Couldn't be prouder of the work Noelle Crombie, Dave Killen and I did with Ghosts of Highway 20, now at 37 million views on YouTube if you can believe that. HBO is picking up the story and the best thing about that is that it will feature, among others, our own Noelle – because every good yarn needs a crackerjack reporter – along with our treasured Marlene Gabrielsen – because everyone needs a hero.
Committee to Protect Journalists Exhibit at Photoville /
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has verified close to 1,000 incidents of press freedom violations related to protest coverage in the U.S. this year. My guess is the number of incidents is much higher, as I know from experience how much happens that goes unreported amid the chaos on the ground.
My incidents of assault by local police and attacks by federal officers are minor when compared to what has happened to so many journalists this year, both across the country and around the world. Still, it meant something to me to be able to visit an exhibit highlighting my and others’ experience here in the United States.
Thank you Photoville for featuring this important exhibit, which sits in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge. Because I discovered photography while living in that borough, the exhibit was especially meaningful to me: being able to visit that space was like coming full circle. Big props to Photoville for the energy and focus it takes year after year to produce this large scale installation, which features some of the most vivid and exciting work currently being made across the globe.
And big thank you, of course, to the Committee to Protect Journalists for the vital work they do and for helping me when I needed it.
Support journalism.
Committee to Protect Journalists exhibit at Photoville, Brooklyn, New York
Coming up: Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar /
Appeared on Oregon Public Broadcasting’s Think out Loud /
Had a nice chat with Dave Miller, host of Oregon Public Broadcasting’s Think Out Loud, about what it’s like working in pandemic.
Thank you. /
Ghosts of Highway 20 has received much recognition, including a handful of Emmy noms this past week. It meant a lot to me when I got word that the photography would be included in American Photography’s Best of 2018. There have been other acknowledgements, too.
Just want to put here for the record, such as it is, that most meaningful to me was recognition that came not from the journalism industry but from the National Women’s Coalition Against Violence and Exploitation (NWCAVE). At their conference last month we attended a luncheon, where we were honored for our work. Marlene Gabrielsen, whose story we featured in the project, came as our guest.
Marlene, whose experience of sexual violence perpetrated by someone who would go on to kill women, was disbelieved by law enforcement. Had Marlene been believed - she underwent a rape kit at the time of the attack; there was plenty of evidence - it’s entirely likely none of the murders would have occurred.
I want to thank NWCAVE for this recognition. It’s my hope that the sweeping culture change occurring around sexual violence, assault and harassment will bring about new cultural norms with regard to the treatment of women, here in the United States and the world over. We have a long way to go. If everyone steps up — and I type these words marveling over the fact that they even need to be expressed — real change is possible.