Congratulations to our member Allison Joyce for being featured in this Guardian list of Photographers of the year. http://bit.ly/2Bmv6g1
We asked Allison to share her experience doing the reporting. As the year ends, Allison also reflects on what she has learnt in this busy year and what she would like to advise other journalists.
The most eye opening reporting from this year, for Allison Joyce.
This year I spent a few months covering the Rohingya genocide for Getty Images. I started in early January in Bangladesh covering the refugees who had fled, and were still fleeing, after the October 9th attacks. Although I have been covering the Rohingya since 2010, at that time I had never seen refugees fleeing across the border in such large numbers, and they came with such heartbreaking stories. But I still I couldn’t image then that in just 8 months things would get so, so much worse. I returned back in September to cover the refugees who were fleeing after the August 25th attacks, and Cox’s Bazar was unrecognizable to me. As I drove up and down from Cox’s Bazar to Teknaf, refugees lined the roads. They would cling to the side of the car, claw at my arms, begging for a bit of food, or plead with me to help their sick baby, or ask me to help them find their relatives. I had never seen such desperate, profound suffering on a huge scale like that. People were fleeing across the border, injured, with nothing more than the clothes on their back. I feel grateful that I’ve had the opportunity to tell their stories and hopefully open the eyes of people across the world, but at the same time, this is nothing new. The Rohingya crisis is a story that I’ve been covering for the past 7 years. I really wish it didn’t take such a huge influx of refugees to wake people up to a barbaric and inhumane genocide that has been going on for decades.
Covering such stories can take a toll of the reporter. Journalists on the ground can get effected emotionally and intellectually. Here are some reflections by Allison Joyce.
The biggest lesson that I’ve learned this year is the need to take care of myself when I cover stories like these. I returned to Cox’s Bazar in September after 7 months of covering a story on trafficking with writer Corinne Redfern. The trafficking story was one of the most difficult and emotionally draining of my career, and I should have taken time off before I went to cover the Rohingya. While my editor didn’t push me to go, I felt like I had something to prove and I wanted to be there, telling the story. By the end of my time in Cox’s Bazar in September, I was physically and emotionally broken, and I wasn’t nearly as effective a journalist as I needed to be. I wholeheartedly believe that journalists need to care, feel and empathize with the people that they are documenting in order to tell a story effectively, there is immense value in that. But I am also overdue in learning the value of self care; in taking time off between stories and relying on colleagues for support.
Some suggestions Allison would share with other photojournalist who would like to pursue international reporting.
I don’t necessarily think that anyone needs to pursue international reporting, there are huge stories that need telling everywhere in the world right now, especially in my home country, the United States. The most important thing is to learn what issues move you. If you don’t care in your soul for a story you won’t be able to make your audience care either.
Curation: Kiran Nazish
Research: Annam Lodhi
