Whenever Esteban Castillo visited his grandparents in Colima, Mexico, he'd sit by his grandfather's taco stand and watch him cook. He'd also see his grandmother carry her homemade cheeses on her back and go door to door, selling them in different neighborhoods. To this day, his grandparents still make a living off of food.

"They basically transform their living room into a restaurant during the weekends to make ends meet," says Castillo.

Castillo grew up in Santa Ana, Calif., where more than 75 percent of the population is Latino. He says Mexican food was the foundation of his childhood. So when he started to see popular food blogs present recipes as traditional Mexican dishes when they were anything but, it got him riled up — and motivated him to mesh his love for design, cooking and culture.

And, so, Chicano Eats was born. It's a bicultural and bilingual food blog where Castillo shares traditional and fusion Mexican recipes — presented with a stunning visual sensibility.

His photos have a vibrant and crisp aesthetic that reflect his background in graphic design and marketing. He says his colorful, minimalist presentation is meant to challenge the way people see Mexican food.

"When you think of Mexican food, I feel like people envision this very rustic feeling, where everything is in a clay pot and stuff like that," Castillo says, adding, "I wanted to give Mexican food this minimalist, very colorful treatment, because that's what I always gravitated to when I was in school."

His visual style is also a way to challenge how Mexican food is often perceived in the U.S., he says. "Here in the U.S., Mexican food doesn't really hold a lot of clout. A lot of people think it's not something you would see at a five-star restaurant. They think it's street food. It's something we try to fight."

And when Castillo fuses Mexican flavors with American classics in his recipes, he says it's a way to honor his own upbringing. With innovative dishes like homemade Peeps covered with Tajin, a Mexican spice mix of chili peppers, salt and lime, and cupcakes made with Chocomil, the powdered chocolate milk beloved south of the border, he is literally mixing his cultures.

"I see it as a nod to my bicultural identity — and how we've ... immersed ourselves into this culture, too," he says.

Castillo says these days, millennials want to connect with their history and culture. So when he saw a popular food site's social media sharing a recipe that called for using a jar of sweet salsa to make pozole rojo— a traditional Mexican soup made with hominy, meat and chilies — he was reminded that context is key.

"If you've ever made pozole, or if you've ever had pozole, you know that salsa is not used in it. So I was just kind of like, is anybody doing their research? I feel like nowadays, this is a huge piece that's being left out" of the conversation around food. "Where did things originate and how is it important to that specific culture?" says Castillo.

Castillo isn't the only one having these kind of conversations about food and culture.

Take the recent uproar over Kooks Burritos, a Portland, Ore., food pop-up. In an interview with the Willamette Week, a local alt-weekly newspaper, the two white American women behind the enterprise revealed that they learned how to make the burritos on a trip to Mexico by spying on all the "tortilla ladies" they would meet and grilling them for recipe information — seemingly without compensating them for their guidance or disclosing they were profiting from it. The incident rekindled the long-running conversation in the food world on the role of cultural appropriation in food and restaurants. The backlash was so strong, Kooks closed.

Castillo says it's important to understand the culture that food comes from.

"It's such a sensitive topic. I feel like if people are going to be talking about food or making food that is out of their culture, I feel like [the dishes] just need to be well-researched and really pay tribute to those cultures and honor them."

That's what he tries to do with his creations. At an event a couple of weeks ago, he was contracted to create a cocktail. So he decided to play with tepache, a pre-Columbian drink from Mexico consisting of fermented pineapple peels and rinds, brown sugar and cinnamon.

The event attracted a racially and ethnically mixed crowd, but he was surprised to learn that many people didn't know about this ancient drink, and found it an opportunity to create conversations on its origins. As for the guests who did recognize tepache— mostly Mexicans and Mexican-Americans — he says the beverage stirred up memories of drinking it in Mexico.

Castillo has called his blogging a kind of activism, and he says he hopes to see more people of color take up food blogging.

"When it comes to food blogging, I would like to see more diversity," he says. "I feel like when it comes to other ethnicities blogging, we don't have that representation."

And he says that now is the best time to show that representation. "People aren't afraid to voice their opinions or feelings on things. Our voice is really coming out to the spotlight. It's the time."

Copyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

One of the most glamorous creatures ever to grace the silver screen is back in pictures at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. A dazzling new exhibition features dozens of photographs of the seductive, German-born movie star Marlene Dietrich.

Dietrich's legs were so famous that her studio insured them, and you can see why in the big photograph Milton Greene took of her in 1952. It shows the actress sitting, her face covered by a curtain of blonde hair. She's bending over her long, shapely, crossed and extremely exposed legs — legs so shapely that she shaped them in the photo, writing notes on the contact sheet about touch-ups.

As a movie star, Dietrich was known for controlling her image. But a very early photograph from 1918 shows her as a slightly pudgy Berlin schoolgirl with a big black bow in her hair and big lace collar. Exhibition curator Kate Lemay says, "This is a very sweet, innocent [teenage] Marlene Dietrich who had recently changed her name." (She was born Marie Magdalene Dietrich.) But on closer inspection, she doesn't look so innocent.

"She has a curl escaping her hair," Lemay says. "At the time, hair being brought all the way up off your neck was the sign of a good girl with good family, and Dietrich let that curl escape. She's already declaring her independence."

The teenager also has the eyes of a seductress: Her lids are a bit lowered and she's looking straight at us, daring us not to notice.

By the time World War II rolls around, Dietrich is a huge star. One photo, taken while entertaining American troops, shows her standing in a sea of soldiers. Her skin-tight sequined gown makes her look like a mermaid. "She's in her element," Lemay says. "She is flirting, and probably the best kind of flirt anyone's ever seen. She's just having the time of her life."

By then, Dietrich had made The Blue Angel (1930), in which she sings what became her signature song, "Falling in Love Again"; Blonde Venus (1932), in which she sings "Hot Voodoo"; and Morocco (1930), in which she tromps through the desert in sling-back pumps and kisses a woman. All those films were directed by Josef von Sternberg, her Pygmalion: He slimmed her down, penciled in her eyebrows and lit her into a femme fatale.

"He knew how to transform a young woman who had beautiful eyes, but maybe not the most perfect nose and some flaws," Lemay says. "And he lit her from 4 feet above her head and from the right side of her face with specific soft lighting. She was transformed into this incredible magnet for the eye."

She took that lesson from the director and applied it for the rest of her life. Bathed in light and made up to perfection, Dietrich often wore ties, top hats and tuxedos. "She dressed in menswear, and she pioneered dressing in menswear in the '20s and '30s," Lemay says. "She was the first cross-dressing woman to do so for a large audience."

Shocking? It certainly was. But according to Lemay, "Dietrich made it palatable." She says that's what made her want to put this exhibition together: "This is 1930 and American audiences are conservative, and yet here we have this German-born actor who's presenting an androgynous image and kissing a woman onstage. That's incredible."

