The New York Times
With the news of Bernie Sanders dropping out of the Democratic Primary race today, I realized a post on my political coverage from this past winter was much overdue.
I had the pleasure of photographing Sanders alongside Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in Council Bluffs, Iowa and Elizabeth Warren in Clarinda and Council Bluffs, Iowa before the primary. Thank you so much to my editors at The New York Times for sending me out!
Here are a few of my favorite images from the events:
Sunday's National edition of The New York Times included a photo I made a few weeks back of U.S. Senate hopeful, Josh Hawley, at a Cattlemen's Association steak fry at the Missouri State Fairgrounds. You can read the article about Hawley's race HERE and I've included the tearsheet below, as well as a few of my favorite images from the trip that didn't make print.
If someone had told me in journalism school — heck, even 12 months ago — that national newspapers would be calling me specifically to do portraits, I would have told you you were crazy. I can readily admit that I've always been incredibly mediocre at portraits. However, I've had lots of opportunities to improve and for that I am incredibly thankful. When you're uninspired, getting outside of your wheelhouse is always a good idea. I've been enjoying pushing myself to make new kinds of photos and while I've got a lot of growing to do, I'm pleased with where I'm headed.
Here are a few of my favorite portraits from various assigments over the last few months:
Caption info for those interested:
1: Former Kansas State University student, Crystal Stroup, in Hale Library. Stroup has only been on the KSU campus a handful of times since bringing a civil lawsuit against the university after being raped by a fellow student last year.
2: Katherine Kelly, the executive director and co-founder of Cultivate Kansas City, a small non-profit in Kansas City, Kan., stands in a greenhouse. Throughout her life, she has mostly worked in non-profits and has spent a great deal of her life uninsured. Kelly says, when ACA went into effect, "all of the sudden we had access to plans that were much better than anything we'd had before." With ACA, Cultivate KC is able to provide a stipend for employees that covers 80% of a silver healthcare plan through the marketplace. Should the new ACHA healthcare plan be implemented, a big worry for Kelly, who has been denied individual insurance due to a pre-existing condition, is that "all of us who all of the sudden had good health insurance went and dealt with problems that maybe we had been ignoring.. now you worry about them having access to that information and using it as as way to increase your costs." Being able to provide comprehensive, affordable coverage for her employees is a big goal for her and one that she fears may soon be unattainable.
3: (RIGHT) Katherine Kelly and (LEFT) Donnetta Raymond
4: Donetta Raymond, 63, in the union meeting room at SPEEA, IFPTE Local 2001, in Wichita, Kan. Raymond was laid off from Spirit AeroSystems in mid-2013 and is part of a lawsuit against the company, alleging violations of the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act. She's had it rough since the layoff and is currently undergoing chemotherapy to treat ovarian cancer.
5: Wichita Area Technical college student David St. Pierre with a Cessna CJ1 in Wichita, Kan. St. Pierre just completed an 18-month program at WATC to prepare him for a test to get a power plant license.
6: Sara Weckhorst, a junior social work major at Kansas State University, is filing a complaint that the university mishandled her rape cases in Manhattan, Kansas.
7: (RIGHT) Rep. James Todd in his nearly-emptied office at the State Capitol in Topeka, Kan. After a four-year tenure, Todd will be giving up his seat in January. (LEFT) Brett Parker, a teacher for Olathe public schools, at the Central Resource Library in Overland Park, Kan. Parker will fill Todd's seat in Kansas House District 29.
8 & 9: Peter Mallouk, founder of Creative Planning, one of fastest growing and largest wealth managers in the country, photographed in his office in Leawood, Kansas.
A few days ago I drove to Springfield to witness Missouri Governor Eric Greitens' ceremonial signing of Senate Bill 19, also known as "Right To Work," into action at an abandoned warehouse.
You can read The New York Times article about GOP legislature the photos ran with HERE.
Last week I drove to Independence, Kansas, a small town in southeast Kansas, to work on a story for the New York Times on a closing hospital. Independence has approximately 11,000 inhabitants, and their only hospital, Mercy Hospital, closed it's doors on Oct. 9th. Citizens, many of which are obese or elderly, are now faced with the challenege of finding a new way/place to get healthcare. I had the honor of touring the facility before it gets demolished at the end of the month with writer Mitch Smith. Here are some of my images.
You can read Mitch's story in full HERE.
