Inside Atlantic’s Photo Department

SUGGESTED HEADLINE: Authenticity, Accuracy and Awesomeness: The Atlantic Visuals Mantra Collaboration is the key: An insight on Atlantic’s Visuals Team Authenticity, Accuracy and Awesomeness: Ticks for The Atlantic’s Editors The two-member photo department at The Atlantic loves to explore new ideas. They are creative and constantly expanding their visuals: they like to think out of the box! They are open to suggestions, readers are their priority and collaborations is their style. Recently, Blink’s Sahiba Chawdhary spoke to Atlantic Media’s Visual Editor Emily Epstein about her recent transition from a photojournalist to an editor, inside views of her new department and tips for working with The Atlantic. Along with personal tips, Epstein talks about the Atlantic style and approach to visuals for the new site. Sahiba: Tell us about yourself, your company and the kind of work you’re doing. Emily: I'm the visual editor for TheAtlantic.com, which means I'm the go-to person for all things visual. I coordinate with the art department for original illustrations, work with wire services and photographers—professional and amateur—and guide our approach to charts and infographics. We recently underwent a responsive redesign in April, which put a huge emphasis on photography, so I was charged with setting and reinforcing visual journalism standards on the site. Sahiba: Tell us about the photography department at TheAtlantic.com, what kind of stories/projects you commission or are looking to license for publication? What is the TheAtlantic.com style? Emily: Our team includes Alan Taylor, who runs our Photo channel, and me. We're a small team! In a way, we have the same standards for photography that we do for writing. I'm looking for photo stories that are not only interesting in their lighting and composition, but also distinct in their subject matter. There are three things that I tell our reporters and editors to look for when it comes to photography: Authenticity, Accuracy, and Awesomeness. Sahiba: Do you purchase stories that have already been produced? What is the best way to pitch TheAtlantic.com? Are you looking for anything specific in the coming months? Emily: We do run stories that have already been produced, that is, if they are truly exceptional. The best way to pitch The Atlantic is to email me at visual@theatlantic.com. I go through all the emails and try to respond to every person. On occasion, I'll even forward great work that's not right for us onto other editors I know. I was a photographer once upon a time, so I know how hard it is. Sometimes I'll be looking for a project that matches a certain theme, like our American Dreams collaboration with Echo/Sight, but anything tied to the news cycle will automatically make it to the top of the pile. I like to announce any themes on Twitter, so follow along! Sahiba: What are the best practices freelancers should follow while they are working for The Atlantic? Emily: I would say be patient, prompt and follow directions. We require higher-resolution images than some other publications because our site is responsive, as well as really good captions. Having names and places, maybe a quote, can really draw viewers in. Sahiba: Have you ever used Blink to hire photographers/videographers for assignments? How do you think a tool like Blink is useful for editors? Emily: Yes, I'm happy to say I have. I think Blink is very useful for finding talent in far-flung places; people that already have a relationship with a particular community. Better access often leads to better photos. Sahiba: Hypothetically speaking, how would you describe a "job well done"? Emily: A job well done is a project that surprises me. We all look at so many photos per day. Switching up traditional lighting, grabbing amazing quotes, shooting video, researching interesting data points: those things really impress me. I think photographers, especially, have to ask themselves whether they are telling the story in the best possible way. Why is this a photo essay? Is it because that's what I do, or is it because this is a story that can be told well in a sequence of photographs? The internet gives us so many ways to tell stories. I like to experiment. Sahiba: What are your future plans/goals for Atlantic's photography department? Any new ideas in the pipeline? Emily: I'd love to see more original photography on the site. I'd also like to foster more collaboration between writers, photographers, and developers. I think there are so many new tools on the internet that we can use to tell stories. Sahiba: You mentioned that you were a photographer once- What motivated your transition to editing? Emily: I started out as a photojournalist, running around shooting six stories a day, eating at red lights—it's an incredibly difficult job and I loved it. After a few years though, I wanted to start telling my own stories and my captions got longer and longer, so the progression from photographer to photographer/reporter was pretty natural. Once I made it into the proper newsroom, there were even more opportunities to learn from my peers. I was lucky that the art directors, executive editors and photo editors I've worked with were all great collaborators and I was able to learn a lot from them. I'm flexible; I've done stints as Managing Editor and News Editor, so when this opportunity at The Atlantic came up, I thought, why not mash up all those skills I've gained over the last decade and put them to good use? Sahiba: What role does multimedia play for The Atlantic? Do you often hire videographers for assignments? If yes, what is that you are looking for? Emily: We have an impressive video department run by Kasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg. Her team showcases outside contributors daily with their "Editor's Picks" and they also produce original videos for the site, like the "If Our Bodies Could Talk" and the "Ask a Tween" series. Sahiba: What sprouted the American Dreams collaboration? What were you exactly looking for while picking your final edits for publishing? How was the response? Emily: I've admired EchoSight's work from the get-go, so when my editor came to me with the American dream theme, I knew immediately I wanted to collaborate with them. There are so many varied interpretations for the dream, mashups seemed like a natural fit. The Atlantic's readers are also incredibly sharp, so instead of assigning photographers to interpret the dream, I thought it would be interesting to see what the average Atlantic reader sees. In selecting the final images for publication, Daniella Zalcman and I looked to mashups that connected disparate themes: A same-sex wedding and the American wilderness; a cowboy and a skyscraper. The response was amazing. Christa Olson at Reading The Pictures did a close read of the project writing, "These juxtapositions are especially interesting in a thematic sense because the details of each photograph also undermine the national myths they perpetuate." I couldn't have said it better myself. Sahiba: Do you have any advice/tips for those who'd like to break into direction of photography? Emily: I think the best advice one of my college professors gave me still stands true today: Photographers have to bring something new. Don't worry about having the right camera or a press pass or anything material like that. Who are the most fascinating characters in your life? What do you know more about than anyone else? Photographers give the world access to the people, places, and cultures they have the honor of knowing. Oh, and it's a business. Treat it like one! Some examples: http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2015/09/photographing-the-american-dreamers/402421/ http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/06/a-high-school-for-the-homeless/395177/ http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/09/the-wet-paradise/405259/