Award-winning Times photographer takes on new challenge

I love L.A. and the Los Angeles Times but, most important, I love being a photojournalist for this great newspaper.

I am so lucky to have been given the opportunity to photograph amazing people over the last decade. I have traveled the world and nation and explored every corner of this diverse city — all as a photographer for the Los Angeles Times.

I’ve photographed Elvis weddings in Las Vegas, Hillary Clinton running for the White House, same-sex marriage ceremonies, and Bedouins in the Negev desert.

I’ve covered riots, fires, floods, hurricanes, parades, marches, foster care injustices, births, celebrities, juvenile detention centers and Native American issues.

But my proudest accomplishment in a decade of photography was winning the trust of survivors of gang violence, who put their faith in me to tell their painful story to the world. It started with Rose Smith, who was shot and left paralyzed from the waist down while pregnant. She inspired me — through her courage and grace — to commit to a long-term project for which I received a 2011 Pulitzer Prize and an Emmy.

Rose Smith with her daughter Miracle.

I owe a tremendous amount of thanks to Editor and Publisher Davan Maharaj and editors Colin Crawford and Mary Cooney, who believed in me and fought to get my work published.

I will forever be grateful to Calvin Hom and Jeremiah Bogert for support with this and other stories.

And so as I leave the Los Angeles Times, with a lump in my throat and a flood of emotions, I will carry with me the memory of so many people I have met and connected with along the way.

I am lucky enough to be leaving the security of a staff job for a commercial assignment in Europe — which should provide me the financial cushion I need to continue telling the under-reported stories of people like Rose.

It will be an adventure. Going freelance offers the opportunity to show my work in a range of publications, teach workshops, work on film sets, own the rights to my photographs, pursue new opportunities — but most of all to grow as a photographer and a person. I also know that there will be times I have to get my hustle on to make a living — that’s the scary part, and that’s where I will draw on Rose’s example of courage and grace.

I will deeply miss the newsroom, and all the nurturing the Los Angeles Times community has given me over the years. I will remain based in L.A., and am confident our tribe will remain as close as ever. But there is a big wide world out there calling to me, and I want to be in it. Onward!

Twitter @photospice