Experimenting with long exposures is something I’ve enjoyed doing a lot when photographing sporting events, in particular track and swimming. It’s all a game of trial and error, of finding the right shutter speed and then panning perfectly with the subject. This technique works best in the faster races (50 yards, 100 yards), but I found some success here during the longest individual race of the day, the 500-yard freestyle. Caption: In a long exposure, Dallastown’s Zoe Schneider competes in the 500-yard freestyle during the PIAA District 3 Class 3A swimming championships at Cumberland Valley High School in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, in March 2021. Schneider placed fourth in 5:06.96. Photo by Dan Rainville, The Evening Sun
NEWS PHOTOGRAPHER | Small Market Photographers | OCT. 2021

Photographer, videographer and writer, Dan Rainville is doing it all

This feature highlights visual journalists in small markets who are often doing it all on their own with little support and few eyes on their work. Nominate someone (or yourself) by sending an email to [email protected] with the subject line: Small market nomination.

Name: Dan Rainville

Publication: The Evening Sun, Hanover, Pennsylvania (and more broadly the dozen or so USA Today Network publications throughout the state). 

Twitter: @D_Rainville

How long in the business? Four years

Size of photo staff? Just me

Photo editor on staff? Never had one, unfortunately. Since I started here, the staff size of our 106-year-old local newspaper has shrunk by 75%.

Success can look different per most situations. What was a big success for you in this position and why?
I think the biggest success is that I’m still in this industry and still able to find meaning in the work. I’m a full-time photographer, but I’m also equally a videographer and increasingly now (and very reluctantly) a writer, too. In a period of fewer than three years, I watched as layoffs and attrition whittled our tiny staff of eight down to two. (The physical newsroom is gone now as well.) There was even a period of 10 months (during the pandemic) when I was the only staffer here. It’s an impossible task we’re dealt, and it hurts to see all the ways in which local newspapers are failing to properly serve their communities. But hopefully, from all the hardship there’s been some fortitude building in me that means I’ll be able to handle just about anything else the future of this profession throws at me — and hopefully, there are brighter days ahead. 

Why do you love photojournalism?
I enjoy the variety of the unknown. I enjoy not knowing (and then finding out) what something and someone will look like when photographed. On a recent assignment in Philadelphia, a woman we were profiling as part of a statewide living wage project asked me a similar question. I told her if I wasn’t a photojournalist, I would probably never find myself riding a SEPTA bus in Kensington talking to her; I would never have had the privilege of learning and sharing her story with the world.

Contact info and website: danielrainville.com and [email protected]

Scroll down to see a selection of Dan's work.

