A day in the life of the less unfortunate!

Eman Dahan a 20 year old nursing student at the University of Toledo and Diane Harper a volunteer nurse look up names for upcoming appointments for the residents on November 16th. PHO245/Jocelyn Chovan

Stephanie Walker and Dam'qua Dothard nursing students at the University of Toledo are preparing for a project that they put together through the course of interning at the Cherry St. Mission. PHO245/Jocelyn Chovan

Mathew Dixon a nursing student at Univeristy of Toledo helps cure Dale Smithers bad diabetic feet. PHO 245/Jocelyn Chovan

Mathew Dixon a nursing student at the University of Toledo checks out Dale Smithers infected feet. PHO 245/Jocelyn Chovan

Martha Pituch comes by to help student Mathew Dixon figure out what is wrong with Dale Smithers feet. PHO 245/ Jocelyn Chovan

The Cherry St. mission is beyond the words that can be typed in this blog. For the people that do not know about this ministry it is a very big deal in Toledo, Oh. Homeless people, drug addicts, and alcoholics come together to be come one and help each other through this thing we call life. The staff gives them shelter and food and helps them to find good jobs or even go back to school. For the addicts they help them to find something better then drugs, most of the time it’s a higher power but others it’s a hobby or an interest.

I was very fortunate to meet the extraordinary staff as well as the residents. My teacher Lori King had assigned me to the clinic, which is used to help the people with doctor visits and check ups since some of them do not have insurance. While in the clinic they were also helping someone go back to school as well.

I met a woman by the name of Martha Pitruch who has been at the mission for over 25 years. She said it was by accident but I say it was for a reason. She has been volunteering as the head nurse for no pay what so ever. She is so inspiring that she made it into a book called “200 most important women in Ohio”. I asked why she does what she does and she said “ I have lived my life already, I have accomplished what I needed to accomplish, so therefore I feel it is my desire to help people accomplish what they need to accomplish.”

Martha Pitruch a.k.a Mama Nurse is helping Randy Mominee a resident figure out his near future by helping him find a way to go back to college. PHO 245/Jocelyn Chovan

Again, while shooting the clinic I met a man by the name of Roy Lee Snow. He was in the alcohol rehab and loved it so much he stayed to volunteer for the last two years. He told me “all my life I have been helped by someone without me showing anything in return, if I could just save one life I feel I have paid back all the people that have ever helped me along the way.” This guy truly had a tear running down my face the whole time he shared his story.

Roy Lee Snow a voulenteer at the Cherry St. Mission and a past graduate of the rehab and alcohol program at the mission. He said "I came back because my life was saved so my mission is to save one life or ten lives." PHO 245/Jocelyn Chovan

I have learned so much from this assignment, possibly more than any project throughout my schooling career. I went in thinking I was just going to learn how the newspapers do it but I was wrong. These are people’s lives that we document on a daily basis. They welcome us in and tell us their stories and sometimes it is so inspirational that people like the media feel they should share it. Well, I don’t belong to a newspaper so my blog is the only way I can get this out!

Sports blog

This is Owens Express warming up before the big game! This picture would have been great if I learned how to meter.(PHO245/Jocelyn Chovan)

Owens player gets shoved for the ball after tournament gets brutal. Again the picture would have been a good one if the lighting wasn't bad. (Pho245/Jocelyn Chovan)

The score a lot to a little (Pho245/Jocelyn Chovan)

I went to Owens Community College womens basketball tournament against Mid-Michigan Community College on Nov. 12^th. Owens Express won by landslide.

            When I got to the gym where the girls were playing, I instantly metered my camera to around 1600 ISO, 5.6 fstop, and 4000 apperature. Well, apparently the lighting was crappy in the gym because all my pictures were either underexposed or overexposed. I never learned about my camera having an option called preset manual white balance, where you meter off a digital white card. So, because I did not learn this setting (which could have saved me in the long run), it hurt me in the long run.

I did take great shots, but the pictures came out either yellow or to white. Now I know when I’m in a pinch like this again to use that setting, and possibly always use this setting.

            I also learned that I really need to purchase a long lens. I kept getting in trouble with the athletic director because I was getting too close. When shooting the girls, I did not have a lot of options where I could shoot because they were so strict. The refs and the athletic director did not want me to get hurt. I kept telling them I would do anything to get the perfect shot, even if it landed me in the hospital.

            I did learn a lot from this project, I learned that I need to really re-learn the basics of metering, and to keep my eyes wide open for a great shot!

Portrait Photography

While shooting my portrait project, I had an immense amount of difficulty trying to capture the person’s personality and work ethic. I went into this project believing it would be easy since they would not all be candid shots.

            This project helped me to learn a lot about trying to capturing the right moment in people’s everyday lives. But the thing I found most challenging was just trying to capture the subject’s personality instead of everything being so posed and unrealistic.

            This project helped me to learn a lot about people photography.

(Pictures to come)