Todd Heisler's Tips and Techniques for Young Photojournalists

1) Never think that any assignment is too small or insignificant. Be passionate about every assignment you get. You can make great pictures everywhere.

I started out working for community newspapers in really small suburbs that didn’t have high crime rates or a lot of controversy. One of my editors told us, “Every assignment is important to somebody. Photograph this community like you're doing it for National Geographic." That opened my eyes. Every life is significant. The Pulitzer that I won was for something that's happening across the country. If you met the right people, you could do it anywhere.

Katherine Cathey pressed her pregnant belly to her husband's casket, moaning softly. The baby, due Jan. 1, will be named James Jeffrey Cathey Jr. © TODD HEISLER/ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS

2) Reach out to people you respect and welcome criticism. Try to get as much input as you can - not just about your work, but where you're going, your approach, the stories you're working on, your ideas. Learn from the people around you. E-mail people. See what makes them tick. I had to learn by watching people from the bigger papers and trying to learn from my mistakes. Almost everybody that I have contacted in this business, at whatever stage in their career, has been pretty open to looking at work and giving feedback.

3) Any big story you might do is all about individuals. It's about how individuals are affected by larger issues. Even the Iraq War. It's an immense subject, very complex. Where I found my voice was by going back and seeing how individual people in my community are affected by the larger issue.

4) The great thing about photojournalism is that you don't need an assignment to get started. You don't need somebody to tell you where to go to find a story. If you're passionate about it, and you have something to say, get started doing your work. The rest will fall into place.

The night before the burial of her husband's body, Katherine Cathey refused to leave the casket, asking to sleep next to his body for the last time. The Marines made a bed for her, tucking in the sheets below the flag. Before she fell asleep, she opened her laptop computer and played songs that reminded her of "Cat," and one of the Marines asked if she wanted them to continue standing watch as she slept. "I think it would be kind of nice if you kept doing it," she said. "I think that's what he would have wanted." © TODD HEISLER/ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS

5) You need to have some sort of education about the fundamentals of journalism, of working for a newspaper, and of the ethics involved. You need to know things beyond the workings of a camera. You can get some of that by going to workshops or taking classes. You also have to be well-rounded and curious because that's where your ideas come from.

6) Photojournalism is not just a job. It’s a lifestyle. It consumes a big part of your life. It puts a strain on your relationships. When you're starting out, you're spending long hours at the paper, trying to hone your skills. You have to find a way to balance your time, to be able to shut it off, to live in two different worlds. As I become more experienced, I try to be there emotionally when I'm not working.

7) You have to be on top of the technology. It's changing so much right now. We're at a time of transition where everybody is talking about video and the Internet. Young photojournalists really need to get on that, to embrace that technology and change. You don't want to be left behind. You can either let the technology dictate what your job is going to be or you can learn it and try to be at the forefront. Then you can determine what your job will be.

The day before the funeral of their friend, 2nd Lt. Jon Mueller, left, and 1st Lt. Matthew Baumann practiced for hours folding a flag, making sure there would be no errors the next day. "That will be the last time his flag is folded," said Maj. Steve Beck, as he instructed them. "It has to be perfect." © Rocky Mountain News 2005

8) If your heart's not in it, if you don't feel in your gut that you want to get up every day and do this, then maybe you shouldn't be a photojournalist. It can be really challenging. Everybody has to do things that they don't like to do every day. But we also get to do a lot of things that we love to do. You should love to do it. If you don't really feel it in your heart, you’re wasting your time.

9) You've got to care about people. I think people recognize if you don't care. You have to be conscious of your responsibility to the people you're covering. Your job is about people, about interacting with people and documenting their lives. I love meeting new people, I love being around people. That's really what keeps me going.

10) Try to make pictures that go beyond what pictures look like in a newspaper. Photographs that make people stop - whether it's from their beauty, their emotional power or the reality of something people have never been exposed to before.

As his son's funeral neared, Jeff Cathey's tears rarely stopped. He often found comfort in the men who shared his son's uniform. "Someone asked me what I learned from my son," he said. "He taught me you need more than one friend." © TODD HEISLER/ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS

11) Every photojournalist should try to write stories and try to be, at least, a decent writer. It makes you a better photojournalist. It makes you more astute, more observant. It makes you listen. It's a different way of thinking that helps you become more in tune with your subject.

12) Great photographs are a gift. So you have to be very careful what you do with them.