Introduction to Freelance Photo Journalism (Level 2) Course

Part A: Introduction to Freelance Journalism

This gives you an overview of the basic skills needed to be a freelance journalist. This section of the course will cover the following topics:

Unit 1: Introduction to Freelance Journalism

• What is news?
• The elements of news
• News in the community
• Community newspapers

Unit 2: What makes a good Freelance Journalist?

• What makes a good Freelance Journalist?
• The function of a Freelance Journalist

Unit 3: Gathering the News

• The beat system
• Sources and tools

Unit 4: Interviewing

• Preparing mechanically for interviews
• Developing note-taking skills
• Picking the interview location
• Conduct pre-interview research
• Conduct the interview
• Conduct the post-interview

Part B: Introduction to Photo Journalism

This gives you again the basic skills to needed to combine photography and writing together into a good combined package of skills.

Unit 5: Understanding Photo Journalism

• Taking photographs for publication
• Two visual considerations
• Depth of field
• Isolating a subject
• Lenses and perspectives
• Composition
• The principles of composition
• Action in still photographs
• Stopping action.

Unit 6: Obtain and Record Cutline Information

• Who gathers cutline information?
• How to record the information
• What to record
• Match up the information with the photograph
• When to record the information
• Sports photography hints
• Filing cutline information

Unit 7: Writing a photographic Cutline

• Introduction
• The four-part cutline
• Equipment available