Photographers on Frontlines Document Pandemic While Trying to Stay Safe

Photographers on Frontlines Document Pandemic While Trying to Stay Safe 

By Abby Campbell 

JRN100 Stonehill News Staff Writer 

The coronavirus has the usually competitive world of photojournalism cooperating as the industry tries to keep its photographers safe while they document the pandemic.  

“Whatever our photographers need to keep them safe on the frontlines we’ll try to get for them,” said Andrew Gombert of the Los Angelos Times.  

In the midst of multiple shortages on health safety supplies, news competitors have said that they have come to pool resources together to ensure as much coverage on the coronavirus while keeping photojournalists and their families safe. 

The coronavirus threat has reached all corners of the Earth and it affects all ages and all communities. Journalists have been recording the ways the pandemic is affecting the world and keeping the public – most of whom are sheltered at home— up to date on efforts to stop the spread of the virus.  

Gombert said his job as the deputy photo editor in charge of events and technology usually involves finding the proper resources for his photojournalists but in the age of coronavirus, he said he’s been helping not only the LA Times bust also competitors.  

“My job position already prepared me for this, with coordinating photographers for events and working with internal technology,” Gombert said.  

There have been meetings around the US between multiple competitors discussing all the ways wire photo companies and newspapers are doing to keep their photographers safe, he said.  

Gombert has become a point person in the industry, with people contacting him to find out how they can get materials for photographers such as face-masks and protection suits. 

He said he likes that competitors can discuss their needs together since as a large group it will be easier to order protection gear. Gombert said most vendors will only make bulk orders, so pooling helps news agencies get what they need. 

He said that acting as one group makes it easier to coordinate with vendors but also helps to avoid taking away supplies that could be going to first-responders.  

“I’m cautious but optimistic about the coronavirus situation,” Gombert said.  

Ben Wenz of the European Pressphoto Agency (EPA) is the supervising editor based in Frankfurt, Germany. EPA started covering the COVID-19 virus back in December when the cases started spreading in Wuhan, China. In the beginning, it was more challenging to have photographers go and photograph a virus that was still very unknown. 

Wenz said EPA administration was told “do not push” if a photographer did not feel safe photographing an area or people possibly contaminated with the virus.  

As the coronavirus developed into a worldwide pandemic, EPA became even more concerned with the safety of its employees and the potential of them spreading the virus to their families or others in the community. 

Wenz said the pandemic upended the schedule in the photography world, which is usually busy covering major events from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics to the Democratic Convention to Wimbledon to the Masters' Tournament 2020.   

Now, Wenz said, coverage is focused mainly just COVID-19. 

 “I’ve never had a story like this happen in my career, where this global story affects every country but ultimately became a local story where even you and your neighbors are affected,” he said.  

Jessica Rinaldi, a Pulitzer prize-winning staff photographer at the Boston Globe, said her working hours have grown but her focus has narrowed. 

“I usually am bouncing to different stories, but now it’s all corona all the time,” she said.  

Rinaldi says that she not as worried about her own safety as she is about spreading the disease to people she photographs if she did contract it and was asymptomatic. 

During the pandemic, Rinaldi has taken a wide range of photographs from historical testing lab work to portraits of victims and their families and people coming in and out of key buildings. 

To keep safe, she said she has added tasks to her work routines such as frequently using hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes outside and inside of her car. She also packs a lunch every day instead of stopping somewhere. 

She said social distancing has added new challenges to her photography, and that she is now taking more long-distance photos.  

“Photojournalism is usually an intimate profession, we’re always talking to get close and now we can’t do that,” Rinaldi said.  

As Rinaldi and her colleagues document the pandemic the best they can, Gombert and the groups he is working with continue to work behind the scenes to make sure the photographers have the equipment they need to stay safe. 

“Competitors can still give valuable information to each other to keep others safe while keeping a competitive edge which I believe we really need in this time,” Gombert said.