Work with me!
I’m an audio, images, words journalist with nearly a decade of experience breaking and repairing news for digital and print audiences. I tell human-forward stories from the ground in Oregon and Washington. And I show student journalists how to do my kind of work.
So what does that work look like?
Education
University of Oregon | Master of Science, Journalism | Dec. 2020
Emphasis: low-impact, high-skill documentary photography, podcasting, and long-form writing.
Credits include drone photography, audio production and second camera on student films.
My graduate research, including analysis and qualitative interviews, helped inform a 2019 University of Oregon white paper published under School of Journalism and Communication Professor Damian Radcliffe, ‘Local Journalism in the Pacific Northwest.’
AWARD: My images for Flux Magazine of a boy finding community among drag queens won first place in feature photography at the Columbia Scholastic Press Association’s 2019 Golden Circle Awards.
University of Oregon | Bachelor of Arts, Journalism, sociology minor | June 2018
Emphasized media theory, journalistic ethics, changing business models and documents-driven reporting.
Minor focus on study design, praxis and intersectionality.
3.99 GPA
Experience
Albany Democrat-Herald, Corvallis Gazette-Times | Reporter, podcaster | February 2022 to April 2025
My audio storytelling, photography and writing explored themes of resistance and power; self-determination; and who gets missed when bureaucracies overlap on their regulation of land in Oregon.
Enterprise stories covering agri-business, environment and health care.
Beat reporter covering local government in Albany, Corvallis, Lebanon; Benton and Linn counties.
AWARD: My podcast A Place to Sleep, about the diaspora of Oregonians without housing, won national first-place honors, besting NPR’s Embedded and WBUR’s The Trace for best limited series.
AWARD: Second place, audio series in the 2023 Society for Professional Journalists’s Excellence in Journalism Awards for a five-state Pacific Northwest region. Episodes about Brownsville and Corvallis won additional first-place honors for government and breaking news.
AWARD: My portfolio of photos from A Place to Sleep earned second place among small media outlets across Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington in the 2023 Society for Professional Journalists’s Excellence in Journalism Awards.
Freelance Journalist | Photographer | 2014 to 2020
Bylines in Oregon media outlets, most recently The Oregonian and The Daily Emerald.
Herald and News | Writer, photographer | July 2011 to Sept. 2012
Flexible, general-assignment multimedia reporting — produced video and on-scene breaking news reports for the paper’s website and social media accounts, writing through for print.
Community-first coverage of Klamath Basin business, land use, military, crime and courts and interesting people doing interesting things.
AWARD: My story about a family stuck with an uninhabitable home won second place for feature writing in the 2013 Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association Better News Contest.
The Umpqua Post | Writer, photographer | July 2009 to Nov. 2010
It was my privilege to shoot and write in Reedsport, Oregon — a tiny community filled to the brim with aging seniors, dwindling school attendance, contested public lands and a goal of one major festival every month in an economy turning from fishing and timber to tourism.
The World | Journalist | January 2006 to July 2009
On-the-job training as a photo intern. I joined the photo desk as a newsroom staffer in mid-2007, covering breaking news, features and sports under tight deadlines.
I made and edited daily assignment photos for the Oregon coast’s largest newspaper. I sometimes wrote news and event coverage and produced audio-photos-video stories.
I was a researcher and clerk after layoffs eliminated my photo job in October 2008. Wrote death notices, obituaries and a community calendar; scoured archives to support reporters.
Competencies
Tools | Audio, photo, video | If it’s a professional Canon or Nikon body made after 1999, I’ve probably shot it
Cameras: extensive use of a Canon autofocus (EF and RF-mount); Nikon autofocus; and Sony autofocus (E-mount) equipment dating back to 2005. Proficient in Canon and Sony cinema systems. Proficient in many 35mm and some medium-format systems.
Field recorders: extensive use of two- and four-track decks from Roland, Tascam and Zoom.
Lights, studio modifiers: Pack and head systems and monolights, including Broncolor, Elinchrom, Paul C. Buff and Speedotron; speedlights including Canon and Nikon.
Software: extensive use of production suites including Adobe Audition, Lightroom, Photoshop and Premiere, on Mac OS and Windows. Extensive use of Microsoft Excel; familiar with productivity software like Outlook and Teams.
Web platforms: Esri and other geo-spatial applications; government data and records portals, like OJCIN, Your DEQ, and CivicPlus-based websites; content management and publishing systems like BLOX and SoundStack; FTP and file transfer sites like WeTransfer or Box; class management systems like Canvas.
Skills | Investigation, production, teaching | I’ve practiced journalism in lots of ways
Teaching and mentorship, including curriculum design; leading workshops on hard skills like video production, audio interview, and lighting; and fostering work environments where colleagues can approach me with questions about their journalistic practice. I’m comfortable providing constructive feedback and critique.
I deploy strenuous and sensitive interview techniques meant to avoid judgment but also hold public officials to high standards.
Editing for tight, salient stories in audio, video, photos and words.
Audio engineering, including on-location sound recording and post-production to broadcast standards.
Investigation through records requests, data analysis and management, triangulating facts and sources, and accountability interviews.
I write with literary techniques, developing characters, narrative arcs and scenes to deliver accurate information that compels readership.