December at The Flint Journal

A few days after I graduated, I started my very first internship at The Flint Journal. It took some time getting used to the pace of the real world, but I caught on pretty quickly. Here are some photos that I like from what I shot at The Flint Journal in the month of December. Photos are from an 8k race, a portrait about a couple wanting to adopt a new born, feature on ice fishing, Christmas at the soup kitchen, feature on the Michigan Cootie Commander, and a bike giveaway at Swartz Creek.

Junior

This was my favorite story that I have done to date. The family was really great to work with and because of that, this story was a huge success.

Five years ago, Danielle and Richard Holland of Mount Pleasant gave birth to Richard “Junie” Jr. who has cerebral palsy, hydrocephalus, a seizure disorder, and legally blind. “When Junie was born, we were told he was going to be a vegetable for the rest of his life,” Danielle Holland said.

Click here to view the sound slide.

Summer, Fall, and Winter of 2010. Summary and Review.

So 2010 has come and gone. A lot has happened. Me pretty much just starting to get into the swing of photojournalism to graduating and landing that internship right out of college. A pretty sweet starting internship too.

First I have to start off in the summer. I did not shoot to much. I was a camp counselor for most of the summer. At one of the camps, Andrew Zwarych and I tried doing a photo a day project for the parents of the kids who were at camp. We didn't manage to get a post for every single day, but we tried. Taking care of kids and trying to trying to do this kind of project was pretty hard. This is the link of the photo a day project for the camp and than my favorite image following it which I put into my portfolio.

http://ypuivpk2010.blogspot.com/

Campers pile on each other as they play capture the flag in Middlefield, Ohio on July 15. The campers belong to a world wide Ukrainian scouting organization called PLAST.

Fall and winter of 2010. It is a time I will never forget. Back in April, Jake May asked me if I would like to shoot an assignment for CM-Life. So I shot along side Nathan Jame Kostegian. Jake saw my take, like one of the photos for the secondary. Next issue it was published and he asked me if I was interested in shooting for CM-Life in the fall and I was excited. Fast forwarding back to the fall. Worked at CM-Life and got staff photographer of the month in my first month there. That was an awesome feeling. Although quality was not a factor yet, it quickly came.

422 a class that kick everyone's ass. I was not signed up the first week because the class was closed out. Kent saw my dedication to the class and he gladly bumped me in. Thanks Kent.

Working closely with the awesome staff and students at CM-Life and with my professor Kent Miller , which I can call all of them some of my closest friends now, helped my development tremendously. Sara Winkler, Sean Proctor, Leah Sefton, Paige Calamari, Libby March, Ashley Miller, Andy Kuhn, Jeff Smith, Victoria Zegler, Beth Walter, Kaite Thoresen, Neil Blake and if i forget someone I extremely apologize... Thanks for shooting with me and pushing me. I would like to thank particularly Jake May, Kent Miller, and Tim Fitzgerald. Tim, you started me off in PJ. Without you making the class interesting , I don't if i would be in PJ right now. Jake, I know you were the editor at CM-Life but you were more than that. You were also a great mentor. Thanks for pushing me in the right directions and kicking me in the butt and telling me to go back in shoot if you didn't like it. Kent Miller, thanks for kicking my ass in 422. I know you first impression of me was not the best, but I sure hope I changed that from 420. I know I didn't turn out the best stories in 422, but I saved the best story for for last in the class and I now have this kick ass story to share with people. Thank you very much for your patience and passing on the good word so I could land my internship at The Flint Journal.

Enough of the mushy stuff now... here is the work that is in my portfolio that all of these people helped me push to shoot. Photo Story will come in the next post because this will be one big post.

Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart senior wide reciever Matt Mills catches a pass in mid air defended by Saugatuck freshman defensive back Tristan Farrara during Mount Pleasant Sacred Hearts win 42-21 on Friday morning at Ford Field for the MSHAA Division 8 Championship Game. Mills scored two touchdowns, had a punt for 74 yards, and completed 184 all purpose yards.

CMU freshman midfielder Tammy Long, right, battles junior forward Stephanie Skowneski on Sunday afternoon at Scott Park Soccer Complex in Toledo, Ohio. Long had one shot in CMU's 3-1 win over WMU to win the MAC Championship Tournament.

Steven Harren of Clare kisses his daughter Sydney on Friday evening at the Mardi Gras parade. Harren says, "the kids really enjoy dressing up and watching the parade."

Carissa Flocken and Anastasia Netto are the CMU Chippewa's goalies for the women's field hockey team. Netto starts for the women's field hockey team.

