Photojournalism Seminar/ Darra Markland

Since I am a photojournalism major, I attended the photojournalism seminar today featuring Ted Kennedy and a recent Newhouse graduate, and I'd like to share some of what I experienced. I was incredibly intrigued by Mr. Kennedy's presentation because he has accomplished so much. My dream has always been to work for National Geographic one day, which is the main reason why I pursued the Newhouse School. He was previously Director of Photography for National Geographic for 12 years, during which time he was involved in epic photography such as photographing the remains of the Titanic at the bottom of the ocean. After National Geographic, he shifted his work to focus on the rapid transformation into digital media (it was so interesting to hear about his photography days before going digital!) One thing in particular that he discussed which I felt related to our graphic design course was the constant improvements being made to his company's website over the years. He showed what it looked like over a decade ago as compared to now, and it is interesting how much greater their attention to detail in regards to color, organization, and typography have increased over the years. He also talked about how exciting it was to produce a website with scroll over icons that could change color for navigation, which displays the principles of hierarchy that we have studied. It's amazing how much more sophisticated and legitimate a website can look with the utilization of graphic design techniques. There were much more interesting topics and photography adventures covered throughout the seminar, but this reminded me the most of what we are studying in class.