#ritnppa

I’ve been home from D.C. for a couple days now, and I’ve been able to reflect on the experience, both with my peers, and on my own. First, I have to say I think I would’ve had a bit of a different experience had I not interned in the city this summer.  Being there for two months helped me realize that everything there really does come back to politics, potentially not the straight coverage of such, like we saw at the AP and Reuters, but also the repercussions and ripple effects covered by places like Vox, AARP, NPR, and others.

The variety of places we were able to visit also reflected just the tip of the iceberg for our potential future. From classic Newspaper reporting at USA Today, wire services at AP, explaining the news at Vox, data driven reporting with supporting visuals at Pew, and more, we were able to sample the types of jobs that will be available to us after graduation.

For myself, this week taught me that I have options. I don’t feel that I need to call myself a still shooter or a videographer or editor; at least not yet. There is so much more out there than just newspapers, and I hope that the educational institutions feeding this industry quickly come to realize that. I’ve been able to look at myself, my skills and shortcomings, and see endless possibilities that may await; aerial photography, underwater work, video editing, multimedia producing, stills, and more. There’s no reason to shove myself into a box and say “I am this____.” I don’t think it will be easy, and I definitely do not think jobs are going to be given away like prizes on Oprah, but I do think that with the immense need for visual content today, photojournalists aren’t going anywhere. My father always said “the only thing that’s permanent is change” and I cannot think of a better way to describe this industry and where it is going, and I’m so excited to be a part of it.  

Day five of the D.C. trip took us to our final stops: Smithsonian and Pew Research Center. Both places had surprises for us, and were two of the few places that mentioned everyone’s capstones! It was humbling to know that editors at these prestigious places were taking interest at what we, seniors in college, were producing.

We started the day at Pew with Bronwen Latimer. She had been at Pew for about a year, and was able to show us the huge strides she had already made in terms of pairing the data driven work of Pew with enticing visuals to further explain and examine.  As someone interested in nonprofit work, Bronwen’s explanation of how she, a visual communicator, discusses the need for visuals to those who may not consider it otherwise. She noted that she has to “convince people that there’s a wider world out there” rather than just presenting people with written information and data, and how including images can improve engagement and action.  

Bronwen also offered some important advice that I don’t think we had heard earlier in the week; “find 10-12 people who you want to with, for the rest of your life...in order to meet those 10-12 people, you’ll have to meet 500 people...you are looking for a spark.” I think so often we are told to reach out to editors, and stay in touch, and this and that, but in this effort I think we forget the kind of intimacy that comes from working with editors. Often, editors see your biggest successes, but also your biggest mistakes, failures, and missed moments, and for someone who makes their living and bases their life on the work they create, this is an extremely vulnerable place to put yourself.  Bronwen’s advice reflects that relationship, and understands that not every editor will like/work well with every photographer, and vise versa, and that that’s okay. As young, soon to be graduated and job hunting photojournalists, this may have been the most important thing we heard all week.

After leaving Pew we headed to Smithsonian to meet with alumni Donny Bajohr, Chief Photography Editor Quentin A. Nardi, and photo editor Jeff Campagna. Much like our meeting with Pew, we spent a lot of time discussing how to keep in contact with editors, how often you should reach out, and what work you should be showing them. Quentin noted that you should show editors your personal work, because it shows what you are passionate about, and gives editors a sense of what you can do, aside from “bread and butter” assignments.  Above the relationship with editors, all three noted the importance of being a researcher and a journalist, not just a photographer. As we had heard earlier in the week, it’s easy to take pretty pictures, but hard to tell a story. “The best thing you can be is a journalist.”

Day three of the D.C. trip brought us to USA Today, Vox, and AARP, where I was this past summer a photo editing intern. The first trip of the day brought us out to Virginia to meet with Andy Scott at USA Today, in which we discussed how the company sees itself moving forward as technology advances, brand recognition, serving your audience, and making a profit. Because this publication is not only its own newspaper, but a network of papers across the country and syndicates information to distribute to others, there are many considerations that may not have been present for some of the previous places we’ve visited. Overall, I think the most interesting part of the lecture was actually a personal project one of the photographers/videographers, Jack Gruber, who is working on a personal project that will allow visual communicators to document one location over the course of numerous years through fellowship programs. The idea that you can help not only photographers, but audiences understand and study an area through numerous years of coverage, but is also supportive of young professionals in the industry.

The second visit of the day was with Kainaz Amaria at Vox, which was vastly different from the previous location, but also extremely engaging.  Because Vox is a media company, they are on the front lines of new technology, but unlike so many other news and storytelling organizations they invest the effort to research if the platform will work for their voice and output, or if resources can be better allocated. I really admired this since so many visits we had been on already, and even last year in NYC, everyone just told us to jump on new technology and learn it and master it since “it will be important.” However, hearing someone finally say that it’s only important if it works for you and your publication, and then you should invest the time and energy into learning it and moulding it for your voice, was refreshing. It’s hard being a generation that grew up constantly adapting to new technology, and being used to things coming and going while listening to the older generations still reminiscence about the old days of film nostalgically while claiming we must be the jack of all trades in any new platform, device, technique, etc., that comes out.  Finally hearing and seeing someone use storytelling techniques in various ways to cater to the need of both the audience and the story was refreshing, and something I hope I see more in the future.

The last stop of the day was, for me, back at home at AARP. Seeing my summer colleagues and catching up with everyone was incredible, and I was excited to have my classmates hear about the opportunities presented by AARP. Something I hadn’t thought about before was the idea that so many people have preconceived notions of what AARP is and does, that not many pitch stories to them, and therefore if you have a great story that applies to their mission, brand, and fits somewhere in their various publications, it’s likely that Michael will either take that chance on you or direct you to someone he knows that might also be interested. Overall, it reaffirmed in my head how great it was to work there and with that team.

So I am sitting in the restaurant area of the Fairfax, VA Hyatt, trying to wrap my brain around all the feedback and knowledge and experience thrown at me in the last 48 hours. It’s not the the information is so insane that I cannot process it, it is the fact that, one day, there is a possibility that I will be one of these portfolio reviewers, instead of someone being reviewed.  Perhaps one day I will be sharing words of wisdom and discussing my work as it is projected on a large wall for all to see.

It is the mere idea that I, a twenty one year old student, just beginning their capstone, accepting their first internship, and being critiqued by these amazing professionals, could potentially be in there shoes one day is amazing. 

Typically, I would share my actions throughout the day, my in’s and out’s, what I did, and who I met. But, instead, today I want to share little words of wisdom I’ve heard thus far. 

“Be human first.”-Jessica Rinaldi

“Don’t’ listen to anyone who says ‘that’s been done.’ Everything’s been done.”- Bill Greene

“To me there’s a story on every block in America.”- Bill Greene

“It’s the golden age for journalism; it’s not the golden age for journalists.”- Ben Lowy

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So it’s been a few days since my last blog, and it’s because some great, big things have happened! First, I dove my first, second, third, and fourth cenote.  A cenote is a sinkhole made from collapsed limestone and filled with water either fresh or salt, or both! These cenotes can have large openings that allow people to snorkel, but also caverns and cave-like passages underground for divers.  I was lucky enough to experience Dos Ojos and Chauc Mool cenotes, diving in the First Eye, but two different paths, and Chauc Mool and Hermano Pequeño.  The experience was incredible, and had so many memorable moments, including feeling a thermo cline, diving in a mix of salt and fresh water depending on depth, and photographing in such conditions. Truth be told I’m not satisfied with the images from the cenotes, but that just means more diving and practice.

Images from day 4 and 5 of diving.