🗽 And not everyone lives in a big hub like New York, where opportunities to connect and find community are plenty. 

Early-career photographers have reached out as they look to break into the photojournalism industry… often frustrated by the lack of accountability that could keep them going, and not many options to get personalized feedback.

How do you get editors’ attention?

2 keys to that: 

🗝 Personal projects. Understanding how to build a well-thought-out visual story, and doing it ethically, with a meaningful & unique point of view. 

🗝 Community. People you can brainstorm and bounce ideas with, who can hold you accountable and keep you motivated.

Where are you in your storytelling journey? 

What helps you stay the course?

📸: Photo of myself & Andrew Lichtenstein, probably going back-and-forth over the 50th version of a sequence 🤠 

Especially in photography.

I’ve been captivated by the way visual storytelling expanded to include more conceptual approaches — be it image making, editing, or sequencing. 

A visual story can reflect a mood, extend a metaphor, or a poetic idea. It can respond to shapes, a time or a place. It can have human characters — or not. 

It can look at the past (archives) or the future (fiction?). 

It can imagine possibilities. 

It can ask questions.

🏖 In her book “Gold Coast,” Ying Ang photographs the paradox of a place experiencing both affluence and high crime. She challenges what people think a crime-filled place looks like. She asks why families choose to stay, and taps into unexpected visual languages. She plays with the metaphors of danger. She photographs the *idea* of crime scenes in a popular tourism hub.

🌪  In her following book “The Quickening” explores the transformational experience of pregnancy and early motherhood. She examines the process of moving further out into the world from birth, and “shrinking back in,” seeing your world contract during pregnancy. She also explores the medieval ways of collecting information through oral testimonies, due to lack of proper medical research and public knowledge about women’s health. The soft cover, poetic inserts, different layers (only the prologue is shot in medium format, distanced from the world as she did with ‘Gold Coast’), shows a deeply personal and inquisitive approach.

What’s your favorite conceptual work?

⏰ 1. 20 min is so short! Make sure you outline your intentions at the beginning so you have 2 sets of eyes on the clock. Keep time for questions! 

🎰 2. The most productive reviews are often not the ones you had all your hopes in. You can never predict how someone will respond to your work, or how you’ll click — stay open! People assigned at random can be an incredible surprise. 

👐 3. Tailor the work to your audience. A breaking news editor might not want to see the same thing as a gallery owner. 

👯‍♀️ 4. This is about building genuine relationships. All things equal (quality of work and professionalism), an editor will hire you because you’re someone they vibe with. Not everything is about photography — try to make a friend. 

💬 5. Mingle with peers. This is your community — the people with who you’ll experience ongoing mutual support, who might think of you for a job they can’t take or for an assist. Who you’ll bounce ideas with for a project. Don’t be competitors. Be collaborators. 

💌 6. Follow-up! A thank you e-mail is the bare minimum. Add a picture from your body of work so they remember who you are (the one they liked the most).

💡7. Come in with a pitch! It’s an efficient way to utilize this special 1-on-1 time. You might leave with an assignment in the bag.

Would you add anything to the list?