Photography slideshow

Photo Credit: Christian Garrucho / Special to The Daily

Click on the photo above for a slideshow collection of some of our amazing photojournalists' images.

Photos edited and selected by Spartan Daily Photo Editor Carlos A. Moreno.

One last picture

This was one of the last real photos I shot in Paris. I think I shot a couple more, but they were just snap shots on the train.

This picture will forever be my final image of a beautiful city, until I am able to return again.

This image just doesn't capture that specific moment as I walked to the train with two other photogs. This picture was the sum of an entire day of picture taking, in which I traveled all over the city.

I walked from the Arc de Triumph to the Eiffel Tower. I walked from the Elysee Palace to the Louvre. I saw the Mona Lisa and I saw North Africans get chased by police three times.

All in one day, on one trip, for one experience.

I waited on the corner of a street, for ten minutes to get this picture. I have to thank Mike and Trina for waiting with me. It was cold and a little wet; we had a long week and just wanted to take a load off at the hotel.

This picture wrapped up my spring break, that included a stop in London prior to Paris. It just might be my favorite.

Love at first sight

A woman passes by a fashion boutique on Champs Elysees. Photo Credit: Carlos A. Moreno

If I would have to sum up what I felt about my experience in Paris it would have to be love at first sight.

Inspiration flowed through my veins when I landed to Paris. It was all that I had envisioned and more. London has cosmopolitan down

...but Paris had charm and romance.

Everywhere you turned history and love filled the air. Pictures surrounded me effortlessly.

It was magical and exciting.

London was an interesting city but Paris had class and style - making the city a league of its own.

Parisian culture was both oddly adventurous and calm all at once. People expected you to be quite on public places but had no problem showing affection for each other on the streets.

The people, at least some of them, where friendly to me. I knew no French when I arrived, but after a few days in the mix of the streets and the Metro - I felt some of the language sip into my consciousness.

I had even gained an accent too. All without effort.

Maybe it was because I grew up with Latin roots. Possibly my fluent Spanish speaking abilities helped me in not feeling alienated by the culture and city's fast paced life style.

It definitely came in handy when I was conducting interviews and/or when I was getting around through the city.

One thing is for sure, it is a city that never sleeps. The food in Paris was the best I had tasted in a while.

Even a loaf of bread tasted more real. U.S. grocery stores have nothing on France.

It's amazing what a little traveling can make you realize. It allowed me to understand how others live, work and still manage to have time to play.

If only the U.S. was more like this.

If anything this trip to Paris confirmed to me my desire to venture on to distant and familiar lands and learn more about the people who inhabit them.

Paris struck me as a place I would like to visit again and maybe even live there one day myself.

Luckily, according to legend, I might have that chance to return to Paris, since I touched the star outside of Notre Dame on my first night in Paris.

So maybe my return will mean inspiration not just in waves but random as love at first sight.

Carlos A. Moreno
Photographer
Photojournalism

A HISTORY LESSON

Thursday, 26 2009

I had another long day working with Kim Nguyen on a broadcast story and I filmed some pretty good content. The story turned out to be more than interesting and relevant to the economy, but I was expecting to do more hard-impact stories that spoke of the ugliness of the economic situation in Europe. Regardless, I enjoy, more than ever, working as a journalist.

The restaurant we covered, Foyer Vietnam, filled up with students and other local Parisians within twenty minutes of opening their doors. I felt an overwhelming warmth and coziness while we were filming and doing interviews, but it could have been the great French wine that the owner insisted I try. Either way I felt welcomed and honored to be there. Everyone was very hospitable and I think the story will turn out great.

It was also interesting to see the students and teachers interacting together in a social environment. When I asked if it was common I was told that the professors in Paris look after their students like family and often go out to eat together. It’s not uncommon to find them drinking together at night as well.

For those of you who haven’t read up on international conflict and history, there is a strong connection between France and Vietnam. Long before the U.S. made it’s presence known in the beautiful Southeast Asian Country, Vietnam was under French rule. The Vietnam War, as it’s known in the U.S., took place after the Vietnamese fought a long and bloody war of independence. When they finally gained their freedom from France, fueled by socialist ideas, the U.S. stepped in and tried to impose capitalistic ideas. The clash became a tragic war lasting over a decade and remains a dark cloud in the history of U.S. foreign policy, at least from my perspective.

