Wonsuk Choi Photojournalism

CPOY Reaction (Picture Story and Multimedia)

2010-11-15T00:13:00.002-06:00

It was a great one-week to witness all the great works done by college level students from all over the world. During the judging process, I could easily notice that those college photographers’ angles to the subjects were very unique and fresh. Their stories dealt with some undercovered aspects of the society. And their unique thoughts and angles were professionally portrayed on their frames. Those images were depressing me and motivating me at the same time. It was good opportunity to think about myself as a photographer. I regretted the fact that I was pressing a shutter release without having personal philosophy on my subject. I didn’t interact with my subject as intimate as awards winning photographers did. I learned again from this year’s COPY that I need to build up an intimate relationship first in order to carry out the story successfully. Subjects in those winning stories were acting naturally as if photographers were not with them. During a Domestic Picture Story, again, I realized that finding right subjects that reflect current social issues/conflicts is the most important part of the project. Winning photographers all dealt with current social issues: deviating teens, living under poverty and gay marriage. From their stories, I was able to know what conflicts those subjects are confronting and threatening their lives. Among the winning stories, August Kryger’s story on Potter is my favorite. I can easily notice what August was trying to say from the story, solitary. As a photographer, it is important to visualize the story by not relying on captions, and August did a great job telling the story with his compelling images. His story captured Potter’s abandoned life. While Domestic Picture Story and Document categories dealt with in-depth coverage with compelling images and appealing stories, a large number stories from International Picture Story didn’t show a close relationship with the subject. Most of them did not show beyond what the subjects were doing. (Some stories did a great job portraying local conflicts while the subject is involved into that conflict.) Many photographers ended up showing just outer aspect of their (subjects) lives. For example, Jana Asenbrennerova’s story on ‘Eye Bank’ in Nepal explored mostly showed the process of the surgery. The photographer didn’t capture the life change of Sabitri (main character in the story) after the surgery. This story is nothing but showing what’s happening at the clinic. It drew the attention since it was done in Nepal, but it failed to explore the inner conflicts of Sabitri.
During a multimedia session, I was wondering about the judging standard. I sometimes felt that it was not enough time to make IN/OUT decisions in 3 secs. I know an inverted pyramid type structure is critical, especially for web-oriented contents such as slideshow and multimedia, but I felt like some multimedia pieces were omitted too early before it started to show its visual lede. It was hard for them judging a couple hundred pieces within limited time, but it would have been better if they were more reasonable for their callings, because for some photographer, it might take more time to take the story to the climax. Let’s give more room for those photographers. It is equivalent to say that judges for Nobel Prize in Literature fail the piece even before they finish reading the introduction of the literature. In terms of contents, I was glad to see some pieces that reflected current social and environmental issues. I especially like “Spilling Over” and “Splitting Main Street” both done by a group of students from University of North Carolina. These two pieces dealt with the subjects that are already covered by other major news outlets, but rather than focusing on the core of the problem, both pieces focus on showing people’s lives that are heavily affected by their environment. UNC students used an audio, still image and video as devices to tell the story of people and it was very effective and well applied. And their web page ‘Powering a Nation’ worked great as a platform of the works. It bring synergy as the multimedia pieces are collaborated with other graphics and other related information regarding a main theme ‘energy.’ I liked to call it a real convergent journalism in this era.

Job Profile

2010-10-19T01:48:00.001-05:00

Curtis Bruce from Wonsuk Choi on Vimeo.

Reading Reaction #4

2010-10-04T21:05:00.001-05:00

In Chapnick's reading, Once again I realize that a good photo essay/story comes from the intimacy with the subject and photographer's efforts are key ingredients for the success. During the reading, I could tell that Eugene W. Smith, a great American photojournalist, was a photo essay frontier from that era and his 'country doctor' series are well known as the first photo essay/story of the modern photojournalism age. Country doctor was about Dr. Ernest Ceriani in the small town in Colorado. His work on Ceriani triggered new photojournalism era in the U.S. German immigrants photojournalists set the new stage for modern U.S. photojournalism in 30's and Eugene Smith took it from there. His works/styles also contributed to the success of MOMA exhibition in New York and FSA project as well. The U.S. government started to think about photography as a efficient tool for their propaganda.

Eugene Smith images were about truthfulness about the subject. His works would have not been achieved without it. I especially like his works from Okinawa in 1945. Those images are the fruits of his truthfulness and efforts from the war. His images are not as modern as Margaret Burke White's images (architectural and commercial stuff). He had many powerful 'everyday story' like Minamata story from Japan. bathtub picture from Minamata is remembered as the most compelling image by me. This was all possible he had an intimate relationship with the subject. I would like to say that the great photo essay comes from the relationship.

