Photojournalism
"Photography is the story I fail to put into words" Destin Sparks
. Seeing photos that accompany an article or stand alone in a gallery make a situation seem much more tangible. There's something about seeing a moment in time, frozen indefinitely, that changes the viewer's perspective and connects them to the story in a much more personal way.
The pandemic is something that has effected my photojournalism portfolio significantly due to the fact that I did not have a way to drive to sites to shoot photos. The artifacts included in this portfolio are projects that I completed my sophomore and senior years of high school.
Capturing emotions in photography contributes an enormous amount of journalistic integrity to publications. Sometimes there are no true words to describe a situation, and that is when photography has the ability to add to a story or experience what reporting can’t. Personally, photography has not been my focus during my time as a reporter, but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy the process of taking photos and recognize it’s incredible contributions to the media.
Radio & Photo
OJEA
Photo Story/ Slideshow: Superior 2021
2019 Climate March: Students strike for the climate in hopes of a better future
This was the first piece of media that I ever published for The Whirlwind, and it still holds an incredibly special place in my heart because of that. I was handed a recording device, headphones, a microphone, and a digital camera on an 85-degree day and went out to cover students participating in a climate march that was miles long. It was my first time using any of that equipment. Objectively, there are a lot of issues with the audio and interview material that I would fix if I could go back to this story, but I'm incredibly happy with how the accompanying photography turned out. Overall, this story was a great learning experience, and documenting the passion of these students and community members was what made me realize my love for journalism.
Favorite photos from this series:
Print Photos
"The Food Issue" Photography
Most of the photos for the feature section of our third issue this year, “The Food Issue” were done by special report editor Gabi Emery and I. The first story we took photos for was “Six Hands, 600 Meals,” which you can read in the “Reporting & Writing” section of this portfolio. The second story we planned to write together in this issue was a feature about West Albany’s Baking and Pastry class final, but Emery was sick the day that their final was happening, so I went on the assignment by myself.
On the Chopping Block: Baking and Pastry class makes original desserts for their “Chopped” themed final
This story was a fairly last-minute edition to the magazine after one of the special report section’s pages fell through. I headed to the Baking and Pastry class of our school with a digital camera and a notepad to document their final: a “Chopped” simulation in which they compete while using “mystery ingredients” in original desserts. Despite being stress-inducing because of it’s last-second nature, I had a lot of fun reporting for this story and photographing the Baking and Pastry student’s creations. Although only three of these photos appeared in print, I included a few more to show my process of choosing which photos go into the magazine. The page that these photos appeared on was black and white, so the images from the magazine are grayscale.
Photos that appeared in the magazine:
Junior Padget Washko's group's dish.
Senior Hailey Wadlington's group's swill roll.
Junior Clair Lloyd and seniors Mariah McCoulough and Cadence Crumal's dish.
Edited outtakes:
