Photojournalism

I've never been a staff photographer, but I know that in journalism today, photos are at least as important as the stories that accompany them. As such, I've shot nearly a dozen events for both the ODYSSEY Media Group and The Oconee Enterprise.

Meyer - JV Soccer Championship Coaching Portrait

CCHS boys junior varsity soccer coach Alec Zimmerman loosens his tie after his team goes 4-0 up in the Region-8 AAAAA JV Soccer Championship.

Meyer - Atalie Bufford Action Shot

North Oconee High School varsity gymnast Atalie Bufford does a backflip in her family's backyard.

Meyer - Waters-Wilkins Stadium Environmental Shot

Waters-Wilkins Stadium stands ready for the upcoming Classic City Championship between rivals CCHS and Cedar Shoals High School.

Meyer - JV Soccer Championship Coaching Portrait

CCHS boys junior varsity soccer coach Alec Zimmerman loosens his tie after his team goes 4-0 up in the Region-8 AAAAA JV Soccer Championship.

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Galleries

The ultimate test of an ODYSSEY photographer's credentials is a Flickr gallery comprised of now fewer than 25 high-quality photos, which must include a variety of shots. Though I'm still growing as a photographer, I've managed to publish several galleries solo for the program.

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JV Soccer Championship

Region 8-AAAAA hosted its first JV soccer championship, which CCHS ended up winning. As no other photographers were available, I decided to go and shoot the game as well as cover it. This was my first time shooting an outdoor sports game, so it was a bit of a learning curve, but after a while I started to get the hang of things.

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ATHICA Presents Student Art

Local art gallery ATHICA presented artwork by over 200 students in the Clarke County School District, including many from CCHS. I attended the event, interviewing several people and taking photos of the artwork as part of a larger gallery.

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Twilight Criterium

My favorite thing I’ve shot so far is the 2023 Athens Orthopedic Clinic Men’s and Women’s Pro-Am Criterium, the bike race that takes over downtown Athens every year. This was a big challenge for me, as I had to contend with other photographers along with my inexperience and dark conditions. Combined with my personal camera's limited lens function, some photos turned out grainy, but I still saw the gallery as a positive development for my photography.

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Basketball Senior Night

After a last minute change of plans, I had to shoot the Senior Night girls and boys basketball games against Jefferson High School with no prior photography experience. I was really rough at first, and I considered abandoning it altogether because the photos were not turning out well. However, I started figuring things out towards the end of the girls game and was able to start taking better pictures after that.

VIEW THE GALLERY

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Caption Writing

Of course, there's more to photography than just the pixels themselves. All photos we publish require an ODYSSEY-style caption with a quote that contextualizes the image, and as such, I've written countless captions across all platforms.

Friday Night Heights

Left: Varsity football defensive coordinator Joshua Dawson coaches the linebackers in their 14-28 loss to North Oconee High School on Aug. 5, 2022. Dawson began coaching with the Gladiators before the 2021 season, bringing his relentless attitude from his playing days to his coaching. “I always try to find some competition. I’m competing against (the other team’s) offensive coordinator, so I’m always thinking, ‘Are they outworking me? Do I need to watch more film?’” Dawson said. “I just try to use that same mindset, that same ambition that I had as a player to keep me motivated.” Photo by Aza Khan

I chose to pair this quote with this photo in my 300-word story on Dawson as I felt it contextualized his passion for coaching because he couldn't play any more -- the focus of the piece.

Defensive Dissonance

Left: An Oconee County High School girls varsity basketball player competes for a rebound with multiple Clarke Central High School players during the Warriors 33-23 win over the Gladiators on Nov. 15. According to CCHS head girls varsity basketball coach Carla Johnson, the Gladiators’ lack of stamina on defense let them down towards the end of the game. “(On) defense, you can always play hard. (When) they outscored us in that third quarter, we had a letdown on defense,” Johnson said. “We stopped doing our rotations like we were supposed to, (weren’t) picking up slack and (weren’t) boxing out. They got two (or) three opportunities per possession and that hurts.” Photo by Lucas Donnelly

The choice of quote was very intentional. As Johnson spoke about her team's failure to box OCHS out, I paired her quote with a photo of what she described.

So long, farewell

Left: Associate Principal Dr. Cindi Lowe speaks at an ODYSSEY Media Group Press Conference in Room 231 on Nov. 7, 2022. After a year and a half as CCHS Associate Principal, Cindi made the difficult decision to put an end to her 30-plus year career in education by retiring at the end of the 2023-24 fall semester. “(Retiring) is gonna be wonderful, it’s gonna be great. I can’t wait and it is going to be wonderful and all those things are true, but the ability to make the decision that this is going to be the end of my career in education has been much more difficult than I thought it would be,” Cindi said. Photo by Aza Khan

Because Lowe's retirement was so sudden, we didn't have any spellbinding visuals available, so I had to make the reader care about the photo with the caption. This meant I included a more poignant quote than I might have otherwise chosen.

New standards

Left: Math department teacher Eric Smith (right) works with junior Harper Webb (left) in the Clarke Central High School courtyard on Oct. 6. After the Georgia Department of Education changed the math curriculum across the state, Smith has had to adapt to the new standards. “As a teacher, it puts a little bit more on our plate as far as preparation because, as teachers, especially if you’re teaching similar courses year after year, you get into routine and you kind of know what you’re doing. Now, you’re having to go back and maybe rethink some things,” Smith said. “Looking at the flow of the new standards, I think it has been pretty well thought out as far as the progression from one course to the next.” Photo by Wyatt Meyer

This was a particularly hard story to shoot, as no visual could show the changed standards themselves. Thus, the caption acted as a bridge from the photo to the story.

Photography Growth

Unlike some other things with journalism, photography didn't come naturally to me, meaning I've invested a lot of time to improve my photography skills in and outside the classroom,

In-class presentations

The ODYSSEY devotes a significant amount of time towards training all members of staff in photography, not just dedicated photographers. As such, I've had many opportunities to learn about the ins and outs of photography -- from how to operate a DSLR to photo composition basics -- delivered by award-winning photographers the ODYSSEY has on staff. These presentations meant that before I even picked up my first camera, I knew what to look for in a photo -- even on just my phone.

Above: The photos display in-class notes I've taken on photography, social media spotlights known as scenes, and photography assignments I've done for the ODYSSSEY.

Journalism Conferences

Outside of the classroom, I have actively sought to expand on my photography knowledge. At the Fall 2023 National High School Journalism Convention in Boston, Massachusetts, I attended a pre-conference photography workshop that immersed me in not just how to shoot individual photos, but how to know what to shoot and what equipment to shoot it with. Even before that, I attended multiple sports photography sessions, a genre which I frequently explore.

Above: The left and bottom photos show my notes from the National High School Journalism Convention's Photography Pre-Con, while the top right photo shows my notes on sports photography from the Georgia Scholastic Press Association.