So how did she get away with it?

"She was just really charismatic," Lemay says. "And she never apologized. When people did criticize her and ask her why she would dare do such a thing, she just let it roll off her back. She really did not apologize."

Dietrich's image changed over the years (though her lighting didn't). She became more relaxed in films, downright funny, even. In Destry Rides Again, a 1939 Western with James Stewart, she played a rollicking saloon girl in boots, a cowboy hat and a spangled vest (can't give up the glitter). By then she had applied for American citizenship, and adopted big American smiles.

In 1955, the scandal magazine Confidential published an article with the headline "You've Heard Lots About Marlene But You Haven't Heard It All." (The National Portrait Gallery show has the magazine on display.) Dietrich — who was married with a daughter, and had lots of lovers — was outed as bisexual. Few in her adoring public had a clue. In today's age of social media, a secret like that couldn't be kept for long; but in Dietrich's day, stars and studios had secrets that stuck.

How did the great, glamorous actress react to being outed? We don't know for sure, but Lemay's guess is she wouldn't have cared. "I really do believe she was unapologetic and just thought that was their problem."

Dietrich was 90 when she died in 1992. In her last several years, she had stopped going out in public. Her looks had faded, and breaks in those gorgeous legs kept her bedridden. But she stayed in touch with friends by telephone, and her image (and uber-confidence) blazed on screens and in memories for decades.

Copyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

 Sue Williams and Hilary Klotz Steinman discuss their documentary, “Death by Design: The Dirty Secret of Our Digital Addiction." Actor and comedian Kumail Nanjiani and his wife, writer Emily V. Gordon joins talk about his new film, “The Big Sick." Filmmaker Daphne Matziaraki discusses her new documentary “4.1 Miles." Photographer Michael Nichols and author/editor Melissa Harris on their book 'A Wild Life.' 

Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear this interview. 

In our modern world, cameras are everywhere, but take a trip back to the not-so-distant past, and you'll see a reality that is very different.

Portland photographer Kati Dimoff loves old cameras, and like all good photographers, she has a patient eye for detail. She often finds old cameras at second hand stores and the Goodwill, and sometimes inside, like shells from some beach-head of time, they contain hidden treasures: Undeveloped film.

Once developed, this old film yields images, secrets, and moments. Just this year, she found a camera that contained undeveloped photos of the giant Mount St. Helens eruption, which took place 37 years ago. 

Here, Dimoff discusses her work, and the photos she found (images below). 

Back in May, Portland photographer Kati Dimoff picked up a camera from a Goodwill store. She developed the film inside, only to find out the images showed photos of the eruption of Mount St. Helens.

(Kati Dimoff)

Images of a family from within the camera.

(Kati Dimoff)

One of the images from the camera.

(Kati Dimoff)

Photographer Kati Dimoff with the camera she found at the Goodwill store.

(Kati Dimoff)

Photographer Michael Nichols and author/editor Melissa Harris join us to discuss their book A Wild Life: A Visual Biography of Photographer Michael Nichols. Nichols has spent decades photographing iconic wildlife species including mountain gorillas, elephants and lions. The book features a catalog of his photographs, accompanied by his own life story and reflections on ethics and environmental conservation issues.

Mountain gorillas, Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda, 1995; from A Wild
Life (Aperture, 2017)

(Michael Nichols/National Geographic Society)

Baby elephant Shukuru, DSWT orphanage, Nairobi National Park, 2010;
from A Wild Life (Aperture, 2017)

(Michael Nichols/National Geographic Society)

The chimpanzee Whiskey, chained in a garage, Bujumbura, Burundi, 1989;
from A Wild Life (Aperture, 2017)

(Michael Nichols/National Geographic Society)

Japanese purikura photo booths, which produce selfies that you can decorate and print out, predate Snapchat filters by at least a decade. At about $3.50 a pop, they are still attracting hordes of Tokyo teenagers.

NPR Code Switch reporter Kat Chow and I gave purikura — the word is a mashup of the Japanese purinto kurabu or "print club" — a try. A couple of teenage girls in Tokyo's Harajuku district advised us on how to optimize our experience.

But it was a good thing a reporter on race and culture was on hand: We ended up discovering that the instant modifications happening to images in these photo booths raise some questions about what's considered beautiful in the eyes of the Japanese.

Copyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

It has been 80 years since Amelia Earhart vanished while trying to become the first female pilot to fly around the world, and her 1937 disappearance has become one of the great mysteries of our time.

Now the makers of a new investigative special from the History Channel believe they have "the smoking gun" that answers the question of Earhart's disappearance aboard her Lockheed Electra once and for all: an old, cracked photograph found in the National Archives, showing a group of people on a dock in the Marshall Islands. Among the figures: two people who just might be Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan.

The show's experts say the short-haired person at the back is Earhart, and the man on the left with the receding hairline is Noonan. But the photo was taken from a distance, the man's face is in shadow and the person purported to be Earhart is turned away from the camera.

A former U.S. Treasury agent named Les Kinney found the photo in a box of papers from the Office of Naval Intelligence while scouring for evidence regarding Earhart's disappearance that might have been overlooked. The undated photo was in a box marked "declassified." Its caption reads "PL-Marshall Islands, Jaluit Atoll, Jaluit Island. Jaluit Harbor. ONI #14381."

"Kinney argues the photo must have been taken before 1943, as U.S. air forces conducted more than 30 bombing runs on Jaluit in 1943-44," according to a post on History.com. "He believes the plane on the barge is the Electra, and that two of the people on the dock are Earhart and Noonan. ... Kent Gibson, another forensic analyst who specializes in facial recognition, said it was 'very likely' the individuals in it are Earhart and Noonan. Both analysts identified the ship in the photo as the Japanese military vessel Koshu Maru, which is thought to be the ship that took Earhart and Noonan away after their crash landing."

The experts interviewed for the special believe this photo lends powerful credence to the theory that when Earhart couldn't find Howland Island — her next refueling station — she turned back westward and landed on Mili Atoll. They think Earhart and Noonan were then rescued and taken to Jaluit Island, where there was a deepwater port.

An Earhart researcher named Richard Spink has taken many trips to the Marshall Islands and believes he has found parts of what was Earhart's plane on Mili Atoll. If indeed it's Earhart and Noonan in the photo, then they must have crash-landed in the Marshall Islands — and lived.

Earhart and Noonan may then have been taken to a Japanese prison on the island of Saipan, according to the special. But if Earhart and Noonan are bound for prison, why do they look so serene in the photograph?