Mike Demos of Kentwood gives flowers and hugs the coordinators of the United Way event. "I started the 100 mile bike ride through a challenge from some co-workers. I told them I'll do it if you raise money for United Way."

Jordan Chatman, 9, showers other children with water as she pulls on the top of the tent. The United Way event was to raise awareness for Alzheimer's Disease.

Freshman forward Jennifer Gassman, left, junior defenseman Liesel Toth pile on sophomore midfielder Bailey Brandon after their victory over WMU in the MAC Tournament Championship on Sunday afternoon at Scott Park Soccer Complex in Toledo, Ohio. The win gave them their second consecutive MAC championship title.

This is my portfolio coming out of CMU. All of it was shot in my last 3-4 months at CMU with CM-Life.

Thanks Everyone! All of you made my last few months at CMU the most enjoyable. I miss it tremendously.

JRN 423: Leader Dogs

Leader dogs for the Blind.

First the video I am submitting is my final project for the class. It is a video about leader dog puppy raisers. Its all about what it takes to be a puppy raiser and what kind of things the puppies goes through.

Leader Dog Puppy Raisers

Leader Dogs for the Blind is a group out of Rochester Hills, Michigan that arranges, trains, and prepares dogs for a working life. These dogs help the blind do what we would consider simple tasks and go from place to place. What some people tend to not think about is how the dogs get there.

Raising Puppies is probably one of the hardest jobs of this process. It is at eight weeks when puppies get enrolled to be trained for their future as a leader dog. For the first year of their life they are raised by volunteer puppy raisers, which are approved by Leader Dogs for the Blind. The role of a puppy raiser is important because it is the raisers that teach the puppies basic obedience, to socialize, and recognize when they are working.

Future leader dogs often wear a bandana or a vest accompanied by a puppy tag to indicate that they are leader dogs in training and that they are working. When the puppies have these two things on, it is than people are not allowed to pet them or feed them treats except for their handler. After that first year of training, the puppies go through a physical to see if they are physically able to do the job for the majority of their life. If they don’t pass because of some physical problem that may interfere with their long working life, they become career-changed dogs and they are fit for any other job a dog could do or become someone’s pet. If the dogs are physically fit, than they graduate and they go through another year of training. After training, than they are assigned to a qualified candidate who is ready to receive a leader dog.

Veteran puppy raisers Judy Brankel, Cindee Shaffer, Tammy Bartz, and Rhonda Wilson talk about what it takes to be puppy raiser and some of the basics they are responsible for teaching the future leader dogs.

Leader Dog Puppy Raisers from Joseph Tobianski on Vimeo.

The second video was going to be on of the segments for the entire project, but since our professor cut down the project, he said anything other than the one video is extra credit. Here is segment 2, Leader Dog Graduate for extra credit.

Leader Dog Graduate from Joseph Tobianski on Vimeo.

I hope to continue this project in the near future and make it into a multi media piece. You can find these videos on the Leader Dogs for the Blind website in the near future.

Take Me Out To The Ball Game

I had a chance to make it to the first two home games of the Detroit Tigers. The first day, not to much went on because of the weather. Game 2 of the series is a different story. This year is the year of the tiger according to the Chinese zodiac. So the weather was nice in Game 2, the festivities were rolling.

These pictures and more are in Grand Central Magazine.

Second Baseman Scott Sizemore pops out, but it still a nice photo.

Dale, who also came in for the Frozen Four, sat right behind me, beat me to the foul ball and managed not to spill his beer. Every time a there was a foul ball, everyone in our section started to scream "Dale!" to catch it. It was a running joke for the rest of the game.

Dancing and fun before during the pre-game festivities.

Fans from the Frozen Four came to enjoy the nice day and kill time before the final game that night.

Paws messing around during the pre-game festivities.

Pitcher Ryan Perry to First Baseman Miguel Cabrera for an out.

High fives all around.

JRN 423 Project 1: 25 Years of Fish Fry

Fish Fry from Joseph Tobianski on Vimeo.

This is a video I shot for my Online Visual Storytelling class. It is the first video project I did outside of class.

JRN 423 Final Project Proposal

For my final project, I would like to do Leader Dogs for the Blind in Rochester, MI. It is a group of people who train dogs to help blind people get around town. I would like to interview trainers, the recipients of the trained dogs, businesses that allow the dogs and trainers come into their business but do not allow other pets to enter, people who breed the dog or where the dogs come from. Basically follow along what process the dog goes through to become leader dogs.

http://www.leaderdog.org/