AaaaWHITNEYHAYWARD

picture editing

+1 816.517.9956 // whithayward.com //whithay.photo@gmail

When I originally became inter-ested in newspaper photojour-

nalism, I considered photo editors to be present only out of logistical necessity. Photographers become too busy with daily assignments to have the time for administrative back-end work, and need someone to tone and select, while they’re off creating something meaningful to the paper’s readers and community. In most cases, I believed, a photog-rapher could most certainly pick out the best from their work better than an uninformed outside observer. The photo editor was present as an imperative, unavoidable, substitute.

I was, obviously, an idiot.

During my time at the Columbia Missourian, from photographer, then photo editor, and finally Assis-tant Director of Photography, I was able to be apart of an awesome dia-logue that is required to make a good newspaper. I discovered that I like making images, but there’s also an immense amount of satisfaction that comes from conferring with a pho-tographer, reporter and designer to create the most effective use of pho-tography on a page. Waking up in the morning to see a good IA, and know-ing that page happened because the photo department collaborated with the entire newsroom, is an irreplace-able feeling.

A week before Mother’s Day, MU photojournalism professor Da-

vid Rees let the Missourian photo department know he had a student working on a compelling photo sto-ry, and wondered if I would be in-terested in taking a look at the im-ages for publication. The Missourian didn’t have a photo-centric package planned to run over the holiday, and I was thrilled to be presented with a more complex, less surface view of modern motherhood. Photojournal-ist Jenny Justus began photograph-ing Carmen and Mike Beck the day their twins were born at 25 weeks, more than three months premature.

Jenny cared for Carmen and Mike so deeply; she had been there from day one in the hospital, to the eventual transition home. Working with Jenny to create a multimedia and print pack-age we were both happy with, while also pushing her to not apologize for photographing during quiet moments, was one of the most satisfying experi-ences during my time as an Assistant Director of Photography at the Mis-sourian. This package was Jenny’s first photo story, and it was absolutely awe-some to see her transition into a more confident photographer while working together. A multimedia piece, along with 10 stills ran online

A MISSOURIANMOTHER’S DAY

I was limited with the material Jenny already pro-duced. What photos and audio I had was all I would

have, and Jenny would not be able to gather anything else in order to meet our Mother’s Day deadline. At the time, I was actively trying to move the Missou-rian toward producing more video-based multimedia, rather than employing audio slideshows as a multi-media afterthought. Jenny did not have any video ex-perience, and focused on shooting stills while periodi-cally shooting video. After spending a night combing through all of Jenny’s raw material, it was clear she had only shot stills during them most intimate mo-ments of her time with Carmen, Mike and their new family. After the first night of looking through her ma-terial, I was sure a video piece was out of the question.

Jenny was stubborn. She wanted our audience to hear the strain in Carmen’s voice; she wanted our readers to feel the pain and acceptance in her interview when the couple realized their children might die in the hospital. She told me to just listen to Carmen’s inter-view one more time, this time while looking at just her stills.

I am so thankful for stubborn photographers.

The multimedia piece we ended up producing was ultimately stronger than the stills would have been alone. The first time I genuinely realized how power-ful a subject’s voice can be was while editing Jenny’s piece. It was limiting knowing I would not be able to ask her to shoot again, but this ultimately allowed me to focus on problem solving fluidity within the piece with video editing, rather than wanting for more ma-terial.

Eliana (left) and Micah Beck sleep

in their carriers as their parents Mi-

chael and Carmen Beck say goodbye

to the Women’s and Children’s Hospital staff

after the babies’ stay in the NICU.

The twins were born at 25 weeks’

gestation, when vital organs such as the brain and

lungs are not fully developed. The

twins spent more than 100 days in the NICU while they developed

enough to be able to survive on their

own outside the incubator.

TEARSHEETS

TEARSHEETS working/collaborating/discussing/fighting togetherforaaaa a better IA im-age.spring 2014

T/FFilm Fest

a weekendmultimediaexperiment

One of the most difficult things about photo editing at a smaller

town daily paper is figuring out how to avoid redundancy. Certain events in Columbia, like the True False Film Festival, are such a big deal to the community that they neces-sitate coverage, but because we’ve photographed them so exhaustively in years prior, it’s difficult to bring something new to the table. I want-ed to push the staffers this year to shoot two daily turn multimedia pieces during the festival; the online desk would need the pieces by late afternoon each day to be relevant to our viewers.

I firmly believe that video work requires undivided attention, es-pecially when a photojournalist is not as comfortable shooting vid-eo as they are stills. On this par-ticular weekend, I was uncom-monly blessed with an abundance of scheduled shooters. I was able

to assign two staffers to the assign-ments I expected multimedia from, one on video and one on stills. Both multimedia shooters during the True False film festival weekend would have other assignments that day, so after both staffers got their cards to my desk, I was responsible for ensuring the department made our online deadline.

John Farmer de la Torre produced a video on the start of the festival: the March March parade. Andrew Schriver found an absolutely amaz-ing woman named Pam, who volun-teered by ripping tickets in a theater lobby, and self-identified as “Queen Pamela” throughout the weekend.

With the help of fellow Missouri-an editor Peter Marek running the desk while I edited, our department made deadline, and added some-thing additional to our print cover-age.

SHANNONMISSOURI

county

Kevin Cook spent a good part of his last semester at the University of Missouri

in Shannon County. It’s the second larg-est county in terms of area, but smallest in terms of population. After photographing, Kevin was left with hundreds of photographs.

I offered to narrow down the images into a cohesive package. Luckily, I had the benefit of watching Kevin come back from each time in Shannon County, and describe what he felt the project was about. Listening to Kevin talk throughout that time, I began to form an opinion on what Kevin was photo-graphing, and that guided which images I eventually selected.

On the surface, Shannon County seems like many other places in Missouri; farming, once king, has been replaced as the main industry in the area, leaving residents to find other ways to financially sustain them-selves. Shannon County went through, and is likely still going through, this transition, but the transition in Shannon County feels somehow different.

To me, the difference is the presence of space between the people who reside there. The county has a population density of eight persons per square mile; and in Shan-non County there is love, compassion and beauty.

But, still, the space exists.

The edit presented here is a shorter version of Kevin’s final project.

A huge thank you to Jenny Justus, Shelby Feistner, Greg Kendall-Ball, Andrew Schriv-er, John Farmer de la Torre and Kevin Cook for allowing me to use their images in this editing portfolio. Also to my dog Sam, pic-tured above, who only wants me for my money and keeps me actively seeking full-time employment.

+1 816.517.9956 // whithayward.com //whithay.photo@gmail