Lorenzo Scalise

That's a wrap!

Well the semester has come to an end. It’s time to review and look back at all I had done this semester.

When I look back at what I have learned throughout this semester and what I thought I was going to learn, I see some similarities and some differences. In my first blog post, I really emphasized how interesting it would be to learn how to live-tweet. Live-tweeting was probably the topic that I was the least interested in. I am very glad that I was able to try it and see what live-tweeting was like but I have come to realize that I am much more intrigued with video and I learned a ton more from that.

I also mentioned in my first blog post that I wanted to spend a lot of time reporting on events that were happening in Laramie and I actually met that goal fairly well. I think that it is important to know about what is going on in your community and I am really glad that this class provided me opportunities to concentrate on what my interests were and how I could continue to grow those interests in the future.

When it comes to “soft skills” I learned from this class, the biggest one for me is how much I grew with my interviewing skills. I improved my interviewing skill greatly since beginning this class and I think I also have much better confidence in asking to interview people since beginning this course. My interpersonal skills have significantly improved because almost all of my assignments have helped developed that skill in some way.

In any career, it is important to have strong interpersonal skills. Having those skills will not only help you in communicating to your fellow coworkers, but the will also help you with delivering information in an accurate way in the workplace which will prevent accidents or mistakes from happening.

I found the video editing assignment most meaningful. In our day to day lives, most everyone will watch a video or use a video for some purpose so it is important to create a lasting impression with your videos and know how to use video to convey the messages you want to convey.

I found the live-tweeting assignment most challenging. I think that not only was I frustrated with not being able to enjoy the event I was live-tweeting, but I had difficulty with deciphering what was important to live-tweet and what wasn’t. I felt uncomfortable with having the power of deciding what was newsworthy and what wasn’t since I had so little experience in that area.

If I could go back in time to my beginning of the semester self. I would tell him to not wait to the last minute to find information and events to use for blog posts. I also will tell him how important it is to be prepared if your original event you were planning on attending gets cancelled because it can mess a lot up in your assignment timeline.

I really enjoyed this class and thanks for the great semester!

Holidays at the Ivinson Mansion

My video of the Ivinson Mansion’s “Holiday Open House.”

I chose to make a video on the “Holiday Open House” that the Ivinson Mansion puts on every year for the public. Generally, you would have to pay a fee of $5 to $10 depending on your age to get a tour of the mansion. For the holiday season however, the Ivinson Mansion holds free tours for the public. The mansion is decorated in a festive theme with a different Christmas Tree decorated in a unique way in each room.

For this assignment, I took a journalistic approach to the video. I thought it would be a good idea to get student perspective on what it was like to attend the open house and to see what the students found interesting or special about the mansion.

I enjoyed the creativity I was allowed to have with my video editing and experience but I had more struggles than ease with the project.

My original video project idea I was planning on doing fell through and I had to change my video plan at the last minute. I found that very difficult because I felt less prepared for my new idea and I wasn’t able to be as prepared as I wanted to be with filming the video.

I will say that I was surprised with how much fun I had with editing the video. I thought that that would be the hardest part but I thought it was really cool with how many things I could do with creating my video and formatting it the way I wanted it to look.

After this project, I hope I am in a career that I use quite a bit of video. I had a lot of fun learning about how to edit and such but I know I can learn a lot more to get better at it. I thought it was really cool to see how much you can do with different clips and how you can change the tone of the video with only a few changes in sound or such. I hope that whatever career I end up doing in the future, I want to get really good at filming things and learning how to edit videos really well.

Live Tweeting Tryouts

For this assignment, I had the opportunity to learn about how to live tweet at an event. I have never had an experience like this before and I had no idea what it was going to be like or how I would do with live tweeting. I chose to live tweet the Happy Holidays Laramie Festival of Trees for this project because I thought it would be an interesting event that would have enough I could live tweet about.

I already had a Twitter account before this assignment but I made a new one that was much more professional. In my new Twitter account, I had to address the different areas such as the bio and other aspects of the profile in a much more professional manner.

I approached my live tweeting assignment from a journalistic perspective. I made sure to not add my opinion during the entire time I was tweeting and tried to keep it focused on an observational lens instead of a promotional lens because the event was on its last day and the people who were attending were already there.

