Black and White I students earn a collective A

Portraits from the Black and White 1 class.

   Critiquing my student's compositional and portrait photos today was a pleasure because their improvement over the past few months was obvious.
   Their black and white tones were rich, compositional elements were strong and they filled the frame. Their enthusiasm for learning the craft is definitely infectious!
   They are currently working on their final photo story project, due at the end of the semester the first week of May. I won't be pleasantly surprised by good work because I expect it.
 
     

Vintage journalism tools bring back fond memories

Recognize any of these tools?  SMILE if you remember film, whiz wheels and pica poles.

Student experiments with pinhole cameras

Parker's pinhole cans and the photos he printed.

   Parker, an Owens B&W 1 student,  poses with his experimental pinhole cans and the prints he made.

Ice Art - a view of my garage

Ice covered my back door this morning, creating this visually interesting scene of my garage and back yard.

Lesson on camera lenses on a white board

PHO121 Black & White class learn about lenses yesterday. As fellow instructer John Walz quipped before I erased this instruction, "You look smart." Not very smart...just experienced.

Early voting cuts down on waiting outside in 30 degree temps

My voting center at a church on Heatherdowns Blvd. in Toledo, Ohio.

My good friends Melinda and Chris, right, cast their ballots.

 
 There was no long line streaming out of the door here today, thanks to early voters! Though I did have to stand in line on the inside for about 45 minutes, which is the longest I've ever had to wait.
    I am proud to be an American who has the freedom to vote, and then capture the voting process with a cell phone!
  

A visit to Kent State University brings back awesome memories!

I am a proud Kent Stater!

   Kent State University is where I earned my Bachelor of Science degree in photojournalism in 1991, and it's also my current graduate school.
    I traveled to KSU yesterday to work on my Master's Project paper, a requirement to graduate. The project entails developing and ultimately teaching a photography course in Northwest Ohio for high school teachers who teach or manage student photographers in any way.
   Behind the KSU sign is Franklin Hall, the state-of-the-art Journalism and Mass Communications building. The journalism building used to be located at Taylor Hall, closer to where the infamous Kent State shootings took place May 4, 1970.
   I once stood outside of Taylor Hall, at the bottom of the hill that was so popular for sledding with cafeteria trays in the winter, and spoke at the 19th commemoration of May 4 as an openly gay National Guard soldier. I was certain that was going to be the demise of my Army career, but for some reason I escaped career suicide. I retired from the military in 2000, after 21 years of being a military journalist.
   Graduation is Dec. 14. It took me five years of study in the Journalism Educator online program. I am frantically finalizing the project thesis. I needed an experienced librarian's help to find additional scholarly work, which is why I made the trip. My committee co-chair, Candace Bowen, said I have to hustle to get it done, but it can be done.
   You can read about my Master's Project writing trials and tribulations on my personal blog: toledophotog.blogspot.com (Lori King's Blog).