Alexia Photojournalism Seminar- McFarland

On Friday, February 19th, I saw Tom Kennedy speak about photojournalism during the Alexia Photojournalism Seminar. I learned a variety of things during his speech; lessons that can benefit not only a journalism career, but also any career in communications.

Kennedy spoke about the 21 top rules that he has learned as a photojournalist, including:

1) Passion 2) Observation 3) Heart, not Size 4) Timing 5) Sniffing the Wind 6) Courage

7) Empathy 8) Build Trust 9) Beauty is Power 10) Value of Branding 11) Risk Taking

12) Focus 13) Realities Power 14) Existing 15) Inspiration 16) Pressure 17) Planning

18) Diplomacy 19) Listening 20) Tenacity 21) Collaboration.

Kennedy shared many of his experiences and his work in photojournalism from his time at National Geographic and various other publications. The images that he showed during the presentation were vivid, artistic, and some even graphic. I learned the importance of building trust with subjects in visual communications. Many of the photographs were able to be captured because Kennedy and his coworkers had established a relationship with their subjects. Kennedy showed an excerpt of a documentary done after a devastating earthquake in China, showing how visuals can evoke strong emotions in their audience. He spoke about the transition from print to digital, and how that altered the process of capturing at making public these images of world events. He emphasized the power of visuals, placement of images within a photograph, and the ability of the journalist to capture the reader by visual.

Kennedy stated numerous times the importance of passion about the subjects that one is photographing and how this caring will transfer into an image. His experiences and knowledge were vast and he shared much of his career during the seminar, giving insight into the importance of trust and relationship building, having a sharp eye, and having passion for the stories that one covers as a journalist. His speech was very inspiring and invigorating and prompted me to practice the 21 lessons that he had demonstrated throughout his career.

~Claire McFarland