The story of a Russian, how he came to Michigan

Pawel Iwanow,  age 94

What is the first think you think about when someone says portrait photography? What I think about are wedding photos, city skylines, and school photo days back when I was in high school.

I decided to do my assignment on a WWII veteran I used to work with. He fought on the Russian side under Stalin reign in the 1940s.

When I got to his house the smell of cinnamon consumed my nose. I have never been to his house before and while looking around all I could see were Old Russian newspaper and mixed with medicine throughout the kitchen.

Before I begin telling you my experience about this assignment I want to tell you about the person in the photos.

Pawel,or Paul Iwanow, is not your typical grandparent. He came from a wealthy family of professors and doctors, but when Stalin came in control he took their wealth away. Despite having graduated from Moscow University with a degree in engineering and fluent in six languages, he couldn’t find a job because of Communist control.  In 1941, at the age of 20, Iwanow joined the Red Army. During the time he was at war he was hit twice in the leg, saw a lot of his country men die, and heard news from his mother that his father had been taking to the Gulag, which was a forced prison and labor camp. Finally in 1950 he got his chance to leave the Soviet Union by sneaking over to the American side in Germany. He used forged papers to get to the United States. He applied for citizenship in 1955 and got it. He is retired, from the Detroit Golf Club.

 Iwanow next to the tree he planted in remembrance of his wife.Oksana Iwanow died in 2009

Overall, this assignment for me was somewhat difficult.  When we were talking on the phone he said that he had a picture of him in the war but when I got there he didn’t have one. He was  hard of hearing so I had to speak very loud when talking to him. Other then that I knew how to set my camera controls and to get tight on his shoulders. I liked this assignment very much

Wayne State Baseball takes on Grand Valley State Lakers

Grand Valley State Lakers catchers Dakota Prince (center) and John Mclaughin warm up on the field.

 

 Right handed picture, Alex Kinch(18, releases a curve ball to home plate.

The Wayne State Baseball team took the field against Grand Valley State.

To be honest, this was my first time taking photos for in sports. Before to the game, we talked about how to shoot for sports. We were told to bump up the ISO and shutter speed to make sure we can get stopped action.

I got a lot of the players warming up and throwing the ball around. Most of the photos are of the Wayne State baseball players. Not knowing when a big play might happen I held down the camera button and continuous shot on my camera, hoping that I got some great shots and I did.

I am very happy with the photos that I took. I like baseball so this was very fun for me. What i took away from this assignment is that not every picture is going to be a great shot. When you become use to going to sports events and knowing when they are going to make a big play, that's when you shoot.
I would like to do another sports assignment.

Grand Valley State Lakers supporters enjoying the game.

Head coach Ryan Kelley (third from the left) and Assistant Coach John DiLaura (center) breaks down the game plan for today game.

Feature photos look easy, but are more trouble than they seem

Feature photos are tough. That is what I took away from this assignment.

When I left class the day that we were assigned to shoot feature photos the first thing that came to mind was, “Lori gave a good description of how to get this done. Circle the wagon and don’t settle on your first photo.” 

We had to pick two feature photos to do, one being on Wayne State's campus or at least having to do with Wayne State, and the other was what we thought would be a good feature photo off of campus.

For my Wayne State feature I decided to go to the event called Paint with WSU Twist at the Majestic Café.

Briana Collins, WSU junior, attends Painting with WSU Twist at the Majestic Cafe in Midtown Detroit.

On March 5, Wayne State University Student Activities, with the help of the Majestic Café, hosted the event . This event was a part of WSU Thursdays in the D, where students get the chance to discover their inner artist and create their own works of art. 

“These activities are here to help students get to know each other, as well as experience what the city of Detroit has to offer,” Said Briana Collins,a Junior at WSU and president of Kappa Delta Sorority.

Yolanta Washington, manger at Good People Popcorn, peruser bags for the afternoon rush.

For my second picture I took my hunt to the city of Detroit. When walking I was thinking about shooting in Greektown because this section of downtown is always active, day or night. 

As I was walking though my hunger caught up to me. I decided  to eat and as I was walked I saw this small little shop located on the corner of Beaubien and Congress. When I walked in I saw  Yolanta Washington.

She is one of the mangers of Good People Popcorn, which has been open for 6 years she said.

“I've been here since we opened in 2010,” said Washington. “Were getting pretty well known now with Detroit finally coming back. I’m hoping we stay on this path.”

The popcorn smelled fantastic, and I was amazed at how many flavors you could choose.

“Yeah we have 19 flavors to choose from not like that Chicago-based-only-have-4-flavor store!” said Washington.

That store being Garrett Popcorn, which has twelve flavors.