Editorial Photographer in Pittsburgh

Editorial Photographer in Pittsburgh

Answer your phone. That’s a lesson I learned when I was new in the business and looking for work as an editorial photographer in Pittsburgh.

Back then I had a pager (remember those?). Soon after I bought a big, clunky cellular phone because the job would usually go to the person who responded first. One day when I was out on Lake Arthur in Butler County in my canoe my pager went off. I paddled to the middle of the lake where there was reception, unzipped the bag that held my cell phone, and took out the hand set to respond to the page. I got the assignment.

Covering the Special Election

Things are a little easier these days. I was at breakfast with some friends at Bob’s Diner (mmmm bacon) when I got an email on my iPhone. It was an editor from the Daily Telegraph in London looking for a photographer to work with a reporter on a story about the upcoming special election in the PA 18th Congressional District. I responded and pretty soon it was a done deal. I met the reporter that afternoon and we got to work.

We spent the afternoon in Mt. Lebanon talking with voters and figuring out how to illustrate the story. The next day the president had an event scheduled at a manufacturing plant near the airport. It was too late to get credentials but I photographed a 14-feet-tall version of him in the eastern part of the 18th Congressional District near Latrobe before heading to the event to photograph protestors.

How to Tell the Story

The challenge was to illustrate a story about an issue that has a lot of elements that people are passionate about but aren’t necessarily visual. With a little communication and teamwork Daily Telegraph readers were able to get a sense of what’s going on in a far off country that has an effect on their lives in the UK.

A clipping of a newspaper article with photos by an Editorial Photographer in Pittsburgh about the upcoming special election to fill the vacant seat in the Pennsylvania 18th congressional district. Two pictures accompany the article. The main photo is a 2-story farmhouse with red and white stripes painted all around it and a blue field with several stars in the upper left corner to look like a giant American Flag. In front of the house is a large color cutout of a smiling Donald Trump. Holding his hand is a woman wearing a frilly pink overcoat. The second photo is a woman bundled up in a brown parka holding a sign that protests the president and the republican candidate for the PA 18th district.

Here’s the front page and the inside spread where the story and photos ran. That trip to Southern Italy and Sicily looks pretty inviting 🙂

Three pages from the January 20th 2018 Daily Telegraph newspaper. The page on the left is the front page. The two on the right are a spread from the World News section showing a story about republican backlash against president Trump with photos by an Editorial Photographer in Pittsburgh.

Here are a few other photos from the assignment that didn’t make it into print.

Symbolism was employed on both sides of the divide. The divide in this case was protesters and counter-protesters on opposite sides of the road near the entrance to the business where the president was speaking.

Two photographs by an Editorial Photographer in Pittsburgh: A woman wearing a Make America Great Again hat looks down and smiles at an American flag that she's holding. In the second photo a woman with a red, white, and blue toque wears a toilet seat around her head referencing a derogatory statement attributed to the president of the united states.

After the president left, we found both candidates at campaign events of their own.

Two photos from different campaign events by an Editorial Photographer in Pittsburgh. In the first photo a tall, young red-headed man wearing a blue jacket and a white shirt with an open collar is surrounded by applauding supporters of his candidacy for congress. In the second photo a middle aged man wearing a suit with a dark red tie holds his hands out as he talks with supporters gathered around him.

After years of experience as a photojournalist on staff at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, I still enjoy the challenge that comes with editorial photography. Call, text, or email if you’re looking for a news photographer in the Pittsburgh area, northern West Virginia, or eastern Ohio.

Filed under: Editorial Photographer in Pittsburgh, News Photography, and Photojournalist.