Capturing Moments: Interview with Katharine Lotze
Listen to full episode :
In this episode of the Switching Two podcast, Jess and Heather welcome Katharine Lotze, a multi-hyphenate creative and sports assignment editor at Getty Images. They explore Katharine's journey into photography and journalism, discussing the challenges of the industry, the importance of networking and internships, and the value of finding one's own path. Katharine shares valuable lessons learned from her experiences, insights into her role at Getty Images, and advice for aspiring photographers. The conversation wraps up with a look ahead at exciting upcoming projects, including the Winter Olympics.
About Katharine Lotze
Katharine Lotze is a photojournalist based in Southern California, currently working as a sport assignment editor for Getty Images. Her work for Getty Images has been seen in The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Sports Illustrated, The New York Times, Buzzfeed News, the Huffington Post, and more.
In her role as an assignment editor, Katharine manages college basketball and Major League Baseball assignments, coordinating editorial coverage of every single regular and postseason MLB game -- more than 2,600 baseball games per year across a roster of freelance and staff photographers. As a picture editor, she saw hundreds to thousands of images per day across news, sports and entertainment, and produced original video content for Getty Images' 1.5 million Instagram followers. She's edited everything from the Oscars to the Olympics. In 2024, she photographed at the Paris Olympics as part of Getty Images' IOC Sponsors team, and had the opportunity to capture gymnastics, athletics, fencing and more.
Prior to Getty, she worked as a staff photographer at the Santa Clarita Valley Signal, covering major and minor breaking news and sports, including large-scale fires, elections, national presidential debates, and more. She's also done some writing & reporting.
A former college track athlete, she is passionate about women’s sports and dreams of covering world-class track, gymnastics, surfing, and the Jamaican high school championships.
Her work has earned recognition from NPPA’s Best of Photojournalism, the World Sports Photography Awards, PPAGLA, CNPA, and the Los Angeles Center of Photography. She also mentors early-career photographers through NPPA and Las Fotos.
Takeaways
Katharine Lotze is a multi-hyphenate creative working as a sports assignment editor at Getty Images.
The journey into photography often starts with early influences and experiences.
Networking and internships are crucial for success in the media industry.
It's important to find your own path and not follow a traditional blueprint.
Lessons from past experiences can shape future decisions and career paths.
Being open to opportunities and reaching out to editors can lead to unexpected chances.
The role of an assignment editor involves matching photographers with the right assignments.
Aspiring photographers should create work that reflects the type of projects they want to be hired for.
The media landscape is constantly changing, and adaptability is key.
Upcoming projects, including the Winter Olympics, present exciting opportunities for photographers.
Katharine’s Links
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Jess (00:01)
Jess for Heather.
Heather (00:02)
Go for Heather.
Jess (00:04)
Can you switch to two?
Heather (00:06)
Switching. Hey, I'm Heather. We're two multi-hyphenate creatives figuring it out in real time.
Jess (00:09)
and I'm Jess.
from on set and in the studio to deadlines, pivots, side hustles, and starting over.
Heather (00:19)
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Jess (00:27)
Tune in for fresh tea, hot takes, industry guests, and the occasional chaos.
Heather (00:32)
This is Switching Two, the side channel for creative conversations. All right, we're on two
Jess (00:36)
We're glad you're here.
Welcome to the episode.
Heather (00:40)
⁓
Jess (00:44)
Hey Heather. I'm good. How are you? I'm happy to be here. Happy to talk.
Heather (00:43)
Hi Jess, how are you?
Good. I'm so excited
to be here on channel two with you. We are on.
Jess (00:53)
We're on channel two. Did I? ⁓
I want to just tell you something. I got to like experience my first switching to two like in real life last week.
Heather (00:57)
Yeah.
I'm so proud of you
guys. So Jess comes from broadcast. So her switching to two is like switching with a switcher. Like she's switching to two in that perspective. My switching to two comes from being on the walkie and switching to channel two. And Jess now being more in commercial production, she got to experience it for the first time on the walkie. How was it Jess?
Jess (01:27)
It was, I didn't actually, I didn't actually switch to two. I heard the producer, the lead producer tell, ask the director or vice versa, one of them, they were like, hey, switch to two. And I didn't even think about switching to two. I just thought, oh my God, I get to tell Heather that. I heard it in real life.
Heather (01:30)
I'm so disappointed in you.
We're going
to do a poll on our Instagram because I want to know how ⁓ all of my SetBesties handle this. Like if somebody's like, hey, switch to two. Do you guys eavesdrop? Do we switch to two and listen what's going on? Jess is a nice person, so she didn't do that, but I would probably do that if I had nothing else going on.
