Calling all would-be photojournalists: This is your chance to tap the skills and experience of the Wired.com photo department to become better photographers, reporters and storytellers.

Raw File is starting a new series of posts called Assignment Wired, wherein we dole out assignments to you, the readers, and then choose several of your submissions to publish and critique in a future post on the site. You’ll learn firsthand what it’s like to be on assignment for Wired.

Our interest and expertise is in reportage and photojournalism so those will be the focus of our lessons. If you’re looking to learn how to make gorgeous still lifes and landscapes, you’ll have to look elsewhere.

You’ll be expected to get quotes, do some writing, do some research and take heartfelt photos. We want gritty, real and human stories. We want to throw you into new situations and give you a chance to sink or swim.

Newspaper veteran and award-winning photo editor, Jim Merithew, will be spearheading the assignments. Jon Snyder and Keith Axline will be weighing in on the critiques to give a more balanced perspective to the discussion. Jon has an extensive background in feature and magazine photography, while Keith’s background is primarily in writing and editing.

We will not always agree on what makes a great photograph, but we want to start a more involved conversation with our readers about editing and approach. Please join us on Assignment Wired.

Your first assignment is to show us the place where you buy your Gatorade and clove cigarettes and introduce us to the the people who work and hang there. Tell us the story of your local corner store through photos and reporting. It’s not sexy, but it’s simple and everyone has to start somewhere.

Skills to learn:

• Access: Learn how to approach a total stranger and put them at ease with your camera.
• Multiple shoots: Return to the scene several times to get better, more intimate photos.
• Get quotes: Interview store owners, locals, customers passing by. Anyone you have to in order to get the one quote that makes the story.
• Research: Get the who, what, where, why and how of your subject. Get a mix of practical and juicy information.

Deliverables:

• Several telling photographs
• 4 paragraphs of copy, 500-word limit
• 1 stellar quote

Estimated Completion Time: 5 hours

Deadline: July 7th

How to submit: Email your deliverables to assignmentwired at gmail dot com.

Critiques: Once we’ve reviewed the submissions, we’ll choose a few of them to highlight that we think are useful to a wide range of readers. We’ll also give our selections a professional edit and processing so readers can see the process from start to finish. These critiques will be given along with the next assignment.

Wait, I thought this was a photography assignment, why do I have to do reporting?
As much as we love great photography, we also want to put the journalist back in to photojournalism. More and more photographers are having to do their own reporting and reporters are having to shoot their own photos. If you’re learning to do either, you’re better off learning both. The walls between the two professions are crumbling and we’re happily giving you hammers.

So dust off your cameras, sharpen your pencil, put on your creative thinking caps and get out there and start shooting. Also, please leave any suggestions, questions or feedback you have in the comments. We’d love to hear ways of making this crazy experiment better or more accessible.