Photos bring stories to life and pull the viewer into a world that they may never experience otherwise. Put these photos alongside powerful writing and serious change can be made.
Two years ago, Seattle-based photojournalist Barbara Kinney did a project called The Shriver Report: A Woman’s Nations Takes on Alzheimer’s, where she photographed a variety of subjects affected by Alzheimer’s disease. Recently, she was contacted by the editor of the report to collaborate on a new report: A Woman’s Nation Pushes Back from the Brink. Both projects were in partnership with the Center for American Progress.
With her significant photojournalism experience, including past jobs at USA Today, Reuters and The Seattle Times, this project was right up Barbara’s alley. She was not only a photographer on the project— she also served as the photography director, bringing in a group of photographers and editing their work for the report and a photo exhibit. Nothing was set up or staged, just real people doing real things.
The report required a broad selection of images, for which Barbara selected multiple photographers around the country who are excellent visual storytellers. Each photographer was paired with a subject— all of the subjects being women who are raising families, working, and struggling to make ends meet.
The AtlanticLive hosted an all-day event at the Newseum in DC to launch the report, with 44 images on display. The photos were also displayed at an event at the California Museum. Maria Shriver appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Colbert Report and The Today Show with Matt Lauer to promote the Shriver Report.
When Maria Shriver presented the report to President Obama during an Oval Office meeting, he was so impressed that he requested that one of the subjects sit in the President’s box with the First Lady during the State of the Union Address.
The photojournalism commissioned for The Shriver Report transformed our academic research into an emotional masterpiece. In the great tradition of Dorothea Lange, we see for the first time ever women living on the brink through the lens of some of the best female photographers working in America today. The report would not be as accessible, understandable and beautiful without the extraordinary photography. – Karen Skelton, Editor-In-Chief, The Shriver Report
An HBO documentary Paycheck to Paycheck: The Life and Times of Katrina Gilbert recently premiered in conjunction with The Shriver Report, following one of Barbara’s subjects in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The report will also be used as reference material in universities around the country, with the hope of sparking a national conversation about the status of women in America today.
Barbara worked on this project for eight straight months, from editing, directing, photographing and collaborating. She was able to challenge herself and stretch her boundaries in ways she never imagined possible:
I learned so much on a personal level, from just observing and photographing my subjects. Each woman I photographed was juggling so much throughout her day, from working one or more jobs, raising kids, going to school, doing so much to make things better for themselves and their families. The strength of these women was inspiring.