Emily Kask Photojournalist

A preview of the story I’m working on, on the Rochester Ferry, one of the last running ferries in the state of Kentucky. 

Week 8, I think??

For the past 2 weeks I broke my promise to myself that I was going to blog every week, but in all due fairness, this week is the first time since then I’ve actually taken my days off, off. 

I broke it down to my 10 favorite frames from daily assignments over from weeks 6-8.  I’ve been working on 2 projects really heavily over the past few weeks; 3, if you count the town’s project, so I’ve been shooting less dailies since my last post. 

I guess this means I’m almost two months in. I can’t believe it, I don’t know where the time has gone. I’m really sad to be leaving at the end of August. I don’t want to leave. I’ve fallen in love with Harrisburg, and PennLive. 

I’m going to write a real reflection when I finish and say my final sad goodbyes, but I’ll just say for now that these past two months have really been incredible for growth and learning.

You know you’re in a happy place when despite dealing with a dead laptop and a lamp fire, you’d still be able to describe your week as great.

This has been my first week in Harrisburg, PA, interning for PennLive. I absolutely love it here; I’m feeding off the energy of the staff here. I love the environment here, everyone has been so helpful, the photo staff is especially wonderful, and everyone wants to try new things and get creative, and are still laid back and want to have fun at work. I vibe really well here. I am one happy PJ.

I spent my first day getting all sorts of programs installed into my computer (which would promptly die a week later) and learning how to use the back-end of the website, which I’m still learning as I go on.

After that Joe, my boss, threw me in the game and has treated me like another staffer. I’m in such a happy place that I’m making pictures I’m actually starting to be happy with, immersing myself in the community around me, and just all around working really hard and really enjoying myself. This week I’ve shot a few graduations, a softball game, a VFW event, and of course construction (what would an interns first week be without a few photos of dirt and hardhats and cranes??)

Here’s to the first of twelve great weeks in midstate PA. Thanks for reading my words; here are some frames I made.

I’ve been working on a story a lot lately and really focusing in on it. I’ve been instagramming a bit of it as I go along; if you don’t follow me on instagram yet @ek_the_pj you should! I’m headed back there this evening for the weekend. There will be more updates about that story in the future!

I wanted to make a post to talk a bit about process, which is something I've been focusing on a lot the past few months. I wanted to illustrate my process on how I think on daily assignments, I'll do something on stories later. I might be right, I might be wrong, I'm only a student and I make mistakes every day, but this is a little idea of one of the strategies I use to make the photographs I want to make.

I went out to shoot for the Herald to try to illustrate WKU starting to get back to regular life after the snow storm has ended. I found this guy trying to get off all the snow that accumulated on his car.

IMAGE 1: After telling him who I was and what I was doing I stood at a comfortable distance to not overwhelm him on the other side of his car and made small talk, I got a super boring photo but our conversation was cordial, and I got him comfortable with me being there with the camera.

IMAGE 2: I had a 16-35 on my camera, so once he got used to me it was time to move in closer. I kind of laid on top of the hood of his car and kept talking to him. I got a more interesting angle with him coming at me, this photo is less boring, it could have been better if I had waited for a nicer moment with a better facial expression and body language, but I didn't focus on that too much because it wasn't the end result I wanted, it was just another step.

IMAGE 3: He had become totally comfortable with me being in his face at this point, so I decided to go for the image I really wanted--- I asked him if I could sit inside his car while he continued to wipe the snow off. The way the sun was coming in behind the house was going to light it up, and it's a way more interesting angle. He easily obliged, I got in and made the photograph I was looking for.

I made the first image at 4:29 PM, and my select at 4:34

Photojournalism is all about gaining intimacy and trust, and it's equally important in daily assignments as it is in longer term storytelling--there's different levels of it that need to be achieved for each, of course, but it's important in whatever you're photographing. Trust for really sensitive longer term stories is going to take a lot longer, but it's important to be able to gain a level of trust quickly on a daily assignment, because you need your image made and sent immediately. If I had just gone up to this stranger with a camera and asked to sit in his car and take photos of him right off the bat, chances are he probably would have declined---most people probably would, I probably would have. But by talking to him, gaining that trust and taking steps I was able to get the shot I needed with no problems within 5 minutes. 

I just started working on a story on the Bowling Green Ghost Society---and they do exactly what you think they do; go ghost hunting. I went on my first hunt with them on Valentine's day, and here are some stills from what is going to be a really fun multimedia piece. They are a really fun, energetic, passionate group and I'm having a blast working with them. 

This story is super fun, but it's also challenging me a lot at the same time. It's making me think less literal--- I can't take physical pictures of ghosts,  so I have to find ways to be creative and show that presence using mood, light, and details. 

One of the biggest differences so far between Kentucky and Upstate NY is Kentucky's total inability to handle snow. I had my first snow day since my senior year of high school this week for 8 inches of snow, and it wasn't just a snow day, but a snow week!!! My mind is blown. 

We've done a lot of playing in the snow together (WKUPJ) and I shot some snow features.

Yankee girl's first rodeo!