ALYSSA KI *

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life as a 4th year photojournalism student at rochester institute of technology


Themed by Monique Tendencia.

∞ 2

olympus xa2 // snapshots


1. my cousin in the kitchen of her convenience store frying chicken

2. my tired father behind my mother behind a lotto machine behind a dirty plastic wall

3. batman smoking and my mother making sure I get to my car safely

4. my father smoking in the shadows of the empty seafood restaurant

5. theodore hanging off my father’s leg because he wants to go home

6. the place my aunt was murdered

I’ve been spending a lot of time at my parent’s convenience store. It’s in the heart of the east end, and they’ve been there for a little over a decade now. A lot of change has come to the area, for the better? who knows yet. I owe everything to the neighborhood—my education, my shelter—It has clothed and fed me. My parents tell me to thank it every time I turn to go home. I do. Thank you.

I remember being eight years old, sitting in a circle at school. One by one, we had to tell our class what our parent’s ‘did’. Doctor. Lawyer, engineer, nurse, then me, me who has photographs of herself as a child next to racks of Playboys, riding Princess Jasmine-themed bikes down aisles, running tickets through the lotto machine, me, me who didn’t know what to say, me who replied, my mom is a cashier so fast the words blurred together.

If I could go back in time, I would tell myself never to be ashamed.


∞

It’s funny how things work out. I’ve been eyeing the olympus xa film camera line for years and never bought one. Then, a couple weeks ago I went to a thrift store and found one in perfect condition for dirt cheap. It’s been a good camera to throw into my purse. These photographs are from my second roll.

This is Mr. Lee. My father and I are helping him and his family open a seafood restaurant. I’m the ‘english liaison’— all calls go through me, business licenses, safety tests, health permits, gas and electricity, menus, lawyers and landlords, who knew opening a small business was so hard?


∞ 1

sand meadow farms 10/30, 11/07, 11/08


∞

sand meadow farms


∞ 1
I needed this trip. I was getting overwhelmed with graduating so soon and all the worry about internships and jobs and oh god, what am I going to do after? that I really needed to get another look into the industry. I was keenly aware of what I lacked and needed to work on. I was also aware of jesus, none of this sounds new and what in the world have I been doing? I tell myself I understand, I know, I know—but do I really? I’m not ready yet, but I need to get ready.  I need to take photographs of geese landing at a park. I need to set my exposure every time I enter a different lighting situation just in case. I need to have my camera on me 24/7. I need to memorize the freaking camera manual. I need to know my camera inside and out, and damnit, become an expert on flash. I need to go to the third floor of the library and read photobooks. I need to read all those Professional Photographer magazines I bought. I need to find every edition of NAT GEO. I need to learn how to focus. I need to hustle. I need to have a story I want to tell. What has stopped me? I’m running out of time.

I needed this trip.

I was getting overwhelmed with graduating so soon and all the worry about internships and jobs and oh god, what am I going to do after? that I really needed to get another look into the industry. I was keenly aware of what I lacked and needed to work on. I was also aware of jesus, none of this sounds new and what in the world have I been doing? I tell myself I understand, I know, I know—but do I really?

I’m not ready yet, but I need to get ready. 

I need to take photographs of geese landing at a park. I need to set my exposure every time I enter a different lighting situation just in case. I need to have my camera on me 24/7. I need to memorize the freaking camera manual. I need to know my camera inside and out, and damnit, become an expert on flash. I need to go to the third floor of the library and read photobooks. I need to read all those Professional Photographer magazines I bought. I need to find every edition of NAT GEO. I need to learn how to focus. I need to hustle.

I need to have a story I want to tell.

What has stopped me?

I’m running out of time.


∞ 1
At NPR I was seriously on the lookout (or I guess hearout) for Ira Glass’ voice, which is probably idiotic and impossible but I couldn’t help myself. This American Life is my go-to podcast while working out. The multimedia staff was so young. The woman in charge of hiring freelancers didn’t look too much older than I did, and although the two staff photographers are male, most of the editors/interns are female. David Gilkey, stopped by in the middle of our tour looking a bit wide-eyed but he was great to listen to.  Reuters made me think of a report I did on Dan Eldon during second year. He was a photojournalist during the Bang-bang club era in Africa. He was killed. He was young. I couldn’t believe the life he had lead. Reuters has the largest amount of photojournalists/reporters killed. Mitch Koppelman said what made Reuters different was that they are profit driven, thus, all their reporting tries to have no slant. They are the ‘switzerland’ of the wire services. Finally, all roads lead to the Washington Post. 

At NPR I was seriously on the lookout (or I guess hearout) for Ira Glass’ voice, which is probably idiotic and impossible but I couldn’t help myself. This American Life is my go-to podcast while working out. The multimedia staff was so young. The woman in charge of hiring freelancers didn’t look too much older than I did, and although the two staff photographers are male, most of the editors/interns are female. David Gilkey, stopped by in the middle of our tour looking a bit wide-eyed but he was great to listen to. 

