Bonus — Meet Mainstreet's first photojournalist
Hello from Gainesville, Florida. It's Monday, August 10, and you're listening to StreetSmart. I'm Seth Johnson. Like we previewed last week, we're bringing you a special bonus episode this week where we're gonna be talking with Walker Smith, our new photo journalist. Walker's gonna be preparing some awesome visuals for the stories Mainstreet's been putting out for years, and he comes to us with some experience at the Post and Courier in South Carolina, along with grad school in Ohio, and commercial fishing in Alaska.
Seth Johnson:So a lot of unique experiences that he's had as he's pursued photography through it all. Welcome back to StreetSmart. We are here with a bonus episode that we were teasing last week. We are going to be interviewing with Walker Smith, our new photo journalist here at Mainstreet Daily News. Walker, welcome to the studio and to Mainstreet all one month and a week into your tenure. Right?
Walker Smith:Yeah. It's been about three weeks now, but, yeah, thanks for having me. It's good to be here. So where have you been so far since arriving in Gainesville? Assignment wise, this past weekend I was at the tenth anniversary of Depot Park, which was very fun.
Walker Smith:There was live music, a DJ, a lot of bubbles, and some good gelato. So that was a fun time. A lot of people came out for that. But let's see, in general, I'm still just kind of getting acclimated to the area. I'm pretty new, and so just mostly exploring around town and checking out food and hoping to get out into the areas surrounding Gainesville pretty soon here.
Seth Johnson:Yeah. I know we talked about you've been to Coffee Culture and Bakery Mill and some other local places, but definitely a lot to see. How's it compared to Charleston, where you were at most recently?
Walker Smith:Yeah. It's hard to compare any town to Charleston because it's so unique, to be honest. But, yes, I'm a big coffee fan. I'm a fiend for the bean. So one of the first things I did in Gainesville was check out some coffee shops.
Walker Smith:Coffee Culture was great. See, what was was Daydreamer, I think, one of them that I went to. But, yeah, it's hard to compare Charleston because Charleston's such a foodie town and it's right on the water, it's historic, it's like, I can't say enough good stuff about Charleston.
Seth Johnson:You get the sea breeze there versus the swamp here in Gainesville.
Walker Smith:Totally. Yeah, you get a nice sea breeze. But, yeah, stoked to be here in Gainesville, though.
Seth Johnson:You're talking about Depot Park and your assignment there. How do you approach an assignment like that when you arrive on location? Like, what's going through your mind? What are you looking for?
Walker Smith:Yeah, good question. I will often, at least for a big event like that where there's so many people and so much going on, I'll often just keep my camera in my bag for a little bit and just walk around and kind of get acclimated to the area and talk to people. I don't jump right into photographing often unless I'm limited on time, but I knew for something like that that it was going to be kind of an all night thing or at least a few hours. Yeah, I usually just walk around and chat with people and get a feel for the area or the event that I'm at.
Seth Johnson:Do you find having the camera out can spook people or makes people approach you differently?
Walker Smith:I think it can sometimes, but at an event like that where there's so many people and there I think there were some other people there with their cameras as well. I'm not as concerned about that. I would say it's more when you get into the rural areas and start exploring some rural, like small towns and stuff like that. I find that often there's a little bit more of explaining that goes into what I'm doing. But even so, there's been very few times where people have been spooked or scared, I guess.
Walker Smith:I don't know if it's my approach or I think in general people are kind of on the one hand, they're used to cameras because everybody's got one in their pocket. But at the same time, they're also much more aware of the implications that can come from being recorded and photographed, so it's kind of a double edged sword. And I think there's a little bit of self marketing it, I don't know if that's the right word, but that goes into photojournalism. And just being able to explain what you're doing properly goes a long way.
Seth Johnson:I think that's such a big difference between full time photographers and where I'm coming from as a reporter is I feel like I'm not very good on that approach and how I tell why I have a camera out, like I'm intruding in their space. And photographers, I don't know if it's from habit of, you know, being forced to do it so many times and explain what they're doing and then get the subject comfortable and get that kind of rapport. Right? Is that kind of the key?
Walker Smith:Yeah. It takes time, for sure, and especially with long form stories. But, mean, I will talk and be photographing sometimes at the same time. Like, I'll have my camera held above my head and, I mean, I'm there. I'm a photographer.
