They were as different as … butter pecan and triple fudge ripple.

She was short, blonde and armed with handouts and practical advice for the classroom teacher – invest in extra memory cards, shoot from across the field at sports events to get the fans in the background, even what’s the best camera to use (the Canon Digital Rebel SLR).

He was tall, dark, showed up late and had no handouts or bits of practical advice for the teachers, but turned out the lights and delivered, instead, a “mood.”

Thus it was that Cindy Todd and Eli Reed spoke at the UT ASNE Journalism Institute to a group of 35 teachers on the topic of photojournalism.

George Sylvie, director of the institute, felt it was important to have a session on photojournalism because pictures, he said, are one of the most attractive elements you can put in a newspaper. They attract the eye more quickly than type does.

“We don’t want teachers to think we’re just print types here and don’t know what attracts people,” he said. “Photography is something I don’t know enough about myself, so I’m hoping to learn something.”

Sylvie also felt it was necessary to have two different presenters for this session because, while both are experts in their field, each has a different area of expertise within the field.

“Reed,” he said, “has been everywhere and done everything. He’s a walking font of knowledge when it comes to photos.”

Todd, he said, “is a top notch teacher who has the pulse of young people.” She continues to win awards and has an eye for detail.

Teachers appreciated both presenters, but agreed that Todd’s presentation offered more that could be applied to the classroom.

Elizabeth Richardson is a teacher new to journalism who felt the session was really important because she recognizes that her students have a lot of excitement about taking pictures but that her paper was lacking in this field. She felt that Todd offered concrete ways of helping kids take better pictures.

“I liked the ‘zoom legs’ idea because I have a feeling that students will be uncomfortable about getting up close to take the pictures they need to take,” she said.

Magdalena Zavala agreed that Todd had more practical, hands on advice for teachers. She especially liked her advice about saving pictures and doing back ups.

However, Magdalena has some expertise in the field of photojournalism herself. She has a bachelor of journalism degree in photography, worked on a book entitled Americanos: Latino Life in the U.S., and had five pictures included in the Smithsonian’s traveling exhibit of the book. Even though she thought Reed’s presentation was more about how he approached the subject, not how to teach it, she still thought it was valuable.

“Don’t get me wrong,” she said, “Reed was incredible – the diversity of images, the intimacy in the images he captured.”

His best suggestion about photography Magdalena thought was “to have fun, and that’s one of the things I think is really important.”