Lone Star Dispatch - News Evaluation #3

Story #1
Raising cultural awareness with music, food, art, and alliance
Summary: Black History Month is very important to acknowledge because it honors and draws attention to the positive impacts African Americans have made on our society that are often overlooked. It's a time that spreads awareness of racism and promotes equality.
Who: People celebrating Black History month 
What: Celebrating Black History month
Where: Students and teachers at Bowie HS
When: The month of February
Why: To draw awareness to African American culture and say why students and teachers at Bowie celebrate it
How: By doing things at school like announcements, putting up posters, and playing certain music in the halls
Who was quoted? teacher Joyce Brisco, teacher Amanda Pfeiffer, student Oluwaseyi Odufuye, student Oluwaseun Odufuye, student Jeremy Faulkner, teacher Vicki Hebert
What quote was the strongest in your opinion and where did that quote appear in the story? The second to last quote in the story, by Pfeiffer
Did the lead sentence make you want to keep reading? Not the lead, it was kind of bland, but the story sounded interesting enough to read by the title 

Story #2
High schoolers can fall in love
Summary: Love has a different meaning to everybody. Many people also has differing ideas on if they believe love in high school is legitimate or not. Austyn believes in it.
Who: Writer Austyn Keelty
What: Believes that love can be real in high school based on personal opinion and scientific facts
Where: Bowie HS
When: While in high school
Why: Many people don't believe that high schoolers know what real love is or can feel it
How: Scientific research proves otherwise
Who was quoted? No quotes
What quote was the strongest in your opinion and where did that quote appear in the story? No quotes
Did the lead sentence make you want to keep reading? Yes!

Story #3
Living Like Lys provides creative outlet for blogger
Summary: Alyssa Poole keeps a blog to spread positivity and to share fashion and lifestyle tips and tricks
Who: sophomore Alyssa Poole
What: She created her own blog
Where: here
When: In October of 2016
Why: to spread positivity and to share fashion and lifestyle tips and tricks
How: By creating and keeping up with an online blog
Who was quoted? Alyssa Poole, Maddi Lynch, Catarina Chavanne
What quote was the strongest in your opinion and where did that quote appear in the story? Alyssa's last quote, the last quote of the story
Did the lead sentence make you want to keep reading? Yes

Photo #1
Hard at work
Critique: This photo matches the story it's with. The picture isn't interesting to look at, though. While it makes perfect sense to the story, it's just a lady working at her desk.
What rule of composition do you see in the photo? The photo seems unbalanced, the subject is slightly off center, the action is facing out, and there is so much clutter in the photo.
What or who is the main subject? Mrs. Leos
Is the photo exposed properly? yes
Do you see evidence of a shallow or deep depth of field? Deep


Photo #2
Close Connection
Critique:I love this photo and I think it fits perfectly with the story. The lighting is really good, and the picture adds to the story. The story is about a girl and her relationship with her horse, and the photo gives us a visualize that really supports the piece.
What rule of composition do you see in the photo? The photographer did a good job of filling the frame, facing the action towards the center, and capturing a candid moment that tells a story.

What or who is the main subject? Celeste Hermes and her horse
Is the photo exposed properly? Yes
Do you see evidence of a shallow or deep depth of field? Shallow

Photo #3
Focusing on the Yo-Yo
Critique: Tis picture is shot so well and is so easy and interesting to look at. It ties in perfectly with the fear of Matthew.
What rule of composition do you see in the photo? Rule of thirds and leading lines are used. This is also an environmental portrait. 

What or who is the main subject? Matthew Lane
Is the photo exposed properly? yes
Do you see evidence of a shallow or deep depth of field? Shallow

Photo #4
Break Time
Critique: This photo is a good fit for the story, ad we get a glimpse into the life and personality of the subject.
What rule of composition do you see in the photo? Balance

What or who is the main subject? Kate Stubbs and Nayna Pashilkar
Is the photo exposed properly? yes
Do you see evidence of a shallow or deep depth of field? deep

Photo #5
Liberty and Justice
Critique: This photo tells a really good story and is shot really well and ties in perfect with its story
What rule of composition do you see in the photo? Selective focus, avoiding mergers

What or who is the main subject? The sign on the theatre
Is the photo exposed properly? yes
Do you see evidence of a shallow or deep depth of field? shallow (?, focused on something, but in the back not front,)

What is your favorite photo in the entire paper? My favorite photo was the one with the caption "In the crowd." It was taken at the womans march by Reagan.

Why is this your favorite? It is my favorite because it has an interesting subject, powerful message, and is really nicely shot. 

What rules of photo composition are evident? Rule of thirds, avoiding mergers, a unique subject, good exposure. 

What is your least favorite photo in the entire paper? My least favorite photo was the one with the caption "Plan of action." It was part of the "Behind the scenes of The Who's Tommy musical" story.

Why is this your least favorite? This was my least favorite because it wasn't super interesting to look at because it was just a bunch of people standing around. The photographer could have utilized the rules of simplicity and/or cropping to improve the photo.

If you were a photographer on staff, which event/photo assignment would you have liked to do for this issue? 
If I was staff I would've loved to shoot at the march because I went, but I didn't bring my camera.

Overall, how would you rate the photography in this issue? What were the strong points and weak points, write 2-3 sentences.
Overall, I would rate the photography in this issue a 7. There were a lot of pictures that were really outstanding, fit perfectly with the story, and it was evident that the photographer was trying to show a story with their shot. With some of the pictures it was evident that the photographer was in a rush or didn't care a whole lot about the picture. Omg I don't mean to say that I think they are careless or have bad photography skills though!! I just mean that if they tried to get slightly more meaningful photos I would've rated it higher.