Media Ethics Conference

         Last week UCO held its annual Media Ethics conference. There were many different workshops to choose from, but being a photographer I clearly choose to go check out the photography workshop.           
         I chose to go to the workshop called “Touch Up or Too Much: The Ethics of Photoshop.” Our two UCO photography professors, Jesse Miller and Mark Zimmerman, put on this workshop with a guest speaker who is currently a photographer at the Daily Oklahoman.

            Being a photographer I already hear about this topic pretty frequently, but it is always something to remind myself about. I hate Photoshop, I rarely ever use it and I sometimes forget how often it is used, especially in advertising. I personally do not think it is right for people to be able to contort someone’s face, almost beyond recognition to make them “beautiful.” When I edit, all I ever really do is brighten up colors and remove blemishes.

            It is unreal to me that some people think that it is okay to completely morph faces and bodies in a photo. To me, a photograph is just used to capture a moment in its real form. So I agree it becomes an ethical issue if the editor is completely changing the appearance of someone, especially when it comes to advertising purposes.

            I think appearance is something that society definitely struggles with today, especially with women and young girls. With the advancements with Photoshop it has definitely not helped that mentality. Everyone strives to look like the “perfect” models they see on the magazine covers. I like that this has become a bigger issue, and that people are challenging the editors and the magazines to stop with the Photoshop and to show real life people on the covers and in their advertisements with real bodies.

Tips from a Vet

Tuesday we had guest speaker Dr. Hochenauer come speak to our class about blogging. Dr. Hochenauer is the creator of Okie Funk blog and he has been blogging since 2004.


Okie Funk is a liberal political blog. When asked why he started this blog Dr. Hochenauer said that he thought there needed to be more liberal voices in the media. He has been employed at many different newspapers and currently works as a professor at the University of Central Oklahoma.
When Dr. Hochenauer came to class, what I was looking to get out of his discussion with us was to get the view of someone who had been blogging for a long time and how to keep it going.
When asked what he thought makes a good blog, Dr. Hochenauer replied that he thinks good writing makes a good blog. How to have a blog you love doing, you have to find something that you are passionate about and that is what makes a good blog. Measuring success isn't always about how many followers you have or if you're making money, its about the personal satisfaction you feel after you have written a post.
Listening to Dr. Hochenauer speak to us, I could tell that he was passionate about his blog and what he was writing about. He said its okay to have times when you just have no idea what to write about. Its okay to take a few days off to gather your thoughts, because something always comes up. 
I loves being able to listen to someone speak that has been blogging for a long time. Blogging is something new for me, it's something I've never really tried before. So getting to hear from an experienced blogger and having him put some of my worries about having a successful blog to rest. It makes me confident that since this is something I am passionate about, this blog will be great!