Photojournalism.
Photos are an essential part of telling a story, and I make sure each story I work on has the best possible image to accompany it. Whether I work with a photographer to bring my vision to reality or use my recently developed photography skills to capture an image, photos are a crucial part of my journalistic work. Moreover, a journalist must know his own experience; often, I know working our photographers with a specific skill set will take a photo that complements a story better than I could on my own — even if it means I don’t receive credit. I have also given these photographers a new way to showcase their work through photostories on the website.
A focus on mental health
This is one of my favorite sets of photos I’ve taken for a ReMarker story. Our school has recently promoted mental health as it has become a global topic, and recently opened a brand new counseling office and center. We covered the new space and the issue of men’s mental health, and I took these pictures to complement the story.
Additionally, we covered the importance of the mental health of teachers. This issue is not covered as much as necessary but affects the people who educate us every day. For the page, I decided a hectic classroom atmosphere could accompany the story — so I went into a classroom and organized one. I handed out paper airplanes, opened up videogames and let the chaos ensue. The picture on the right was the final result, with the teacher standing helplessly at the front.
Spot news photography
While we often try to slot our photographers for web stories well in advance, there are times when a story happens in real time we need to cover (the best advantage of the website!). So, it often falls on me to take photos in the moment — even if it means with my phone.
Attached are some of my favorite spontaneous captures, at our Chinese New Year celebration and for our web story about our students continuing to wear shorts in freezing weather.
Planning the perfect photo
When our very talented photographers can take photos for us, we want to use them! That doesn’t stop me from planning out the exact photo that I believe will help my story the best. While I may not have taken these photos, I was instrumental in their creation and planning.
I loved the way these photos turned out; the first is for a story about sports gambling addiction, and the second is about looking up to pro athletes following the Ja Morant gun drama.
Giving photographers an opportunity
On the website, we publish photo stories regularly — allowing our photographers to shine and showcase their work. In the print newspaper, they can only publish 1-2 of their photos per story. Online, they can display all of their photos, even when there isn’t a story directly related to it. Attached are a couple examples of our best photo stories.