Buckeye Visualist

Part 3 of 3

On this episode of the Buckeye Visualist, host Lori King traveled to Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio for the 73rd annual Ohio News Photographers Association Convention, where she spoke to ONPA leaders, POY winners, the keynote speaker and a Sony Electronics rep. 

This is Part 3, and it features Amanda Arrick, the Sony rep for the convention. Arrick is the senior manager for the imaging pro support team.

Listen as she talks about:

• her support team, who specializes in supporting professional photographers and any needs they have
• how she values the work news photographers do and the respects challenges they face
• equipment, discounts and programs offered by Sony

Part 1: Meet ONPA convention keynote speaker Terry Clark, and ONPA POY winners Jeremy Wadsworth and Andrew Dolph.

Part 2: Meet incoming ONPA officers Kristin Bauer, the new treasurer, and secretary Lisa Scalfaro.

Part 2 of 3

On this episode of the Buckeye Visualist, host Lori King traveled to Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio for the 73rd annual Ohio News Photographers Association Convention, where she spoke to ONPA leaders, POY winners, the keynote speaker and a Sony Electronics rep. 

This is Part 2, and it features incoming ONPA officers Kristin Bauer, the new treasurer, and secretary Lisa Scalfaro.

Bauer is a photographer with the Chronicle-Telegram and covers Elyria and Lorain County. Scalfaro is the photo coordinator and a photographer with the Akron Beacon Journal. They both attended Kent State University.

Listen as they talk about:

• why they took on their new officer roles
• their coverage of the eclipse
• what it's like working at their respective newspapers
• the changing landscape of photojournalism
• how Scalfaro compares being a photo coordinator to 'putting two puzzles together on the fly'

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Part 1 of 3

On this episode of the Buckeye Visualist, host Lori King traveled to Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio for the 73rd annual Ohio News Photographers Association Convention, where she spoke to ONPA leaders, POY winners, the keynote speaker and a Sony Electronics rep.

This is Part 1, and it features keynote speaker and light guru Terry Clark, who showed off his 50 Photographs/50 Years project. He also gave an educational workshop on portrait lighting with his Godox light kit.

Also on this episode are Jeremy Wadsworth and Andrew Dolph.

Wadsworth is ONPA's 2023 winner of both the large market POY and the annual clip contest. He is also the co-chair of the clip contest.

Dolph won the small market POY, and is the ONPA president.

Listen as they talk about:

• Clark's photojournalism, documentary and portrait photography career
• their philosophies on winning contests (hint ... it's not about winning)
• how and why they all got into photojournalism
• what it's like for Dolph to be the lone shooter for his newspaper, the Times-Reporter in New Philadelphia, which has NO newsroom ...
• ... and how Wadsworth's situation is completely different from Dolph's; he has a fairly large staff and even his own desk at the Toledo Blade
• a few of their favorite stories, of course

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On this episode of the Buckeye Visualist, host Lori King traveled to Ohio University in Athens, Ohio to talk with leaders of the NPPA/OU student group. 

Our topic was photojournalism, of course, and why my four student podcast guests chose the EW Scripps School of Journalism for learning the craft of photojournalism.

Listen as Zoe Cranfill, the president of NPPA/OU, vice president Charlie Nick, treasurer Megan VanVlack, and freshman Ben Pennington chat about life as a photojournalism student in the rural Appalachian region of Southern Ohio.

They also talk about how they handle competition amongst themselves; what makes OU churn out POY winners year after year; and the awards they've won as scholastic photojournalists:

• Cranfill - the ONPA Fullerton Scholarship, two years in a row
• VanVlack - First place for photojournalism news feature photo at the Fall National Media Convention last year
• Pennington - Finalist in the Interpretive Eye category in the 78th NPPA College Photographer of the Year competition

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On this short and sweet episode of the Buckeye Visualist, host Lori King talks with ONPA monthly clip contest co-chairs Jeremy Wadsworth and Becca Benson, who are also coworkers at the Toledo Blade newspaper in Toledo, Ohio.

Our topic is the 44-year-old clip contest. Jeremy and Becca fill us in on who can enter, deadlines for submission, and why you should enter. They are are seeking judges, so this is a call for action!

Listen as we chat about how looking at contest entries inspires them; what kind of camera equipment the Blade staff is issued; the mileage Jeremy puts on his cars driving back and forth to work; and why Becca now has a fire lit under her 'ass.' Hint: there has never been a woman monthly clip contest winner ...

We also give a shoutout to Bob LeMay, ONPA's webmaster who posts the monthly clip winners, as well as this podcast. Thank you, Bob!

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On this episode of the Buckeye Visualist, host Lori King talks about the power of visuals with Signal Akron's Sue Zake, editor-in-chief, and multimedia reporter and producer Kassi Filkins. 