I enjoyed being able to focus on the important information or ideas that potentially would interest people who were unable to attend or would like to read about it later. I thought it was cool to focus on only looking at the critical details that I thought people would enjoy to see or hear about for the assignment.

What I didn’t enjoy about live tweeting was that I felt like I wasn’t able to live in the moment and focus on enjoying the event. I was so focused on what was happening and what would be good content to tweet about that I wasn’t able to sit and enjoy what I was seeing. I can definitely see that inability of being in the moment as a major disadvantage for people who’s career is to live tweet events.

I learned a lot about how to look for content that I thought people would enjoy. I would look for items or events that were standing out during the event and I was pretty quick at finding the impressionable things to tweet about.

If I was to live tweet this event again, I would definitely try to get in contact with the organizers of the event to get their perspective. I thought that I was missing a perspective from the organizers and I wanted to get some background info about how the event was put on and why it was set up the way it was.

I definitely see myself using social media in the future for whatever job I am in and I think it was very valuable to practice while I am still in school. I could see myself using social media as a way of promotion in a job that I work at in the future. I think a lot of companies now use social media as promotion and the area I want to go into, uses social media for that purpose.

I want to work in either local government someday or for a marketing or public relations firm. Both of these options heavily use social media and it is important for me to learn now about what I can and cannot do when managing social media instead of when I could lose my job for making a mistake.

Instagram Assignment

When it comes to my experience with Canva and Instagram, I am very experienced with Instagram but this is the first time I have ever used Canva. It was very interesting using Canva for the first time. At first, I was very nervous because I didn’t know how easy it would be but I was happy to find out that Canva is very simple to use!

In regard to my Instagram experience, I am very experienced with Instagram. I work as the Marketing Coordinator in the SLCE Office on campus and a big part of my job is posting on Instagram and running the social media pages. Thanks to my job, I am very experienced with posting on Instagram.

I focused on a more narrative style when it came to promoting my blog posts on my Instagram. I wanted to keep it more real with my audience when it came to promoting my posts. It broke that awkward barrier and my narrative tone helped me show the audience I am a person.

I can definitely see myself using Canva in the future for my job. I like the formatting of my posts through Canva and it it is good when it comes to keeping posts professional.

The Perfect Trip to California

I love to travel. Whether it is internationally or nationally, I love going to new places. Experiencing a new culture and the feeling of being in a new place is one of my favorite things about traveling.

Now if you have always wanted to travel but you aren’t prepared yet to go out of the country or you just want a good place to go for a road trip, The Redwoods in California is a great place to take that first step towards your life of traveling and this blog will tell you what great things there are to do there.

During the summer of 2018, my brother, Santiago, and I took a road trip by ourselves to Redwoods in California. This has been one of my favorite trips I have gone on in a long time and I had a blast getting to know the surrounding area and the town of Eureka, California which was about an hour from where my brother and I were camping once we arrived.

Below, I have attached an interactive map where you can see the locations of some of the awesome places my brother and I visited and where we recommend you go if you are to take a road trip to see the Redwoods in the future.

Where to Camp

This is an example of one of the camping spots you would be staying at. Photo courtesy of Redwood Hikes.

Once you have decided that you are going to pack up your car or book your flight, you should probably find somewhere to stay once you get to the Redwood forests. I recommend camping at Elk Prairie Campground. As seen in the picture above, camping at Elk Prairie, you have the ability to camp directly next to some of the tallest trees in the world.

Elk Prairie Campground is $35 a night for car camping and $80-$100 a night for a cabin. I would recommend reserving your camping site at least four months in advance because the spots fill up quick and I got the campsite for my brother and I three months early and I was only able to choose from three different spots because everywhere else was booked completely.

Where to Buy Food

This lovely little shop is how my brother an I kept ourselves well fed while camping in the Redwoods. Photo courtesy of California Beaches.

Now my brother and I aren’t the most rugged of campers. We cook all our own food while camping but we would cook the food we would buy from the supermarket. You can’t find jelly and hot dogs in the wilderness. During our stay, my brother and I were frequent shoppers at Shoreline Deli and Market.

For such a small looking location, they had such a variety of food in the store that it made it very convenient for stock up on supplies during the road trip while we were camping. The people who work there as well are such nice and friendly people that I always left with a smile and enough supplies for three winters.

