Week Five - News/Feature

Cascade Chautauqua visited LBCC on October 18th and brought Ben Franklin with them. Event attendees were able to watch Ben Franklin perform a monologue where he brought everyone up to speed on his life up until 1776. The audience was then invited to ask Ben questions that pertained to the life that Ben had lived up until that moment in time. The Cascade Chautauqua movement used to be very strong in Albany due to its location and the train depot. Slowly over years the movement has subsided but this organization is trying to bring it back to Oregon and specifically Albany. They try to make history come alive for generations through historical interpretations.

The Nousen Brothers play music prior to the Benjamin Franklin
performance. Part of the Cascade Chautaqua experience is a musical
interlude followed by a portrayal of a famous historical figure.

The audience at LBCC was able to interact with Steve Nousen, portraying Benjamin Franklin,
and learn the complete history of Franklin up until 1776.

Steve Nousen, a.k.a. Ben Franklin, speaks to a large crowd at LBCC on October 18th.

Topic One - Favorite Photo Story

In Chapter 11, Photo Story, of the textbook Photojournalism: The Professionals' Approach I was particularly moved by the Face to Face with Breast Cancer photo story. A photographer documented her personal experience with breast cancer from the initial diagnosis through recovery. It was an intimate photo story that was just captured by a third party but was captured by the subject actually enduring the situation. The two challenges she faced was going through this process is often painful and she had the ability to set her own pain aside and think about capturing the moments for her audience. Often times we see breast cancer from an outside perspective but her intimate approach leaves the audience feeling something a little more powerful at the end of the story. Breast cancer is not a pretty process and she was willing to set aside her own personal vanity and capture moments that are so powerful and really impact the viewer. The visual consistency of the photo story was that of a selfie photo book. She wasn't worried about overall composition she was more focused on journaling the process from the patients perspective which gave an intimate feel to the story. Beyond taking photos Annie Wells, the photographer, had to work on capturing not just the ugly moments but also the moments that the audience doesn't typically get to see. Her approach of being vulnerable and making something so beautiful out of such a tragic process in life was amazing to see.

Topic Two - My Photo Story Ideas

For my upcoming photo story I have two ideas that I am bouncing around. The first is my favorite which is making a photo story of the upcoming play at the Albany Civic Theater. I am planning on contacting the theater and asking for permission to photograph rehearsals, back stage, set build, actual performances and then the after math of the shows. My second idea is to follow my nephew at his job at Regal Cinema in Salem and capture the day in the life of a theater worker. I would capture those moments that a typical customer has no idea are even happening while they watch a movie. For both of these ideas I plan on contacting my subjects and beginning by asking permission to take on this task. I also plan on offering the final product to them so that they can use the images as they want. I am excited about this project and will be starting to work on it this week.