Walker Smith:I'm there to take pictures and I have my cameras around my neck, so it's not like I'm trying to hide anything. And I try to be as open as I can about what I'm doing. And obviously, if someone's uncomfortable, keep I'm not continue photographing them. So, it's all about feel, honestly. It's kind of like music.
Walker Smith:You gotta feel it out. And if it doesn't feel right, move on to the next thing.
Seth Johnson:Mentioning music, do you play instrument, or have you been involved in music?
Walker Smith:Yeah. So I play saxophone and I play drums and a little bit of guitar. I'm I'm kinda rusty at the moment, but I love jamming. And I played in a little band back in Charleston, so hoping to get back into it here in Gainesville.
Seth Johnson:Well, we were talking about how you photograph now. How did you get into it originally, though?
Walker Smith:Yeah. So, I've kind of always been that kid with a camera around my neck. When I was younger, I had my parents had this Canon AE1 film camera that I would shoot on a lot. And I honestly shot on that camera for a long time and wasted a lot of money on film before I bought a digital. But I did undergrad in New York and started getting into street photography a little bit when I was there.
Walker Smith:That was maybe my introduction. But then I got into photojournalism and realized that people have found a way to make a career out of it. So it's been a long journey, started doing workshops and continued to photograph stuff on my own and then went to grad school at Ohio University for photojournalism. And from there, that kind of opened my world to seeing different ways and also seeing how people were able to make a career out of it.
Seth Johnson:And we had to clarify earlier, Ohio University is different from Ohio State University, not the Buckeyes.
Walker Smith:Right. Yeah. We're the Bobcats. We're the, I guess, the the weird cousin, maybe.
Seth Johnson:Don't know. The better but lesser known Ohio University. Yeah. Totally.
Walker Smith:It's a little more south from Ohio State, and it's kinda tucked into the edge of Appalachia and West Virginia down in that area.
Seth Johnson:Talking about Appalachia, you of you seem to gravitate towards rural areas for some of your photography assignments. Is that right? What goes into that?
Walker Smith:Totally. I'm really curious about urban rural divide. I grew up in an area right outside of Charlotte that, at the time, wasn't really developed. So, we were in the suburbs, but right My backyard was just tons of acres of woods to run around. And then, now going back to visit, it's all Amazon warehouses and kind of cookie cutter apartments.
Walker Smith:So, I think that had a pretty big influence on what I'm looking at now and what I've continued to look at, which is sort of the rural urban divide because you're seeing it everywhere. It's not just Gainesville, it's happening in South Carolina, it's happening all over the place where some of this necessary development is affecting rural ways of life. So I'm very curious about that and hope to continue exploring it. Are there other particular interests you have for your photography? Interests for my photography.
Seth Johnson:Or subject matter, I guess, might be a better term.
Walker Smith:Yeah. I love I love to photograph and to hang out with people who are really passionate about what they do. That could be anything from pickleball to professional wrestling. I just like to be around people who are stoked and excited about what they do and maybe take it a little too serious. So, yeah, when I was in grad school, I did a project about small town professional wrestlers throughout West Virginia and Ohio.
Walker Smith:So, I kind of like more underbelly, more, I guess,
Seth Johnson:less covered topics, if that makes sense. And throughout that time in college and then since, it seems like you've had a bunch of niche jobs and just places you've been going and doing with the Coast Guard and then up commercial fishing. Walk us through some of those. For sure. So, as I'm sure you know, everybody's got to have
Walker Smith:a side hustle these days, and I've had a lot of side hustles. I'm in the reserves for the Coast Guard right now but I've also worked a lot of different construction jobs. Let's see, I've worked on fishing boats, I worked in restaurants, of the whole gambit. But throughout all of that was photography and it was kind of all in the pursuit of where I'm headed, is photojournalism. So I think if anything, those odd jobs have kind of informed how I approach photojournalism and how I interact with people on a day to day basis.
Seth Johnson:And then that kind of brings us here to Mainstreet. How'd you learn about it? What made you want to come here and be a part of the team?
