Photojournalism

So..a few weeks ago while Drew and I were out taking photos around his hometown, we decided on a very awesome idea. We are going to create a photojournalism website. Amateur photojournalism of course..but still the same idea. We have a small list of ideas that we want to use already. A lot of it is going to include ethnographic/participant observation techniques, but in all honestly I have really been interested in ethnographic research for a long time. We have decided to get a couple of our ideas completed before actually launching the site so that there will actually be some content to look at. And then we will go from there.

Our possible first topic will be snake handling. There is a church in Jolo, WV that still includes snake handling in their church services. Although I am not a religious person, I find this practice extremely interesting and have always wanted to see this first hand (even though I am terrified of snakes). I have emailed a member of the church to make sure they still have the services and to see if they are okay with photos being taken and possible interviews. This church has been included in documentaries and many news stories, so I am sure this should be fine.

I am really excited about this project and I am sure once we start it and get the hang of it, the ideas will be easier to come by for more stories. This will also give us both the opportunity to become better at photography since I bought a nice, digital SLR a few months ago. It will also give us a chance to build up our collections.