Photo Editing & Art Direction

 

Projects I have photo edited for the University of Washington Magazine, the largest magazine published in the Pacific Northwest.

 

From prison to college
Photographer: Meron Menghistab

As editor of this piece in addition to photo editing, I worked with interviewer Omari Amili for over a year to organize and execute this project. Omari, who has incarcerated before earning four college degrees, interviews 10 other people who went to prison and then became college graduates. I brought on photographer Meron Menghistab, who grew up on the South End of Seattle, to make the portraits. Meron was named to the prestigious list of 30 Emerging Photographers in 2020.

A guide to Filipino food in Seattle
in collaboration with 11 visual artists

For this sprawling guide to Filipino food, I commissioned 10 photographers and one illustrator to visit the region’s Filipino restaurants and grocery stores, mixing traditional food photography with staged portraiture and reportage. I then recruited local Filipino writers to write about what the food meant to them, pairing the diverse visuals with powerful and personal words.

“Down to the core”
Photographers: The Voorhes

For a story about the decrease in public funding for higher education, and the difference between perception and reality when it comes to this topic. Photos by the Voorhes.

“Jordan Nicholson’s moment”
Photographer: Abdi Ibrahim

In collaboration with DJ Stout and Haley Taylor at Pentagram Austin. I hired Abdi Ibrahim, a really talented 22-year-old out of Seattle, to shoot fellow photographer Jordan Nicholson for a feature story about Nicholson’s improbable career as a globe-trotting music photographer. The theme hanging over this story is the human body—what makes it unique, and what makes it universal. I told Abdi to treat the session as a study of the human form, to emphasize Jordan’s disability while also creating shots that look right past it. With these photos, I think you can immediately tell Jordan is differently abled while also knowing it doesn’t hold him back at all.

“The identity solution”
Photographer: Bob Gwaltney

I commissioned Indiana photographer Bob Gwaltney, a longtime photojournalist at the Evansville Courier & Press, to cover the opening of a new school in Indianapolis. The school, called pilotED, has a curriculum designed around teaching and celebrating racial and cultural identity. Bob developed the film in his living room.

“In the Club”
Photographer: David Oh

After admiring David Oh’s work for about a year, I hired him to do a recurring series that features club athletes at the University of Washington. This is a corner of a college campus that doesn’t get much attention, but that is filled with sweat-soaked, obsessed individuals pursuing their passions at a very high level. And David has extensive experience embedding himself with athletes, from roller derby to running groups.

Illustrations & Paintings

Editorial spot art and cover art for editorial projects by Marisol Ortega, Curtis Dickie, I. Brown, and Miha Sarani.

Remote Teaching
Photographer: Jackie Russo

Early in the pandemic, we hired the fantastic Mexico City-based photographer Jackie Russo to make remote portraits of University of Washington professors. Jackie has gone on to shoot remote work for many other publications since the pandemic started.