a grad student at Kent State. I’m learning how to teach journalism students the trade. My classes include journalism ethics and law; how to teach Dreamweaver and Photoshop; and how to teach newspaper design using InDesign.

The accredited Journalism Educator program is taught completely online by instructors who not only teach us the stuff, but how to teach others the stuff. You come out of the Masters of Arts program being a well-rounded journalism instructor with a working knowledge of all of the current Adobe software that’s standard in the industry.

So, here’s my website that I designed in just 4 weeks: www.folioweb.org/kingl/index.html. 
(One word of warning: the website works best when using the Firefox browser. For some reason, the education page with the flash video won't work at all using the Internet Explorer or Safari...)

Be kind. It’s meant to show growing skills, so the content isn’t as important as the working parts - like the nav bar, the photo gallery and the flash video.

Stay tuned for more examples of homework and other thoughts from my tired brain.

Ban Don't Ask, Don't Tell

(This is the final award I received while in the Air National Guard. I served 8 years active Army, 10 years  Army National Guard, and 3 years Air National Guard. I retired in July 2000.)

I am a survivor. 

         Not from breast cancer. That would be more respected, even heroic.

No, I survived the ban.

 I debated about even admitting this for fear of some kind of negative repercussion. After so many decades of living in paranoia, you get used to secrecy and lying.

I have to admit that the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell ban never really kept me in the closet, though. I’ve always been out - just lucky enough to not get caught.

I retired from the military 10 years ago, so I don’t have to worry anymore. But those still serving and sacrificing their lives for our freedom do.

I’m posting this blog for them.

The ban made headline news again last month when chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen proclaimed that service members should not be forced to "lie about who they are." (ban)

Defense Secretary Robert Gates and President Barack Obama agree. After all, maybe they have finally realized it’s absurd that gays living in Massachusetts can legally marry but can’t serve openly in the military. How schizophrenic is that?

Speaking of schizo behavior: 

• I have co-custody of my two young daughters through the Toledo family court system, but I can't legally adopt them in Ohio. 
• I just switched from Nationwide to USAA auto insurance because USAA includes my partner in my plan. Nationwide doesn't. The ironic thing: USAA is an insurance company that covers military service members and veterans. I've been with Nationwide since I  was 18. I informed Nationwide why I switched.
• Dana, my partner of 20 years, and I can register our relationship with the City of Toledo, but there's probably no hope of celebrating our commitment via marriage in our lifetime, unless we move to the East or West Coast. Our anniversary is Feb. 17.
  

Yes, things are slowly improving. The bending-over-in-the-showers fear and the blackmail argument don’t cut it anymore. And don't get me started on the Karl Roves of the world.

The bottom line is this: the military ban will never prevent gays and lesbians from joining. It will never weed them out or get them to change their sexual preferences. Never have and never will.

Unfortunately, the ban will continue to destroy the futures of those unlucky enough to get caught simply being themselves. 

I’m not a gay rights activist anymore. I’ve been too busy building a journalism career and raising a family. But sometimes, well, you just have to take a stand.

I have many lesbian friends courageously serving in the Army right now, and I worry about them in more ways than one. I hope they survive the war, and I hope they survive the ban.

It’s time to end the ban on gays in the military. In fact, it’s way overdue.

 

 

 

 

 

Do photojournalists write?

Imagine this photo of Toledo Mayor Mike Bell without a caption. You wouldn't know what it's about; just a bald head against a white backboard.  He's actually pondering dozens of suggestions by local citizens to trim down the city's $43.8m deficit. (Blade Photo by Lori King)

During a recent Owens Photo Club meeting, a question was asked whether students have to write as part of the Intro to Photojournalism course curriculum.

Here’s my response: photo = photography & journalism = writing. Put the two together and you have a photographer who should at least write down the names of the people they photograph.

Writing is absolutely a part of a photojournalist’s career. After all, a photo never runs in the paper without a cutline or caption explaining what it’s about. The caption can be as long as an extended cut, like a mini-story, or as short as a name and title to label a head shot.

Either way, photojournalists must keep a pad and pen in their camera bags to document the 5Ws and the H for every photo we take, especially if subjects in the photos are easily identifiable.

It’s true that copy editors end up rewriting our captions much of the time. After all, they are the true word doctors in the newsroom. They’re armed with the AP style guide, dictionaries, spell checks, and experience. But we provide the basic facts; proper spelling of names and hometowns, and a short version of what’s happening in the photo.