Our topic is Signal Akron, a new nonprofit newsroom startup in Akron, Ohio. Sue, a former Akron Beacon multimedia journalist and editor, is leading that small but mighty newsroom, which launched in December 2023.

Kassi worked at the Southeast Missourian and the Hartford Courant before getting her degree at Kent State University and joining the staff of Signal Akron. 

Listen as we chat about the false stigma that photojournalists can't lead newsrooms; how visuals attract readers ... and keep them more engaged; why photojournalists are a valuable asset to all newsrooms; the state of photojournalism education; the loss of independent journalism when newsrooms rely on handouts rather than their own visual reporting.

We also give a shoutout to the remaining three photographers at the Akron Beacon Journal.

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On this episode of the Buckeye Visualist, we talk to Arizona freelance photographer Arianna Grainey, an Ohio native who now covers sports and politics in Arizona. 

Host Lori King leads a discussion about Arianna's start in college and high school sports, and how she got into shooting political content for the City of Tempe. 

Listen as the Arizona State journalism/political science graduate discusses building a freelance career with personal contacts, networking and agreeing to shoot just about anything; why she switched from Canon to Sony; why she prefers shooting in the sun; her famous soccer-writer father, Tim Grainey; and her friendship with USA Today sports columnist and Toledo Christine Brennan.

This episode of the Buckeye Visualist is dedicated to NewsGuild-CWA union members who bravely fight for the working rights of journalists in our newsrooms.

Host Lori King leads a discussion about the power of unions with three photojournalists who have Ohio connections, either through birth or employment: Kent, Ohio native Jenna Watson, of the Indy Star and president of the Indy NewsGuild; Alexandra Wimley, currently on strike from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; and Kurt Steiss, who's active with his union at the Toledo Blade.

Listen as they discuss the benefits of a union; the support system a union provides during a strike; the bargaining power of collective action; and how to form and maintain a union.

The NewsGuild-CWA was founded in 1933, and now is composed of more than 25,000 journalists and others in 200 media organizations in the United States and Canada.

In this special ONPA Convention Episode (Part II) of the Buckeye Visualist, host Lori King sits down with longtime ONPA leaders Kimberly Barth and Bob DeMay as they revisit the history of the Ohio News Photographers Association: When it was founded and where it is now.

We will also hear from #Ohio University photojournalism professor Stan Alost and two of his photojournalism students. They discuss the classes that prepare our future generation of storytellers. Alost also talks about how OU has cranked out more Pulitzer Prize winners than he can count, including Marcus Yam, the keynote speaker for the convention.

Part I of this special podcast edition of the Buckeye Visualist features LA Times roving foreign correspondent Marcus Yam, who takes us back to when and where his award-winning photojournalism career began -- at his school newspaper at the University at Buffalo.

In this special ONPA Convention Episode (Part I) of the Buckeye Visualist, host Lori King speaks with LA Times roving foreign correspondent Marcus Yam, who took us back to when and where his award-winning photojournalism career began -- at his school newspaper at the University at Buffalo, which led him to his first photojournalism job at the Buffalo News.

In this episode of the Buckeye Visualist, freelance filmmaker, photographer and Eddie Adams Workshop 2022 alumni Christy Frank has a frank discussion with host Lori King about freelancing, filmmaking and having a business sense.

Listen as they chat about being a woman visual storyteller in a man's world; how resilience and persistence pays off; and how she manages to hold down two non-visual jobs (one pays the bills and the other pays other people's bills), which helps finance her 'side hustle' and true love - visual storytelling. 

Christy also talks about her debut short film, Ploverville, about two Piping Plover shorebirds she met last summer at the Maumee Bay State Park beach along Lake Erie near Toledo, Ohio. It's an inspirational story of how her sense of curiosity and love of nature drove her to documenting the rare Ohio migration of these love birds.

In this episode of the Buckeye Visualist, guest Shane Flanigan opens up with host Lori King about his recent job loss at ThisWeek Community News in Columbus. Shane and the entire staff at ThisWeek were let go on Jan. 10 after media company Gannett went from publishing 24 different small-town community newspapers to literally none. 

Listen as they discuss news deserts and hometown coverage voids; how he braced for the possibility of being laid off since his graduation from Kent State in 2013; why he thinks being a generalist shooter is a good thing; what he plans on entering in the ONPA contest this year; and what his future plans are .. now that he's unemployed.

On this episode of the Buckeye Visualist podcast, guest Dale Omori and host Lori King go down memory lane as he drops a few legacy names from his past stints at the Kettering Oakwood Times (Kettering, Ohio) and the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Dale is product of Bowling Green State University (Ohio), and earned a photojournalism degree under the tutelage of the late, great Jim Gordon. He talks about how Gordon took him into the pj program without a portfolio or photography experience, and confesses which grade he never earned from Gordon. 