A Secret Gem

The Hidden Beach was an awesome day trip my brother and I took while camping. It was a quick and easy hike and we were the only ones on the beach for most of the day. This is a photo of my brother that I took while we were there.

One of the benefits of camping right in the Redwood forests, is that you have a good chance of finding secret locations. My brother and I were hiking the Yurok Loop Trail which was located about 20 minutes North of where we were camping when we discovered what we call “Hidden Beach”.

Hidden Beach is an awesome place to have a beach day if you want privacy. We spent almost a whole day here and we only ran into one family during our day at the beach. The water was perfect and the surrounding scenery was beautiful. This is a must go when you visit the Redwoods.

Things to do in Eureka, California

Now I completely get the feeling of too much time in nature sometimes. That is why I recommend taking a quick little drive down to the town of Eureka to take a day on the town.

Los Bagels was a place my brother and I frequented while on our trip. We spent a few days in Eureka and this shop was great for early mornings. Photo courtesy of the North coast Journal.

One of the great places you should visit while in Eureka is Los Bagels Bakery and Cafe. My brother and I had some car issues on our trip so we were able to spend quite a bit of time getting to know Eureka while our car was getting repaired.

Los Bagels was a place where my brother and I would visit in the morning for a good coffee and a fresh warm bagel. I recommend Los Bagels as one of the top places you need to visit while seeing the Redwoods.

Living the Dream Ice Cream really was living the dream while we were there. They have great shakes and their ice cream is crazy good. Photo courtesy of the North Coast Journal.

If you have a sweet tooth like I do, then Living the Dream Ice Cream is the place for you. This place has all the sweets your tooth desires. I can vouch for their ice cream being delicious and their shakes are also out of this world. There is the perfect amount of selection in ice cream flavors and the staff lets you taste any flavor you want!

I love books! This place was my dream while on the road trip. I still carry around my bookmark from there and I plan to go back. Photo courtesy of Eureka Books.

This place is for those of you who love to bring a good book with you on a trip. I promise you that once you walk in, you can easily stay in Eureka Books for hours reading. The book store has such a great selection ad when you walk in, if feels so much bigger on the inside than it looks on the outside.

Go here if you want to find a great book to read and get one for a friend if you feel so inclined, or yourself for that matter!

After spending only a week camping in the Redwoods, I feel like my brother and I did so much and went to so many different places. There are so many more places in the Redwoods to explore and tons more stores and restaurants to visit while camping in the Redwoods.

So what are you waiting for? It’s your turn to go!

Running With Andrew

Andrew Meyer smiles for a photo after reflecting about his first experiences with running Ultra Marathons.

Raw Interview

Edited Audio

Interviewing isn’t a very new experience for me since coming to college. I have been in multiple classes now that require me to interview people with an audio recorder. I have come to rely on my audio recordings through my work to ensure that I am getting accurate quotes from my interviewee.

Audio editing was an entirely different experience however. It was not as easy as I thought it would be and I also struggled with all the importing and exporting of different recordings of audio. After messing around in audacity however, I got a much better grasp on working with audacity.

When it came to taking the portrait photo. I ended up not having too much difficulty. Andrew was wearing running shoes and running attire so thankfully the portrait photo fit with what Andrew spoke about in my interview with him.

I was very surprised about how simple editing audio can be. I also thought that it was really cool to work with only audio. I have so much more respect for people who work in radio or just audio setting because it was so difficult to figure out how to get little obscure sounds out of the recording.

I wish I could have maybe been able to take a picture of Andrew running or in a shot of him in action at a race. That way the audience is more able to make the connection between Andrew’s story and a picture of him doing running.

I would like to maybe work for a city council someday or a downtown. I could see myself taking sound bytes of people commenting on a city issue or what they like about a downtown and placing that into a promo video. Anything with marketing and public relations would be much easier to know how to know how to use audio.

I keep learning new important things in this class and I can see myself using many of these newfound tools at some point in a future career.

The Lifeline of a Town

When encountered with a new city, where is a main location that generally people tend to go? This question is generally a downtown. That is where shops, restaurants, and night life tend to live in any city. For Laramie, Wyoming, this is no exception.