It’s also true photographers at the Blade and at most other medium to large news organizations do not write stories. But photographers at smaller papers and the military do.

In fact, that’s how I started out. I was an award-winning Army journalist (journalist of the year 3 times) who took photos for my own stories. So I’m one of the few who can do both. I couldn’t image my life without writing, which is why I created this blog!

Anyway, Owens students taking the Intro to Photojournalism Course should have no fear: it’s not a course that involves a lot of writing, just getting their facts right.

 

A life, restored

A recent story on Perrysburg wrestler Nick Hyndman is a story worth reading. Nobody writes a human interest story like Blade columnist Dave Hackenberg. 

It was an honor to photographically portray this wrestler's sheer physical and mental ability on the mat.  Like the headline reads, cerebral palsy is no match for Nick. 

To read Hack's story and see my photo slideshow of Nick at practice, click on this link: Hack

Packed for success

This is one of those photos that say a thousand words.

I laughed when I saw Tyler walk into class packed as if he was going on vacation. He’s a student in my Digital PHO 1 class. I must say; he’s prepared for everything Owens has to offer! He even bought a Canon 70-200mm / f2.8 lens for the class. Now that’s what I call enthusiastic.

Tyler is among more than 200 students registered for photo classes this spring. There are now 5 digital photo 1 classes, up from the normal 2, and they’re all full at 16 students per class.

Newspapers might be smoldering (not yet dying), but the love of photography is alive and well in the student population of Northwest Ohio. Owens also offers black and white, color, studio lighting, large format and the history and theory of photography, just to name a few.

The Owens Photo Club is thriving, as well. You can keep up their many activities planned this semester on Facebook and on the web at www.owensphotoclub.org.

 

Ethics Education Needed

Ethics Lesson #2: Know thy rules, or else ye shall be judged!

A local photographer who recently made national news hopefully learned this hard lesson.

I don’t normally drop a name when it’s negative, but in this case I don’t have to protect the offender because by now every sports shooter in the country knows who Andrew is.

Freelance sports shooter Andrew Weber probably became an instant celebrity amongst his friends and family when they witnessed him on ESPN during his attempt to capture the image of the Gatorade pour over OSU coach Jim Tressel’s head at the end of the Rose Bowl.

But that act of aggressiveness put him in very hot water with his peers.

According to Mark Terrill, a photographer who witnessed the incident and vented on sportshooter.com, Weber ignored an agreed-upon rule to not set foot onto the field until the end of the game. Weber and two other photogs didn’t adhere to this rule and rushed onto the sidelines to capture the Gatorade pour.

Needless to say, Andrew, wielding his wide-angle lens, became an infamous shot blocker to many angry rule-abiding photographers.

There is something to be said about education. Young Weber might have shot lots of images in his budding career, but what he really needs is a journalism ethics college course. His exposure in Sports Illustrated will not get him very far if he continues to build his reputation for being selfish, arrogant and ethically challenged.

Hopefully it's not too late for him, but he sets a great example of what NOT to do for others. I am sad to admit that between Alan Detrich and Andrew Weber, I have plenty of local material for the ethics portion of my photography classes at Owens Community College.  

What would he learn in a journalism ethics college course? NPPA's Ethical Code, copyright laws and photographer's rights. Students are also exposed to real examples of ethical lapses, as well as ethical courage. After all, isn't that how we learn; from our own mistakes, as well as those made by others?

For a very insightful and interesting conversation on ethical behavior in the sports world, visit the sportshooter.com discussion threat on this incident.

 

Thinking Ethics

What will the newsroom look like in the future? My assessment: The newsroom will be smaller and less cohesive. Stories will be written from living room Lazy-Z-Boy chairs rather than loud, hectic newsrooms. But journalists should never forget our commitment to truth and verification, meaning we can write at home, but do our interviews and photo assignments at the actual events, using real sources. A staff law/ethical policy keeping ethical behavior in check is more important than ever now. 

It's been two months since I've blogged about anything, but not because I didn't have anything to say. I just didn't have the time to say it right. 

I've spent the past four months in my grad class learning about journalism ethics. It's a topic that is so misunderstood and underrated. I believe being ethical and knowing what that means is vital to the future of journalism. If you don't trust your news source, then who can you trust? 

Lesson # 1: The difference between bloggers and journalists is this...I don't have to blog if I don't feel like it, but a news source doesn't have that option. A reliable news source has to continually collect the facts and get them right. And if they don't get them right, then they need to admit it. That's being ethical.