Bill Eppridge had a great coverage on Bobby Kennedy and it was all possible because he had an intimate relationship with the subject. He was able to cover from the election campaign to the funeral of Bobby.

It's been fewer than 100 years since George Eastman had developed brownie camera, 35mm film in his kitchen in Rochester, NY. The development of photojournalism was always somewhat related with the wars: WWI, WW2, Korean War. During WW1, most photographers used speed graphics. they continued to use medium format. During WW2 and Korean War, Japanese camera industry boomed during these two wars. Photographers needed a handy and portable camera. A life photographer Douglas Duncan mounted Nikorr lens with his leica body. And results were incredible. According to the modern history literature, Life editors did not notice the quality difference compare to speed graphics. After that, 35mm became popular among the war photographers. Leica introduced a camera 'M3D' named after his initial after it got fame for its compactness and durability proven during the wars.

New technology allowed more technical freedom to photographers. I always appreciate that. Photographers wouldn't need to worry about carrying chemicals and other equipments for developing process.

Although the recent technology brought us great benefits, the fundamental of photojournalism hasn't changed. I still believe that photographers' efforts and truthfulness are key ingredients making good photo. Technology is secondary.

One day project

2010-10-04T17:47:00.001-05:00

Jake Hackmann, 12, of Ashland demonstrates the trick to cattle roping during a youth rodeo lesson session at Cattlemen Days Rodeo in Ashland, Missouri on Aug 28, 2010. Hackmann was the youngest demonstrator at the event and has been participating in the event since he was 8.

As one of the events in the Great Lakes Circuit of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, Ashland’s 34th annual rodeo drew competitors from all over the central United States and thoundsands were in the audience on Saturday night on August 28, 2010. The Great Lakes Circuit is composed of nine states and stretches from Minnesota to Ohio.

Thousands of people gathered at Cattlemen Rodeo to participate in Ashland’s biggest annual event on August 28, 2010. Celebrating its 34th year, the rodeo attracts nearly 3,000 visitors over the course of the two day event. Mason Sapp of Ashalnd said he dressed like a cowboy to be part of the event even though he is not “physically” allowed to ride a wild horse.

Kyle Whitaker, a cowboy from Chamber, NE, brings down his steer during the wrestling portion of the Cattlemen Days Rodeo in Ashland. Whitaker was one of 33 riders competing for a chance to a win $14,000 prize.

Kenneth Fehling and his son Ben of Mexico, MO watch the steer wrestling at Cattlemen Day Rodeo in Ashland on Saturday night, August 28, 2010. Kenneth brought his 6 year-old son to the rodeo for the first time to show him “authentic American life.”

reading #2,3

2010-09-10T03:22:00.003-05:00

I often encounter the problems finding out where my next destination would be whenever I got off from the plane. Then I start to worry about the situation. This is kind of my fear of new place and unexperienced situation. I am not used to handle unexpected situations. I am even reluctant to overcome the situation unless someone give me some advises. I usually don't talk to people first (my bad habit) and I wait until someone actually come talk to me. As a photographer, it is the one thing that I really need to get rid of. This bad habit also applies to my best interest, photography. I always struggle to find a subject after I finished one assignment. Ironically, I always have an excuse. My language barrier always has been my excuse for a couple years. It took my confidence away since I landed this country 2 years ago. In order to overcome this situation, I needed to go out to the street and meet people. Sitting in a room and blaming myself never can help with my visual creation activity. Planning and imagining about the subject in front of a desk are necessary, but I recommend not doing this no longer than taking photos and meeting people. I always feel staring is harder than finishing. But it was always easy to finish if I start the right way.

In order to execute the situation successfully, we always need to be ready for the chance, which is coming to us without notice. As Lamott insists in her book, photographers need to be trained, and taking photos regularly should be a part of their lives. Like LensWork's editor, Brooks Jensen, mentioned, Success happens when opportunity meets preparation. It seems Lamott also agree with this cliched but true fact. In order to be a so called good photographer, Ansel Adams' "10,000" theory might work in different way. For example, spending 10,000 hours to learn about mentor photographers' concepts, perspective and style. It is different from copying or imitating their works. It is always good to try how different photographers see the same world/subject differently. It helps to extend our perspectives, which might have remained hidden. We can build something our own based on what I learned from our mentor photographers. I guess it will bring some synergy when the talent and hard working attitude meet together. This "talented man vs hard working man" issue has been bothering some famous people too such as Mozart and Salieri. However, most photographers that I have known for years are talented and passionate about what they are doing, photography. I like to say that don't afraid to make mistakes as Lamott insists us to make more messes to know about ourselves more. I would never forget how many rolls of film I wasted in order to know the concept of ASA.

