The First Real Assignment
- Arielle Young
- Feb 18, 2020
- 4 min read
Updated: Sep 6, 2021
With the growing epidemic of false news and radical perspectives, the answer to the question "What is a Journalist?" is becoming increasingly complicated with every interpretation. Taking journalism back to its ideal roots, to be a journalist meant having the responsibility to professionally (and ethically) transmit information to others.
However, it is also vitally important for the audience to recognize their own obligations... to question and critically observe the content put before them. - AY
Wednesday, April 14th 2018, NYPD responded to multiple calls about a black male brandishing a “silver firearm” at people on the street. Surveillance footage revealed the suspect hastily marching down the side walk before closing in on seemingly random pedestrians to shove, what appeared to be a gun, towards them.
After 4 officers arrived on the scene, the suspect is said to have turned the object towards them. The four then fired 10 bullets which killed him.
The object in his hand was later found to be a broken silver pipe. The male was then identified as Saheed Vassell, 34. Vassell’s family said, Saheed was well-known in the local community and suffered from a mental illness.
Interview A Working Journalist
My senior year, I received what I call my "First Real Assignment." We were told to reach out to a local journalist to interview them. Someone who ideally was doing the work we hoped to one day do.
ie. If our preferred beat (or subject) was Sports, we needed to contact a local spots columnist.
Once we interviewed the journalist (someone who actually responded to our flood of emails and phone calls) the next task was to shadow them and write an article about that persons daily activities.
"Even now I assume the goal of the project was to get us out of our comfort zones. Out from inside the safety of our classrooms, meet a professional in the field and see what the job is really like."
My personal aspiration at the time was to become a Conflict Zone Photographer, seeing as there were no wars of any significance happening that sunny afternoon in Purchase NY, I did what any college student would. Complained to my mother.
Luckily, my mother is one of those people who knew somebody, who knew somebody, who knew somebody, who connected me to the nicest Brooklyn photojournalist on the planet. Lloyd Mitchell.
Mr. Mitchell worked as a freelance photographer for the Canarsie Courier, a wonderful little newspaper on East 92nd street in Brooklyn. The hole-in-the-wall atmosphere of the tiny local paper was exactly what I was expecting (or hoping to find). A company frozen in time, with stacks of newspapers archiving old publications that dated back to the 1920's.
Mr. Mitchell proudly showed me around the office before we settled down at a cozy corner desk completely covered with heaps of loose paperwork.
While Mr. Mitchell shared his personal story; to his right, he kept in arms-reach his cell phone. It was softly tuned in on a local Police Department radio frequency through an app called 5-0 Radio. On his left he had the Courier's jumbo scanner playing the Fire Department radio frequencies. It was impressive that he could be talking to me and listening to both PD and FD radio chatter and not miss a thing.
Occasionally he'd pause mid-sentence (if he thought he heard something interesting) but then would soon continue on if he decided it wasn't worth looking into. A few hours of chatting led to a lesson in identifying certain codes used over the radio between dispatch and field responders.
Fire on first floor of a five story multiple dwelling. (2/12/18) 466 Rockaway Pkw.
The first call I shadowed Mr. Mitchell on was a 5 alarm fire at Rockaway Pkw. It was a massive scene, the road was packed with fire trucks, ambulances and police vehicles. I drove us there and ditched my car on a nearby block before we bolted the rest of the way on foot. It was very exciting!
While I was still just trying to process everything that was happening, Mr. Mitchell casually walked passed police barricades, greeted the FD personnel he knew very well and started making pictures. He nearly made me choke when he asked if I wanted to go inside the building where firefighters were ushering people out! Of course I said yes! Although it came out as a shaky "uh, y-yeah, are we allowed too?" He only laughed and gestured for me to follow him.
"Who is going to mop up all this water?"
I was frozen at the entrance to the main lobby, my camera tightly pulled into my chin as I just kept pressing the shutter release. I didn't have to common sense yet to adjust my manual settings to the now indoor environment. Later I found about a hundred or so photos were completely black.
Of course Mr. Mitchell was mindful enough for us both. He told me to relax, widen my stance and just make photos. It was then I switched my settings to auto, I was too overstimulated to comprehend how to correctly meter for the situation. All my photography training went right out the window as I used a ridiculously high ISO making my pictures very grainy. (I'd claim it was a style choice later on)
After that I was hooked. I returned to shadow Mr. Mitchell as many times as I could even well after the assignment was over.
To this day Lloyd and I remind close friends. He continues to help critique and praise my work through social media platforms like Instagram. I'm sure he will evaluate my new web page and tell me exactly what harsh truths I need to hear to make it better.
The full series of photos I made with Lloyd's guidance can be found under the Photojournalism tab with-in the Gallery section on this site. I hope now with some context behind them, the images can be more complete.
- AY
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