Photojournalism Students Visit NYC 
by Meredith Davenport

Every year the juniors in the photojournalism program at RIT Photo take a trip to New York City. They visit many organizations and photographers during a very busy week. This was my first year leading the trip.

I have – for years – watched the students’ enthusiasm when they returned to Rochester after the trip, but it was really something to be with them as they met so many editors and photographers who are working in New York City. It was wonderful to have them begin to really see their next steps beyond RIT. We have so many alumni working in the top media outlets. I was so proud and awed to see the work the RIT alums are doing.  The transition from traditional print media to digital has opened up a lot of new opportunities and they are seizing the chance to make interactive web projects on race, the gun control issue, and immigration. They work in places like The New York Times, Intercept, Buzzfeed and the Magnum Foundation. There has been a lot of talk about journalism dying but I feel more strongly than ever that our students are out in the world creating work that is important and thoughtful. Everywhere we went we were told how much these organizations appreciated and respected the RIT PJ program, which was very heartening.

We literally followed the news story about a series of pipe bombs that were mailed to politicians and to CNN. We heard first-hand about how Reuters transmitted photographs of the scene directly from their cameras to the news desk. The next day we were able to ask the front-page digital editor at the New York Times why she chose the picture of the scene that appeared on the web and the following day we were in NPR when the news broke that they had arrested the alleged bomber and they told us how they had covered the story.

Every single visit was really interesting and engaging. I particularly enjoyed our time at Blue Chalk Media. Pam Huling put together an awesome exercise for the students to help them understand how her business works. The students were given roles like “one-man band” “mediocre shooter” or “talented editor.” Two students were given the role of a client. One client was a big corporate spender and the other client was a not for profit. Each had a certain amount of money to build a team to complete a multimedia project. It was an extremely insightful and valuable exercise to watch as the teams negotiated the deal.

About Meredith

Meredith Davenport joined the RIT Photo faculty in 2011 where she is an associate professor of photojournalism. She earned her MFA from Hunter College 2009 and a BFA from RIT in 1988. She recently published her first book, Theater of War. Meredith teaches Photojournalism at RIT.