Photo editor leaves; I take opportunity to create new position

Photo Editor Zachary Stephens recently left the Reformer to become the new program director at The In-Sight Photography Project. (Look for his farewell in this weekend's Reformer.)

Zach served as photo editor at the Brattleboro Reformer for nearly six years. (I hired him, having also worked with him during my time at The Recorder in Greenfield, Mass.) He is co-owner of studio ten13, as well as photojournalism instructor at Landmark College. He has served as staff or freelance photographer at several Vermont newspapers, and his work has also appeared in The New York Times, Vermont Life, The Boston Globe, the Boston Herald and USA Today.

And, for those who don't know, the In-Sight Photography Project teaches photography to youth ages 11 to 18 in the southern Vermont area, regardless of their ability to pay. In-Sight offers students a creative voice and outlet, an opportunity to experience success, tools for self-awareness and self-worth, and the encouragement to become actively engaged in their communities.

This is a great opportunity with Zach, who I also consider a personal friend outside of work. So good luck to him ... and I'm sure there will be more than a few great opportunities in the coming months, after he gets settled in his new position, for the Reformer to partner up with In-Sight on some new endeavors.

***In the meantime, I'm sure anyone reading this has heard about the recent mass layoff of news photographers, over in Chicago. Here's a few links on the topic:

From News Cut: The day photo journalism died.

From the Chicago Tribune blogs: The Idiocy of Eliminating a Photo Staff .

From Howard Owens' blog: My evolution as a photographer and thoughts on the Chicago Sun-Times.

From Weeder: Fired Chicago Sun-Times Photographers Picket Newspaper.

Personally, after Zach gave his notice, I sat with members of the editorial board to discuss whether the Reformer still needed a photographer on staff. In this day and age, could we get by if all the reporters had a smart phone? Surely that money could be allocated to a new position?

In the end, we decided that no, a staff photographer in the newsroom was still a valuable commodity. While reporters with smart phones or point-and-shoots can do a fine job of capturing spot news, when it comes to community profiles -- you know, the ones illustrated with a few nice portrait images -- and other event coverage (like parades or graduations), having someone trained to get the best image possible is something I still want available.

However, what I did decide to do was convert the vacant photographer/photo editor position into something more "Digital First" friendly.

The result:

Kayla Rice joined the newsroom today as the new Multimedia Editor here at the Reformer. Kayla is a graduate of BUHS and earned a photojournalism degree from Syracuse University. Regular readers will recall her name appearing the the paper a few years ago when she interned here.

The multimedia editor will oversee photography and curation of our photo archives, but also work hand-in-hand with me continuing to develop our various online social media endeavors (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tour, Vine, etc.).

This was work the Zach had been helping me with in the past, but now I have a more formal recognition of that effort. I also think this does a great job addressing how newsrooms around the country continue to shift into the deigital landscape of news presentation.