“Do you want to come to Phoenix?” said a voice at the other end of the line.
It was Mike Meister, director of visuals at the Arizona Republic, who called to give me the news that would be the start of my career as a photojournalist in the United States. I had won the coveted Pulliam Fellowship to work with the visuals team at The Republic, a Gannett/USA Today Network publication.
I covered all types of assignments in Phoenix and the surrounding area during the hot summer months of 2021.
Along with breaking news, I photographed topics of global and national interest, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and disputed presidential election results. I covered former President Donald Trump’s first post-election rally after President Joe Biden’s win. And I reported on the heat, monsoons and deadly floods.
I was trusted with assignments unusual for fellows, such as traveling to Nevada to support other Gannett publications, like the Reno-Gazette, in covering the California wildfires. My photos illustrated stories for USA Today and The New York Times.
I was finishing my master’s in international reporting with a specialization in visual journalism at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY in Manhattan, where photojournalism opportunities were scarce due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Later, Sean Oates, multimedia director of Gannett’s Atlantic Region, gave me two life-changing opportunities in the newsrooms of community newspapers.
The first was at the Erie-Times News, where I was greeted with 24 inches of snow and frigid temperatures, and where I had the opportunity to walk across a frozen Erie Bay to cover the ice anglers who spent hours fishing on top of four inches of ice. I covered ice hockey and snowstorms. I photographed and shot video of proms and graduations, and life on the Erie Bayfront and Presque Isle Bay.
Among the highlights was covering refugee communities from Afghanistan, displaced by the withdrawal of the U.S. forces from Afghanistan, and from Ukraine, displaced by the Ukraine-Russia war.
I’m now in the more temperate climates of Delaware and the newsroom of The News Journal, my new home.
I find myself lending visual voice to commemorative events − cultural, artistic and political − of the population I observe. I have covered breaking news and youth sports, including football, hockey, softball and soccer.
It is in Delaware that I had the twice-in-a-lifetime opportunity of photographing my first sitting U.S. president, Joe Biden. I had the chance to report on the primary election, including photographing Return Day in Sussex, a 200-year-old tradition.
I also photographed the 10-year anniversary of the Firefly Music Festival, documenting its fans and artists, including Dua Lipa, Avril Lavigne, My Chemical Romance and Green Day.
Having worked in three photo departments in three newsrooms, I have met and learned from reporters of various ethnicities, experience levels and specialties. In Arizona, I met Michael Chow, a great sports photographer, and observed the logical approach and brevity with which he wrote his captions. And I met my dear friend, the late Nick Oza, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer of Indian origin, who took me under his wing and encouraged me to continue with my photographic style.
I also admired Erie Times-News photographer Greg Wohlford, who covers the region as a labor of love for photography and the community he serves.
Here at The News Journal, I have been welcomed and supported by a great visuals team, including Magdeline Bassett, William Bretzger and Damian Giletto, and have learned a lot about local journalism from a team of editors and reporters with a deep knowledge of and love for the community.
I am an Ecuadorian photojournalist who immigrated to the United States where I now have the privilege of continuing my vocation, one that began in my country of origin.
My photo essay is a representation of my visual journey in these three different Gannett newsrooms. I feel it captures both the differences and commonalities of the communities I’ve had the pleasure and privilege to cover.
