When a gunman walked into the Capital Gazette newsroom on June 28, 2018, he murdered five employees: Wendi Winters, Rebecca Smith, John McNamara, Rob Hiaasen and Gerald Fischman.
Photojournalist Paul Gillespie was editing pictures in the photo department when he heard the shots and dove under his desk for cover. He is among the survivors who have the unassailable task of healing, in addition to mourning and honoring their dead colleagues. Finding a foothold in the aftermath of the tragedy continues to be a daunting daily process.
In January, Gillespie picked up his camera and started making portraits of his colleagues, which turned into the portrait project “Journalists Matter: Faces of the Capital Gazette.” The portraits will be displayed for the first time on Oct. 6, 2019, at ArtFarm Studios in Annapolis, Maryland, for one month.
At the time, Gillespie didn’t intend this outcome. It was a way to catch a reprieve from the weight of the shooting’s aftermath. Surprisingly for everyone, the photo sessions became therapy and a means of connecting with others.
“I started by asking the journalist to come in [to the studio] ... I wanted to represent the journalists that were killed that day and the only way to get them to do that was to get them to hold a photo of [them] or something of theirs,” Gillespie said. To date, there are 25 portraits of the survivors (including a self-portrait) and the victims’ family members.
“Each time they’d come in here would be like a therapy session. We’d start off with some general pictures to get the lighting stuff right and then start working with different poses and then we’d talk. ... And it was almost equally talking as much as photographing. As the shoot goes on we might start talking about ... like, ‘How have you been feeling? What have you been doing to … deal?’ ... And then it would lead up to ... ‘What was it like for you on June 28?’ and that’s when some of the most emotional pictures have happened cause that’s when the emotions come out ... for both of us,” Gillespie said.
“Every one of these photoshoots has been pretty emotional… more so with the people who had been here or had lost a loved one. … The newer people [employees] are a little bit easier to photograph because they weren’t there when it happened. … So you can even see in the photographs the difference between the look on the faces of the people who were there when it happened and the new folks because they don’t have the weight of what happened,” Gillespie said.
Journalists who were hired in the months after the shooting became part of the Capital Gazette family and Gillespie has included them in the portrait series.
“I felt they were important to include because we couldn’t have continued without them. And they’ve had to come into a strange situation … and we continue to put out the damn paper,” Gillespie said with a laugh.
The project began online in the form of social media posts of the portraits with words. The immediate positive reactions were spot-on indications of public support. Gillespie took the suggestion of a friend and started a GoFundMe campaign to create an exhibition. He originally asked for $8,000 to cover the cost of printing, framing and the logistics of an exhibition.
“Within the first 24 hours I had the $8,000 that I was asking for, and I’m like, ‘Well, this is going well, maybe I should raise it.’ … I would like to do other things like a photo book or take the exhibit other places and talk about it and talk about why journalists matter and why local journalism matters. And talk about the five people that we lost. The five people who were murdered,” Gillespie said.
Wendi Winters, 65, reporter, columnist
Rebecca Smith, 34, sales assistant
John McNamara, 56, author, sports reporter and editor
Rob Hiaasen, 59, editor, columnist
Gerald Fischman, 61, editorial editor
Gillespie’s mission has been fully realized. Since June 19, $17,780 has been raised from 307 donations in amounts of mostly double-digit figures.
“A great group of local therapists (Annapolis Cares), got together and gave us free therapy, and the therapist I happen to go to after the initial eight weeks didn’t take worker’s comp or insurance. I didn’t know that when I started with her, or I would’ve probably gone somewhere else because then I couldn’t pay for that out of my own pocket so I had to stop going,” Gillespie explained. “And then I didn’t go for two or three months and then things got bad ... and that’s around the time I started this project,” he said. “I’m extremely appreciative and grateful for everyone who made this possible. I couldn’t have done it without them.”
Additional requests to host the exhibit and contributions to expand the project continue.
But for now, Gillespie wants people to know this: “It says it right in the title. Journalists matter. Not just journalism matters, but the journalists that produce that journalism matter. And we’re people. … We’re your brothers, sisters, fathers, sons, daughters ... we’re your neighbors. We’re not out to set an agenda, we’re just out there trying to tell true stories from our communities. And with my photographs ... we just want to tell the truth.” ■
Katherine C. Gilyard is a student at Howard University based in Washington, D.C. Her interests are covering science, health and their overlap with culture. She is available for freelance work. She can be reached at katherinegilyard.format.com
About the exhibit: “Journalists Matter: Faces of the Capital Gazette” opens Oct. 6, 2019, at ArtFarm Studios in Annapolis, Maryland, for one month.
