We had the good fortune of connecting with Lucy Morantz and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lucy, we’d love for you to start things off by telling us something about your industry that we and others not in the industry might be unaware of?
When I tell people some of the stories I’ve collected over my six years of practicing photojournalism, many are often surprised by the time and risk that are inherent to the industry.

Similar to many other creative fields, journalism is all-consuming in a sense. I’ve noticed in myself over the years that the more I shoot, the more often I go about my everyday life using my eyes as a viewfinder and mentally composing scenes in my head. A lot of the framing and compositional concepts in my work actually stem from this subconscious habit. Further, journalism doesn’t operate on a normal eight-hour, five-day workweek schedule and news doesn’t stop just because the last reporter in the newsroom went home for the night. Considering there’s no way to predict when news will break, reporters and photographers just come to assume they are ‘on-call’ all of the time. We are expected to constantly be planning, researching, analyzing, shooting, networking, editing, writing captions, updating our portfolio and resumes, submitting to photo contests and more. Essentially, the thought process of being a storyteller becomes your version of ‘normal’ and you go about your days and personal encounters looking for new angles to tell. From all this, political journalism is unique in and of itself because you have the added responsibility of staying accurately and fully informed on the ever-changing political climate at the local, state and federal levels.

Secondly, a degree of risk is assumed by any photojournalist when we walk into a protest scene — especially in today’s hyper-polarized climate where the ideology of some of the most prevalent groups specifically calls for violence to be targeted at us. I’ve heard stories from fellow photojournalists who were in D.C. on January 6, 2021, and the effect that day had on their physical, mental and emotional health is chilling. However, even with all this being said, risk is still necessary for photojournalism in a creative sense because otherwise, the public would see the same style of shots, ultimately decreasing the impact, influence, and purpose of our photos and practice as a whole.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
The reason I am so passionate about journalism and political photojournalism specifically is becuase I believe in the power of photos to impact human perception in a way that words alone cannot. Sure, a writer can use the most vivid adjectives to describe a confrontation between a police officer and a protester, but a photo showing the same thing will leave an even stronger and longer-lasting impression on viewers. Plus, writers are limited by language as there are only so many words available to them whereas a visual storyteller has infinite ways to demonstrate the same thing.

To take a line from my favorite photojournalist, Pete Souza; journalism is the first draft of history. This concept has ultimately become the guiding principle for my work and perfectly sums up why I feel so strongly about the power of photojournalism.

The application of this idea to my own work also sheds light on what I have done that I am most proud of. With the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement and the swarm of politics surrounding the global pandemic in the summer of 2020, I was given the opportunity to document these hugely historically important moments in human history. The reception of my photographs made me realize the importance of my work and the importance of me accurately portraying the first draft of history. If not for the political strife of the past six years, I truthfully do not know if I would be doing journalism right now.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
When my best friends have come to visit me in Fort Collins in the past we always have the best time. My go-to spot to take people is to Horsetooth for a picnic before coming back to my apartment to cook dinner and catch up. I always spend at least one day in Denver and one day in Estes Park so my friends can get a taste of the Colorado city life as well as take in beautiful views and experience the mountain life Colorado has to offer. Estes is also my favorite place to go take nature photos!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Gosh — there are so many people I have to thank for helping me get to where I am today.

First and foremost, if not for my family I don’t think I ever would have discovered my passion for any artistic fields, let alone photojournalism. Growing up, my grandparents would take me to workshops at the art museum back home and my great-grandma, who is an incredible ceramic artist, would bring me along to her pottery studio. All the while, though, I had a tunnel-vision focus for soccer until a series of surgeries in 2016 and 2017 abruptly ended that dream.

Ironically, my mom and dad met while they were both working for the Associated Press, and while neither were active journalists by this point, they both recognized my 16-year-old self’s need to find a new hobby. So, they encouraged me to join my school’s student newspaper as a photographer and the rest is history. I feel so unbelievably lucky to have grandparents, parents and siblings who have always been my biggest fans and continually remind me of how much they believe in me, my work and my aspirations.

My high school experience was unique in that our school’s journalism program allotted the same ‘clout’ to its members as did being a varsity athlete. Our paper, The Harbinger, was consistently ranked within the top three best in the nation and our advisor, Dow Tate, was among the best as well. I didn’t realize or appreciate the quality of my high school journalism background until I got to college and spent my first two semesters rehashing all the same material I was taught in Shawnee Mission East’s room 521 as a teenager.

In my time at Colorado State University, my passion for journalism has been reaffirmed time and time again. Whether it be through the support I get from The Collegian’s immensely talented photo desk and Photo Advisor Jill Mott, my journalism professors and the rest of the department, or my best friends hyping me and my work up (thanks Maddy, Maggie and Emily), all of these people deserve every ounce of gratitude I have to give.

Website: https://lucymorantzmedia.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lucymorantz.jpg/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucy-morantz-5a7911173/

Image Credits
Personal image: Maddy Westcott All other images: Lucy Morantz

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