Stories Through Photojournalism
Throughout the course of this past week, I have taken several photos of my boyfriend, Barry, to show what life is like for him as a college student. There are so many ways that the college experience differs from person to person and Barry’s experience is definitely a unique one. Coming from a poor family Barry has always worked to support himself and his college experience involves many more responsibilities than just classes.
Barry is rushing to complete an online Calculus 2 class this summer so that he can complete another online Calculus 3 class in time to register for his fall classes. Calc 3 is a requirement for his remaining courses and in order to graduate after the fall semester, it is something he must complete this summer. Barry has been stressed and crunched for time, as he awaits a loan approval to help him cover his previous spring classes, current summer classes, and upcoming fall classes. The reason Barry must work so hard on these classes is that he transferred schools multiples times due to money problems, and additionally, he also switched his major three times, as he was not given a lot of guidance and did not know what direction he wanted to go. The fall will mark the beginning of the 6th year of college, and Barry is determined to graduate at the end of this upcoming fall semester.
Barry rents his own apartment close to school so that when classes are held in person he can attend them. Since he has his own place, he has to buy his own groceries and make his own meals instead of relying on a cafeteria meal plan or a nice homecooked meal. As money is tight for him, he has to be very careful with what he buys. Groceries can be a difficult task for him and he must be very conscious of what things cost, especially nearing the end of the month, when rent is due.
Adding to his list of responsibilities, Barry also has a big puppy named Blue to care for. He adopted him last year, February of 2020, as the little 5-week old Huskita puppy needing a home and was offered to Barry for free. Blue is now almost one and a half and requires walks often and some good play sessions. He is full of energy, which can be a lot of work, but he is equally filled with love, which makes it all worth it. Barry walks him every few hours gives him as much attention as he can, in between his other responsibilities.
Barry works 5 days a week as a Domino’s delivery driver. His work schedule consists of only night shifts lasting 6pm-3am, which is helpful in the sense that he doesn’t stay in the sun too long, as his car’s air conditioning is broken. It also leaves him a lot of time during the day for his other responsibilities. Unfortunately, the constant night shift forces him awake until morning hours, making it difficult for him to wake up earlier and often leaves him feeling tired and struggling to focus.
His 2005 Mustang has as many problems as it does miles. Barry often has to save up money to repair one issue or another with is the car. In the image above his is trying to save money by fixing the problem himself. His blinker had fallen out, along with his bumper hanging low, and he is putting them back together with some duct tape. This is the second time this has happened, but Barry still continues to tape it together as it is much cheaper than getting it fixed professionally. Barry’s car also has a dented back bumper and many interior issues, but Barry has already spent a lot of money trying to fix some and cannot afford the other fixes right now, nor can he afford a new car. His job can be very deteriorating for his car but all the money he makes has to go towards the apartment, classes, food, or Blue.
Barry not only grew up poor, but he also grew up with deaf parents. Both his parents cannot hear and due to this disabilities, it was harder for them to get jobs. Barry and his brother’s grew up with sign language as well as the responsibility to look after their parents. Here, Barry is FaceTiming his mom, as she needs help setting up an appointment and needs Barry to call for her. They are talking about what she wants so that Barry has all the information he needs to help her.
Barry started out college as an engineering major, then a business major, and is now a physics major, but physics is not what he wants to end up doing. Barry wasn’t always sure what he wanted to do and it took him a really long time to find his passion. This past spring semester he discovered storytelling and animation and realized it gave him a spark that nothing else in school really did. Unfortunately, already being behind and with only 7 classes left until graduating, Barry could not switch his major again. Barry has already taken out a lot of money in loans to cover his education and he needs to stick physics out until the end. He will need to get a job in physics to make some money to pay back his loans, but when he has a little free time, he loves to learn and create his animation stories on the side. He hopes to learn more about animation and take more classes in the future, as well as develop a portfolio on the side when he isn’t working. Even though this is something he can’t do full-time now, he hopes his dream of being an animator will come true with hard work and dedication to learning.
