Women Photojournalists Share their Professionalism at Canon Burbank
September 17, 2018
by Amy Tierney, VP Board of Dir, ASMP-LA + SanDisk Ambassador Photographer
photographs by Alison Buck
On September 16 I woke up to a National Public Radio story titled “Photojournalists are Demanding a #MeToo Reckoning” as reported by Lulu Garcia-Navarro. The day before, I moderated a panel of women photojournalists (Nicole Charky, Aude Guerrucci, Tish Lampert and Rachel Luna), who (for the past three months) I coordinated so we could all get together at Canon Burbank to talk about what it takes to shoot and deliver political, social and environmental stories via stills and motion.
Again and again I have been thankful to know a large community of professional women photojournalists. So, it continues to astound me that a reported 85 – 90 percent of the news images we consume are produced by men. I mean, sit with that for a minute.
The women who were on the Women Stills and Motion Photojournalism Power panel on September 15 are part of the 15 percent we can all shine a light on to start tipping that percentage to one that resembles the make-up of our population.
The panelists were Nicole Charky, Social Media Producer for (Maria) Shriver Media, seven year photojournalist with the Southern California News Group, Rachel Luna, multimedia journalist and former Polaris images photographer to the White House Aude Guerrucci, and photojournalist and America Speaks podcast host Tish Lampert.
Look up the work of all of these women and then hire them for your next assignment. Their work speaks for itself.
They told us, so succinctly, how they accomplished their work. It was not without trial, or difficult days. What it did take, very simply, was professionalism. From story assignment, to capture and delivery, they had to quickly and effectively consider all the job requirements we have today; equipment, locations, security, the subjects, and everything in between. They had pre-shoot questions to ask themselves: what is the story, what system serves the story (is is a multi-cam shoot, run and gun rig, combination with a cell-phone camera or something more cinematic requiring specific lenses, audio and lights?), and post-production questions: How do we deliver video files? How do we do it in the field on deadline? And so much more.
Nicole Charky, Rachel Luna, Aude Guerrucci, and Tish Lampert inspired, and educated us on Saturday. They spelled out the tenants of photojournalism. They reminded us that those tenants are under very real, damaging attacks in this country, and around the world. They also let us know that we can do something to reverse that by knowing what it takes to report unbiased truths. And, then, sharing our experiences.
Canon Burbank was our ASMP-LA chapter co-host, generously providing its event facility space, a hosted lunch and camera seminar on the differences between its DSLR video camera line and its Digital Cinema series. SanDisk was on board as our event partner. Women Photograph shared their database of women photojournalists. Photo District News was our media partner, getting the word out to its readers, while also providing a copy of its September 2018 issue to all event attendees. Many thanks to all who attended and believe in community to engage, empower and expand each and every one of us! www.asmp.org/join.