The downtown of Laramie is a hub of restaurants, bars and other commodities that the people of Laramie visit. Events such as Jubilee days and the Farmer’s Market are located in downtown Laramie which help bring people to the downtown area.

Downtown Laramie is an important part of the city and the people who live there. One group in this population is college students who attend the University of Wyoming. These young adults pack the bars, restaurants, and events held in the downtown area and create a good source of revenue for downtown businesses.

The University of Wyoming has a large influence on the city of Laramie. The amount of influence the student population has on the the downtown area especially is significant.

The relationship downtown businesses have with the student population of the University of Wyoming is crucial when it comes to how successful a business can be in Laramie.

A Downtown Business’ Perspective

Atmosphere Mountainworks makes all of the clothing sold in the store and sold world-wide. Many of the products, like this hat, are made in house with the black diamond logo present on all of Atmosphere’s products..

One of the main attractions for the downtown area is the clothing store Atmosphere Mountainworks. Atmosphere Mountainworks is known in Laramie for making outdoor gear and selling the products in the store.

Lindsay Olson and Jeff Hubell, the owners of Atmosphere Mountainworks, have kept the store running smoothly since Scott Ebinger, the previous owner of Atmosphere Mountainworks, transferred ownership to the two.

“We also print t-shirts and hoodies. Since we just do it all here in house, we keep the colors and designs changing and keep it affordable. I think that’s probably one of the reasons we’re most know for with students.” Olson said.

Atmosphere Mountainworks has been making clothes since it’s opening in 2001. Since then, the black diamond logo has become a common sight in Laramie and it is worn by not only the resident of Laramie, but by students who go to the University of Wyoming.

“I think college student get take for granted of that they’re poor and don’t have any money but you have student who are coming here and they are not used to cold weather and they need coats and hats right then.” Olson said.

Olson continues to talk about how Atmosphere Mountainworks caters toward the harsh winters that define Laramie for the majority of the year and provides clothing options for customers. In addition to that, the store also sells apparel for the summer months and gear for once it gets a tad warmer outside.

“We are trying to get better about social media.” Olson said.

Olson commented on the significance of social media in today’s society. Olson understands that moving forward, social media is the best way to get the word out about new products or deals going on at Atmosphere Mountainworks and keep the people of Laramie well clothed for the future.

A Student’s Perspective

Evan Wambeke, a junior at the University of Wyoming and a music major, poses for a photo.

Evan Wambeke is a resident assistant, RA, in Downey Hall. This is Evan Wambeke’s junior year at the University of Wyoming and he is originally from Cody, Wyoming.

Wambeke has been visiting Laramie before attending the University of Wyoming and has been in the downtown area on multiple occasions.

“My favorite part is the train tracks. If you stand right on the bridge when the train’s coming it’s wacky stuff. Other than that, I really enjoy the mural around. Some of them are pretty significant for the history of Wyoming and Laramie in general which is nice to see that preserved in the local art.” Wambeke said.

The downtown area has many installations of different murals that add a sense of homeliness to the downtown area. Each year, there is a new wall that is the project for the Laramie Mural Project which allows for a new artist, or artists, to add a unique touch to the downtown area.

Even though downtown Laramie offers a variety of events and restaurants, sometimes, there is difficulty in getting the word out about events or new stores opening up in the downtown area.

“I find out…not that often. Just from whenever the Facebook page I follow posts something. Downtown Laramie, whenever they post something that what I see.” Wambeke said.

Wambeke, among other college students, have difficulty finding out what is going on with the downtown area and what events are being posted occasionally. Many of the businesses and restaurants downtown are well entrenched in the community and are known by the locals.

That however, doesn’t help get the word out to everyone. Especially the University of Wyoming students who are from different states and some, are only here for four or five years.

The student population at the University of Wyoming makes up a large part of the market for many of these downtown businesses. Even though some businesses, like Atmosphere Mountainworks, have become household names, there is still a section of the student population that struggles to find out more about many of the opportunities that Laramie has to offer.

Photojournalism: A Trial by Fire

This was probably my hardest assignment yet. I had a very difficult time taking pictures of random people I didn’t know. It didn’t help that I am very involved on campus so I had to go out of my way to find places and events where I could take pictures of people that I didn’t know. I felt really awkward asking people if I could take pictures of them. It was also difficult to get them to not tense up and not look awkward while I took their picture. Thanks to my efforts though, I was able to take some awesome pictures and get some cool stories because of it.

