Tag Archives: photojournalism

Michael Cheers Reflects on 25th Anniversary of ‘Songs of My People’

Michael Cheers

Michael Cheers

San Jose State University Photojournalism Professor Michael Cheers was interviewed by CBS National News as the photobook “Songs of My People” celebrates its 25th anniversary. Cheers got involved in the book project in the early 1990s when he was working as a photojournalist. Watch the full interview online.

“The African-American community was not being covered fairly by mainstream media,” Cheers said in the CBS interview, “and the question is, well then, what are you going to do about it?”

He, along with a total of 50 black photojournalists, set about gathering images of that showed a broad perspective of life in African-American communities.

“We have a responsibility to argue our case for black people and the best way to argue that case for black people for us was through our art and through our camera,” he said.

Cheers’ adult daughter, also a photojournalism professor, helped to honor the anniversary of the book with an exhibit at George Washington University, in Washington, D.C.

 

March Newsletter: Adobe Day Highlights New Teaching Tools

Photo courtesy of Michael Cheers Beginning Digital News Photography (JOUR 95) student Raven Swayne gets hands-on practice shooting a portrait with studio lighting in University Photographer Bob Bain's office/studio. The students also learned to use Adobe Lightroom.

Photo courtesy of Michael Cheers
Beginning Digital News Photography (JOUR 95) student Raven Swayne gets hands-on practice shooting a portrait with studio lighting in University Photographer Bob Bain’s office/studio. The students also learned to use Adobe Lightroom.

More than 50 San Jose State staff and faculty members attended the Fourth Annual Adobe Day at the software developer’s downtown offices. The half-day session with the Adobe Education team offered a chance for SJSU staff and faculty to use digital tools in guided training sessions that they can replicate on campus.

After the presentation from Abobe’s team on March 4,Journalism and Mass Communication (JMC) Professor Michael Cheers introduced the new visual storytelling tool Slate to his students the following week.

“Students in both classes were uploading content to Slate in less than 10 minutes,” he said. “They embraced it. Both classes will submit their midterm using Slate.”

He will also be introducing another new tool, Muse, a responsive web design tool, after spring break.

Cheers said access to the latest software, including tools in Adobe’s Creative Suite such as Photoshop, Adobe Premier Pro and Lightroom, are integral to preparing his multimedia students for internship and entry-level positions involving photography and video.

“For the first time in JMC history, two multimedia/photojournalism students from SJSU are going to the New York Times Student Journalism Institute,” Cheers said, of James Tensuan and Randy Vazquez, who will participate in the program in summer 2016. “It’s an amazing accomplishment. They had to compete against thousands of college students from across the country.”

To help students learn the intricacies of the programs, Cheers hosts labs on weekends and before class, and also posts tutorials and visual storytelling examples on Canvas.

“My hope is that the students go beyond what is required for the assignment and a letter grade, and embrace innovation and creativity,” he said. “I love it when a student comes to class and shows the instructor what they learned independently.”