Ben Pennington

I am Ben Pennington. I was born in Thailand and came to the United States when I was five. I got into photography during high school. I lived with a Pentax ME-Super 35mm camera strung over my neck. However, my journey as a photojournalist really began at Ohio University where I have been studying Visual Communication since fall of 2023. As part of my studies, I have worked on feature projects about communities in southeast Ohio, like patrons at a small-town bowling alley and first responders, and a church that has only six congregants. I found it professionally and personally rewarding to document communities in Appalachia. I realized that photojournalism is what I want to do. I took a semester out in my junior year at Ohio University to intern for half a year at The Boston Globe as their photo co-op. It was a tremendous experience. I filed on-location to meet urgent print edition deadlines and worked the receiving-end on the desk. In my first week, I covered the July 4 fireworks over the Charles River and had the front-page lead photo. I covered major national news, like the Brown University mass shooting, and local stories, like high school sports and the mayoral election. Two of my own picture feature stories – about a high school coach battling cancer and a paraplegic deer hunter – were published on the front page. I’m now returning to Ohio University to continue my photojournalism education and will be interning at the Raleigh News and Observer this summer. Experience in newsrooms has built my confidence and proven to me it’s a job I love and can do well. My career goal is to document news and life across America – as a photographer and videographer tackling a wide range of assignments and developing great visual stories. I’m looking forward to deepening my ties in Ohio and then connecting within a new community in North Carolina to broaden both my professional and life experiences.