Men from the University of Wyoming Swimming & Diving team, competing at the home Brown and Gold meet.

I took this photo at the Brown and Gold swim meet which was between the Swimming and Diving Team for the University of Wyoming. The Brown and Gold swim meet for those of you who don’t know what that is, is a coed race between two teams from the UW Swimming and Diving team. I went to the meet to time the events with my Triathlon team to raise funds for our team. I thought that it was awesome to see the two teams, Brown Squad and Gold Team, to get competitive whilst also encouraging their fellow teammates regardless of what team they were on. It was a very loud event due to the spectators and teammates cheering on their teammates who were competing during different events.

Josh Botkin, checking-in for Service Saturday, listens to a SLCE member as they give him papers to sign for the volunteering that he will be partaking in that day.

I took this picture at the Service Saturday that the Service Leadership and Community Engagement office, SLCE, hosted for National Public Lands Day. SLCE had volunteers go out and help build, clean, and preserve trails in the national parks as a way to keep our public lands clean.

Everyone was a little quiet at first because it was so cold that morning and the event started so early that Saturday. As more and more people walked into the Outdoor Program’s facility, the temperature rose due to the body heat of everyone and it got a little more comfortable. Soon after this photo, donuts and coffee arrived which helped a ton with people’s moods and people started to talk before the volunteering had begun.

Dan McCoy, Degree Coordinator at the HAUB School of ENR, thanks everyone for volunteering for Public Lands Day and give the volunteers options for where the volunteers can go work.

I took this photo around a half hour after the previous photo. People were beginning to pack up and more jackets and hats were being applied. The warm space in the Outdoor Program would soon have to be left for the windy cold weather that awaited the volunteers in the next few minutes. People were anxious to get started and get on the road to begin what everyone had come to do that day, volunteer and help keep our public lands clean.

After the Degree Coordinator, Dan McCoy, finished a welcoming speech and thanked the volunteers for being there that day, McCoy sent the volunteers off into the different UW vans to go to their respective locations.

Jade, center, and Lily, right, decorate a cupcake during phases one of the Cupcake Wars. The event was hosted by RHA and the President and his wife appeared as guest judges for the event.

This photo was taken during the Cupcake Wars which was hosted by RHA. The entire Shoshone room was packed to the brim with first year students and RAs. The groups were in fierce competition and many had designed cupcakes that I had never thought would be possible by anyone but participants on the Great British Baking Show. I was very impressed with many of the creative designs and not only that, the creative frosting flavors that people were making.

The room was packed and you would think that it would have been really loud. This was not the case to my surprise. Many of the groups were determined to win the grand prize, AJR tickets, among other prizes. At times, it did get very heated at the topping table because different groups were trying to get an upper hand in the competition by any means necessary. At the end of the day though, it was all in good fun.

Students, intently focusing of the curriculum at hand, get help from STEP tutors on how finish the homework and understand the content for their classes.

I took this photo after walking by the STEP Tutoring Center a few times. I know it isn’t that great of quality (I blame my phone and the lighting), but I think that it is important to shine a light on something very important in the basement of Washakie.

The STEP Tutoring Center is almost constantly used by first year students as a resource to succeed in college. Many times, I felt embarrassed in high school over the fact that I got tutoring for math but I really appreciated in college how open and encouraging everyone was about tutoring resources and why it is important to use them.

As I have with all the past assignments in this class, I have learned a ton. I have so much more respect for photojournalists and I understand now, the work that is put into making a good photo journalistic piece good. I am not going to say that I am a pro at photojournalism, one, because that is silly and I have only just started to do it and two, I am still learning the basics, but I will confidently say that if need be, I can identify what photojournalism is and how to help create a good photo journalistic piece. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

The Perfect Picture Is Easy If You’re A Professional Photographer (Unlike Me)

I would like to begin today’s blog with by stating how much harder it is to take photos that I originally thought. Not only, did I feel like a complete goof taking pictures of plants and the world around me, I also got poked by a cactus trying to take a cool picture. This experience at the conservatory however, changed my perspective on what it is like to take pictures. I had absolutely no idea there were so many different ways someone could take a picture. I learned a ton from this experience and I would like to share with you my five best pictures taken from being at the conservatory.

