Journalism students at Florida Gulf Coast University , in collaboration with The News-Press and Naples Daily News, are creating “then and now” videos using Hurricane Ian archive photos.
The photojournalism class, led by Professor Judd Cribbs, started meeting on Aug. 19, the beginning of the fall semester at FGCU. There are 12 students in the class.
Each student is being assigned a selection of different photos to study. These are mostly photos near and on Fort Myers Beach that were taken in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Ian . Ian slammed SWFL on Sept. 28, 2022. Part of the student analysis is to look at angles and composition. In some cases, Google Earth is being used to zoom in and take closer looks at the specific places, like buildings and other landmarks.
The challenge for the students? Return to Fort Myers Beach during the semester with their cameras and attempt to replicate their images as close as possible to how they were framed two years ago. The next step is to produce a video package like the on at the top of this story that was edited by senior Cristina Pop, and the video a little further down on the page produced by journalism major Matt Civale, who is from Seymour, Connecticut. Pop is from Morton Grove, Illinois.