Forrest Sanders, Newschannel5/WTVF, winner of the 2022 Solo Video Photojournalist of the Year, collects footage for a story in the Printers Alley area of downtown Nashville, Tenn., on Aug. 4, 2022. Photo by Andrew Nelles

NEWS PHOTOGRAPHER | AUGUST 2022

Horror films put Forrest Sanders on path to Solo Video Journalist of Year

By Jason Lamb

As unconventional as it may sound, it was after he watched the Sam Raimi film “The Evil Dead” that he knew he wanted to write, shoot and edit stories.

“I saw it in high school, and something clicked in my brain,” Sanders said. “I started to understand shot composition after that.”

Indeed, it isn’t necessarily the jump scares and gory scenes that Sanders is initially drawn to.

“I like the mechanics of them,” Sanders said. “I like how they’re shot, I like the atmosphere of them, I like how they’re paced.”

“That’s all things we apply to storytelling on TV, too.”

They are storytelling techniques that Sanders has learned from and applied well over the years as a solo video journalist — producing, writing, shooting and editing his work by himself.

This year, the NPPA judges selected Sanders to receive the contest’s first award honoring a solo video journalist's overall body of work in the Best of Photojournalism Television contest, based on his entries in individual contest categories.

“It’s an honor to be recognized for something like that; it’s also a major honor to be nominated with Matt Pearl. He’s a friend and someone whose work I respect a lot.”

Sanders and Pearl were nominated for the honor based on their work as part of the E.W. Scripps national team.

Sanders now works for NewsChannel 5 in Nashville, Tennessee, a city he’s told stories in for 13 years.

He arrived at WSMV in Nashville as a photographer and was soon given the opportunity to work as a solo video journalist.

“I was throwing a lot of energy into my work, but it was kind of an experimental phase,” Sanders said. “I had certain motivation to try and do good work but couldn’t channel it in the right areas yet.”

Forrest Sanders, a solo video journalist at WTVF NewsChannel 5, scouts the area for a story in the Printers Alley area of downtown Nashville, Tenn. Photo by Andrew Nelles

Sanders says he was first introduced to the NPPA around 2015 through watching the work of solo video journalists like Pearl and attending the NPPA Southeast Storytelling Conference in Atlanta.

“All of that was an epiphany moment, getting to watch people who were really knocking it out of the park,” Sanders said. “That mattered a lot.”

Sanders says he has always wanted to work as a solo video journalist, without the aid of a storytelling partner in the traditional reporter-photojournalist team.

“I think you either dig it or you don’t,” Sanders said. “I always liked MMJing.”

While taking on all the job responsibilities of a traditional two-person crew can seem daunting, Sanders says being his own photographer and reporter has its benefits, like helping him with lines for his story while he’s still in the field.

“I do work with photographers on occasion, and when I do, I find I really need to see what the video is before I’m able to write something,” Sanders said.

Though most of his years in Nashville have been spent covering general assignment topics, recently Sanders has been able to focus on the good news and positive messages found in the feature stories he now regularly produces.

“It’s a lot of overcomers: people who have faced something really horrific or tragic in their lives, and they have found a way to use that to get past something or help other people who have faced similar struggles,” Sanders said.

“We’ve got to have conversations in our newscasts about what’s wrong with our communities, but you also want to put on the good things that are happening in our communities too, and highlight people that have overcome something. That can be really inspirational.”

Sanders admits his is a beat that hasn’t always had support in other newsrooms he’s worked in.

“There were times when ‘feature’ was just a bad word,” Sanders said.

But he says through the COVID-19 pandemic, he’s appreciated working in a newsroom like WTVF that places importance on positive stories, and the extra workload that comes with doing it all on your own.

“WTVF has been really considerate of giving me the extra time to work on things. I don’t have a package in every single show,” Sanders said. “There’s a consideration of, ‘You’re doing everything yourself; let’s give you a little bit of space to get something together.’’”

Sanders says it took several years of learning and reporting on more traditional assignments, and finding special stories on his own, before he took on the stories he regularly does now.

“What I did for years and years is make sure every month I’d do a project on my own and then find a producer who would run it,” Sanders said.

His advice for journalists: Get involved with the NPPA early in their careers to see the inspiring work solo video journalists can produce.

That, along with the wisdom from a few horror films, has worked well for him.

Jason Lamb is a reporter at WTVF NewsChannel 5 in Nashville, Tennessee. He was selected as the 2016 recipient of the Best of Photojournalism contest’s NPPA Photojournalism Award for Reporting. You can find him on Twitter at @JasonLambNC5.

"Bell Buckle celebrates return of the RC Cola Moonpie Festival" by Forrest Sanders

This year, the NPPA judges selected Forrest Sanders to receive the contest’s first award honoring a solo video journalist's overall body of work in the Best of Photojournalism Television contest, based on his entries in individual contest categories. Second place was awarded to Matt Pearl, E.W. SCRIPPS. Photo by Andrew Nelles

Best of Photojournalism 2022 Ernie Crisp Photojournalist of the Year: Michael Driver, KCPQ, Fox13, Seattle

Best of Photojournalism 2022 Editor of the Year: Chris Hansen, KUSA, 9News, Denver

Best of Photojournalism 2022 Reporter of the Year: Chris Vanderveen, KUSA, 9News, Denver

Best of Photojournalism 2022 Solo Video Journalist of the Year: Forrest Sanders, WTVF, Nashville

Best of Photojournalism 2022 Stations of the Year:

Small/Medium Market: WTVR, Richmond, Virginia

Large Market: WFAA, Dallas

More News Photographer magazine stories