Reuters made me think of a report I did on Dan Eldon during second year. He was a photojournalist during the Bang-bang club era in Africa. He was killed. He was young. I couldn’t believe the life he had lead. Reuters has the largest amount of photojournalists/reporters killed. Mitch Koppelman said what made Reuters different was that they are profit driven, thus, all their reporting tries to have no slant. They are the ‘switzerland’ of the wire services.

Finally, all roads lead to the Washington Post. 


∞
I wish I could have spent more time at the Newseum before getting kicked out at the 5pm close. It was surreal walking around the Pulitzer Prize section and having five of the winning photojournalists there also—it was like a secret only we knew. There Stan Grossfeld stood to the side playing with his beautiful adopted daughter while his image played on the looping video: Grossfeld said he “won his pulitzers on war and death.” Some people don’t really like pulling out the books about Pulitzer Prize winners because they’re too ‘known’ or ‘mainstream’ or overplayed. Seriously? The photographs are a testament to our world. The actual award ceremony was smaller than I thought it would be—but I felt honored to be there. We sat, the next graduating PJ class of RIT. We had a reputation to uphold. We had a legacy to look forward to. (There, staring at seven seriously accomplished RIT alumni.) For lunch we sat with Paul Benoit, who literally walked through 10 miles of snow to cover a story during a blizzard. He knocked on a woman’s door and dried his manual cameras in her oven. Right now he works as top dog of MerlinOne—which is what the Daily Press uses, so it seems my internship will follow me always.

I wish I could have spent more time at the Newseum before getting kicked out at the 5pm close.

It was surreal walking around the Pulitzer Prize section and having five of the winning photojournalists there also—it was like a secret only we knew. There Stan Grossfeld stood to the side playing with his beautiful adopted daughter while his image played on the looping video: Grossfeld said he “won his pulitzers on war and death.” Some people don’t really like pulling out the books about Pulitzer Prize winners because they’re too ‘known’ or ‘mainstream’ or overplayed. Seriously? The photographs are a testament to our world.

The actual award ceremony was smaller than I thought it would be—but I felt honored to be there. We sat, the next graduating PJ class of RIT. We had a reputation to uphold. We had a legacy to look forward to. (There, staring at seven seriously accomplished RIT alumni.)

For lunch we sat with Paul Benoit, who literally walked through 10 miles of snow to cover a story during a blizzard. He knocked on a woman’s door and dried his manual cameras in her oven. Right now he works as top dog of MerlinOne—which is what the Daily Press uses, so it seems my internship will follow me always.


∞ 1
National Geographic was never THE DREAM for me. I knew the photography was supposed to be beautiful and the reputation was huge, but I never grew up with the yellow-bordered books. I guess when I was younger all I read was fanfiction and too much Seventeen. I don’t think I’ve ever read a full magazine—but when Ken Geiger showed us a couple photography spreads he edited I realized I recognized most of them.  I can totally understand how National Geographic can be the goal of some photographers. You make a ton of money. You get to shoot non-stop for 4-8 weeks. You are the ‘author’ of the story—and have a part in almost every step: conception, research, pitch, formation, editing and layout. I didn’t realize how much went into each article. (I should have.) You’re trusted to be able to photograph. WHEN YOU GET AN ASSIGNMENT: assigned a picture editor start research work on budget and story plan pitch meeting shoot for half the alloted time (3-4 weeks) deliver ALL the frames rough edit talk/defend your photographs to editors go back for the rest of the time then back to the beginning; show all photographs + defend them It’s intense—at any part of the process, you’re story can get killed. Geiger said once they killed a story at LAYOUT. There went $140,000.

National Geographic was never THE DREAM for me. I knew the photography was supposed to be beautiful and the reputation was huge, but I never grew up with the yellow-bordered books. I guess when I was younger all I read was fanfiction and too much Seventeen. I don’t think I’ve ever read a full magazine—but when Ken Geiger showed us a couple photography spreads he edited I realized I recognized most of them. 

I can totally understand how National Geographic can be the goal of some photographers. You make a ton of money. You get to shoot non-stop for 4-8 weeks. You are the ‘author’ of the story—and have a part in almost every step: conception, research, pitch, formation, editing and layout. I didn’t realize how much went into each article. (I should have.) You’re trusted to be able to photograph.

WHEN YOU GET AN ASSIGNMENT:

  1. assigned a picture editor
  2. start research
  3. work on budget and story plan
  4. pitch meeting
  5. shoot for half the alloted time (3-4 weeks)
  6. deliver ALL the frames
  7. rough edit
  8. talk/defend your photographs to editors
  9. go back for the rest of the time
  10. then back to the beginning; show all photographs + defend them

It’s intense—at any part of the process, you’re story can get killed. Geiger said once they killed a story at LAYOUT. There went $140,000.


