In Focus: May 2022
In this issue: Documenting gun violence, the beauty of film, award-winning storytellers and much more.
Hello. It’s Tuesday, May 31.
Welcome to the May 2022 issue of “In Focus” — a newsletter bringing you photojournalism and photography-adjacent resources, news, and opportunities straight to your inbox. This edition of the “In Focus” newsletter is written and edited by Brian Munoz1.
As trade publications have shuttered in the last several years, the Fellow Photogs team looks to fill the gap with this newsletter while helping connect those within the industry, domestically and afar.
This newsletter accompanies the Fellow Photogs group on Facebook. If you’d like to join our community, just click on the group link above. Do you like what you see here? If so, you can subscribe to the newsletter below and get it straight to your inbox.
News in a flash: Here are tidbits of photo news and other things that came across our feeds we found interesting. Is there something that we should be paying attention to or featuring? Please reach out at fellowphotogs@gmail.com.
A gunman devastated the largely Hispanic community of Uvalde, Texas earlier this month when they walked into a school and killed at least 19 children and two teachers. The Uvalde school shooting is the 213th mass shooting of 2022, according to the Gun Violence Archive, an independent data collection organization. It follows a racist massacre at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, that took the lives of 10 Black people. Some related reading:
Pete Luna of the Uvalde Leader-News photographed the initial scenes of chaos in Texas.
The Austin-American Statesman and USA TODAY Network staff have been working to document the aftermath.
Verónica G. Cárdenas photographed a poignant image of Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke disrupting a press conference held by Governor Greg Abbott the day after the massacre for Reuters.
The New York Times reports whether the release of graphic photos of gun violence would lead to better gun policy – but which ones and who decides?
Some coverage of the last round of tragedies has brought up the conversation of of photographing with empathy. Here’s a great TedX talk on the subject by the University of Colorado’s Ross Taylor.
The William Randolph Hearst Foundation announced the winners of the 62nd annual National Writing, Photojournalism, Audio, Television and Multimedia Championships. The National Photojournalism Championship was awarded to Angelina Katsanis from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Second place went to Julia Nikhinson from the University of Maryland and third went to Alberto Mariani of Arizona State University.
Marcus Yam, a staff photojournalist at the Los Angeles Times, recently won a Pulitzer Prize in Breaking News photography for his raw and urgent images of the U.S. departure from Afghanistan that capture the human cost of the historic change in the country. Phil Mistry spoke with Yam to learn about his journey from growing up in Malaysia and studying aerospace engineering to becoming one of the world’s top conflict photographers with a Pulitzer Prize to his name.
Other honorees include:Breaking News Photography: Win McNamee, Drew Angerer, Spencer Platt, Samuel Corum and Jon Cherry of Getty Images for their comprehensive and consistently riveting photos of the January 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Feature Photography: Adnan Abidi, Sanna Irshad Mattoo, Amit Dave and the late Danish Siddiqui of Reuters for their images of COVID’s toll in India that balanced intimacy and devastation, while offering viewers a heightened sense of place.
‘As grisly images spread from Ukraine, open-source researchers ask what’s too gory to share’ from Nieman Lab explores the question: “With the rise of Telegram, graphic imagery has proliferated in the world of open-source intelligence. Does it serve a purpose?”
Ivor Rackham writes about why documenting emotion is so important in photography for FStoppers Magazine. “You might be driven to tears of joy by some, while others might make you roar with laughter,” Rackham writes. “However, many you see might not bring about any emotional response, and you will view them with indifference.”
Julien Jarry, a video storyteller who works with commercial and nonprofit clients, created a gorgeous 6-minute video about an elderly couple who works on vintage cameras titled “The Art of Work.”
Featured Jobs and Internships
Staff Photographer | The Seattle Times | Seattle, Washington
Staff Photographer | The Butler and Cranberry Eagle | Butler, Pennsylvania
Staff Photographer | The Buffalo News | Buffalo, New York
University Photographer | University of Mississippi | Oxford, Mississippi
Junior Photographer | The Carolina Panthers | Charlotte, North Carolina
6-MONTH Staff Photo/Video Journalist | The Des Moines Register | Des Moines, Iowa
6-MONTH Photo Internship | The Flint Journal | Flint, Michigan
Fall 2022 Photo Internship | The Indianapolis Star | Indianapolis, Indiana
Assistant Visuals Editor | The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Visuals Editor | Gothamist and WNYC (New York Public Radio) | New York, New York
Deputy Photo Director | ABC News | New York, New York
Find more jobs and internship opportunities on the Photography/Multimedia Internships and Jobs group, Jamie’s List, or at Fellow Photogs. Have a job to feature? Please send it over to fellowphotogs@gmail.com.
