Kennedy Weatherby: NSPA Photojournalist of the Year Portfolio
In the jazz dance number, “History Repeating,” Parker Mitchell, Wynter Winston, Maddie Hello and Samantha Bogle dance with the mindset that they are spies hunting their next target and looking for who might be targeting them. Winston said she was excited to perform this dance, choreographed by the B. Iden Payne Award-winning Sara Burke, because it was one she had learned the year before and was scheduled to perform it at the 2020 spring dance show. “We had to put it on hold due to COVID,” Winston said. She said she didn’t really have a favorite number in last weekend’s show but rather enjoyed the whole experience. ”My favorite moment from this weekend overall was just being in the MAC again with all my dance friends. It was back to familiarity.”
I have been a part of McCallum’s photojournalist team for the past three years now, covering a wide range of events, and being a part of both the newspaper and yearbook staff.
When COVID hit last March, it caused a whole lot of uncertainty, and that was not lacking in the world of photojournalism. Over the past year and a half, I’ve struggled in finding events to cover, getting into different venues, and reporting to my full extent while limited to digital connection. While these may have been challenges, in retrospect, this year has only strengthened my passion for photojournalism.
Despite the pandemic, I still was able to find a variety of different events to cover as the year went on, first of which was volleyball. In a normal year, volleyball wouldn’t have been my first choice of events to cover, but I had just written a profile on one of the captains and I needed some photos for my story. Volleyball was also one of the only events that I was guaranteed to get into at the time, so I took the chance and went. At the beginning of my junior year, I was out of practice as a sports photographer, so going into a high school gym for the first time in over six months was a bit intimidating. Luckily enough for me, I wasn’t alone when I got to my first volleyball game, but another photographer was there, Jolie. She was an experienced volleyball photographer, she knew the sport and the team, and she was more than willing to offer help when I needed it. Not only did Jolie help me grow as a photographer and as a journalist, but she became a friend. I learned so much from her, and I wouldn’t have gotten that chance to grow as a photojournalist if it wasn’t for the limitations of the pandemic that pushed me to find a new sport to cover. While I was only planning on attending one game, I ended up going to every other home volleyball game with Jolie. I grew a love for photographing that sport, as well as the game of volleyball, and I cannot wait to head back to the gym this fall.
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JV KNIGHTS 2, COUGARS 1: The Mac players celebrate winning the final point of their three-set game against Crockett on Friday night in the Mac gym.Avenging a Sept. 18 road loss to the Crockett, the JV Knights edged the Cougars, 2-1. The Knights cruised to an easy 25-6 first set, but the Cougars surprised the Knights in the second, winning 25-23, to tie the game at 1. The third and final set was a nailbiter, with the Cougars keeping up with the Knights the whole set, but the home team was able to prevail, winning the set, 25-23 and the game, 2-1. “We did really well,” sophomore outside hitter Rachel Nabhan said. “The second [set] they got us a little bit, but we fought hard and played hard in the third, and we took that win.” Reporting by Kennedy Weatherby. Photos by Jolie Gabriel and Kennedy Weatherby.
Now, if there’s anything I was known for at my school, it would be my photography, but more specifically, it would be my photos of the boys basketball team. Before I even came to McCallum, I knew how much I loved the game of basketball, my brother had played for years and I had been watching the game for as long as I can remember. When I joined the photojournalism class my freshman year, I knew the sport I wanted to cover the most was basketball. And that’s exactly what I did. Since my freshman year, I have been to over 100 basketball games, growing my experience as a photographer, my connection with the teams, and my passion for the sport. There was, of course, a big change this year, when they stopped allowing fans into the games. If you know anything about basketball, you know it is a fast paced, exhilarating game to watch, with fans going wild every time anything exciting happens. When the team stopped allowing fans in, I realized I had a bigger job, as a photographer and a reporter, than I ever had before: I had to capture the big, exciting moments and report on them in a way so all of the fans could feel as if they were able to be there. While this was a huge challenge for me, it encouraged me to grow, finding new and interesting angles to shoot from, finding something special a player did to focus on, and show a wide range of players so all of our fans would be able to visualize who was on the court. This allowed me so many opportunities to get wonderfully captivating photos that told a story, and advance my reporting abilities and sports game writing. Covering basketball has always been a bright spot for me, and this year only strengthened that bright spot. Getting to attend so many games and witness so many great moments with the team, and then being able to record those moments down on paper for everyone, I feel so lucky that this is what I get to do. It’s the best job in the world.
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PLAYING TO THE FINAL WHISTLE: In a tough game against the Lockhart Lions, senior forward Rob Wade goes in for a dunk. The Knights started the game with a lead, going into halftime up 33-26, but they lost their momentum in the second half and ended the third quarter down by 11. Despite the Knights’ efforts to recover in the 4th, they were unable to bring it back and lost with a final score of 67-57. ““We had a lot of guys in foul trouble so we couldn’t be as aggressive as we wanted in the 4th so it was hard to cut back into their lead.” Said Wade. Despite that, “Nobody quit. We played hard till the end.” Photo by Kennedy Weatherby.