This photo was taken from the perspective of the little water fall at the entrance of the conservatory.

This is my first photo I present to you today. Looking back at this photo, I observed that the dominant device in this photo is the creation of depth. At first glance, it doesn’t make much sense but where my legs are placed and the focus on the rocks allow for this photo to feel like it was taken at some height. The depiction of different aspects of the photo being stretched creates that sense of depth.

Other devices that can be seen in this photo that are not as dominant as depth is the background. The rocks that the water flows down create a very gritty background and the glean of the water makes the rocks stand out more than the rocks generally would.

Here is a photo I almost went blind for.

This photo demonstrates the device of contrast. It took me at least ten different pictures to line up the sun well enough for it to be covered by the hanging plant. The exuberant amount of light takes away almost all visible color from the hanging plant which demonstrates the contrast in light in this photo.

I can also see the device of viewpoint in this photo due to the photo taking the perspective of someone walking up the stairs and making direct eye contact with the sun as they round the corner.

Remember that cactus from earlier? Here is the culprit.

Other than bringing back bad memories of getting pricked by this stinker, this photo is an excellent example of focus. The little prickly spikes are very detailed and defined whilst everything else in the background is very blurry so your attention is naturally drawn to the cactus.

I had some difficulty thinking of different devices that were also present in this photo but after a while I started to see the creation of depth. The focus of the closer cactus created the feeling that the cacti in the background to be much farther than they are due to the blurred affect of the focus.

At night they say this is one of the entrances to Narnia.

While looking at this photo, I realized the lamp posts divide the photo into thirds. This division creates a clear image of three separate parts of the photo, while the middle and right sections are rather smaller, they divide up the right wing of the conservatory rather nicely.

This photo also is a good example of a viewpoint photo. While I see the dominance of the rule of thirds more, this is easily a viewpoint photo as well because of the ability for anyone to walk by the conservatory, to see these photos and see this exact same image in real life.

Almost dropped my phone off the railing while taking this. That would have been no bueno.

Considering the dominant device in this photo I had difficulty between two different devices, depth and leading lines. I decided upon leading lines due to the railing leading your eyes from the base of the photo toward the entrance of the conservatory. Another reason why I chose the leading lines over the creation of depth, is that the railing almost looks like a path leading towards your journey into the conservatory.

Now discussing the device of depth, the railing also creates the feeling that the the conservatory is much farther away than it really is. The railing in real life is only around 15 feet or so but this photo makes the railing look much longer than 15 feet.

Looking back at my pictures, I know that they aren’t the greatest pictures in the world but that doesn’t bother me. I think they are pretty freaking cool!

Regardless, there is always room for improvement! If I was to go back and take more pictures, I would focus more on the different creative devices I could have used instead of just taking pictures of anything that I thought was cool. I would also be interested in trying to take photos at different times of the day to play with light more.

Anyways, now I have a much greater understanding of photography and I plan on making sure that all the photos I take from now on, have purpose.

Let the Blogs Begin

Probably the best way to begin, would be to start with how excited I am for this class. I expect to gain quite a bit of knowledge on creating reports through different types of media.

I am stoked to learn about how to live tweet specifically. Live tweeting fascinates me because live tweeting is so fast paced to me and I do not understand how people do it. Those people must have ninja fast fingers.

One day I aspire to work for a city government in the communication field. I have always had an interest in politics and it would be fascinating to see how public relations worked at the state or local level.

It would be really cool to report on events happening in Laramie or at the local level somewhere else in Wyoming. That would be very beneficial for helping me get to those future career goals later in life.

If anyone is interested in learning about different events that are going on in Laramie, I recommend visiting the Downtown Laramie website. That is where I get all my information from.

As a member of the Club Triathlon Team here on campus, I want to learn how help with media for the team. If I did a photojournalism article on the Club Triathlon Team, I think that would help with increasing the number of people we get in contact with.

Club Sports as a whole is a group on campus that I am very involved in and would also like to learn how Club Sports as a whole could benefit from a larger media presence here at the University of Wyoming.

It is going to be a semester of a lot of learning and many mistakes along the way. Everything is going to be fine though, I have a lot of duct tape so now I can fix any problem…..right?