Lissauer takes pictures at a family-friendly peaceful protest for Black Lives Matter in St. Louis Park. Lissauer helped in the Echo coverage of the protests in Minneapolis and St. Louis Park through a series of multimedia elements.
Photojournalism
Smashed in a human sandwich between a hive of photographers from major media outlets, I gripped my camera, furiously snapping pictures of Sen. Bernie Sanders from the press stand. That night came only a month after I took my first photo, but in that time I had already captured four events through the lens of a camera. I never realized how meaningful and powerful photos could be until I began taking pictures for Echo. While a story can capture an event, a photo visually captures the people, moments and emotions that come with it.
After George Floyd died less than three miles from my house, one thought ran through my head over and over: what can I do and how can I make an impact? With the help of my peers, I quickly realized that as a student journalist I have the ability to make a difference in more ways than just attending a protest to protest or posting on social media. I grabbed a camera and some of my fellow Echo staffers and we set out to cover the family-friendly peaceful protest in St. Louis Park. One protest turned into several more and we continued to cover protests well into the summer — capturing the peaceful gatherings of our community through a series of photo galleries, videos and other multimedia content. The photo to the left was a finalist in The School of The New York Times Photojournalism Challenge
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Two weeks before the United States shut down because of COVID-19, I found myself in the press stand at two political rallies. The first one, in the gym of my high school, was Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s. There were already two photographers attending from Echo, so I attended as a writer. But, the whole time we were packed in that gym I felt like I was missing something. Two days later, when Sen. Bernie Sanders was in town and we had the opportunity to attend as official members of the press, I knew I wouldn't make the same mistake. I borrowed a friend’s camera and spent the whole night trying to capture the individual people and specific moments to effectively portray the event.
While at this game, I took over 500 pictures. Taking a crisp and clear photo of hockey was a lot harder than I thought it would be — and I thought it would be very very difficult. As the game went on, I focused less on taking the perfect photo and more on capturing multiple aspects of the game to the best of my abilities. I learned so much during the 51 minutes of game time about sports photography and am so happy with how these photos turned out considering it was my first adventure into sports photography. |
I wish I could say I took my first photo on purpose, but I didn't. At a Letters of Love gala for teens, I somehow ended up with a camera. Out of boredom, I turned it on and started snapping pictures. Although at first I was uncomfortable — to the point where I made my friend stand with me — within 10 minutes I was so in my zone trying to capture every moment that I lost my friend. I was able to capture a moment in a way words never could. |