As I said before, I have been covering basketball for three years now, and before this year, that was one of the only events I would cover. But as this school year went on, I realized that I didn’t just want to be the ‘basketball photographer,’ I wanted to be my school’s go-to photojournalist. I saw an opportunity present itself when one of my yearbook editors suggested that I go and shoot our school’s modified version of prom, which was happening outside. I was a mixture of excited and nervous. I was so grateful for this new opportunity that I knew would help me grow as a photographer, but I was also way less experienced with shooting outdoors at night, so I was a bit nervous, but nonetheless, I was going to go. Then, that Saturday, May 2nd, came. Torrential rains poured down on our city for hours, causing flash flood warnings across many counties. I was convinced I was not going. I didn’t want to drive with flash flooding warnings, I didn’t want to go and challenge myself as a photographer, and my extremely introverted self was all of the sudden intimidated by the idea of going to an event with upwards of 200 people.
One of the things about prom is the student council organizes it and volunteers to help run it. I had many friends in the student council, but one friend in particular, Anna Bausman, was signed up to help at prom. Anna and I have been friends since my freshman year, and one of the most distinctive things about her is her ability to persuade people into anything. That night, Anna offered to drive me to prom, and promised to talk to me if I ever needed an introverted escape, and even though there was a bit of reluctance from my end at first, I went, ready to get my shoes muddy and capture some memorable photos. Looking back now, I could never thank Anna enough. Not only was I able to capture some of the greatest images of my career as a photographer, but I had the best night I’d had in over a year, talking, dancing, and watching people actually be happy, which had been a rare sight this past year. That was the night I realized that I didn’t just want to be a sports photographer as a job later on, but I wanted to be a photojournalist, experiencing every side of the world from behind my camera.
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POP AND LOCK: Scarlett Houser and Fiona Wyrtzen show their moves on the prom dance floor. “I just remember hearing a song I really liked, I think something by Pop Smoke, and immediately grabbing Fiona’s hand and dragging her down to the dance floor,” Houser said. Seeing everyone, especially people who she hadn’t interacted with in person since last year on the floor was part of what made prom special for Houser. “It was so nice getting to see the many people that I haven’t seen in forever. That was probably my favorite aspect of the night, just the feeling of normalcy for the first time was jarring but fun!” Photo by Kennedy Weatherby.
Prior to this next event, I had covered dance shows before. Even this past year, I had been to our drill team’s spring show that was held in the school gym, as well as a few similar performances in preceding years. But there was something extra special about our school’s dance academy’s spring show. It was the first performance held in our school’s performing arts center in over a year. A little background on my school, we are a fine arts academy with very prestigious programs revolving around the arts, so the performances at McCallum always come to impress. This performance was no exception to that. I found so many opportunities to take beautiful images of the dancers, and I was able to see some of my best friends do what they love the most, dance. I always am grateful for the chance to go cover an event and do what I love, but when it involves watching people also doing what they love to do, it makes the experience so rewarding and a real joy to be a part of. That’s one of my favorite things about being a photojournalist.
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MAKING “HISTORY”: In the jazz dance number, “History Repeating,” Parker Mitchell, Wynter Winston, Maddie Hello and Samantha Bogle dance with the mindset that they are spies hunting their next target and looking for who might be targeting them. Winston said she was excited to perform this dance, choreographed by the B. Iden Payne Award-winning Sara Burke, because it was one she had learned the year before and was scheduled to perform it at the 2020 spring dance show. “We had to put it on hold due to COVID,” Winston said. She said she didn’t really have a favorite number in last weekend’s show but rather enjoyed the whole experience. ”My favorite moment from this weekend overall was just being in the MAC again with all my dance friends. It was back to familiarity.” Photo by Kennedy Weatherby.
The last event I covered of the year was graduation. After the craziness of the last year, of course, it came to no surprise to us that, due to bad weather, the venue was changed at the last minute from an outdoor football stadium to the inside of a gym. Nevertheless, I was still excited to photograph the event, as well as see some of my closest friends graduate.
To put it simply, graduation was one of the most heart-warming and beautiful events that I’ve ever covered. Throughout this global pandemic, we’ve seen so many people struggling and going through some of the toughest of times. Getting to see all of these seniors graduate from one of the weirdest senior years in history was such a beautiful moment, and the proud looks on all of their faces made the event all the more exciting to share with other people.
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The 2020-2021 school year will go down as one of the most memorable school years in history, but for me, I’ll always remember it as the year that I realized that I was an aspiring photojournalist, ready to learn and grow, taking whatever curveball the world threw at me, and embracing it.