"They obviously believe that they've been rescued," Gary Tarpinian, the show's executive producer, tells NPR. "However, the word came back from Tokyo that ... we can't let her go. I'm not sure why. Did she see something she shouldn't have seen? Did they think she was spying? Who knows? We can only speculate. But somewhere between when she thought she was rescued and after that photo, she was held captive and she was brought to Saipan."

The photo is proof, he says, of what many people on the Marshall Islands have long held: Earhart and Noonan landed there and a Japanese boat called Koshu took them to Saipan. The special interviewed people from Saipan, including a woman Tarpinian says might be the last person alive who saw Earhart with her own eyes.

"She was a 12-year-old girl who never forgot what she saw, because she had never seen Caucasian people — she'd never seen Westerners," he says. "And she remarked to her mother, 'Do all the women in the West dress like men, with short hair and pants?' "

But Richard Gillespie, an Earhart expert who leads The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, isn't at all convinced the photograph depicts the aviator.

"This is just a picture of a wharf at Jaluit, with a bunch of people," he toldThe Guardian. "It's just silly."

Gillespie believes that Earhart died as a castaway on an island in what's now Kiribati, according to the newspaper. "We found the site, we've done three excavations there and we're finding artifacts that speak of an American woman of the 1930s," he said.

He says the person in the Jaluit photo has hair too long to be Earhart, who he says was photographed just days before, "and hair doesn't grow that fast."

National Archives communications director James Pritchett says the archives doesn't know when the photo was taken, who the photographer was, or what the "PL" in the caption means.

The archives posted the Jaluit photo to its website Thursday but isn't going to make a statement on whether the people in the photo are Earhart and Noonan, Pritchett says,

But even he is intrigued by the idea that it could be.

"I'm so fascinated by this myself," he says. "There are many discoveries that happen all the time. It's usually some really swift members of the public. ... People here find things on a really regular basis. We have billions of records of all kinds."

Hear that, America? Get thee to the archives and solve some mysteries.

Copyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear this interview.

If you're looking to crank your summer travel plans up a notch, look no further that your local national park.

Stefanie Payne, a communication strategist at NASA, and Jonathan Irish, a professional photographer represented by National Geographic, took a year-long sabbatical to make an appearance at every single national park in the country. They traveled to all of America's 59 national parks — that's one park every six days.

Jonathan and Stefanie join The Takeaway to share some highlights of their trip, and to inspire listeners to take advantage of the majestic scenery and natural wonder offered by The National Parks Service. They document their incredible journey in a new multimedia project, "The Greatest American Road Trip."

Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear Jonathan and Stefanie discuss their trip, and check out some of their photos below. 

Hot Springs National Park

Jonathan Irish

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Jonathan Irish

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Jonathan Irish

Big Bend National Park

Jonathan Irish

Guadalupe Mountains National Park

Jonathan Irish

Carlsbad Caverns National Park

Jonathan Irish

Death Valley National Park

Jonathan Irish

Death Valley National Park

Jonathan Irish

Joshua Tree National Park

Jonathan Irish

Joshua Tree National Park

Jonathan Irish

Saguaro National Park

Jonathan Irish

Petrified Forest National Park

Jonathan Irish

Grand Canyon National Park

Jonathan Irish

Zion National Park

Jonathan Irish

Sequoia National Park

Jonathan Irish

Yosemite National Park

Jonathan Irish

Redwoods National Park

Jonathan Irish

Voyagers National Park

Jonathan Irish

North Cascades National Park

Jonathan Irish

Glacier Bay National Park

Jonathan Irish

Kenai Fjords National Park

Jonathan Irish

Katmai National Park

Jonathan Irish

Lake Clark National Park

Jonathan Irish

Glacier National Park

Jonathan Irish

Grand Teton National Park

Jonathan Irish

Acadia National Park

Jonathan Irish

Star trails at Joshua Tree

Jonathan Irish

This segment is hosted by Todd Zwillich.

In American cities, the murder rate has kept rising over the last couple of years. One of the most violent cities in the U.S. is Baltimore.

That's where 22-year-old photographer Amy Berbert lives. She's been documenting every murder that took place in Baltimore in 2016. The city has more than twice as many homicides per capita as Chicago.

"Same place, same time, same day, one year later," Berbert says about her project, in which she captures the site of each homicide. Each image goes on social media, where she runs the account, Remembering the Stains on the Sidewalk, on Instagram and Facebook.

"And for me that's the biggest piece is that I have to plan my life, around these people's death," she says. "I'm missing my cousin's wedding, but these people will never be able to go to another wedding again. So it's a small sacrifice considering this 318 people will never see these opportunities again."

She took the first photo on Jan. 1, 2016, and she will take the last one on New Year's Eve. The project often takes her into sketchy neighborhoods in the middle of the night.

Berbert never includes people in the photographs because she says she's documenting a loss of life – an absence.

On this day, she's documenting the scene of a murder that happened a little past noon in a Baltimore neighborhood called Sandtown-Winchester.

When Berbert actually takes the photograph at 12:30, it feels almost anticlimactic. This is the moment one year ago that a man was shot and killed where we're standing.

This is photograph No. 131 in the project. But of course, the man who died on this corner a year ago is not just a number. His name was Donzell Canada, and he was 29 years old when he was killed. His murder remains unsolved.

"When I met him, he used to be right here on this corner. They called him Zelly at that time," says pastor Rodney Hudson of Ames Memorial United Methodist Church.

On this swampy day in Baltimore, Hudson is wearing a button-up shirt with a bow tie and a crucifix around his neck. The window box air conditioner in his office is working overtime.

He says Donzell Canada, or Zelly, was friends with Freddie Gray — the man who died in police custody two years ago, leading to protests in Baltimore.

"They were young guys just coming up, just trying to earn a little living, doing street pharmaceuticals as we call it," Hudson says, referring to the sale of prescription pills on the street.

He says they ended up in that situation because they had no other choice.

"When there are no jobs, and when your parents are having to depend on you to become an income maker, it becomes a way of life," Hudson says. "And I believe deep in my heart that if they had another choice, that this would not have been their desired life. But this is all they knew. All they knew was killing. All they knew was drug addiction."

Hudson met these guys when he arrived at the church nine years ago.

Canada was 20 years old then. Over time he earned their trust, and he often invited them to play basketball with them on a nearby court.

He seems to know everyone in this neighborhood — from the old folks sitting in the shade to the young men slouching on the street corners, and the kids playing on the basketball court.

Hudson says he cares about these kids "because in order to save the community, you got to start one person at a time."

But he wishes there were better infrastructure, opportunities and activities for these kids, and jobs for their parents.

Already this year, more than 180 people have been killed in Baltimore.

Berbert says as a photographer, she can use her art to make connections between the powerful and powerless.

"So if art can look at this group of people that's hurting and help tell their story or at least give them a platform to tell their story for themselves," she says, "the politicians, the policymakers, all of the people that can make a difference, can really understand what the issue is."

Copyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

You've probably seen them: pictures of the manspreaders, the bag-splayers, or the generally uncourteous subway riders, showing up in your social media feeds after being surreptitiously photographed by a fellow straphanger.

Usually it's to shame people  for breaking some unspoken rule of conduct.

Here's NYC in a nutshell: a mom and two small kids stand while two douchebags manspread as WIDE as they possibly can. pic.twitter.com/dqXarc4xHt

— Kate Bristol 🍓 (@Katelove) July 29, 2017

Rarely, it's to exemplify some kind of gold standard. (But again: it's unclear whether these people gave their permission to be photographed, or whether they were aware of the camera at all.)

Taken today on the C Train. Thiiiiiis is what makes America great. Happy 4th of July, y'all. ❤️💙 pic.twitter.com/2b7Q89E2EI

— Rachel MacKnight (@rachmacknight) July 2, 2017

According to the MTA, photography is allowed on the subway as long as there's no professional equipment involved, so technically you aren't breaking the law by snapping a picture.

So where do you fall in this debate: is it ever okay to take a picture of a fellow subway-rider to post on social media? Tweet using the hashtag #MyWrongOpinion.

Tweet #MyWrongOpinion

This is part of a new series of low-stakes debates called "You're Entitled to Your Wrong Opinion." Have an idea for what should be debated next? Tweet @shubasu with your suggestions.

@WNYC what do I think of calling out manspreaders on social media? Hmm... #WeTheCommutershttps://t.co/OZByGf5vPS

— Emily Gover (@edtechjam) August 1, 2017

#bagonseat or #manspreading most people, if asked, would "shape up." The shade is on the #cowards who photo & dont ask 2 sit #MyWrongOpinion

— WesternQueensLand (@wqueens7) August 1, 2017

I regularly take pictures of manspreaders & post on Snapchat for laughs. No public shaming necessary, unless its outrageous #MyWrongOpinion

— Becca Ramos (@MsBeccaRamos) August 1, 2017

#mywrongopinion seems more like virtue signaling. "Shaming" feeds into the narcissistic tendencies of SM. Shaming never corrects anything.

— Geoff Feder (@GBILLY) August 1, 2017

Only time I've photo'd someone on subway. Healthy, young men being seat greedy. I'm over it #WeTheCommuters#MyWrongOpinion#SubwayEtiquette

— Brigette Supernova (@Brig_Supernova) August 1, 2017

Moments of unexpected magic are the Newport Folk Festival's calling card. The festival typically sells out well before its lineup is even announced — but the official lineup is more of a rough guideline, anyway, since the weekend is peppered every year with surprise performances and collaborations.

An unannounced slot at the smallest of Newport's main stages turned out to belong to Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats, who played some new music with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and finished out their set by parading, second-line style, through the enormous crowd that had assembled.

Hiss Golden Messenger's M.C. Taylor assembled a few friends — including Justin Vernon, Phil Cook and Natalie Prass — to perform a tribute to Bill Withers' music.

And master songwriter John Prine, who played Sunday evening's last set, brought out Vernon, Rateliff, Jim James, Margo Price and Roger Waters, before a stageful of the weekend's performers gathered to sing "Paradise."

Newport's most dedicated festivalgoers, affectionately known as the Folk, know to expect surprises like this; they're what have made Newport Folk Festival one of the country's most unique and beloved music festivals for almost 60 years.

NPR Music's photographer Adam Kissick is ready for those surprises, too. He spent the weekend chasing them down, traversing the festival grounds at Fort Adams State Park many times over. (We asked him to check his step counter at the end of one day's work: eight miles.) Below, find some of what we saw at this year's festival. For some of what we heard, check back over the coming days as we continue to post audio from selected sets.

Copyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

When was the last time you had a roll of film developed? For many, our digital devices are datebook, rolodex and camera all in one. But moments captured on film are finding a second life through a project based in Idaho, and it raises some questions about our digital future.

In his Boise basement darkroom, Levi Bettwieser deftly unspools, cuts and winds a roll of film into a canister. He rinses it in several chemicals, waits few minutes, then takes it out and holds it up to the light.

"Looks like there's a helicopter, a bunch of people on a beach, boats — just looks like a day at the beach," he says.

Bettwieser didn't take these pictures, and he doesn't work for a developing lab. His mom was a photographer, and cameras have always been a part of his life. So when he started looking for old cameras in thrift stores around Boise, he was surprised to find that some still had film in them.

"I figured all the cameras had been opened and all the film was destroyed or it was too old," he says. He tried to develop them anyway — and it worked. "All the images from those rolls — they weren't anything significant, really; they were birthday parties and vacations and things like that. But I realized that those were important moments for people. And so I figured, You know what? I need to start finding more rolls of film to process, because there's more memories out there."

Bettwieser scours estate sales and vintage shops for undeveloped film (some from the 1930s) then posts his findings on a website he created called the Rescued Film Project. He says his mission is to reunite film owners with their photos — and it seemed to resonate.

"People started sending me rolls of film," Bettwieser explains. "And I went from finding a roll of film here and there in thrift stores ... to a package showing up on my door every day with rolls of film in it."

He spends his days as a videographer, but nights, early mornings and weekends are dedicated to the Rescued Film Project. "When I pull that film out of the tank for the very first time, I'm the very first person who has ever seen that," he says. "And that is still what drives me to this day and kind of keeps me going."

Somebody may have taken the roll decades ago, and for years the memory remained locked away. Then Bettwieser comes along and not only develops it, but chronicles it in a digital archive. In his own way, he's doing what a lot of us do every day without realizing it.

"Your Facebook, for example, or your Twitter feed — you are creating a daily archive of your life," says Dennis Wingo, an engineering scientist and researcher who's worked with NASA. "It's an archive of your thoughts. It's an archive of the interactions with your friends. That has value, not only to you but to your children, your grandchildren and your family 500 years from now."

About 10 years ago, Wingo undertook his own version of the Rescued Film Project. His was called the Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project, and the goal was to resurrect high-resolution pictures of the moon taken by the orbiter in the mid-1960s. To do that, Wingo had to unlock images that had been stored on magnetic tapes — tapes that could only be read by that era's archaic technology.

After a global search, Wingo and his team located what seemed to be the last four machines in existence and extracted the images, which are now part of NASA's archive. But he's keenly aware this isn't the last time someone like him will have to tackle a job like this.

"Ten or 15 years ago, there were several companies that had advertisements: 'Here is a DVD that will last 100 years!' Well, they never thought to include in there: 'Here's a DVD player that will last 100 years.' "

Wingo saved images of the moon that helped the Apollo missions, and the Rescued Film Project is saving photos of bygone Christmases. But Levi Bettwieser thinks both add something to history. "I love the idea of taking what are these simple moments and elevating them and putting them on a platform for people to view so that we can have these shared experiences," he says. "It makes us all realize that we all kind of do the same things and we are similar as human beings."

