Daily Deacon

Assignment 1 Reflection – Suyash Keshari

I chose to write about this story because the exhibit is very unique, deals with current ecological issues and their impact on the future. Initially I was not sure what I was exactly going to report on – the journey of a Wake Forest class to the SECCA exhibit, feature story on the exhibit or a visitor’s experience at the exhibit. Thankfully I was able to interview enough people to explore and expand on any of the story ideas. I interviewed the curator of SECCA Ms.Cora Fisher who was very easy to talk to and enthused about the fact that I was from Wake. I interviewed some of the visitors in the exhibit including students from my film class that I went with and the professor. I realized that it was hard to get something substantial from my peers as most of them would say “I thought it was pretty cool” or “It’s intriguing.” I had to delve deeper into their thoughts by using multiple questions.

I tried searching for a New York times or Washington Post article on an exhibition or gallery opening but was not successful at finding a good one so I decided to base my story independently hoping that it would work.

Although I would like to consider myself as a photojournalist, this was the first time I covered a news story. Writing this story made me realize that what I do (wildlife photography but not the campaign I am working on) is more on the lines of telling stories through my photographs, blogging and not exactly hard line journalism. This assignment led me to realize the separation between the two.