Upcoming Opportunities, Events and Resources: A special hat tip to the National Press Photographers Association for compiling many of these. Become an NPPA member today and help support visual journalism across the country.
DUE TODAY: The W. Eugene Smith and Howard Chapnick Grant and the W. Eugene Smith Grant for Student Photographers, which assists student photographers whose work renews the tradition of W. Eugene Smith’s humanistic and compassionate photographs.
DUE JUNE 1: The Mountain Workshops are taking applications to be part of the latest workshop cohort for 5 days of intensive visual learning while documenting Leitchfield, Ky. Tuition is $750 and will run from Oct. 18 - Oct. 22.
DUE JUNE 3: POCstock is hosting a photo contest on Freedom Day, or otherwise known as Juneteenth. The agency is looking for stock photographs, illustrations and video clips (up to 20 seconds) of Black individuals living life. One winner will be featured on their site and receive $2,500.
ON JUNE 3: Travel photographer Erica Robinson and documentary photographer Jamie Rose are hosting a golden-hour photo walk in Washington D.C. Participants can check out a new lens to use for the duration of the photo walk courtesy of Tamron, the photo walk’s co-host.
JUNE 3: David Calvert has coordinated a free in-person media training and fire safety seminar with CAL FIRE for Northern California and Northern Nevada journalists in Truckee, Calif., on June 3 from noon-3 p.m PT. Register; space is limited.
JUNE 4: Photoville 2022 kicks off in Brooklyn on June 4. The month-long event will feature more than 65 photography exhibits across the five boroughs.
JUNE 4: Focus on the Story is hosting a day of free talks at the Eaton Hotel in Washington, D.C. Speakers include Mark Alan Andre, Jonathan Thorpe, Carol Guzy, Sarah Silbiger, Shuran Huang, Yijo Shen, Candace Dane Chambers, Jared Soares and Neil Kramer.
JUNE 4-5: The 2022 NPPA Best of Photojournalism Video Workshop and Awards will be in Nashville.
JUNE 15: NPPA and Cal Fire are joining forces again for a wildfire safety webinar from 3-5 p.m. PT. Kent Porter and Chris Post join the two-hour free training session. Wildfires are not only out west these days. Disaster preparedness is critical for every journalist, no matter where you live. RSVP here.
DUE JUNE 15: The Missouri Photo Workshop is Sept. 18-24. Make sure to apply before June 15.
Good Reads: If you like this newsletter, check out what our members are diving into:
Full Stop: Melyssa Little gives you insight into her mind through conversation about life, photography and creativity. “I’ll be highlighting the work of others, pointing out great photography and interesting things (books, podcasts, articles, art) I’ve come across,” she writes in her first post.
The FlakPhoto Network: Andy Adams takes you into the wider world of photography within his various social media groups that are part of the “FlakPhoto Network.” His communities have rich dialogue about everything from historic photo work, printing and other photo-related topics.
The Objective: a bi-weekly newsletter “covering the steps forward and backward newsrooms have taken to make journalism a more equitable field.”
Photo of the Month: Congratulations to Barron Northrup for having his image voted as this month’s featured image. You can see more from Northrup on his website and on Instagram.
Quote of the month: San Francisco photojournalist Noah Berger shares the following bit of advice in a recent advice thread for young photojournalists: “The biggest thing I stress is be punctual, be responsible, do what you say you’ll do, and meet deadlines. Skill will come later - very few of us are amazing photogs when we start out.”
That’s all for now, thank you for reading.
A note from the author: The Fellow Photogs are looking for individuals to help with this newsletter –– anything from contributing a special section or anecdote each month to helping compile information. Please email fellowphotogs@gmail.com or brianmunozjournalist@gmail.com if you are interested in participating.