Lamott's "School Lunches and Polaroids" tells us more specifically about the steps in order to be a patient photographer. This part of reading helps us to move further from the messes we made from out first assignment. During the reading, I often see that Lamott believes that the entire concept of the subject might be so broad and it is best to focus on one small part of the lunch itself. I guess this helps us to narrow down the subject to the specific points. And it really helps us to begin the actual process of shooting. Narrowing down what we know about the subject is a good way to start the story. As I said above, I recommend not doing this no longer that spending time or taking pictures of the subject. You will never know what will happen unless you go out to the street. I guess that starting/planing is harder than finishing, but it is easier to finish when i start the right way with a big picture. So, Lamott's point, narrowing down the subject, helps photographers to understand their concept/purpose of the shooting.

In her book, she compares writing to developing a Polaroid. She said that the writing develops over time. Photographers' patience is required when photographers might feel slow or tedious when they wait their essays/stories to get completed. Photographers' impatient act might ruin the whole work, especially when the film is still wet.We can't repeat the chance that we missed just like a polaroid. We only have a single chance to make the moment memorable. Once we miss it? that's it. Like Lamott says that God can help us when we deal with the perfectionism and the pressure, we might also need to rely on God to get the next chance.

As a photographer, Choosing a subject is the hardest part of the whole work. It determines, in my case, nearly 50% of my work. Photographers always look for something new, something not covered by others. Honestly, it is hard to find the content, which never have been covered by any media. But we can approach the subject differently with the clear message than others'. In order to do that, photographers' passion is essential building an intimate relation with the subject.

Once we start to take pictures, we continue to keep asking questions to ourselves until the end to make sure the purpose of shooting, the visual effect of the subject and etc. We are not only shooting for ourselves, but also for other such as readers. We also need to compromise to find a subject to fulfill readers' interests. If you find something that really interesting, you need to make that subject interesting to others as well. That's photographer's ability to see the world differently.

Choosing Thomas (Dallas Morning News)

2010-08-27T10:56:00.002-05:00

watch the video

From this story, I realized again that storytelling lies at the heart of most good documentaries — strong characters, compelling tension, and a credible resolution. I also think that storytelling must be done without sacrificing journalistic integrity. I guess it might not easy for the photographer sharing all the crucial moments with the family. And Sonya Hebert carried out the story really nicely while maintaining an intimate relationship with the family. I guess this was the key to success for Sonya. "having an intimate relationship with the subject"

Multiple Flash

2009-11-19T12:45:00.006-06:00

f 3.5, 1/125, ISO 400

Fill and Balancing

2009-11-12T00:22:00.006-06:00

f 16, 1/1000
580 ex2, H, TTL

audio slideshow

2009-11-10T10:08:00.000-06:00

http://blogs.reuters.com/photo/2009/09/04/warrior-ink/

Color Correction

2009-11-05T13:30:00.004-06:00

Latin Dance Fever
10.28.2009
Cheery Street Artisan

Painting with light

2009-10-29T10:12:00.002-05:00

10.22.2009 at Columbia Fear Fest

Single Flash

2009-10-24T21:55:00.007-05:00

Single Bounce Flash

Single Direct Flash

A single flash has been my favorite lighting tool since the day I bought a canon 550 ex, my first flashlight. A flashlight is very portable and easy to set. A flashlight has been very useful as a filling light especially when I am taking pictures outside. I strongly believe that anywhere can be a studio if I am with my two 580ex flashlights, mini tripods, and a remote flash trigger.

When I just got a 550ex flash, I did not know much about flash techniques. I usually attached a flash on my camera and took pictures with direct light. I believed that this was only way I could take pictures with a flashlight.

It took me a while to understand a concept of flashlight (direct or bounce). However, I eventually learned about the differences between a direct flash and bounce flash. I confirmed that a direct flash was hard light and a bounce flash provided more soft look images. I do not prefer one method to the other since both have merits. For example, I use a direct flash to create high contrast images that look more dramatic than bounced images, and I use a bounce flash when I need to diffuse the light evenly among all over the subject. I would not like to say, “A direct flash is ugly” or “A bounce light is the only way.” Both have merits on creating different images.

Shooting at the Blue Fugue was not as challenging as I expected it to be. Since a direction for this assignment mentioned that overpower the existing light at the place, it was not a problem whether the place was dark. A flashlight was the only fill light in the place. You will notice from my outtakes that some images were completely dark when a flashlight was not fired. It proves that a flashlight was the only fill light while I was shooting at the Blue Fugue (1/250, f 10 ~ f 16).

For a direct flash, I set a flash right side of Mr. Oday since I just wanted focus on his mouse rather than showing his entire face. (His mouse was the most honest emotion ever.) As I expected, a direct flash from right side of him created an image that just focusing on his face. It was more dramatic than I expected.

