A Standalone Opportunity

Standalones are by far one of my favorite assignments and are a part of what makes being a photojournalist so much fun. You're sent out to explore, with no direction or expectations of what you will find. It could be something completely out of the ordinary, like a student riding an inflatable whale down the Chip River, to something as simple as a family going on a hike with walking sticks (both of which I stumbled upon this year). The unknown of the assignment makes it both exciting and intimidating.

(Photos by Jeff Smith/Staff Photographer)

Mount Pleasant resident Carlee Krueger, 5, plays with a large parachute with others Thursday outside of First United Methodist Church, 400 S. Main Street. The group of first through fourth graders were a part of the after-school 'Kids Club' that meets at the church every Thursday evening.

I went out in search of a standalone last Thursday, October 7. It was a warm sunny day, so I hopped on my bike to cruise around Mount Pleasant. I prefer riding my bike to driving because you're more aware of your surroundings and notice things that you would miss moving at 25 or more miles per hour.

First, I peddled my way around campus. East and West campus, the towers, central campus, North campus. Nothing. So I decided to make my way toward downtown. Main, Franklin, Washington, University, Broadway. Nothing! Frustrated, hot and sweaty, I made my way to the last resort of standalones; Island Park. Still, nothing. By this time I must have been on my bike for more than an hour with my 15+ pound camera bag, and I was ready to give up. One more time down Main Street, then I'm heading home I thought to myself.


Rosebush resident Nick Pappas, 8, runs a ball back after retrieving it from a basket while playing a relay game with others Thursday outside of First United Methodist Church, 400 S. Main Street. The group of first through fourth graders were a part of the after-school 'Kids Club' that meets at the church every Thursday evening

As I made my way back to campus, I passed by First United Methodist Church, 400 S. Main. There was a big group of kids laughing it up and playing with a huge rainbow colored parachute in an empty lot outside the Church. I breathed an enormous sigh of relief, hopped off my bike and approached what looked to be the instructor of the group. After talking for a minute I found out the group was the church's after-school "Kids' Club" which meets every Thursday, and they would be more than happy for me to photograph them.

20 minutes later the group was done for the day and I had a sweet standalone. All the waiting and searching was well worth it. I head back to the office in Moore Hall and show my editor, Jake May, what I came up with on my feature hunt. He liked the photo and the story behind it, so he reassigned it as a package for the A-3 centerpiece the next Friday and told me to re-shoot the group.


Mount Pleasant resident Carlee Krueger, 5, plays with friends in an outdoor lot Thursday during Kids' Club at First United Methodist Church, 400 S. Main Street. The kids broke up into two groups; the vibrations group, which learned how to play chimes, and the outdoor activities group.

I went back a week later, this time to shoot the indoor activities and get a closer look at what the Kids' Club is all about. "Hey, it's the dude with the camera!" several kids said as I walked into the groups meeting room. They were all very excited to have the reporter and I there. This time, shooting interaction between the kids and interaction with the instructors was my priority. After twenty minutes or so I started to blend in and they got used to my presence, and that's when I really started shooting. Capturing all the good moments is almost impossible when all the kids are looking right into the lens. I stayed for the whole meeting and got photos of them reading, praying and playing together, and it was a ton of fun.


Rosebush resident Nick Pappas, 8, lays on the ground and laughs as others tickle him Thursday before the start of the Kids' Club at First United Methodist Church, 400 S. Main Street. The students first read as a group and said a prayer for their families, then broke into two groups. "They're having fun while learning about god," said Mount Pleasant resident Cheri Recker, co-director of the club. "I love the kids, it's my vocation."

What began as a search for the unknown turned into an awesome story.

Unique Inspirations

Hey everybody! Today I am going to talk about how I approach a photo, the scenario, and my thought process while taking photos.

Lets first start off like this, don't look at the picture that is posted. Pull out a piece of paper and draw the following picture as I describe it. A girl studying under a tree in the fall. Take some time to draw it. Once you are done look at the photos and compare. There is no right or wrong answer. Most likely what you have on paper is not what I have in my pictures and that's alright. Point I am trying to make is that everyone see things differently and that's what makes us unique. As photographer, you have to start thinking in more than one way which bring me to my next point, triangles. Triangles is a combined word form of "try angles" which was mistakenly discovered my editor Jake May. Try different angles. You want to show the people who will see the photo an angle that they would normally wouldn't see or think about.

(Joe Tobianski/Staff Photographer)

Holly freshman Emily Brendel studies under a tree between Pearce and Anspach on Thursday afternoon. Brendel says, "It's a really nice day, so I am studying my psychology notes outside."

Let's quickly think about looking for that standalone. I have been hunting for standalones for a couple of hours, driving around town. I went to the park and people were just enjoying a walk. I saw some photo opportunities, but than I remembered we ran similar photos in previous issues in the paper. Here is where I went wrong and than changed my thought process. Standalones do not have to be huge loud action shots that screams fireman rushing out of a building with a baby and the building explodes in the background and everyone is ok. Although that would be a sweet photo, but standalones can be quiet and just as nice. It being a really nice warm day in fall, i decided to take that route and try to find someone enjoying the day. Being early afternoon, people are still in classes and not really out playing frisbee or tossing a ball or doing cartwheels to class. So I had to work with I could find people enjoying the day. I started to see a trend of people studying outside. I did a few other people before I got to these photos that are posted. Best thing to find is people really engaged at what they are doing.

(Joe Tobianski/Staff Photographer)

Holly freshman Emily Brendel studies under a tree between Pearce and Anspach on Thursday afternoon. Brendel says, "it's a really nice day, so I am studying my psychology notes outside."

Now let's talk about my thought process with the picture in this blog. When I first saw this situation it instantly reminded me of two things. First was a picture my best friend drew about five years ago and a song that describes that describes that scene. So having my camera in hand, I take a few pictures to get exposure and framing that way I want it. I see exposure is good, but I am to far away. So I take a few steps, shoot, few, steps and shoot until I get he framing I want. I wanted the tree to fit with a clean background. Now let's get in closer. I approached her and apologized for bothering her asking if I could take her picture for the paper. She happily agreed and I quickly took her information for the paper. I told her to go back to what she was doing as if I were never there. She instantly went back to studying. I took a few head on shots. Stood up, moved around. While doing this I was checking the background and making sure it wasn't busy. The buildings were not making to happy in the background. I really liked the color of the leaves, so I crouched down, not even having my eye to the camera hovering just over the ground and tilted my camera up so that she would be in the picture and the leaves of the trees. Having done that, I minimized the buildings in the background, and kept it clean. I showed what I wanted to show with an angle that people would normally would not think of. A girl studying under a tree in the fall.

Remember... keep shooting and TRIANGLES!!!