Barry has many struggles that may not exist in other college student’s lives. His story is unique and his determination and work ethic truly shines through. He has faced a lot of adversity, as many obstacles have stood in his way, but he is not telling them to stop him from getting an education and one day fulfilling his dream of becoming an animator.
Behind the Photos…
My goal for this photojournalism project was to capture the everyday moments and responsibilities of Barry’s life that impact his college experience. Every person I have met has had a different college experience, including different responsibilities, living situations, obstacles, and more. I think Barry’s story, in particular, is one of many obstacles and complications, but also one of determination and resilience. I wanted to show his story in a genuine and authentic way, as well as conveying all the different responsibilities and pressures that impact him.
The NPR has a list of journalist standards they hold their work accountable to. These include accuracy, fairness, completeness, honesty, independence, impartiality, transparency, accountability, respect, and excellence. I went into the past week with those standards in mind, as I believe there is nothing more important than unbiased news. I wanted to show the whole story and make sure my photographs were never misleading or giving an inaccurate portrayal of his situation.
In an article called, The Four Principles of Visual Storytelling, there is a quote I think is very important, “Your images need to feel real. Audiences have a more critical eye in the age of memes and selfies. They have a good sense of when a photo is staged, overly polished, or just doesn’t feel real. So, visual storytelling needs to capture those slice-of-life moments that help the audience connect with the meaning behind the picture.”
I wanted every picture I took to be a real moment and because I was documenting his day-to-day life, I used my iPhone instead of my camera. I thought the pictures would be more authentic this way and less intrusive of his space and comfort, especially since “moments are crucial to arousing emotion and empathy in the viewer,” (Gitner, Seth).
In my photos, I hoped to achieve a story through the details of the moments. Such as in the first photo, I used a wide-angle lens to show all the clutter around him, his notebook for studying, and the calculus lecture video. All these details contribute to the narrative. “In a photo essay, both narrative and pictures drive the story; the pictures support what’s in the text, but a person can understand the topic without having to read text or captions,” (Shurbaji, Eman)
In the Essentials of Visual Communication by Bo Bergstrom, the topics of storytelling components, techniques, and structures are discussed. Using this information, I wanted to make sure I was also telling his story through the order I put the photos in. Instead of doing it in chronological order of the days, I took the photos, I wanted to organize them though a way that best displayed the story. I wanted to open with him doing his work, showing his main priority, his classes. I then wanted to show some of his other responsibilities, such as his dog, Blue, or groceries, and then how he affords that, with his job. I thought after that, it would be useful to show how his job can also be a bit detrimental to him, as all the delivery diving does take a huge toll on his car, which is another financial burden. After that the more important things, I wanted to add a little more about his background, such as the small tasks he needs to do for his parents, like helping them with a phone call. Lastly, I wanted to end the photo essay with a picture of him doing what he loves, storytelling through animation. All of the work he is putting in now is so he can eventually create his animations professionally. I thought that was a perfect image to close his story, looking to the future of what this is all for.
Through this photo essay, I wanted to achieve an honest and touching portrayal of Barry’s story. I hope through the storytelling techniques I used I was able to achieve an accurate portrayal of his story and what college can look like for a lot of working students.
Sources:
Bergström, Bo. Essentials of Visual Communication. Laurence King, 2012.
“Blog: Digital Storytelling, Part One: The Fusion of Writing/Editing/Design.” García Media, garciamedia.com/blog/digital_storytelling_part_one_the_fusion_of_writing_editing_design/.
Gitner, Seth. Multimedia Storytelling for Digital Communicators in a Multiplatform World. Routledge, 2016.
Shurbaji, Eman. “Photo Narratives.” Medium, Ideas: Journalism + Tech, 17 Dec. 2014, medium.com/learning-journalism-tech/photo-narratives-d77b812f99dd.
“These Are the Standards of Our Journalism.” NPR, NPR, 11 Feb. 2019, www.npr.org/ethics.
“Worth 1,000 Words: The 4 Principles of Visual Storytelling.” Amplifi, 8 Dec. 2020, amplifinp.com/blog/4-principles-visual-storytelling/.