But when computers are eventually rendered obsolete, will anyone want to save all this data again in a new form? Should hard drives be the next magnetic tapes, keeping the past present could be a challenge.

Copyright 2017 Boise State Public Radio. To see more, visit Boise State Public Radio.

Mary Bok, Camden, Maine.

On New Years’ Eve 2010, as Tanja Hollander wrote a letter to a friend deployed to Afghanistan while also instant messaging with a friend in Jakarta, she marveled at the different kinds of connections available in the digital age. She also began to wonder, she told NewsHour recently, “what Facebook had done to corporatize friendship but also bring friends together.”

So Hollander, who is a photographer, decided to explore what friendship means in the age of social media by meeting and photographing every one of her 626 Facebook friends. It’s an experiment that took her around the world, and has raised as many questions for her as answers.

Among her Facebook connections were close friends, loose acquaintances, and people she had never actually met in real life. In meeting them, she said, “I had wonderful experiences with people I was not really close to, and not-so-great experiences with people I was really close to” — evidence that digital and physical friendships differ.

Hollander decided to photograph every person inside his or her home, surrounded by the people and objects they lived with every day.

“Photographing people in their homes … that was me trying to understand what a friend was,” she said. “Because to me, the home is as important to defining who you are as any kind of emotional definition. You were introduced to their friends and their families. You saw what books or art they had, or lack of books or art. The little objects they surround themselves with.”

Hollander’s photographs are now on display at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, along with physical ephemera from her travels, including boarding passes, maps people drew to send her to coffee shops, tickets, printouts of emails, and notes people left behind.

“I wanted to say: Pay attention to these objects you get and pay attention to these friends,” she said.

As the project progressed, and Hollander continued to travel around the world, she also began asking people to tell her their definition of a real friend. Responses, which she collected on Post-Its, ranged from the expected (“trustworthy” and “there for me”) to the very specific (a person who buys a flight home the moment they learn of a death in your family).

A Post-It note response to Hollander’s question: What is a real friend to you?

In the end, Hollander said, she decided that “alarmist headlines” about social media degrading friendships were overblown and that Facebook was just another way to connect. But when asked about her definition of friendship, she says it’s one that exists very much in the physical realm.

“I decided what a real friend to me was someone you could share a meal with and drink too much red wine and argue with art or politics,” she said, “and still be friends in the morning.”

See more of Hollander’s photos below, or at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MOCA), where they are on display until January. NewsHour correspondent Jeffrey Brown recently visited the museum to take a look at Hollander’s art and other exhibits. His report airs on NewsHour tonight.

Derek Jackson, Portland, Maine.

Colin Dusenbury & Thaddeus Herrick, Los Angeles, California.

Jonas Minh Leon and Shanti Anya, Auckland, New_Zealand.

All photos courtesy of Tanja Hollander.

The post This photographer took pictures of every one of her Facebook friends to understand friendship in the digital age appeared first on PBS NewsHour.

Photographer Hiram Maristany first picked up a camera as a teenager in 1959 at the urging of a social worker named Dan Murrow. He used it to document his world in El Barrio — or East Harlem — a close and vibrant Puerto Rican community that regularly dealt with poverty and violence. His photographs show metaphors for hope in scenes of everyday life, without glossing over the grit.

But unless you closely follow the Puerto Rican Arts Movement or go to a lot of art shows in East Harlem, you may not have seen his work. Maristany is protective about sharing his photographs online, and some of his newer work remains unscanned.

Luckily, some of his photos are on display at the Smithsonian American Art Museum as part of Down These Mean Streets: Community and Place in Urban Photography. The show celebrates the work of 10 Latinx photographers who belong to the communities they document.

Having an exhibit at the Smithsonian is a big deal for Maristany, but to some people in his community, he's still just the guy with a camera.

"They refer to the Smithsonian as Smith and Wesson," he says. "'You finally got into the Smith and Wesson. What's the big deal?'" he recounts a family member in El Barrio saying. "He doesn't mean any harm, he just has a different perspective."

The photographers included in the show vary in approach and location, but the exhibit uses the "urban crisis" — a period in the mid-20th century when American cities were gutted by highway construction, abandoned by many for the suburbs, and left to cope — as a jumping off point for a visual conversation on the duality that exists in those places.

"You see this beauty and you see this destruction, and it's like how do you reconcile that? How do you express outrage over that?" asks curator E. Carmen Ramos as she walks through the gallery looking at the images she picked for the exhibit. "I see a lot of these works as a form of intervention."

That was certainly the case for Maristany, who used the photography skills he'd developed as a young teen to document the activism of the Young Lords starting in 1969. The radical Latino (mostly Puerto Rican) activist group was inspired by the Black Panthers and Maristany was not only a member, he was the official documentarian. But his work wasn't always so overtly political.

While Maristany acknowledges the difficulties of life in El Barrio, showing the positive aspects of the neighborhood motivated him.

"That I even survived was a major accomplishment," he says, but adds, "there were a lot of people who cared about each other, who did a lot of positive and beautiful things that never got recognized. East Harlem was always represented in the most negative way that the media would portray it."

A lot has changed for East Harlem since the 1970s. Last year The New York Times called it one of the "Next Hot Neighborhoods." But Maristany has been there through it all. Fifty years after many of these images were taken, I asked him if he'd kept in touch with any of the people in these photos. "They're all around me I can't get away from them," he laughs.

While Maristany has always lived among his photographic muses and says he knows 80 percent of his subjects, it's not exactly true that he can't get away from them. Many are simply no longer there.

He went to a Father's Day event, and says, "there was food, there was music, there was good companionship. That used to happen all the time. Now it's rare. I took some photos of my contemporaries. It was a celebration of a different era. It's the exception rather than the rule. Each year there are fewer and fewer of us. Most of the Puerto Ricans who are still here are seniors; the young children cannot afford to live in East Harlem."

The dissolving of community, Maristany says, "is the first level of gentrification. The destruction of history is another level."

It makes sense that reverence for history is valued by someone who has dedicated his life to documenting what he sees.

"Every day I see people coming out with suitcases and they are oblivious to the history who was here before them. They're oblivious to the history that this community was an Italian community, further back an Irish community, further back a Jewish community," he says. "That history is gone because the gentrifiers don't care about history. They believe the party begins when they arrive."

And yet Maristany keeps at it, documenting a changing community. He hopes his art will encourage someone else to thoughtfully pick up a camera.

"Some younger artists need to hear my voice," he says. "I hope for young people who are in similar realities, it will give them inspiration to love their community, to love their culture, to love their people, to be engaged."

