Powerful perspective

Despite facing underrepresentation in U.S. newsrooms, these female photojournalists capture the images defining an era that includes a global pandemic and widespread protests — and they’re MSU Denver alumnae.

by Monica Parpal Stockbridge

As visual storytellers, photojournalists capture points in time that convey facts, energy and emotion on the ground. It requires reporting on a visual level, which often requires photojournalists to put themselves in harm’s way. But it also means photojournalists are present for the most important moments in the United States’ recent history.

Despite its importance in our increasingly digital-image-driven world, photojournalism remains male-dominated. Using data collected in 2016 from 545 female journalists from 71 countries, the World Press Photo foundation found that the historical underrepresentation of females in photography is ongoing. A separate study by Women Photograph, an initiative promoting and supporting female photographers, found that in 2019 eight of the world’s leading newspapers printed far fewer lead photographs by women than men. While female photographers in 2019 shot 41.8% of the lead photos in the San Francisco Chronicle, they shot only 7.7% of the Wall Street Journal’s leads and 15.7% of the Los Angeles Times’ lead photos, according to the data.

While women fight for their spot on the front pages of news outlets, alumnae of Metropolitan State University of Denver’s journalism program are leading the charge. Here’s how three alumnae broke into the male- dominated field and what they’re doing to document our volatile times.

ALYSON McCLARAN

Alyson McClaran changed her major six times before finding her passion in photojournalism. She earned her degree from MSU Denver in 2016 and worked for the Greeley Tribune and the University before becoming a freelance photographer. Today, she shoots events, portraits and sports, in addition to pursuing photojournalism.

above, right: A person in scrubs who declined to be identified stands in the street in counterprotest against hundreds of people who gathered at the Colorado state Capitol in April to demand that a pandemicrelated stay-at-home order be lifted.

While at MSU Denver, I took an art class that ended up changing my life. I sat next to a girl who worked at the school newspaper. I told her I’d just gotten a camera, and she invited me to a meeting where I got my first assignment. It was so cool to see my images in print. Once I switched my major to photojournalism, I got my first 4.0 in my life.

As a freelance photographer, I find it really exciting because I am able to diversify myself so much. Journalism is my No. 1 passion, but it is fun to do a little bit of everything. As far as being a woman in the field, I haven’t really had any negative experiences. Growing up, I was always the girl that hung out with all the boys, so I’m used to that.

From March 10 to April 19, I didn’t work at all due to the pandemic. On April 19, I went to the (Colorado state) Capitol to witness the anti-lockdown demonstrations. When I saw nurses in the middle of the street and heard cars honking, I knew this was something big. I tried to get as many photos as I could.

From there, Reuters decided to make me one of their freelance photographers, and I’ve been covering the protests for George Floyd. I think there’s more to come in 2020 with people speaking up and trying to make a change in the world.”

LEAH MILLIS

Leah Millis earned her journalism degree with a concentration in photojournalism from MSU Denver in 2011. She worked at publications including The Denver Post and The San Francisco Chronicle before landing in Washington, D.C., as a senior photographer for Reuters, where she is part of the White House press corps travel pool. In May, Millis and a team of Reuters photographers won a Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography for their work documenting protests in Hong Kong.

above: Kaylan Bailey, a survivor of the Aurora theater shooting, stands on a beach near Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where she met with other survivors of mass shootings in April 2019. I started photography when I was about 12 years old. I saved up my money and bought a Nikon FM10. When I was in high school, I went on a mission trip to Haiti. I brought my camera and started talking to people and photographing people. I realized that’s what photojournalism was, and I decided I would design my own major in photojournalism. It was at (MSU Denver) that I met my mentor, Judy Walgren, whom I later worked for at The San Francisco Chronicle.

Being a photographer in the White House right now is very different from anything else I cover. It’s a small, enclosed space. Inside, I wear a medically rated mask. There’s just so much we don’t know about this virus. Everything is much more of a risk calculation. If you’re at a protest and there’s tear gas, explosives, gunfire, all of these obvious visual, violent things, you can pinpoint exactly what that is. But with the virus, you’re literally constantly calculating and don’t know where the risk is going to be.

Because we all have masks on and are more covered up, this might actually be helpful in terms of those microaggressions that women normally face. There’s also the importance of having diversity in gender and ethnicity. We need people from different communities covering the news. We’re all going to think of different parts of the story that maybe a white male editor might not automatically think about or want to prioritize.”

Then-White House Communications Director Hope Hicks leaves the U.S. Capitol after attending a House Intelligence Committee closed-door meeting in Washington, D.C., in 2018.

CHANCEY BUSH

Chancey Bush earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass communication from MSU Denver in 2014. She has held positions at The Coloradoan, Evergreen Newspapers and the Daily Sentinel. She has worked as a photojournalist and videographer for The Gazette in Colorado Springs since 2019.

MSU Denver prepared me well. I was taught by extremely knowledgeable and successful professors who actually worked in the field. Besides classroom work, just going out and doing really taught me the best skills. The highlight of my time there was going on a social documentary trip to New Orleans, where we had to track down our own stories and really be journalists.

I feel like women are on the rise. When out and about covering events, I see a lot of women journalists. I do feel like I’m the only female when covering sports. It’s all men. In some situations, I haven’t been taken seriously, or I’ve felt like I had to prove myself harder than a male would. But also, I feel that being a female has given me more opportunities than a male would get in some cases, such as a long-term project I did following a pregnant woman

and being there when she gave birth. If I were male, that would have been a lot harder to gain her trust and gain access to such a private moment.

With the pandemic, there are challenges of not being able to interact with my subjects like I used to. Photojournalism is very personal work. People invite you into their homes. They open up their hearts to you. You shake hands; you give hugs. Since the pandemic, that has been cut off. I think the silver lining is that people are realizing how important journalism and local newspapers are. We’re out there every day bringing them the news, and I want to hope people are starting to realize that it’s important.”

far left: Mehika Vinson holds her 1-year-old son, Quarious Vinson, during demonstrations in downtown Colorado Springs calling for justice in the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police this year. above: Hope Forti, holding her 5-month-old daughter, Mercy, joins her family at the bay windows of her historic Colorado Springs home. Mercy spent her first month on life support in a hospital, and the family began taking steps last year to limit Mercy’s social interactions. They planned to continue isolating through the end of flu season. Then the coronavirus hit.