Journalism

I had the privilege of working as a Photo Editor at a weekly newspaper. The paper was one of two jobs that let me pay for college out-of-pocket and graduate on time. I had a blast working with such ambitious and passionate people at The Clackamas Print. Below are a few examples of my accomplishments there.

This photo I took during the 2014 elections earned me two awards at the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association’s Collegiate Day including first place for “Best Spot News Photo” and third place for “Best Photography.” Pictured (center) is the President of the college as she looked over at a TV displaying updated results of the election. It was a very proud moment for me and I was humbled and honored to have been a spectator for this monumental decision for the college. 

Our sports editor Jack had written an article about the Masters and had introduced me to this ominous “green jacket” concept. We hadn’t been able to gather any original visual content and we were to go to print in two days. In mild desperation, I had an idea to create our own “stock” image of a man wearing the green jacket. I had Jack come to the office the next day in a blazer and golf attire, took a few shots on a blank background, ran the idea past my Editor-In-Chief (it’s taboo to feature staff as subjects in the news), got a green light, and photoshopped the emblem onto the jacket in post. It went to print the next day and the positive responses came flooding in. As a result, the newspaper encouraged me to play more with “outside of the box” imagery in future editions.

This was probably one of the wildest action shots I’ve been able to capture. Our paper acquired press passes to the traveling rodeo that had set up in Portland’s largest sports center arena. This photo was taken from between the slats of the guard rail. About a half a second after this moment, I and a few neighbors got sprayed with dirt kicked up by the same bull. I now have a special kind of respect for the safety team at these events.