For a bounce flash, I set a flash to bounce the red ceiling. The pictures turned out as I expected. The red ceiling at the Blue Fugue helped me to create ‘spot light look’ lighting with a flashlight. (By bouncing to the red ceiling with full power of flashlight) It seems like that Mr. Rendell was singing under a red spot light even though the actual color in that place was blue and some yellow. The bounce flashlight fell evenly among all over him.

Drawing with iphones

2009-10-13T12:38:00.002-05:00

Drawing with iphones
I was waving my iphone more actively than Brendon
photo by TIM RICE

Metal and Glass

2009-10-13T12:32:00.002-05:00

Overall, this assignment was a whole new challenging for me. First of all, I never have experienced shooting glass and metal especially in a studio. One merit shooting at a studio was that I was able to direct the light. For example, I could use a multiple light sources and place them wherever I wanted making a glass look distinctive from the background. Shooting a glass with a sharp edge line was a key point of this assignment.
However, it was not as easy as I expected. To obtain a sharp edge line of a glass, I needed to learn more about a glass like I try to know about the person’s various aspects before I take a portrait of him/her. Unveiling the subject!
To avoid surface reflection, I needed to use an acrylic panel that helps to diffuse the light evenly in all directions (makes the light really soft). It reduced a possibility causing surface reflection that might have been appeared if the light was fallen directly.
In order to make the glass look distinctive with a sharp edge from the background, I needed to measure the glass correctly by proper metering and bracketing. I started to bracket exposure from ‘1/125’ and ‘f 16’ as a light meter indicated. It provided the whitest background when a camera was set as ‘1/125’ and ‘f 13’ that was 2 stop over exposed than what a light meter indicated. A proper bracketing reduced the possibility misleading the subjects.
To make champagne look liquid, I used an apple juice and ‘sprite’ to make bubbles.
It was really hard to capture the moment. After 40 times attempting to drop the tablets, I was able to capture the moment of the tablet was sinking as I intended. However, it turned out to be underexposed. I caught the moment while I was bracketing. I was in a big dilemma, which one to choose? After discussing with Jessica Cherry, my assignment partner, I decided to turn in ‘underexposed with right moment’ image. I actually tried a couple more times to capture the moment with right exposure, but it was hard to recapture the moment. I again learned by mistakes and failures.
I didn’t have any problems shooting with speedotron and a light meter in contrast to the last time ‘portrait assignment.’ I started to gain a technique and confidence at the studio. It took me only 5 minutes to set up all lights and reflectors. It is about 1/5 of time I devoted to my previous assignments.

Classmate Portrait

2009-10-01T12:08:00.003-05:00

f11 , 1/125 iso 50
single light

f16, 1/125 iso 50
multiple lights (1 key light, 1 back ground light)

Light Exploration

2009-09-17T12:53:00.001-05:00

Blue Note Summerfest
(580 EX2, MULTI 3, 3 HZ)

I set a flash light to fire 3 times until shutter close.

Portrait

2009-09-17T12:41:00.003-05:00

Portrait of Park Sunjoo, Chungbuk University professor and a forensic expert in charge of excavation, sits in front of bone fragments recovered from masscared human remains at a forensic centre. (photo by Wonsuk Choi)

I used one single key light for his portrait. I wanted have some shadows on his face in orer to visualize the dark side of Korean history, 'massacre' happend in 1950.

Copy test

2009-09-10T21:27:00.001-05:00

I realized that I got a better quality of image when I set one click (1/2) under exposure than right exposure or one click (1/2) over exposure. If an assignment guideline did not mention to set camera as ‘tungsten white balance,’ I would take pictures as ‘auto white balance.’ This assignment once again proved that a meter inside of camera is not always reliable under certain circumstances. Bracketing photos improves the possibility of capturing the correct exposure.

Color Exploration

2009-09-10T21:12:00.000-05:00

The word photography originated from Greek words meaning ‘writing or drawing with light.’ Although the technology of photography has been fairly advanced, the definition of photography has not been faded. The medium captures image has been changing over decades from daguerreotype to digital format. Although the meaning of photography does not change, people become less aware of the importance of lighting due to advanced technology of photoshop. People rely on photoshop rather metering right exposure. This assignment was an awakening call for me from ‘photoshopholic.’ I was an AFP photographer for 3 years and I usually set my camera as ‘Auto White Balance’ since I thought that it was reliable enough. I photoshoped most of pictures when I saw photos which were different from what I expected. However, this assignment ‘shooting different white balance for same subject’ made me distrust about ‘auto white balance’ after I saw different pictures with different white balance on same situation. The difference was huge.

Deployment Ceremony

2009-09-02T23:29:00.000-05:00