Ruth and Raymond

Meet Ruth Brummitt, 88, and Raymond Schlup, 82, who married four years ago and still call themselves "newlyweds."

Navigate among three videos that include interviews with the couple and Schlup's original harmonica music.

Update: Final Project

Ruth Brumitt, 88, and Raymond Schlup, 82, call themselves "newlyweds." They tied the knot four years ago, some forty years after Brumitt's first marriage ended and she vowed to never marry again.

They live on Brumitt's farm about 10 miles east of Columbia, Mo. While they normally attend separate Christian services on Sunday morning, they both attend Brumitt's Rising Sun Baptist Church for Sunday evening Bible Study (seen above, Oct. 18, 2009).

Using video, I've conducted an interview of the couple and captured Schlup's playing his harmonica and singing "Love Song," which he composed more than 50 years ago. I plan to combine these video pieces and sound with still pictures of the husband and wife for chapters of the final project.

I've spent a good amount of time with the two, but I haven't made many meaningful photographs. So, I hope to do so in the next week for the final project.

Multimedia Critique 2

Magnum photographer Richard Kalvar’s “Earthlings” is a unique look at humankind. “I capture reality, never pose it. But once captured, is it still reality? I’ve always tried to play with the false impression of reality, with the ambiguity of appearances. Things are what they seem to be, or maybe something else,” he says in the text that introduces the project.

At 6:41, it’s a bit lengthy for a multimedia piece, because some viewers may not sit still online that long, but I find the length is justified by the content. The photos paired with Kalvar’s narration are well paced.

However, it took me a full 2:20 to understand the distracting noise in the background was part of the musical soundtrack. I thought the noise was accidental – a reflection of poor audio gathering. It sounded like the photographer was making tea in his kitchen while being interviewed. Instead, the sounds intended to add a sense of alien-ness.

The interview itself was stimulating. I liked hearing the photographer’s words. He used the French word “disponible,” which means “available.” When paired with photography, this means a photographer should “be open and ready for the unknown,” he says. This attitude is evident in his work, and I’d like to incorporate the same attitude in my own.

The piece is easy to navigate. I like the thumbnails that pop up when scrubbing along the progression bar. A bit of resolution is lost in full-screen mode, but that’s not surprising.

Overall, well done. While one could enjoy the photographs alone without sound, I enjoyed hearing the photographer's thoughts. I could watch this several more times. Again, the only thing I would change would be the soundtrack. I appreciate the effect the creators were trying to create, but a similar effect could be achieved through another piece of alien-type music. Or, perhaps the same piece without the lengthy intro of mere noises.

Multimedia Critique 1

The Washington Post has published an in-depth look at the use of grant money to address the city's HIV/AIDS problem in a series called Wasting Away. This series includes a multimedia piece with three chapters: Ghost Employees and Inadequate Care; A Long Wait for Housing; and Sick, but Fighting for Others.

The piece, which includes stills, audio and video, is displayed on a wide view screen with the three chapters listed with thumbnails to the left of the viewer. Linking from The Washington Post's home page, the piece plays automatically with a short, 15-second ad. (Upon repeat play, there is no ad.) The 10-minute piece moves from chapter to chapter without interruption. While the first chapter plays, the chapter's thumbnail is highlighted. When the second chapter plays, the chapter's thumbnail is highlighter. However, there's a hiccup when the third chapter plays. Its thumbnail is not highlighted.

Upon repeat play, highlight function seems stuck on the second chapter.

The piece itself is comprehensive. Its content is thought provoking. It's apparent an entire staff worked for a length of time to gather the appropriate still photos, audio and video. The editing is well done and each chapter moves into the next seamlessly. Again, this piece is part of a larger project that includes maps and text, links to which are displayed above the viewer.

This project was well planned and well executed. It tackles the subject matter that I want to tackle as a journalist.

Web site critique 2: Online portfolio

Penny de Los Santos is a freelance photojournalist based in Austin, Texas. Her international work revolves around food and culture.

On her professional site, pennydelossantos.com, photo content is king. The main images are displayed large and loud, while links to other pages (Portfolios, Bio, Contact and Blog) are quiet in small, gray font. This display immediately sets the tone for the site – photos first, words second. It’s easy for the viewer to concentrate on the images and not be distracted by smaller navigational details. However, when needed, these buttons are easy to find. They’re also displayed in intuitive, logical places along the top of each page.

If you choose the Portfolio tab, you’ll have a choice of Travel/Food, Food, Portraits, Single Images and Tejanos Project. Once a selection is made, you have a choice as to how to view the dozens of images. The main image is large, while there are active thumbnails on the right side of the main. You can choose to view the content as a slideshow (which has the added feature of a small circle that completes itself, counting the time for each image as it’s shown). Or you can choose to navigate using previous or next arrows in the bottom right corner. You can also move the mouse through the thumbnails to make a selection.

So far, no dead-ends. Each page has an option for returning to the home page or other content. The one criticism I would offer is the slight delay in loading the page.

Otherwise, the site is clean, vibrant and easy to navigate. It makes me hungry -- for food and travel.

Web site critique 1

The BBC News Web site is one I visit often to glance at world news. While there is quite a bit of content and many stories include visual aids, such as photos, videos and maps, the photographs that accompany stores are often posted at a small size. Looking at the source code, it appears that the BBC uses a content management system to post its content. So, it’s tough to say exactly how large these photos are. Regardless, they’re smaller than I, as a photographer, would like to see my work published.

Apart from the small size of most of the photographs, the site itself is quite user friendly and easy to negotiate. On the left side of any given page is a menu for the different areas of the world and key topics. If a user would like to find news another way, there are several options. There is a search bar at the top of the page. There is also an interactive map, from which users can click an area of the world of interest.
The place I find myself most often is the Video and Audio page, where content is listed by “Editor’s Pick." While this site is usually quite easy to navigate, I ran into a dead end when selecting “Andy and Jay-Z: BBC’s Marr meets rapper” video. I was sent to a page that read, “404 – Page Not Found.” Perhaps the content was moved, updated or deleted.

Overall, it’s a relatively clean, user-friendly news site. The layout, with its sans-serif font-family and the color red, is appropriate for a variety of news stories. I would suggest posted the photographs larger and updating the Audio and Visual page to include the latest information for the “Andy and Jay-Z” video.