Jane Ellyn Hardy

Mark Johnson, senior lecturer of photojournalism at the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, has his photojournalism students follow a working photojournalist for the day. They are to produce a SoundSlides show where they interview the photographer and capture what they experienced. [Update: This flash-based slide no longer works on the web today. So I cannot show her work.]

UGA student Jane Ellyn Hardy reached out to me to follow me for a day. I told her what I was working on and then encouraged her to cover some other photojournalist friends. However, she still wanted to shadow me for the day.

Mark Johnson enjoys the day that everyone in his class shares their stories of spending a day shadowing. While each student learns something firsthand with their professional, the type of twelve students gets to expand that with the SoundSlide stories that each of them shares.

photo by Jane Ellyn Hardy

So in one class, these students are seeing what is going on right now in the industry. Mark even told me about when one of the students shadowed a super negative photographer. From the moment the student interacted with them until they finished that day, the pro told them to do anything but photojournalism.

This opened up the eyes of the class. They talked about this reality for some photographers and contrasted it with those still positive.

photo by Jane Ellyn Hardy

Mark Johnson may have one of the best job placement rates in the industry because of this project. The students are getting real-world experience. He averages about 75% of his students working in the industry six months after graduating.

Of those students who graduated this past May 2013, 87.5% are now working in the industry. It might be even higher, but he isn’t sure where some landed.