As someone who has grown accustomed to being in front of a camera over the last couple of years, photojournalism provided me with new challenges as I’ve taken a more active role in being behind the camera. Unlike being on camera, I experienced how the work of a photojournalist is done best if gone unnoticed. For me, developing photography-based content allows me to be the eyes of the story, rather than the voice or ears. I learned that with photojournalism, while the way I engage and inform an audience is similar to broadcast or print journalism, I need to be as invisible as possible while capturing the raw emotion of the event being covered. 

 

With purposeful design in mind, photojournalism has taught me the power of pictures. As the year’s gone on, I’ve seen myself begin to analyze the pictures I take and edit them to better tell the story. I’ve begun to ask important questions journalists should always be asking, regardless of the medium they choose to present their information: What’s going on here? What are the most important stories and aspects that need highlighting to get my point across?

 

Attached to this portfolio is the works I believe best demonstrates my storytelling ability through a photo gallery medium. In covering Franklin High School’s “Panther Pride Night” and “Nick Gaspar Night”, realized that the best way to showcase the story was to show the many components of both events through photography.