Isabel Gouveia's Blog

To say I was amazed by Marcus Yam's talk at Elon University last week is an understatement. Yam, an engineer turned photojournalist has captured the pure essence of humanity and conflict through his work at the LA Times. At the Times, he has covered everything from protests and war crimes to mass shootings and wildfires. His images not only tell a story, but they captivate you - leaving you wanting more every time.

Yam shared some of his favorite projects with us - walking us through what it is like to be in some of the world's most intense conflict zones, such as Afghanistan, Gaza, the West Bank, and Iran. As Yam said, "The most painful pictures you take are the ones stamped in your memory forever." One thing I found particularly interesting about Yam's background is how he explained to us that he felt unsafe often as a child and that this contributed significantly to his ability to operate in situations of grave danger and grimness. He told us the story of how he found a U.S. hellfire missile after being on the scene of an explosion in Afghanistan. Yam dug through the dirt, uncovered the missile casings, and tracked down to a U.S.-owned and operated drone. It was after this investigative reporting that the Pentagon actually came out and said that civilian casualties were a result of the launched airstrike by U.S. forces.

Mr. Reilley walked us through several newer AI concepts and platforms, including SearchLabs which I found incredibly interesting. I also was not aware that you could train ChatGPT to respond to you in different ways based on information you give to the software. I thoroughly enjoyed his tutorials and I admire Mr. Reilley's passion for AI and how willing he is to implement AI practices into journalistic endeavors.

For midterm projects, we were responsible for creating a video project, but not just any type of video project that would be typical for a multimedia journalism course. For this video, specifically, we were required to dig deeper and create a video pertaining to a person moment in our own life. When we were given this assignment back in February, I knew immediately that I wanted to focus my story on the impact Elon has had on my life over the last four years. I started to look back on memories I collected in my camera roll - videos from years back, with friends, professors, and of course, videos from my travels when studying abroad in Paris, France.

For Monday's class, our assignment was to have some fun over the weekend shooting photos (with our phones!) and posting our favorite to share with Piland and the rest of the class. I am always taking pictures, and so this assignment came relatively easy to me. While I typically prefer using a camera to shoot photos (higher quality, better shot time, etc.), it is much easier and more efficient to snap a quick photo on my iPhone. It was super interesting learning from Photoshop shortcuts today, especially with the Curves and Levels.

For today's blog post/class reflection, I am going to highlight my favorite photos (in no particular order!) from my peers and why I particularly favorite them:

Elon Tennis Player - The side-profile of the tennis player contrasting with the empty tennis courts behind him was particularly eye-catching. The lighting level on this image was great, especially after some tweaks on Photoshop.

Film on the Light Table - I love how you can see certain stories within the film that is captured. The 'organized mess' of the photo really stands out to me. Really cool use of light with this photo from the bottom up.

Trump Shouting - I love the Zoom on this photo and how Trump is obviously the focal point but you can see elements of the rally attendees in the background.

Painting the Awning Downtown - For some reason, this image really stood out to me. I particularly enjoyed the amount of action in the photo, and how while there is SO much to look at, your eye really focuses in on the man on the ladder.

I found all of the presentations from Wednesday's class to be incredibly insightful. It is so imperative that we hold each other accountable when it comes to educating one another on important, often sensitive topics, and I found our class presentations hit the nail on the head in terms of doing just this.

To say I was moved to tears by Scott Harrison's story, more specifically the story of charity: water, is an understatement. If I wasn't sitting in a classroom right now watching this, I think I would be uncontrollably sobbing. The first thing that came to my head when watching this is, "Wow, look at how truly fortunate I am." Anytime I want, I can head over to the water fountain, take my Brita out of my fridge, and have a clean, cold glass of water. To hear that over 750 million people do not have access to clean drinking water (a BASIC need!) is absolutely mind boggling - and being in the incredibly privileged area that we are in here at Elon University, it can often seem otherworldly to us. And unfortunately, it is.

I absolutely admire Scott Harrison for going outside of himself, being selfless, and recognizing a real problem that could be positively impacted by truly tangible work. I can speak for myself, possibly many, when I say that we all have experienced burnout in the social scene here at Elon, and it always leaves me wondering how I can do more with my life... how I can help make a change. The ability for one person to create this immense, life-changing movement is just awe-worthy and so inspiring to me.

In terms of the actual video itself, the multi-layered storyline creates an incredibly complex and moving piece of work. I loved how Harrison not only included his own personal story, but the stories of other individuals that played an undeniable role in charity:water's success, most specifically Rachel. The fact that her legacy will be carried on by the millions of children that will now be able to live free of sickness and death because of accessibility to fresh water is truly remarkable.

Last week in class, we began viewing other people's personal vlogs in preparation to create our own this semester. When Piland first introduced this project, I got SO excited. When do we ever get to do projects on our own life and more importantly, our own story when in college?

The more I began thinking about what specifically I am going to focus my story on, the more challenging I realized this prompt really is. What small snippet of my life is most important to focus on? How can I hone in on just one small aspect of my story when I have been blessed with a life full of such abundance? The more I thought, the more I realized how much Elon has had an impact on my life's story thus far, and how it would be silly of me to not include these four years when discussing what has made me, me.

Last Spring, I produced a broadcast piece for Rich Landesberg’s Broadcast News Writing course about the prevalence of alcoholism on Elon’s campus, more specifically how resources like Alcoholics Anonymous can play a large role in combatting these epidemics on college campuses. When I was pitching the story, the number one thing individuals kept telling me was that I have to be aware of the sensitive nature of the topic and make sure that I am making my interviewees feel comfortable sharing their stories and experiences with me.

This seemed to be a common theme in all of the Pulitzer Center panelists’ discussions from “Building Trust.” Many of the panelists brought up this idea of relying on sensitivity and trust building when walking into interviews or conversations with traumatized individuals. As one of the panelists, Meghan Dhaliwal said, “I am a complete stranger walking into this space with a traumatized person half the time” (4:05). Being aware of your subjects boundaries is incredibly important in facilitating their comfort and allowing them to open up for you and ultimately, your story. 

This part of the discussion spoke volumes to me because it is the most important thing I learned when covering the story on alcoholism on Elon’s campus. I was connected to an Elon student and recovering alcoholic who was extremely open to sharing her story and shedding light on her experience suffering from addiction. With that said, however, I also had to be incredibly careful in the way I worded my questions so that I did not come across as too pushy, which relates directly to the idea that “when the stakes are really high, you have to ask people what they are comfortable with” (28:10).

In shifting the angle of my questions and taking a more respectful approach, I was able to gain my interviewee’s trust, so much so that she actually offered another contact to me – a woman who led her Alcoholics Anonymous group. The story eventually became a success and one I was very proud of because it had both personal testimony and fact-based support to back up many of the more scientific claims she was making.