China Mojo: Pre-trip Assignment

Pre-trip Assignment:

Questions to be answered:

1. Which media environments and technologies/applications/platforms will I use in documenting and telling the story of my China trip?

I will be using both my digital and 35 mm black and white film cameras to document each day of our trip in as much detail as possible. I will also use an Ipod Nano to shoot short clips at various time throughout the trip, as a way of capturing China not only through still images, but video and audio experiences as well.

2. What equipment/gear will I need to bring to capture my stories?

I will be using a Nikon D40x to shoot my digital images, and a Canon EF-M to shoot my 35 mm black and white film. In all I hope to have at least 800 to 1,000 digital images and 4 rolls of 36 exposure black and white film by the end of our trip. Finally, I will be bringing an Ipod Nano to shoot short clips of interesting moments and experiences during our journey.

3. How will I capture and "bottle" my stories while traveling in China?

While on the ground in China, I plan on keeping a written journal of my daily experiences so that I will have something to refer to when I am writing by blog posts at home. I also plan on shooting numerous photos each day of the trip that will hopefully serve as a photo-journal to help me remember each and every thing that we did each day.

4. Please provide a "sample example" of your multimedia approach here.


A wide angle view of the Zen Garden surrounding the koi fish pond.


Interesting circular shaped door leading into the next section of the indoor/outdoor garden.


Point of view shot through one of the many intricately designed stone windows of the garden.


A couple of Chinese characters, whose meaning is unknown to me, sit placed above one of the open-aired rooms inside the Zen Garden.

The photos above were taken during my senior year horticulture field trip to a Chinese Zen Garden on Staunton Island, New York. The purpose of the trip was to be able to experience first hand what a professionally maintained Zen Garden looks like, and how using professional horticulturist techniques preserves the integrity of the plants and flowers. This is where I developed an admiration for bonsai trees, and this led me to keep an eye out, while in China, for opportunities to photograph any bonsai trees that I could find. This is, in a nutshell, how I hope to share my experience in China through my personal blog. With the inclusion of scanned black and white 35mm photographs, and short video clips from the Nano, This will be the basic look of the digital photo-journal aspect of my final blog posts.