Maristany says when he first told his mother he wanted to be a professional photographer, her response was dream destroying: "'Hiram, there's no such thing as a Puerto Rican photographer.' But three months later I came back and said, 'Well Ma, I'm gonna be the first one.' She looked at me and smiled and said, 'Why did it take you so long?'"

You can see more images from Down These Mean Streets: Community and Place in Urban Photographyhere.

Copyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

Chief Official White House Photographer Shealah Craighead photographs President Donald J. Trump during a tour of the Sistine Chapel, Wednesday, May 24, 2017, in Vatican City. Photo by Andrea Hanks

 

From the start of the Trump presidency, it’s been photos not snapped by the official White House photographer that have gotten the most attention. There were the press images that confirmed his inauguration crowd size was smaller than the first Obama inauguration, that showed the president’s tie held in place with Scotch tape, and that revealed a stone-faced Pope Francis in his meeting with Trump at the Vatican. As the weeks passed, media reports began to suggest that Trump was actually avoiding Shealah Craighead, his new photographer, as many pictures posted to social media by the White House were taken by other members of staff. And after day 50 of the presidency, when Craighead released her first real set of photos, photography websites declared her a rigid, boring photographer, unable or willing to take candid or unguarded photos of the president.

But critics really had little to assess, with Craighead and her staff releasing far fewer photos to the White House Flickr account or other social media than her predecessor, Pete Souza, who had photographed two administrations and been granted extraordinary access to Barack Obama. (Since leaving his position, Souza had kept posting photos of the former president, often in an attempt to show Obama in a better light than Trump). Craighead herself also gave almost no interviews — just one short talk with a Catholic television network. In recent months, however, the Flickr page has slowly begun to fill up. With more to go on, we spoke to Craighead, who has previously photographed a slew of Republican politicians, about her background, approach and the side of the president she’s gotten to see up close. In a second conversation, she also answered criticisms about her lack of access. This conversation has been edited and condensed slightly for length and clarity.

Shealah Craighead, President Donald Trump’s chief white house photographer, is seen working during UK Prime Minister May’s visit to the White House on January 27, 2017 in Washington, D.C. Photo by Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images

ELIZABETH FLOCK: Tell me a little bit about your background. How did you first get interested in photography?

SHEALAH CRAIGHEAD: My background started out in the family business, because my family owned a photo lab in Connecticut where I grew up. As I went through college and life I also realized I had always wanted to do something that involved traveling the world and living in hotels. And that involved photography.

After college I freelanced with the Boston Globe, AP, and Getty Images. That’s where I earned my chops. And then, through friends and colleagues, asking around if anyone knew of job openings in D.C. area, I ended up in D.C.

ELIZABETH FLOCK: And from there you began photographing politicians, almost all of them Republican. How did that happen?

SHEALAH CRAIGHEAD: In 2005, I was working under David Bohrer, Vice President Dick Cheney’s photographer. Four months into that, another photographer went on maternity leave and decided not to come back. So I put my resume in, and under Bush’s photographer Eric Draper, I became the photographer assigned to Mrs. [Laura] Bush. It was a huge change for me — I didn’t know what to expect. I grew exponentially as a photographer and person in that position.

“In the White House, you’re not just documenting history, you’re also putting other caps on,” like being and an event photographer, a family photographer, an operations director, she said.

But in my early stages of photography I shot weddings, sports, events, news, portraits, spot news, the whole gamut. And all of that comes into play in a position like this. In the White House, you’re not just documenting history, you’re also putting other caps on. You’re an event photographer, an operations director — establishing where the team should be to get all the angles. You’re a documentary photographer, you’re a family photographer, you shoot portraits. If the president is athletic, or doing sports, you’re a sports photographer too.

After Mrs. Bush, I was asked to be Alaska governor and then vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s photographer, and then after that for Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who was running against Rick Perry for governor in 2010. Then I became Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s photographer, through his Senate career and into his campaign for president. I don’t know that I specifically set out to make that my niche or genre, Republican clients, but being in the White House in a Republican administration offers that foundation as colleagues branch out and network.

In addition to that, I also did corporate work because I had colleagues that went into the private sector. I had Fortune 500 clients and clients that were private families in the top executive world. When people see that you can photograph presidents, and kings and queens around the world — that you can navigate an environment that is more high society — then your clients trust you. They know I won’t ever exploit their images. They know I keep a very tight hold on the archives of photos I take of them.

President-elect Donald Trump walks to take his seat for the inaugural swearing-in ceremony at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., Friday, Jan. 20, 2017. Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead

ELIZABETH FLOCK: Has that trust been key to working with President Trump? Some have said your photos suggest you don’t have much access to the president. Do you think he trusts you?

SHEALAH CRAIGHEAD: For both of us, it’s getting to know your client, as much as they’re getting to know you as a photographer and a person. There’s a level of trust we have to establish with each other. That in time will unfold into a level of comfort and access. Then once that’s established the comfort level comes.

And with this particular situation, with the president and myself not having known him before, not having a relationship on the campaign, or a working relationship, it takes a lot longer to have someone comfortable in your personal space. I would say, for the first month or so he’d say, “Why are you here?” Or: “What are you doing?” Or, “You have more golf photos of me than [anything else].”

So then it becomes explaining and showing why you’re doing it. You’re earning the trust of your subject, so that they’re confident that you’re not going to send out a photo that’s not going to make them look bad. Sometimes I’m invited into a space, sometimes I move in quietly, and sometimes I’m disinvited.

“What you see on TV is exactly what you get off camera. I appreciate that. He likes photos, that’s no secret.”

But the president’s personality is gregarious. What you see on TV is exactly what you get off camera. I appreciate that. He likes photos, that’s no secret. I’m happy to engage in that. Both for him and the administration and the country, and his private archives later on down the road. You learn what they like or don’t like, preferences in terms of space or lighting.

ELIZABETH FLOCK: One media story said you carry a stool to photograph President Trump, because it makes him look better.

SHEALAH CRAIGHEAD: I’ve used a stool for years. I’m short, so when I was with Mrs. Bush, to get a better angle I brought in the stool that I carry, to be a little higher up. So that I’m not photographing from the ground up but sky down. I’ve brought that into the White House as well, because the president is six-foot, and I’m five-two. I carry that in order to be at least at eye level advantage. Plus the air up there is a lot nicer. (Laughs)

First lady Laura Bush (3rd R) hosts a coffee for first lady Mehriban Aliyeva (3rd L) of Azerbaijan, in the Yellow Oval Room of the White House December 7, 2006 in Washington, DC. Photo by Shealah Craighead/White House via Getty Images

ELIZABETH FLOCK: How is photographing President Trump different than photographing Mrs. Bush?