During the summer of 2020, I covered many demonstrations against police brutality and the killing of George Floyd. Protests were held in Hanover, York, Chambersburg and historic Gettysburg. Near the end of one of these demonstrations, organizers asked everyone to observe several minutes of silence in honor of George Floyd. As the silence was beginning, I watched a motorcyclist park his bike nearby and quietly join the crowd. It appeared as if he was just passing through town and had completely stumbled upon this gathering. He stood over a sea of protesters and police and raised his arms behind his head, still holding his helmet between his hands. After the observation was over, he left as quickly as he came. Caption: A moment of silence is observed for George Floyd during a protest in support of Black Lives Matter in Lincoln Square in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in July 2020. Photo by Dan Rainville, The Evening Sun
In June of last year, rumors (that were later confirmed to be a hoax) began to swirl around the internet regarding a potential “antifa” gathering on the Gettysburg battlefield. (Three years prior, the exact same hoax was perpetuated, to similar ends.) The hoaxers said Confederate monuments would be vandalized and destroyed. In response, hundreds of Confederate-supporting people, many of them armed with rifles, pistols and knives, showed up to the battlefield on the Fourth of July. One man from Maryland walked around the Soldiers’ National Cemetery (where over 3,500 Union soldiers are buried) while holding a Confederate battle flag over his shoulder. He stopped to look at his phone in front of the Lincoln Gettysburg Address Memorial, with the bust of the 16th president of the United States staring down at the flag. Caption: Dexter Parham of Keymar, Maryland, looks at his cellphone as he holds a Confederate flag in front of the Lincoln Address Memorial in Gettysburg National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on July 4, 2020. Photo by Dan Rainville, The Evening Sun
Biglerville High School graduates line up on the track before the start of a modified commencement ceremony at Musselman Stadium in Biglerville, Pennsylvania, in July 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the graduating class was broken into ceremonies of 25 students each. Photo by Dan Rainville, The Evening Sun
A cannon points west as fall foliage is on full display at Devil’s Den in Gettysburg National Military Park in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in October 2020. Located on an estimated 6,000 acres, the battlefield is home to over 1,300 monuments and hundreds of accurately placed artillery pieces. Photo by Dan Rainville, The Evening Sun
Chambersburg’s Karl Shindledecker, left, wrestles Dover’s Mason Leiphart in the 120-pound championship bout during the PIAA Class 3A District 3 SC Region wrestling championships at Spring Grove Area High School in Spring Grove, Pennsylvania, in February 2021. Shindledecker won by decision, 4-2. Photo by Dan Rainville, The Evening Sun
In the wake of George Floyd’s killing by Minneapolis police, our small town of Hanover held some of its biggest public demonstrations in recent memory. On a Saturday in June, hundreds of people held signs and chanted in the town’s square, a central hub of activity and vehicle traffic. Most of my focus was on the protesters, but I was almost equally interested in the motorists who were driving by this very large and very loud demonstration (some of them were supportive, some of them vehemently opposed). As one car drove through the intersection, I saw this little girl stretch her arm out the window and begin waving to the protesters. The person in the background holding the sign just happened to line up exactly in the frame. Just a few weeks later, people would turn out again for the first publicly organized Juneteenth celebration in the town’s history. Caption: A young girl in a passing car waves to protesters at a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Hanover’s Center Square in June 2020. Hundreds of people turned out to peacefully protest systemic racism and the death of George Floyd and other victims of police brutality. Photo by Dan Rainville, The Evening Sun
Riverside’s Colby Belczyk celebrates as he crosses the finish line first in 3:26.37 during the 2A boys 4x400m relay at the PIAA track and field championships at Shippensburg University in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, in May 2021. Temperatures on the first day of the state meet dipped into the 50s as pockets of rain and windswept across the outdoor events. Photo by Dan Rainville, The Evening Sun
Hanover Senior High School senior Samantha Laughman, left, holds on to second-grader Harper Cameron as she jumps excitedly before a dress rehearsal for the spring musical production of Disney's “Frozen Jr.” at the high school in April 2021. The musical marked the first time since December 2019 that the school had held an indoor performance, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo by Dan Rainville, The Evening Sun
The Central York Panthers celebrate on the field with their trophy after defeating York High 48-21 in the PIAA District 3 Class 6A Championship in York, Pennsylvania, in November 2020. The historic victory marked the first time a team from the York Adams Interscholastic Athletic Association (YAIAA) league won the 6A District title. Photo by Dan Rainville, The Evening Sun

More News Photographer stories

Archived Small Market News Photographer:

Joel Rosenbaum, The Reporter, Vacaville, California, News Photographer, June 2021

Carin Dorghalli, Chico (Calif.) Enterprise-Record, News Photographer, Jan/Feb 2021, Page 36

Khadejeh Nikouyeh, Greensboro News & Record, Greensboro, N.C., News Photographer, Sept/Oct 2020, Page 22

Gavin McIntyre, The Post and Courier, Charleston, S.C., News Photographer, July/Aug 2020, Page 20

Jessica Phelps, The Newark Advocate (Ohio), News Photographer, May/June 2020, Page 52

Marlena Sloss, The Herald, Dubois County, Indiana, News Photographer, March/April 2020, Page 28

Nathan Howard, The Columbian, Vancouver, Washington, News Photographer, Jan/Feb 2020

Mikala Compton, New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung, New Braunfels, Texas, News Photographer, Nov/Dec 2019

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