Listen as he also talks about his love of video, which led him from being a still photographer to a filmmaker. He currently owns his own business, Omori Media, and is dedicated to telling stories his own way; gives advice to aspiring young storytellers; and tauts the power of an organization like the Ohio News Photographer Association.

On this episode of the Buckeye Visualist, guest Stephen Zenner opens up with host Lori King about his journey from being an artist who was inspired by the mixed media in Pink Floyd's The Wall, to his former missionary work with refugees, to his current role as a multimedia journalist for the Toledo Blade newspaper.

We are also going to get into his recent coverage of refugees in Eastern Europe and Ukraine, and the logistical nightmare of traveling throughout a foreign country that is a hot war zone; how he got a full ride to Ohio University; what triggered him to finally care about politics and the news; and how avoiding advocacy as a journalist is "bullshit."

On this episode of the Buckeye Visualist, guest Scott Doelling represents the television photojournalists in Buckeye Land! 

Doelling, the recently promoted director of photography at WBNS-TV in Columbus, is the 2021 ONPA TV Photographer of the Year. He also won that distinguished honor in 2015. 

The Ohio transplant chats about the lucky break that landed him his first TV job; that decisive moment when he realized he was happier behind the camera than in front of it; what he learned at the NPPA Workshop in Norman, Oklahoma, and how important workshops are for skill development; and gives advice on what makes a good story. He also shares his most embarrassing moment while covering his first presidential election. Trust me .. it's a moment he will never forget.

In this episode of The Buckeye Visualist, Columbus Dispatch photographer Barb Perenic talks about her decision to go back to school, and how being a grad student at Kent State University has inspired her to share what she knows to fellow journalists and students.

Perenic, a staff photojournalist at the Columbus Dispatch for nine years, also chats about parenthood; how she respects her journalist and MMJ husband, Daily Daily News' Dave Jablonski; how photojournalists - and journalists - should always strive to learn new skills, including TikTok; that visual  journalists have the best job; and much more!  

This episode of the Buckeye Visualist spotlights long-time ONPA member JD Pooley, a multimedia journalist at the Bowling Green Sentinel-Tribune. 

On this show: Pooley shares how he used his dad's Pentax film camera to cover car fires, protests and strikes ... while in high school! He's now 48, and said he's seen a lot of changes in the photojournalism industry over the span of his career - B&W and color film, to scanning color negatives, to digital. What was (and still is) his biggest learning curve ... and fear? Listen and find out!

We also honor his friendship with the late war photographer Chris Hondros, as well Tyler Hicks and Spencer Platt. They all worked together at the Troy Daily News in the 90s.

This episode of the Buckeye Visualist is dedicated to photojournalism students, so it makes perfect sense that Ohio University photojournalism student Erin Burk is our featured guest this month. But the 2021 ONPA Chuck Scott Photographer of the Year winner wasn't alone ... she had a small audience join her in the Zoom room! Podcast host Lori King also invited her Wayne State University (Detroit) photojournalism class to witness the conversation and ask questions.

Listen in as Burk, who also took fifth place in the 2022 Hearst Photojournalism II competition, talks about how a broken arm led her to the moment she fell in love with photography, why she chose OU, and how she plans to use grant and scholarship money to work on a long-term photo story documenting how the military is encroaching on sacred spaces in Guam.

In this episode of The Buckeye Visualist, Cincinnati Enquirer photojournalist Meg Vogel talks about her decision to produce a video of Bengals fans from around the world documenting themselves celebrating the moment they realized their beloved team was finally going to the Super Bowl. Vogel collected more than 300 video clips, then produced a 3:20-minute video showing highlights of ecstatic fans cheering, screaming and even crying after the 'kick heard around the world' sent the Kansas City Chiefs packing.

Vogel, who has been with her hometown newspaper for seven years now, also touts her other video projects, doesn't think that newspapers going online is such a bad thing, and shares why she doesn't appreciate being called a reporter's photographer. 

In this episode of The Buckeye Visualist, Columbus Dispatch photojournalist Kyle Robertson shares his strategy for remaining the ONPA clip contest king. Robertson just earned his seventh clip contest POY title in a row, so we are very fortunate to hear his fresh take on how he did it and why he thinks everyone should enter the clip contest. 

Kyle, who's been with the Dispatch for nearly 17 years, also talks about camera gear, good lighting and his shooting philosophy. The dad of two young hockey players even divulges when he plans to hang up his cameras to become a full-time hockey dad.

In this inaugural episode of The Buckeye Visualist podcast, host Lori King chats with Columbus Dispatch photographer Josh Bickel and Andrew Dolph, with the Times-Reporter in New Philadelphia.

Josh is the current president of ONPA, and Dolph takes over as the association's new president this spring. Listen as we dive into their take on being a photojournalist during Covid, preparing for annual picture contests, and keeping the ONPA a vital resource for professional, student and retired Buckeye photojournalists.