SHEALAH CRAIGHEAD: He’s a different person for many reasons. With Mrs. Bush it also took some time, but she would invite me to her private residence to take photos regularly of teas and lunches or residence with friends and colleagues, in her personal space. And sometimes I photographed and sometimes I didn’t. I remember once, there were eight of us on an airplane, and she was telling us about first date with the president. I was sitting there with a camera, but that was a moment I chose to not to photograph. I didn’t really want to photograph that.

Here with the president, my relationship is more professional, casual, comfortable. He’s comfortable with me, he certainly looks around, he makes sure I’m there, he looks for me when he’s ready to take a photo. We have candid conversations now and again, but in terms of telling me about his first date with Mrs. Trump, I’m sure that’s not a conversation we’re going to have anytime soon.

“I didn’t come in cameras and gun blazing, saying, ‘this is my job and I’m entitled to do this or that.’ I came in with the expectation that I’m going to need to gain the trust of a … person who I have not worked with before.

I think it’s slowly been worked into over time, my style is different, and I didn’t come in cameras and gun blazing, saying, “this is my job and I’m entitled to do this or that.” I came in with the expectation that I’m going to need to gain the trust of a client and person who I have not worked with before, who’s thinking, why am I following him around 16 hours a day with a camera? Once we got through that part, he was able to see my style and gain the trust that I’m very protective over the images that go out for both of our sakes. His failure is my failure, if he gets flak for that that’s on me. I err on the side of caution.

President Donald Trump receives a briefing, Thursday, April 6, 2017, on a military strike on Syria from his National Security team, including a video teleconference with Secretary of Defense, Gen. James Mattis, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, in a secured location at Mar-a-Largo in Palm Beach, Florida. Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead Editor’s Note: Items in this image have been altered for security purposes.

ELIZABETH FLOCK: You’ve been criticized for not releasing as many photos as previous administration have.

SHEALAH CRAIGHEAD: There are a lot of photos taken in private moments that the president would just like to have for his archives, like any family photo. Or family events, you’re just taking photos for the family. Or someone he’s golfed with, it’s his private time, it’s his personal time. Sometimes I’ll ask him, “Hey, can I release this to our website?” And I’ll show him, if I’m hesitant. He’ll say, “Yeah, that’s fine,” or no for whatever reason. But nine times out of 10 now I don’t run it by him.

ELIZABETH FLOCK: Can you tell me a story about working with President Trump? What’s your relationship like now that you’ve built some trust?

SHEALAH CRAIGHEAD: I see him as a person, not as a president, first. One thing he likes is to bring people into the Oval Office. He’ll give the history and the tour, and then make sure it’s documented for them. So he’ll call me up to take photos while they’re in the Oval Office.

I remember on the day of the health care vote [to repeal Obamacare], it was May 4th, and it was my birthday. This was not on the schedule, but he’ll say: “Everyone come into the Oval, let’s take photos.” And that day I got swamped and engulfed by everyone trying to get in the door at the same time. And so he said: “Where’s Shea, let’s get Shea, make way for Shea, she’s getting trampled.” I thought: he’s trying to make sure I’m in there for the moment. It’s endearing. He’ll come out with some really endearing comments. And he compliments me on the job I’m doing.

ELIZABETH FLOCK: Does the president see the photos you take before you put them out there?

SHEALAH CRAIGHEAD: Often times I’ll show him photos. At the beginning, I did a lot more hands-on work with the photos. He likes to see them. He likes to see what I do.

Now we have four photographers in total including myself. It’s a really strong team that incorporates a fashion background, a military background and an administration background. The fashion background I thought would be good for the first family.

It’s more a family environment than in past administrations. There are more lighthearted moments, family dinners, and the president’s grand kids are running around with bare feet on state floor, which is phenomenal for hide-and-go-seek. (Laughs)

ELIZABETH FLOCK: What’s it been like to photograph him on foreign trips? How is the president different there than he is at home?

“One thing I really like about this administration is that they’re doing it their way. It’s not always a popular approach. But I see them genuinely try to work from their heart. That’s something that I’d like to show more of.”

SHEALAH CRAIGHEAD: When we were on the Saudi Arabia trip, I remember how incredibly busy it was. They packed in a lot of face-to-face time with foreign leaders. I think it’s best when you meet people in person, and I think that he finds that as well. He’d rather do a lot of negotiating and conversing in person. The days are long — it’s such a concentrated period of time — and you’re trying to fit everything in. But in terms of his presence there, I noticed as a close observer that his time with the king in Saudi Arabia was the most personable. They really connected not only as leaders but really as people.

It’s also great to see Mrs. Trump unfolding in her role. That trip was her first coming out. I’ve watched her sort of slowly come out at her own pace. One thing I really like about this administration is that they’re doing it their way. It’s not always a popular approach. But I see them genuinely try to work from their heart. That’s something that I’d like to show more of. That unfolding — as a strength.

President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrive to the Murabba Palace, escorted by King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia, Saturday evening, May 20, 2017, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to attend a banquet in their honor. Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead

ELIZABETH FLOCK: There has been so much negative news about the president, though, from his policies to his inability to get things done. Do you feel like it’s your job to try to counteract that perception through photos?

SHEALAH CRAIGHEAD: People are going to love or hate no matter what. I just try to grab the moments as light and as endearing or as serious or profound as the moment is. And it’s still going to be taken however anyone wants to take the image and run with it. At the end of the day it’s about him. His image is going to captured in the images I take. I want to show him in the best light as a person.

What I’ve also learned in this business, is, unless you’re in the room, do you really know what happened? It’s all sort of projected. I’m just a documentary photographer. I just try to show him and what happened in the most honest light.

ELIZABETH FLOCK: In that way, it seems like you’re very different from your predecessor, Pete Souza, who really tried to capture the intimate, private moments of being president, and who also maybe tried to get across a certain perception of the president. People have criticized you as only documenting Trump’s public face, in a rigid way —

SHEALAH CRAIGHEAD: I am a fan of Pete Souza’s photography. I think the job he did is amazing for our country. I think Pete and I approach this situation differently. I’m defining my role as a documentary photographer, as a historian… I guess the way I’m doing it is with neutrality. I feel like the moments are going to unfold no matter what I do, and if I see them I’m going to capture them. If I can see something happening, and think that’s a great moment for history.

WATCH: The Obama White House, from the man behind the lens

President Barack Obama reflects during a budget meeting in the Roosevelt Room on January 29, 2009.
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

Pete developed a different relationship with his subject than I will have with mine or Eric Draper did with Bush 43. In terms of private space, that definition can be so wide. Does that mean the president’s private office, or private time in the Oval Office, or his residence? Are there meetings more sensitive than others? And am I in those? Sometimes, sometimes not. I’m certainly not going to go in and take photos while he’s privately eating lunch. Nobody likes to be photographed while they’re eating.

