College News Paper

[A4Effort]

So I am a photographer for my college news paper and my assignment for this week is getting pics of anything that has to do with the economy right now and the effects it has on college loans.

Anyone have any creative ideas?

We have an oldschool stock ticker on campus and I thought I would take a pic of that. I also want to take a picture of the financial aid office while they are assisting a student.

All help is greatly appreciated.

 

[GeneralBenson]

I think a cool photo would be like a guy in a really nice business suit, pushing a shopping cart full of soda cans, or sitting on a street corner with a cardboard sign. Make sure the suit and his look are pristine, but the cart/cardboard and surroundings are all shabby.

 

[A4Effort]

I like that idea but it needs to be related to collge students. Maybe I can have a student hold a sign asking for money. Thanks for the suggestion. Any more, anyone?

 

[GeneralBenson]

Oh, I missed that part. Then how about someone trading their diploma for a cheeesburger or something, since jobs are all going overseas and there's no money to be made anyways. Diplomas aren't worth much lately.

 

[Lu_myself]

Im from Canada, so the most i think i could tell you would be to take snaps of things like gas prices, accesive pollution in the area, the amount of Japanese or German Cars on the roads as opposed to GM or American made brands. Maybe im going down the wrong path.. i duno if that helped. But yea.

 

[ANDS!]

Before you start going off and snapping cliches, why not actually find out WHAT effect the economy IS having on college loans, specifically those dealing with loans at your school? A guy in a business suit pushing a shopping card doesn't really "say" anything but "Hey, I'm a cliche about the trappings of wealth!" Once you get some anecdotal and factual perspectives, then you can translate that into a photo, staged or otherwise.

 

[A4Effort]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone and ANDS.
Well, basically students/parents will need to pay more out their pockets and less loans will be offered. That is the short version of the story.

So, I was thinking of a college student working at a partime job to pay for his education.

 

[ANDS!]

Well, if this is going to be staged, then a college student, in a business suit behind a deli counter or some minimum wage job would suffice to drive home the "theme" you present above - the contrast of expectations versus reality.

I would just make sure that this is the style they want, versus something more along the lines of photojournalism. But then again, I don't know how "unheard of" students having to work a part-time job during college is.

 

[A4Effort]

Ok, now do not judge my photography skills based on this picture. I had 3 exams this week, 2 papers, and 1 quiz this week. I did this last minute. So basically I just had a student hold a "need money 4 tuition" sign to symbolize how students will need to look for money elsewhere. I couln't do it outside because it was raining hard all day and I decided to do this last minute around 11:30pm. Anyways here is the picture. You can C&C if you want to but I know what I basically needed to do to make it better.

 

[Dao]

How about a group of students and they all have a wet white towel. Black text "LOAN" is written on all the towels. And you take a shot of every students try very hard to squeeze the towels. The students facial expression is also important. Show some hopeless, worry and some angry type of looks.

Of course, it is hard to see the text on the towel when they are squeezing it. So have one student pretending drop one on the floor try to picking it ip and the text "LOAN" on that dropped towel is clearly seen on the photo.

Maybe take the photo in a business district.