In the past few weeks, I have been doing various different things for the Cricket. Mostly taking pictures, but there are times when I have to go fetch information about things too. For example, there was a group of second graders who took a trip to the Historical Society (Trask House) and John Huss, the director of the Trask House, provided them with a scavenger hunt around town that contained historical monuments around Manchester, and it was my job to take pictures of the kids, but I also had to get a copy of the scavenger hunt packet as well. I followed some of the kids around and listened to the adults tell them about the different historical buildings and monuments. I loved this because it was something to do while taking pictures too and I learned things about the town that I didn’t know before.

The thing about working for the Cricket is that I am constantly learning new things not only about photojournalism, but also about the town of Manchester in and of itself. I love history in general, so this is very rewarding for me, and history is even cooler when it’s about the place you live. It’s cool to learn things that happened hundreds of years ago in the same spots you’ve been before so many times.

I guess the main thing I’ve been doing is taking photos of places around town for the “Do You Know Where This Is?” section of the paper, which is a lot of fun because I have to be on the lookout for things even I haven’t noticed before.

Devin: Week 2, Blog 1

This past week has been pretty eventful, but also pretty relaxed. On Monday, I took pictures of things for the “Do You Know Where This Is?” section in the newspaper, and then I walked to Newport Park road in Manchester where the housing for the elderly is and took pictures of a flower arrangement that was planted in the fall and is now coming to life. It was mainly daffodils that were planted in circular patch of land on the cul-de-sac, along with some chrysanthemums (I think). I stayed there for about ten minutes and took photos from multiple different angles, and I usually would snap two pictures of the same thing, because two photos are never exactly the same. This way, when I look through the pictures I took that day, I keep the better one of the two and delete the worse of the two.

As for the “Do You Know Where This Is?” pictures, I just walked around town trying to find things that everyone in town has seen before, but something that no one realizes they have seen so many times. For example, I took a picture of the portrait of an unknown man that is on the outside of Cala’s. Everyone in Manchester has seen it, but only attentive people would recognize it without any context. I probably shouldn’t have said that, but please don’t cheat if this gets in the paper! I took photos of other things for this column too, but I don’t want to give them away.

Week 1, Blog 2

Today, I walked all around town taking pictures again, but of different things than yesterday. My focus today was on the different restaurants and shops downtown, specifically their signs, along with the three churches, the library, the Historical Society, and a few other things. I really wish it had not been so cloudy and cold and dreary outside because my pictures are starting to get boring with all the clouds covering the sun. Hopefully the sun will come out more as SCORE comes along so that I can actually get some good pictures with the gold sun bringing out the colors more. I took my bike today, but the tires weren’t very full, so it was kind of a hassle. My legs and feet still hurt, but I’m sure I’ll get used to walking everywhere soon.

The thing that was different about today was that I took pictures of the boys’ varsity lacrosse game later on. By then, the sun had come out, and I got some really good pictures of the team. I find sports photography a little more interesting than still life because you get to watch a game or sequence as well as take pictures of it, and there is an element of challenge in photographing sports that is not present in still life photography. With still life, you can pretty much take pictures of something at any time or any angle, and it’s not going to move out of your way quickly or anything. With sports, you have to know where the ball is and capture the right moment and perfect timing, along with having a good frame and good focus.

Week 1, Blog 1

Monday was the day I sort of set everything up and got ready to begin my SCORE project. I went to the Cricket Press and talked to my boss and a few of her coworkers about things they could have me do, and I came up with a list of things around town that I could photograph. They also played with the idea of bringing back some things that were in the paper a few years ago, now that I am there as a helping hand.

            Yesterday was my first real day working for the Manchester Cricket. I got to the Press at 8:00 AM, checked in, and then made my way around town with my camera, photographing many different landmarks around Manchester, such Singing Beach, the high school, the cemetery, Masconomo Park, and one of the churches. I definitely walked at least a few miles in total, and my feet hurt a lot. It’s okay though because it was a lot of fun to just walk around town taking pictures!

            My main job for this project is creating a portfolio of stock pictures. In other words, I will be taking pictures of many different places, restaurants, buildings, and stores around town so that the Cricket can have access to these pictures whenever one might be needed; for example, they may need a recent picture of the library to go with an article about it. This, my boss and I have discovered, will be the basis of my actual SCORE project. The other thing I will be doing is photographing high school home sports games, which should be fun!

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