∞
Busy day. First we went to USA Today and met up with the sports editors. I’m currently taking Sports Photography in school right now, so it was interesting to eat lunch with them and hear their crazy stories about the Olympics. But no, seriously, USA Today is the biggest newspaper in America. Everything is top-notch. Even their building was beautiful. Next was Charles Borst and Education Week. I honestly had never heard of Education Week (Borst totally admitted to it too!) They’re a niche paper/magazine that pretty much everyone in the education world reads. The whole time I was having flashbacks of Owen Butler, and how he would talk about this one special rug quarterly that would pay to have a photographer travel to take pictures for their publication. The rugs would be beautiful, the photographs would be beautiful, the pay would be good and the photographer would travel the world. The niches had money. (And man, does Education Week have money…) To end the day, we met up at Getty with Louie Palu, Brenden Hoffman and Chip Somodevilla. (Chip = Getty photographer).

Busy day. First we went to USA Today and met up with the sports editors. I’m currently taking Sports Photography in school right now, so it was interesting to eat lunch with them and hear their crazy stories about the Olympics. But no, seriously, USA Today is the biggest newspaper in America. Everything is top-notch. Even their building was beautiful.

Next was Charles Borst and Education Week. I honestly had never heard of Education Week (Borst totally admitted to it too!) They’re a niche paper/magazine that pretty much everyone in the education world reads.

The whole time I was having flashbacks of Owen Butler, and how he would talk about this one special rug quarterly that would pay to have a photographer travel to take pictures for their publication. The rugs would be beautiful, the photographs would be beautiful, the pay would be good and the photographer would travel the world. The niches had money. (And man, does Education Week have money…)

To end the day, we met up at Getty with Louie Palu, Brenden Hoffman and Chip Somodevilla. (Chip = Getty photographer).



∞
first day of the dc field trip Met with Linda Epstein, senior photo editor at MCT news wire. It was different there. They have stories/photographs set as packages, with access to photography from the different McClatchy/Tribune papers + freelancers. So for example for the Washington bureau—she’ll get a request for photographs for a certain story, and then she’s responsible for providing the art. What struck me was when she said: “I’m a good shooter, but not the best shooter.” [about how she got to her position] I understand. Epstein doesn’t take being called ‘a better editor than photographer’ as an insult. She’s a photographer’s ‘biggest fan’. I’ve honestly never considered editing. I don’t even think I really know what it truly means—I know it’s not sitting there color balancing work or anything, but I guess I never really understood how much skill/eye/talent/practice/concentration etc it took. linda epstein / instagram Some quick notes I jotted down: MCT = second largest newswire (#1 is AP) mostly freelancers 800+ worldwide rates: half- 175, full- 275 (can sell 3 days after) mostly portraits 1 chance given, good? forever marked good. bad? forever marked bad, never asked for again should never need an assistant “i understand what it is like to be shit upon as a photographer” had the photo, got it in time, PROMOTED IT (about the MOH photo) “friend of the photographer” google alert your name rather have caption with too much information stories + photographs = match up ? perfection tomorrow: USA TODAY, EDUCATION WEEK, GETTY

first day of the dc field trip

Met with Linda Epstein, senior photo editor at MCT news wire.

It was different there.

They have stories/photographs set as packages, with access to photography from the different McClatchy/Tribune papers + freelancers. So for example for the Washington bureau—she’ll get a request for photographs for a certain story, and then she’s responsible for providing the art.

What struck me was when she said: “I’m a good shooter, but not the best shooter.” [about how she got to her position] I understand. Epstein doesn’t take being called ‘a better editor than photographer’ as an insult. She’s a photographer’s ‘biggest fan’.

I’ve honestly never considered editing. I don’t even think I really know what it truly means—I know it’s not sitting there color balancing work or anything, but I guess I never really understood how much skill/eye/talent/practice/concentration etc it took.

linda epstein / instagram

Some quick notes I jotted down:

  • MCT = second largest newswire (#1 is AP)
  • mostly freelancers 800+ worldwide
  • rates: half- 175, full- 275 (can sell 3 days after)
  • mostly portraits
  • 1 chance given, good? forever marked good. bad? forever marked bad, never asked for again
  • should never need an assistant
  • “i understand what it is like to be shit upon as a photographer”
  • had the photo, got it in time, PROMOTED IT (about the MOH photo)
  • “friend of the photographer”
  • google alert your name
  • rather have caption with too much information
  • stories + photographs = match up ? perfection

tomorrow: USA TODAY, EDUCATION WEEK, GETTY