Photojournalism - School Post 1 of 6

For any of you that happen to read my blog at all, you may be confused as to why I'm writing about photojournalism and what this has to do with my blogging styles from before. Well I am in a Social Media class and have been assigned to write at least six blog posts that talk about something within a broadcasting and journalistic stand point for my final. I decided that photojournalist would be a fairly decent grouping to write about and thought I would highlight a few journalists that have caught my attention over the years.

This particular blog, I'll be talking about Mary Chind from the Des Moines Register. She has won first place in 2010’s NPPA Still Photo Contest for a wonderfully dramatic , heartbreaking, anxiety filled photo of a rescuer saving a woman from drowning. You can see the determination in the face of the rescuer as he reaches for what appears to be the only visible part of his rescuee; her arm.
Photojournalists all too often are overlooked for their ability to bring you, the viewer, directly into the situation that is happening before their camera. Without them we wouldn’t have any visual recollection of anything that’s ever happened in our past!

The Des Moines Register: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/

NPPA Contest: http://bop.nppa.org/2010/still_photography/winners/?cat=DON&place=1st

SmashBurger

For anyone who has ever had the joy of going to SmashBurger, I extend my apologies now. As a mild side note, I should probably mention that maybe this was just the location that Drew and I attended and their lack of even acceptable customer service that made this experience unfortunate.

Drew and I went to a late lunch/early dinner at SmashBurger yesterday because it was close to Michael's, PetsMart, and the other shopping locations we were wandering through. We had considered going to this place for a few weeks, but couldn't really see how it was any different than other burger joints. Contemplation completed, and better judgments aside, we decided to check it out. If worst came to worst, at least we enjoy each others company. We walk into this chain restaurant and check out the menu; a few things look interesting to us, so we decide to order. There was your basic standard greeting that was offered, but nothing to make us feel like SmashBurger was happy to finally have a location in Tulsa. We order, spend $22.00 on the meal, get our little number and drinks, and then find a place to sit. Small talk resumes as we watch three other tables sit down around us.

Now this all sounds like a fairly decent start to a meal, right?

The table behind us who came in about five minutes after us received their food. That seemed weird. Then the table next to them received food, and the table next to us who had come in probably about ten minutes after us received food. The manager kept bringing food out, and walking right passed us. Drew at this point is getting rather annoyed and I'm contemplating my path of questioning conversation that will get us answers as to why everyone around us is being served, and we have been sitting here for fifteen to twenty minutes.

"Excuse me, sir?" I offered politely.

The manager turns around and as I begin to say, "We have noticed that the other tables around us have been served..." I'm cut off by a hand being raised as if to tell me to stop talking. He nodded aggressively, looking flustered and says, "Yeah, hang on a minute." We watch him walk towards the cook and check all of the tickets and then walks back in our direction.

"Here, have these. It'll make it a little nicer when you come in next time. [hands me two 1/3 lb burger coupons.] He is working on your order now," he exclaims with a fake please-don't-ask-for-your-money-back smile. They forgot about us! We had been sitting directly in the middle of all of the commotion the entire time with everyone around us being served, and no one even stopped to question why we hadn't ever received our meals until I asked what was up.

So, when we finally receive the food, I'm not overly impressed and we finish and leave. The burger was cooked like you were ordering it from a sit-down restaurant, not a fast food joint (which was definitely a good thing - SmashBurger gets credit for good thought process), but regardless of whether or not you're ignored, the prices are too high for what they're offering. After all, it was just a hamburger.

Two stars out of five people, I was really not impressed and rather annoyed.

Starting Is The Hardest Part

I know they always say that stopping is the hardest part, but I guess that doesn't really apply to blogs. The first post is always less than interesting and generally filled with a bunch of information that means nothing at all. I think I have decided that I would like to use this blog as a way to review things that I have done in my life. Of course some of the posts will be filled with pointless jabber that only people that know me will get a chuckle out of, but I would also like to tell all of you lovelies about places I go.

Who knows, maybe if I keep doing this on a regular basis I will actually get a couple of viewers.