Job Description:
I’ve been a staff photographer at the Miami Herald for about two years now, and we don’t have a newsroom. All of my professional internships prior to this have also been during and post COVID. I haven’t ever had a newsroom to work in.
Finding a sense of community is hard enough post-grad; but being a social person, in a social job, without a place to come together, has been tough.
I work on daily news assignments as well as long form video projects in my day to day work.
Numbers of Years Experience: 2
NPPA Member: Yes
Personal Statement:
I am hoping to find ways to work collaboratively with other journalists in the next year. I also hope to work on a few projects with reporters to bring the inspiration that I had for journalism back.
I think when we’re isolated, it’s easy to lose to the ingenuity we once had for the job. I hope, through programs like this, learning and growing together will bring back the spark.
I also do not get paid enough in my current position to have really any wiggle room for saving money or traveling outside of occasionally heading home to see my parents. This makes it hard to prioritize things like workshops and conferences that have a cost.
I’ve always believed that photojournalism and video journalism is a partnership between the journalist and the people we document. An extension of that would be that great journalism includes a relationship with the photographer, the reporter, and the people whose stories we share with viewers.
This ideology that we are subjective has taken a turn in the past decade and let us embrace that it is anything but that. If you are spending tens of hours in a person’s home, of course there is going to be a level of subjectivity to it. While we cannot be subjective, we tell the most accurate story to the best of our ability. Telling an honest story is what we strive for. Following the ethics that we abide by and keeping an open mind are the only ways to keep telling valid stories.
Video Story 1: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/environment/climate-change/article281344358.html
Video Story 2: https://alieskowronski.com/video
Video Story 3: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/article267173966.html