Jess (02:09)
I
think that's more normal. partner, I told him the same thing and he's worked on ⁓ film and film sets mostly. And he was like, you didn't switch to two? And I was like, no, it wasn't my business. But anyways, I just wanted to share that with you because I was really excited. And I'm also really excited because we have somebody coming on the podcast today that I just absolutely adore. Her name is Katharine Lotze and
I just she she is a multi hyphenate just like many of our guests. But she is a she's I when I think of her I think of her as a photographer. She's a photojournalist. Her main assignment right now is working as a sports assignment editor for Getty Images. But I met Kat about 10 years ago, we were both semi early in our careers. And I'm just really excited to have her on the pod today. She's always been somebody that
likes to mentor people. She's inspiring and motivational and she is always that person if you have a question about how the industry works or how to get your foot in the door or you know just you know needing some validation. She is a great person for that and I'm so excited to have her on the pod today.
Heather (03:28)
Yeah, Kat is really amazing. I mean, I've only connected with her a short time when you introduced us, but just really excited to hear all of the different experiences that she has had in her career pathway and hearing about how she's kind of made some of her own pivots and her own kind of jumps to get to where she is now. So yeah, very excited.
Jess (03:53)
Welcome to the pod, Kat. Thanks for being here today.
Katharine Lotze (03:57)
Thanks for having me. It was really great to talk with you guys, Jess and Heather. Yeah.
Jess (04:02)
We're so excited and I'm
just so happy that you're here. Can I have you give just a quick introduction of who you are?
Katharine Lotze (04:11)
Yeah, so I'm Katharine and I'm a an assignment editor with Getty Images on the North American sport team. So I manage assignments for Getty Images across Major League Baseball, National Hockey League, college sports that are not football. I have a colleague who does the football part and a handful of other little smaller sports like UFC track and field surfing things that we don't cover as regularly. But.
Basically assigning means making sure we have everything that we need covered covered. In the case of baseball, that is 100 % of games every year. That's over 2400 games a season. So it's a lot for some sports and other sports like surfing or UFC. It's only one event every couple weeks or so.
Jess (04:53)
That's so, I didn't realize how many games there are.
Heather (04:55)
Wow, that's a lot.
Katharine Lotze (04:57)
Yeah,
it was really daunting when I started because I was like, you mean I have to do what? But then I realized it makes it both easy and hard hard because there's a lot, but easy because you don't ever have to hem and haw about which is more important to cover like what game you're just like, well, I have to cover everything. So we'll just have it all. It's great.
Jess (05:15)
That's amazing. I can't even imagine coordinating all that. So I want to talk about, again, I know I've said it 15,000 times. I'm so excited to have you on the podcast. But the reason that is is because I just adore you. And also because you were one of the first people when years ago when this was kind of just an idea, I called you and I was like, what do you think about this? And you've always been so supportive. And it's just...
Katharine Lotze (05:21)
Yeah.
Jess (05:41)
I'm so happy to, and you have such a great story. And I was telling Heather in our intro how you're such a motivational person and inspiring person. And you're always like, you know, you could, anyone could walk up to you and be like, I wanna, you know.
Katharine Lotze (05:52)
so sweet.
Jess (05:59)
Get into photography, I want to get into journalism, want to get into like, tell me about Getty Images and you're always so friendly and open to people and so I just I thought you'd be the perfect person to come on our podcast that is for people who are, you know, early in their careers, middle of their careers, maybe they're pivoting, maybe they are curious about, you know, different types of career paths. So we're just so happy to have you.
Katharine Lotze (06:26)
So
having a beer you're so sweet Jess like that's amazing I do remember having those conversations with you You know years ago about this podcast and I always thought it was a good idea and not I'm not just saying that because I'm on it now But yeah, I'm really glad you're doing this and I'm super glad to be here
Jess (06:42)
Thanks. We didn't pay her to say that.
Heather (06:46)
Well, I
think this is just so cool and like it's really inspiring and refreshing because I think there's a lot of energy or misconception about our industry that, you know, we're not supportive of one another and it can be very cutthroat and it's like, there are elements of it that yes, it can, but I think at its core, we really as creatives and people who work in these various, you know, avenues of our industry are really supportive of one another and we can have so much to like learn from each other. So.
It's very cool to hear Jess also speak so highly of you and the ways in which you guys have been able to kind of support each other, even while doing your own things, you know.
