Back in November 2015, Professor Mike Davis shared his New York Times article/Google Cardboard 360 video about The Displaced (http://www.nytimes.com/newsgraphics/2015/nytvr/#the_displaced). I went from hearing Skype lecture about VR from the producers of the journalistic piece to experiencing it first hand. I still remember that very moment where I put the Google cardboard on and saw exactly what a little Syrian boy half way across the world saw everyday. That very moment was a turning point for me as a visual journalist. As a photography graduate student, I have always thought...

I am thinking about making a peaceful scene of a high school playground. We can add trees, avenues, basketball court, and even boys who are playing basketballs. As for the sound, I hope to add bird sounds, the sound of bouncing basketball, with a little bit talking and laughing. And when the user gets closer to the tree, the bird sounds will get loud; when the user gets closer to the basketball court, the ball-bouncing sound will get louder and the bird sound will get weaker, etc. I came up...

Onondaga Lake is an important part of upstate New York, and is constantly in the news-- ways to fix the pollution that seems to be irreversible. I want to create a virtual reality experience around Onondaga Lake, what it is now, what it used to be and what it could be in the future. The outdoor setting (in ideal temperatures) would be a great, controlled space for natural sound and natural light. The subject is the lake and the user experience is lead by framing of each shot. They are...

Last week's class reminded me how far VR has come since Oculus first sent out their developer kits in 2012 (which I was fortunate to demo way back when). To see my peers put on consumer-ready VR hardware (like the GearVR) was surreal. I thoroughly enjoyed watching my classmates' jaws drop and hearing their exclamations.. As someone who considers himself an evangelist for VR, it never ceases to excite me when people have their "aha!" moment with VR and realize that this technology is more than just a cool or...