Wednesday, September 14, 2022

Today during my DC Photojournalism trip class we met virtually with Carol Alderman, a Rochester Institute of Technology Alumna. Carol formerly worked at USA Today, Washington Post, Axios and now works at LumiQ.

There were various key takeaways from our meeting.

First, if you want something you have to be sure to do the research and ask questions. A close mouth does not get fed. Ask yourself: what do you think you can do, what you can offer the publication and what you can learn from it. Being ambiguous is a good thing... Arrive early. Stay late. Carol explained how her being ambiguous(being an activate participate in her own learning is key) and being curious(what are you thinking about when you do this, why did you make this choice instead of that choice) got her to where she wanted to be even when she didn't have a clear idea of what she exactly wanted to do.

"You know what you know, you know roughly what you don't and then you don't know what you don't even know."

Second, when trying to create a new position in a publication along with asking to do certain things it may be intimidating. Although, Carol had mentioned how she tends to be hyper aware of the situation she is in, knowing your goals, doing your research(knowing what you can offer), being flexible alongside willing to receive critical feedback and learning from that in order to be not as timid.

Third, everyone is just a human being. Most have the best of intentions and are pretty absorbed in their own selves. If you can tell others what you have to offer them and what you're doing for them it will help the situation. For instance, when Carol was interviewing Kamala Harris, she refused to do the interview because of how close the large microphone was near her. Although, after Carol had explained why that is and how doing that will produce a better outcome for the interview she went with it.

Fourth, Carol spoke of how she physically built the Washington Post's studios, launched ten different shows for them, and hired actors for the shows, Her example of doing these things shows her ambition and how your ideas can truly be made into reality with a little bit of effort, self motivation and passion. After starting the different shows that is when she really got into Podcast and audio work and geared away from photography. Which just shows to always be open minded because you never know what you might end up really liking, wanting to learn more of and become successful in what it may be...Options and possibilities.

Fifth, her opinion is that all mediums can work together. It's not necessarily the format but if you are able to tell a really compelling relatable story where someone can learn something new about the human condition. Did the format help to tell the story?