Staging

The hardest thing I've had to do in the class is to get subjects to ignore the camera. For example, I did my big audio story on Waffle House, and I'd talked to the employees there well in advance to let them know that I was coming. So when I showed up, they were already kind of intimidated. It wouldn't have been a big problem, but there really wasn't anyone in the restaurant when I got there, so it was tough to get photos of them in action. All my best photos of the stafff were staged, and I couldn't really use them in the project. The other tip I have: sometimes in restaurants or crowded places, it's tough to get good nat sound. The nat sound I got there was really too loud for use or had too many distracting noises (kids yelling, utensils falling on the ground, etc) to be used in the background of my story.

Anyway, It is considerably harder to take a legitimate photograph than a staged photograph. I mean, one of the greatest photographs of our time -- of the soliders raising the flag at Iwo Jima -- might have been staged. I like Wertheimer's suggestion of using a long lens and a wireless mike to capture good natural sound and to avoid the issue of staging. But until we have access to that technology, I guess we'll have to figure out another way.