Walker Smith:Yeah, so I learned about Mainstreet through Report for America, which is an organization that has popped up that is kind of a solution to the state of journalism, which is helping young journalists get placed with newsrooms. So when I applied through Report for America, I was given a list of options and I started digging into Mainstreet and looking at Gainesville. Being a Southern guy, I was drawn to it just because I'm from North Carolina. So that was how I came across Mainstreet.
Seth Johnson:Were there any other southern cities on the list that Gainesville beat out?
Walker Smith:The list, I'll be honest with you, the list was pretty small this year. But, southern cities, I want to say, honestly, a lot of them were not southern. I think that's why I gravitated towards Gainesville. But off the top of my head, I think there may have been one in New Orleans, but I can't remember off the top of my head.
Seth Johnson:Yeah. I think photojournalists, as newsrooms change up, that position's been changing up. And it's really exciting to bring on a photojournalist. You know, the big headlines not too long ago were the Washington Post cutting their photography division, so it's exciting to kind of have that here, even in Gainesville.
Walker Smith:It's a changing climate, for sure. I mean, even L. A. Times recently had to let a lot of people go. But I think it's exciting because there's a lot more room for freedom and even in the freelance world, lot more room for opportunity, potentially, so
Seth Johnson:And you also had an internship with the Post and Courier big paper in South Carolina. How did they fit photography into what they did?
Walker Smith:Yeah. Post and Courier was a cool experience. They at the time, they had, I wanna say, four staff photographers, maybe five, and then a photo editor. So, that was a unique experience because not a lot of papers have such a heavy emphasis on visuals. But, yeah, my first week there I was running video, I was doing photos, I was writing articles, so they just threw me right into the mix.
Walker Smith:And it was an awesome team. And, yeah, cool to be a part of that, especially right out of grad school.
Seth Johnson:And you mentioned the emphasis on visuals. How do those help stories and move them along? What does it do for a reader?
Walker Smith:Yeah. So, I think visuals can really make or break a story sometimes. I mean, a lot of times when people get a paper and they just see words on a page, it can be a little daunting. And I think having strong visuals can help emphasize the words that are on the page. I think also people maybe don't realize what strong visuals are until they see them, so I'm hoping to bring some good photos to the paper and would love feedback to any of those who are listening.
Seth Johnson:Guess the photos are kinda like a big neon welcome sign, a place for people to come in to the to the print version and to online stories as well. Well said. It's like you're a writer, Seth. Gotta boil down those concepts.
Walker Smith:Yeah.
Seth Johnson:And then you mentioned hoping to bring some strong visuals of what you've taken so far. Does one photo stick out that you've been able to do for assignment yet?
Walker Smith:There were some images from the Wyatt Langford story at the Tampa Bay rays that stand out. There were a few from Depot Park as well, but I'll have to think about that. I'm still pretty new here. Remember?
Seth Johnson:Yeah. You've only had so many assignments. So but already two front page photos, a one centerpiece photos of a groundbreaking over there by Citizens Field and then the Depot Park tenth anniversary that we mentioned. And you guys can go online and check out some of those photos. We'll put links in the show notes so you can see some of the work he's done.
Seth Johnson:I know, currently, Walker is working on a story on the VFW and their bingo night, so I've seen some kind of previews of some of those photos, which we'll be getting out before too long. One last question before I let you go then. I've noticed a lot of your photos seem to focus on people and portraits. You kind of gravitate towards portraits versus kind of the action as it's happening. Is that a style you've noticed or is it just happenstance?
Walker Smith:Yeah. I'm a sucker for candid moments and I think sometimes you have to either be quick or spend a lot of time with people to get those candid moments. So But, yeah, love doing portraits as well. And I think portraits can really inform a story. So, yeah, I guess a combination of the two.
Seth Johnson:Awesome. Well, Walker, we're so happy to have you part of the team and looking to what other photos you have. We're just tramping through the woods earlier today for another story that's gonna be coming out this week, and so you can look forward to that about the land purchase that UF has off of Parker Road. And thank you for joining us as well to this podcast brought to you by Mainstreet Daily News and made possible by our generous members. You can access more free local news at mainstreetdailynews.com.
Seth Johnson:Make sure to take some time and look at those links in the show notes and see some of Walker's work, and take a minute to share StreetSmart and help us continue our work. The theme music is Sunset Sonata by Gainesville Escobia and Now Leaving Space. This episode is a production of Mark Media.