President Donald Trump reviews his remarks backstage at the National Prayer Breakfast at the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C., Thursday, February 2, 2017. Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead

ELIZABETH FLOCK: In a previous interview you gave, you said never talked politics or religion with people you worked with, when you were photographing Sarah Palin —

“I’m very set on making sure my career is very neutral. If you’re able to separate yourself from your issue, then you can make an image that is strong and compelling and informative, strong and honest in the moment.”

SHEALAH CRAIGHEAD: That’s not my job, my job is to document, job is to keep it simple. I’m not hired to be a policy adviser. This goes back to journalism days. A professor in photojournalism said you should always be neutral, talking about when you let personal beliefs in you sway the eye. So I decided I would make a conscious effort to keep my personal beliefs separate. I’m very set on making sure my career is very neutral. If you’re able to separate yourself from your issue, then you can make an image that is strong and compelling and informative, strong and honest in the moment.

ELIZABETH FLOCK: How much sleep do you get? Do you get any days off, free time?

SHEALAH CRAIGHEAD: I’m on my fourth day off right now since January when I started. The hours start in the morning and go very late.

The weekend I had off after we got back from Paris I slept from 5:30 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. the next day, pretty much solid. That was supposed to be 30 minute nap. (Laughs) I do yoga, try to stay in shape. It’s a physically demanding job, because sometimes I’m carrying 10, 20 pounds in a backpack, and you’re on your feet 16 hours a day. I also ride a motorcycle, which is the most calming space for me, because you can’t do anything on it, you just have to focus and drive.

This is the toughest job I’ve ever been in. You’re not only making photos every day, you’re managing a team, from the ground up, like a startup. I think everything tends to take six months in this world, until you get comfortable. You get your foot in the door, there’s shock and awe, then it’s: “Oh crap, how do I sustain this?” Then finally you get to that stage of sustainability, and the air is a little bit sweeter, and the sleep is more than four hours a night.

Below, see more of Craighead’s photos and her stories behind them.

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Post the traditional inaugural tea and coffee reception, President-elect Donald Trump looks out of the Red Room window onto the South Portico of the White House grounds on Friday, Jan. 20, 2017, prior to departing the White House for the Presidential Inaugural ceremony. Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead

This was my second day photographing President Trump. What was leading up to that was pure jumping in with both feet, going in a thousand miles an hour, figuring out where you’re supposed to be. I was sort of trying to observe him and Mrs. Trump at the same time, and find quiet moments in between. I knew inauguration was going to be pure chaos….At one point, I thought, “I don’t see him in the room, where did they go?” They were in the Blue Room having tea with the Obamas, and I stepped back because there’s only so many interaction photos you can take. Stepping back while taking photos gives you a better perspective. But all the sudden he was gone, and I found him in the Red Room.

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Holding her youngest son Theodore, Ivanka Trump talks on the phone in the East Colonnade of the White House, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2017. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)

This was also one of the first few weekends the president was in the White House. We were waiting for him to come to the movie theater to watch a family movie, and I went to scope out who was there, to get bearings on the space. And I saw Ivanka there with her son, and I just love the light in that room. I was observing a little before I took that to see how she moves. I was taken with the grace [she shows], and she’s slender and tall and in heels and carrying a baby and on the phone. I thought “who can do that, amazing.”

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President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump join King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia, and the President of Egypt, Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, Sunday, May 21, 2017, to participate in the inaugural opening of the Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)

To be honest, I don’t watch the news, and I’m not on social media anymore — let alone sort of follow what’s going on, [so I didn’t know the image of Trump with other foreign leaders gathered around a globe had gone viral]. I figured out that staying off social media was the best way to keep my head down and do my job. If people are going to make fun, you can take the sweetest photo and somebody is going to find a way to criticize you. I just remember it being incredibly crowded in that moment, getting elbowed.

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President Donald J. Trump signs a series of Executive Orders and Presidential Memoranda in the Oval Office, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017. Included are: Vice President Mike Pence, the Presidential Memorandum Regarding Construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline; Presidential Memorandum Regarding Construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline; Presidential Memorandum Regarding Construction of American Pipelines; Presidential Memorandum Streamlining Permitting and Reducing Regulatory Burdens for Domestic Manufacturing; Presidential Memorandum; Executive Order Expediting Environmental Reviews and Approval for High Priority Infrastructure. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)

I try to show a signing that’s not the same photo you can do every time, which is a redundant image. But it’s not a redundant event. The signing is important every time, but the visual works the same — and it’s not the same. This was the executive order around the pipeline, and I think I moved around the room on my stool. I bring the stool everywhere, lose all pride. (Laughs)

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President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump participate in the Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House on Monday, April 17, 2017, in Washington, D.C. This was the first Easter Egg Roll of the Trump Administration. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)

That moment was spontaneous. Each time Mrs. Trump goes out in public, she becomes more comfortable. Being in that space, it was a nice moment of watching her and the child she was sitting next to.

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President Donald Trump talks to members of the press in his office aboard Air Force One during a flight from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, January 26, 2017. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)

The president was eating and then the flight was landing. It was a very, very short flight. And the press wanted to photograph him in office on the first flight. The press was rushed in there, so I thought the moment was more about press documenting his first flight in office, than just a portrait of him on Air Force One.

It’s often easy to get caught up in the press pool — they have such a short amount of access and time. When they come into a space, it’s so easy to get swept up in the high energy. So it’s a challenge to pull yourself out and pause. You think: what does the moment look like from this side of the room. You step out of the scrum, which is sometimes not possible because you’re packed in so tightly. But what I love about working with the press pool it it’s seasoned vets, they challenge me, and sometimes I think: “How did I miss that?”

The post What it’s like to be President Trump’s White House photographer appeared first on PBS NewsHour.

Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear this segment. 

From Army captains who are coming back from battle, to transgender people on the brink of transitioning, finding hope can be as simple as telling your story through photographs. 

Drew Faithful, a transgender male and a sexual abuse survivor (pictured below), received a camera before he medically transitioned to help people understand his experience. He's a participant in the "Hope Is Project," in which each person receives a camera with one instruction: To photograph their vision of hope.

It's the vision of Sarah Takako Skinner, who came up with the project after reflecting on how hope has shaped her own life. 

Together, they weigh in on this new project, and what they hope to achieve. 

Drew Faithful

(Credit: Hope Is Project)

Writer, photographer and diver Jerry Shine talks about his book A Year Underwater: Twelve Months of Diving, Fraternizing with Marine Life, and Just Having a Great Time, from the St. Lawrence River to West Palm Beach. Between New Year’s Day and New Year’s Eve of 2015, Shine dove up and down the East Coast of North America, through winter storms and summer heat waves. A Year Underwater is his record of that year, of creatures mating, spawning, hiding and making meals of one another, all within a stone’s throw of the beach.