Katharine Lotze (07:26)
yeah, I agree with everything you said about how the perception is that, you know, it's like the Hollywood, I guess, portrayal of how the media is, where it's like, you know, elbows in the media scrum and like everybody's trying to reach in with a microphone or a camera or something like that. in reality, especially these last several years where the industry has changed so much and we've been through a pandemic, I feel like everybody's like much more supportive maybe than we're made out to be.
Jess (07:53)
Yeah, definitely. I think we realized that you work together and we can lift the, you know, all the ships rise if we rise together. I think, I don't know if that's the saying, I'm totally butchering that. But I want to talk about, I want to talk about your first memory of photography, or what inspired you initially with photography or journalism.
Katharine Lotze (08:02)
Yeah, agreed.
Oh, that's a really good one. I think, like my first memory of photography is my mom had a little film Nikon camera that she would pull out when we were kids. Just take pictures of us as kids. My mom's an artist, but not like a photographer, at least not really anymore. She doesn't pick up the camera anymore like she did when we were kids, but she's a painter and she draws like really fine pencil drawings. So she's always had that artistic eye.
⁓ so I guess it was her picking up the camera and then that was just sort of around when I was a kid and it was just something that always happened around me. ⁓ and then of course, as we got, grew up and got older, digital cameras were introduced, but I'm talking like, like not the cool, like the very in fashion now, like little pocket point and choose those came later. I'm talking about like the, yeah, like the big, you know, like size of a one DX Sony digital cameras with a floppy disk.
Jess (09:04)
The power shots.
Katharine Lotze (09:13)
that you put inside? Yes. So we had those, I think my fifth grade classroom had one of those and we could like check it out to do like classroom stuff. I don't know how they paid for that. It must have been thousands of dollars for that just like old camera and floppy disks. So that it was just sort of like this thing that was just so always present in my life. And then in high school, this is.
Jess (09:14)
Yes. Yes.
Katharine Lotze (09:35)
I guess this is sort of like an ethos for me as well. In high school, I heard an announcement over the intercom, like the first week of my freshman year in high school. They were looking for people to join the yearbook staff because they needed more people to help put it together. I heard the announcement and I was standing next to somebody and I was like, that sounds interesting. Like, I'm going to go join the yearbook staff. And they look at me and they're like, freshmen can't join the yearbook staff. And I'm like, well, they didn't say that on the announcement.
I'm gonna go ask anyway, and so I did. So that was like the first time somebody telling me no just gave me more motivation to go out and try to do the thing they told me that I couldn't or wasn't capable of doing.
Jess (10:13)
love that you took that and you were like, no, I'm gonna do it.
Katharine Lotze (10:17)
Yeah, yeah, that's happened a couple of times, like in my, my life and in my career in general, where somebody didn't believe I was capable of something. I, I use that as like internal motivation to go out and, I guess, prove them wrong essentially, but also, you know, prove to myself that I could.
Jess (10:37)
And I think, yeah, I mean, I don't know. I empathize so much with that. I think there's so many different parts of our industry, and I'm sure Heather can identify with that as well, of people telling you no, and I think, or that you can't do it, or that you're not the type of person that does it, or, and being able to say, no, I think I'm gonna still try it, or I'm still gonna do it, or I still love this.
Heather (10:59)
Yeah, I think that's like a whole theme in our industry. It's like, it's, it's really hard. It's really, it's really hard. Are you sure you want to do it? You know, it's just like this generalized theme for anybody who wants to just work in media, entertainment, art, like that sort of thing. And so I think it does take a special type of person to say, no, that's yeah, that's okay. I'm going to do it, do it anyway, you know, so yeah.
Katharine Lotze (10:59)
Yeah.
Yeah, especially in this era where imposter syndrome is such like a word of the day. You know, I hear it all the time in like professional contexts and I definitely feel it myself sometimes, but, to sort of come away from a situation where somebody says, well, well, are you sure you're capable of doing that? And to just like, not even think about it and just say, well, yeah, of course I'm going to try it. And if I fail, that's okay. But you know, yeah, that's.
Jess (11:51)
Yeah, there's the like
fake it till you make it and also not being afraid of failing. You know, I think I mean, I think we can all empathize with it.
Heather (12:00)
I do want to ask a question about that because for me, that whole thing is very much a constant effort. You know, I think a lot of people think it's just you have this, you know, unwavering sort of confidence of, I'm going to try anyway. And I think it's always for me, this trial and error where I have to kind of tell convince myself first and, know, sort of trick myself a little bit into doing the thing. And then once you do it, gives you just enough confidence to get to the next thing, you know, but
I'm curious how that is for you, Kat or Jess, you have to kind of what's your process with that or does it just sort of come to you? You're like, no, I'm going to do it. It's fine.
