A letter from the photo editor:
Last year, we in the Emerald’s production staff decided to attempt the first-ever print visual edition, with the goal of celebrating our staff’s incredibly diverse and artistic visual talent. As photo editor, I could not have imagined the final product turning out any better.
A lot can happen over the span of the year, and so we decided to do it again, in hopes this special edition will turn into a meaningful tradition for many years to come. Accompanying our print photo edition to look back on the past year, we have compiled this gallery of Emerald photographers’ best photos of 2019.
Newspaper photographers wield a lot of responsibility. The act of pressing one’s finger down on a camera’s shutter button is a simple action, but the decision of when and how to do so will significantly change the outcome of an image: the moment it captures and how it interacts with both the subject and the viewer.
This selection of photos was curated based on considering certain factors, such as a photo’s historical value, stylistic choices, technical difficulty and ability to communicate special moments and emotions.
We hope that something about these images –– whether it’s the content, the art form or the moment –– speaks to you in a meaningful way.
Sarah Northrop
Photo Editor
The photos featured in this collection were made by the following Emerald photographers: Connor Cox, Benjamin Green, Kimberly Harris, Maddie Knight, Madi Mather, Sarah Northrop, Devin Roux, Dana Sparks, Marissa Willke and David Young.
The Emerald‘s Top Five:
5) Connor Cox: Jai Wolf was the second concert I got to shoot for the Emerald. I was really enjoying being there and involved in the atmosphere of the show, and I wanted to capture the energy of the crowd as well. Most electronic performers aren’t very animated during their sets, so I wanted to frame him in the center of the action.
4) Maddie Knight: Musicians played throughout the excitement and chaos of the 2019 Martin Luther King Jr. March. This drummer’s enthusiastic smile and free spirit stood out to me as he drummed alongside other musicians at the end of the march. Photographing people doing things they are passionate about has always been something I love, which this photo really shows.
3) Sarah Northrop: This photo of the Duck is one of my favorite images I’ve made yet. My goal on any assignment is to capture the images that you wouldn’t usually see, and my background in music photography inspired me to document this moment in that style. So, when I saw athletics staff begin to prepare an inflatable raft, I took off running up the steps of Autzen Stadium in an attempt to capture the energy of the stadium crowd surrounding the Duck.
2) Marissa Willke: Takeover Northwest was the first motorsport event I had ever shot, and it ended up sparking a passion for drift and car photography for me. This moment was towards the end of the day, and I wanted to capture how the sunset was making the tire smoke incredibly dramatic.
1) David Young: This photo means a lot to me as a point of reflection on how far I’ve come, and the improvement I experienced in such a short period of time. I wasn’t really thinking in this moment, and I just let the camera snap as the football team basked in that winning feeling.
