American Soldier

Step 1:

A. What is the most powerful image from the pictures printed in the Denver Post over the three weeks they published images from the year of coverage? Why?
The most powerful image is the one where he is sitting on the bench and every other soldier is watching and listening the speaker but Ian is in the back facing the other way looking down. The reason this is the most powerful image is you can see how he was afraid and how he didn't want to go, you could see him contemplating his choices.

B. How do the images work together to tell a story?They show how he went from being a normal high school graduate to becoming a part of the U.S. Army and what he went through emotionally, mentally, and physically. The images also showed us how war can affect the ones who are protecting us.

C. How do the captions enhance the photographs?
The captions tell you a little about why this picture was taking what was happening before the picture to cause this event, the captions tell us a little more detail about why he was feeling this way or what was going through his head at that exact moment.

D. Summarize the story of Ian Fisher, based just on the captions.Ian called the recruiter after he graduated high school, he wanted to make sure he was on the enlistment, but after a few days of extreme work and little rest Ian no longer wanted to recruit, but he didn't give up. After being enlisted he had to say goodbye to his friends and family for fourteen weeks he said goodbye his eyes full of tears, before being sent to Iraq he had to go to training where the drill sergeant yells at the recruits asking who they think will quit first and yelling at them not to "piss" him off. Ian hurt his elbow as a child and the first two days of training had caused it to hurt so he tried nursing it, because had not told the army about is so he couldn't let any one know otherwise he would've been in serious trouble. Ian and some other recruits had to tell another recruit to behave better and take training more seriously, because he had been causing a lot of trouble but every one was paying the price. The first few weeks of trying are meant to break the recruits so that the army has a clean slate, eight weeks into training the have a battle exercise where Ian;s squad is attacked (not for real though) and have to fight back. Ian has made many sergeants very proud and has come a long way, after a long day Ian prays, he needed to talk and get important issues off of his shoulders.

E. For the photos in which Ian is the main subject of the photos, in what tense are the verbs usually written?
The captions are written as if it were happening right now, so in the present. 

Step 2:

1. How many sentences are they on average?
On average they are about 2 to 3 sentences, because they want to give you a little background but they want the picture to tell the story. 

2. Read the first sentence of a couple of them, what information do they provide?
They tell me the location, who is in it, and when the picture was taken.

3. Read the second sentences of a couple of them, what information do they provide?
The second sentences usually say what is happening in the picture and why its happening. 

4. If there is a third sentence, what information does it provide?
 The third sentence usually just adds somethings that you might not be able to see in the picture, and possible why that is.

5. Do any captions include a quote?
Yes quite a few do, usually what is being said to Ian.

6. Are there any that have four sentences?
Yes there is but very few.

G. Why do you think it is possible to tell a complete story with just photos and captions?
Well the captions tell you a little bit about what happened right before the picture and/or why a certain thing is happening in the picture, but the picture shows what that person is doing or what they ate feeling. And all you need to have for a story is why something happening (the captions), and then a description of what is happening (the pictures).

H. If you can create a story with just photos and captions, why bother writing a story at all?

Well the story goes into more detail and gives more information about not just the picture but what was happening hours/days before the picture was taken.