Overall it was a productive day and I learned a lot about what it takes to get a strong broadcast story. Comparatively speaking, it seemed like it took longer that a traditional print story and it will probably have less information when it’s put together because of the time restraints. If I can, or if I think it will help the story, I’ll add some photos and written content.

John Ellis
Print Journalism

GREATER THAN EXPECTATIONS

Wednesday, 25 2009

There is an odd confidence that comes when you are thrust into a foreign environment and successfully navigate around without too much trouble. On the one hand you’re expecting to get lost a few times. On the other hand, these transport systems are pretty self-explanatory so you feel kind of dumb if you do get lost. In London, the Tube made things easy. In Paris, the Metro gets you where you want to go.

I was reluctant to go with the rest of the students to Radio France because I thought it would be more touristy than real experience. I am so glad it was mandatory because, so far, it was the highlight of my trip. To see newsrooms in action working with media from all over the world was very inspirational for me. I would love to work somewhere like that in the future. Definitely a dream job!

Kim Nguyen and I covered a lot of territory today. We didn’t see too many monuments on the way but we did experience some authentically Parisian locations. We checked out Asian communities in a few different spots and saw some strong working-class neighborhoods, which I think is just as important to experience as anything else, if not more so. We ended up in the Latin Quarter where Kim’s original source was. The area has two universities and it’s bustling with students. I’m not sure what I was expecting but it was interesting to see how similar students are in different countries.

All in all, it was a long day that yielded more conformations for tomorrow that any actual story content, which feels a little wasteful, and the focus for the story is going to be one restaurant rather than comparing nightmares to success stories, which I wanted. If everything pans out like expected, though, it should be a good story.

John Ellis
Print Journalism

FIRST IMPRESSIONS ARE A BITCH

Tuesday, March 24 2009

Today I said "Cheers" to London and "Bonjour" to Paris. During the flight, I started to get that language barrier tingling sensation that starts in the stomach and somehow makes its way all the way up to the back of the brain, fogging any knowledge of foreign tongues. I never made an ass out of myself in London but I knew it would happen often in Paris. I think this is the body’s way of preparing you for your inevitable doom, worst-case scenario wise.

Anyways, by the time we got to our hotel and did the check-in thing, which had an excessively brutal tone set forth by the sight of twenty unruly students, it was already pretty late and the editors decided the day would best be used to rest and gather our thoughts. My body was thankful but my mind was full of ideas. After all, I did just arrive in Paris.

A group of us went to the Eiffel Tower to take photos for the Web site and I was surprised I liked it so much. It wasn’t even on my list of things to do. We got there as the sun was dropping so the light was fantastic for photos, although my incompetence of SLR cameras made that a moot point. We checked out some other spots around the Tower area that seemed really awesome in my haze of tiredness and I told myself I would come back to really see them after I got some sleep.

I also made a plan to work with Kim Nguyen, another broadcast student, because I knew I would run into the same problems as I did in London and be forced to do a similar story. She had a pretty solid lead so we’ll check that out tomorrow. After working with Diana Nguyen, I realized that videographer experience is just another good line for my resume.

I’m not sure how I’m feeling at this point. I definitely should have worked harder at setting up interviews before we arrived in Europe. Or maybe I should have bought a suit so people would take me more seriously. Either way, I came into this trip a tad overconfident. I’ll chalk it up to a learning experience and leave it at that. No use sweating the petty.

John Ellis
Print Journalism

THROUGH THE LENS OF SOMEONE ELSE'S CAMERA

Monday, March 23 2009

Today I saw my first real action in broadcast journalism. I’m usually a tad critical of video news because I see the format as too time limited, but working with Diana Nguyen on the Cancer Research U.K. piece showed me a positive side. It was definitely a learning experience and I can see that I need more skills in that department.

We started the day out like most – an early morning meeting after a small breakfast then defining the day’s grand plan. Afterwards, Diana and I went looking for a source she discovered while asking locals about thrift stores. Again, I love the Tube here in London; it almost never lets you down.

I began realizing early on during this trip that my story about the working poor was going to be difficult considering I have no press credentials and apparently I’m “only a student,” a quote I heard from numerous possible interviewees. There were plenty of panhandlers and homeless folks around London, including some talented street musicians, but government officials and professionals were not taking me seriously.

So, given the situation I found myself in, I focused on the people because they were a little more willing to talk to me and many of them had interesting stories. I found two stories in particular that I thought shed some light on economic issues as well as exemplified London’s personality.

John Ellis
Print Journalism