CRITICAL PHOTOJOURNALISM

Scott Strazzante, an award-winning nationally and renowned photojournalist, has worked on newspaper staffs his entire career. He spent the first 27 years in the Chicago area, including working for the Chicago Tribune, and then transitioned to the West Coast in 2014 to work for the San Francisco Chronicle. A former POY/NPPA National Newspaper Photographer of the Year, Strazzante has won the title of Illinois Photographer of the Year 11 times and was part of a Chicago Tribune team that won a Pulitzer Prize for investigative journalism. His long-term personal project, Common Ground, has been featured in National Geographic, Mother Jones, New York Times’ Lens Blog and on CBS Sunday Morning. The decades-long award-winning effort was published as a book by PSG. His second book, Shooting from the Hip, consists of iPhone photographs made using the Hipstamatic app from around the USA. Strazzante's latest project is an ongoing series of images, again, made with his iPhone and the Hipstamatic app, of the Oakland Coliseum. He is hopeful that the Oakland project will also culminate in a book, as well.

The interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

The biggest asset (and challenge) to creating thoughtful and powerful stories is time. Time to come up with pitches, review pitches you receive from photographers, time to collaborate with photographers on what the visual approach and content could and should be and time to do a thoughtful edit. Time to think is such a luxury these days but I really feel it does make such a difference in making the difference between a good story and a great story.

I've been blessed to work on longform storytelling for the bulk of my career and it feels like that is my strength. But it was definitely a learning curve for me, as well as the photographers who I was working with on their first Nat Geo assignments. Most of the people we engage with have worked on assignments that lasted a few days at the most, here and there, other than their personal projects. Many had not worked on four or five week assignments and it's a totally different approach - we wanted people to think big. And it’s been another learning curve since I joined the international desk of The Washington Post last year. Even when we have strong visuals, it’s still a largely text-driven organization. The journalism is so strong and has such impact. When time is of the essence, I’ve had to be a lot less precious about photography. You’re trying to do a lot with a few days on assignment and edit quickly and effectively.

I was definitely in the right place at the right time to work with Geographic and was able to bring in a lot of new photographers—primarily photographers of color and international photographers. I feel very grateful to have been able to produce work with them and be part of several firsts there. Susan Goldberg's initiatives—like special issues on gender and race —really opened the door to being very clear about having more diverse contributors, and being really serious about it. If leadership is heading up that conversation, that opens up the door to create more opportunities for photographers of color and to be very intentional and consistent about it. Because of the topics that Susan was really interested in covering, that created a big opportunity for me to broaden who I could assign and for the magazine, as well.

Some of the things I look for is: can a photographer pitch a story successfully? Can they research a topic or theme? Then, can they pitch a story that is the right fit for the outlet you are pitching it to? For me, the photographers who are most successful with National Geographic and The Washington Post are the ones who have great ideas and know the kind of stories those publications are doing. They’ll pitch stories that have visual potential and are visual by nature and are timely and news adjacent. They are consistent and pitching strong ideas. That's a skill that I wish more photographers had because it's so important. When we talk about decolonizing photography, it's within the story idea where these things start, right? And so, if the ideas are coming down from an editor, like me—sitting at my desk in Washington, D.C, and not from the photographer who's out in the field and knows what's happening in their country or city, that’s a problem. The most important thing we all can gain from diversifying our storytellers is that we can hopefully tell more nuanced and honest stories about what's happening all around the world. But those ideas have to be packaged in a way that they will be relevant to a large Western media company. It's a lot to figure out how to do that. Ideas - both in terms of subject matter and visual creativity are your strongest asset and what set you apart.

I’ve had the privilege of working with photographers who are extraordinary humans. Yes, they’re great researchers and know how to wait for and create a great frame and bring it all together. But ultimately being a great storyteller comes down to be great with people - being curious, open and engaged with who you’re photographing and being able to connect with them. And those human connections and emotions are what resonate with people on the other side of the world.