This Fellowship Program is Reviving Visual Journalism—One Journalist at a Time
Ximena Natera, a photojournalist in New York City, found herself longing for a way to connect with people and tell their stories while in lockdown during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. She ordered a portable backdrop, set up impromptu photo booths in her neighborhood, and captured the faces of her community by asking one simple question to people passing the backdrop: “Can I take your photo?” Little did she know that this simple act would ignite a powerful need in her to revive visual journalism.
When the murder of George Floyd sparked protests across the United States, Natera saw an opportunity to make a meaningful impact with her photography. “I was not working for anybody, so I felt like, ‘What can I do as a photographer that can be useful?’” Natera asked herself. She took her backdrop to a children's march in Brooklyn, and shared portraits of young activists and with their parents. These images were later published by Mother Jones, a progressive investigative journalism newsroom that covers everything from politics and criminal and racial justice to education, climate change, and food/agriculture.
Natera was then interviewing for Berkeleyside, a nonprofit news site in California, when she realized that her simple photojournalism was the work she resonated with most.
“I said that I love doing regular photojournalism work, but I also enjoy interacting with people and finding different ways to use photography to engage with the audience,” Natera said. “So I pitched bringing the photo booth into our coverage.”
Recognizing the potential for engaging storytelling, the editors eagerly approved the project, marking Natera as the first staff photographer at Berkeleyside in partnership with Report For America. Natera's photo booth at the Juneteenth Festival evolved to become a centerpiece of Berkeleyside's coverage.
“It was very cool because we got to give it a little bit more space and take it out from daily coverage to something more thought-out,” Natera said. “It is about Juneteenth, but it’s also about looking at the people who went there, and spending more time and visually working with that.”
Armed with a metal backdrop–sturdier than the cloth one she used during the pandemic-Natera captured warm and inviting portraits of locals in Berkeley.
“I thought and I understood that it was very likely that I would never be part of a newsroom again, because those positions are so rare, and they’re shrinking,” Natera said, a bit incredulous at her success. “And big news media have very few spots for staff photographers, and local media has even less.”
Fellows like Larry Valenzuela at CalMatters and Harika Maddala at Bay City News have also experienced the transformative power of the CatchLight Local Fellowship, which Natera also received from Berkeleyside.
“..With this fellowship, it really opened that route where they wanted somebody in Fresno to be a photographer, and to work for CalMatters, and do all this work here,” Valanzuela said. “It’s been amazing. I’ve gotten firsthand experience that I’d never gotten before. I’m definitely doing a lot more work that I think is really important.” His work, including a poignant series on students' experiences during the pandemic, has allowed him to delve deeper into visual storytelling and make a real impact.
Maddala's placement in Stockton and San Joaquin County has enabled them to report on a community that lacks sufficient local news organizations. “I become part of this community. So whenever I go to a place, I recognize someone I met before. And it’s such a small tight-knit community, right?” Maddala said. “Now when I tell their stories, I’m not just showing up one day and leaving. … I go back to them. I do follow-up stories, and I know these people very well.”
The CatchLight Local Fellowship seeks not only to advance the careers of visual journalists but also to create a more sustainable visual journalism landscape. It values empathy, ethical reporting, and a commitment to positive change. By placing full-time visual journalists in newsrooms and investing in their growth, the fellowship aims to revive and reinvigorate the power of visual storytelling at the local level at a time when local newsrooms are closing at an unprecedented rate. The return of photojournalism may yet bolster the need and demand for local news.