Katharine Lotze (12:38)
It depends on the situation. Like, um, there are things that scare me more than others. And most of the things that scare me are not things professionally anymore, but it's like, running coach will laugh a lot at this, but it's, it's running race. I don't like to sign up because then that means I actually have to do it. And, um, that, that freaks me out sometimes. Um, and I need a little, you know, self pep talk to do that, but.
the mantra I have in those situations where I'm like, I don't know, I don't know if I can, I don't feel capable. I mean, you know, I've done all the work to get to this point, but I'm still unsure is just do it afraid, like do it scared, do it anyways. So, because I mean, the fear is gonna be there sort of regardless, but you, it doesn't even have to be a motivator. It can just be present. It's okay too.
Jess (13:30)
Heather, I'm gonna need you to help me jog my memory. You know, I went to a presentation a few weeks back at SAG and ⁓ it was with Abbott Elementary and one of the actresses, and I'm totally blanking on her name, we can pop it in later or something, but she said she's like, I don't even like compare myself anymore because I have a hard time of like, well, there's so many producers, there's so many photographers, there's so many this, there's so many that, then they're so great.
and she just said, no, I'm competing with myself. I'm not competing with anybody else. Like, I'm just going to continue to make myself better. And I think that's what I've been thinking about a lot lately is if I'm like, I don't know if I can do this. I don't know if I'm the best person to do this. And I'm just going to do it and see what happens.
Katharine Lotze (14:17)
Yeah, exactly. And I mean, that, that for me plays out very literally when I'm running. mean, I run marathons sort of as a way to stay in shape, but also like to have something outside of work that I'm working towards, which I really love. And, you know, it's terrifying, but I'm really only competing against myself, which honestly, sometimes it's the most terrifying thing, but you just, you have to do it scared.
Jess (14:37)
Yeah, do it scared. So.
Katharine Lotze (14:38)
Yeah.
Heather (14:40)
Really quick, Jess, I'm just going to tell you, was either Cheryl Lee Ralph or Janelle James. That was one of those wonderful ladies.
Jess (14:45)
I think it was Janelle James.
was Janelle James. Yeah, she was, she, I mean, they both were so inspirational, but I just remember sitting there in that presentation a few weeks back and being like, I like that because I think in creative spaces and I mean, and also as a runner, like, you know, you're competing with a lot of other people, but you're really, you're competing with yourself.
Katharine Lotze (15:08)
Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
Jess (15:10)
So
I want to switch back into kind of photojournalism.
know you were at your college newspaper. Is that when you first realized you wanted to pursue that? Or did you kind of think you wanted to pursue that? Or was it after that? Where was that moment for you?
Katharine Lotze (15:29)
⁓
it definitely started with that high school yearbook. Like when I was doing that, I realized that I really liked what I was doing. I liked going out. And of course that was a much more relaxed environment as far as like journalism goes. It wouldn't call it journalism. Like the one, the second year I was on staff, it was like me and two other people. So we were way understaffed and we were already a small school, but like that was really understaffed. And we just decided no captions. So we did.
whole yearbook has like no captions. that also happened to be the year that the yearbook company, the only text in the whole yearbook that we're not responsible for misspelled the word school on the cover of the yearbook. And they had to like recall, was, it was, kept my Shule yearbook, ⁓ because that's a relic, but, that was sort of when I, was like, yeah, I like doing this. I like, you know, making this product for everybody to see, but it's also like a record of what we did and like,
it for high school, like what we did, what we looked like, know, how we dressed. It's like a record that we can look back years later at. And then in high school, I did my senior project. I worked for, I found this, I basically made up an internship for myself with this website called milesplit.us and they cover like various high school sporting events around the country, but they have focused ones per state. So I did one with the Washington state one and wrote articles about people.
various people and events that I went to myself as a cross-country runner. I wasn't writing about my team or myself, but I would write about other runners and like interview them after races. That was sort of my window into like actual journalism. So and then from there, I just I sort of knew that's just the path I was going to take and majored in journalism in college, worked on the paper there and then yeah, and then it was a little bit more circuitous after college, but I found my way
Jess (17:16)
do you feel like having an education in journalism and photography helped you is like, what are your thoughts about that? Or what was your experience with that? Because I know people tell you they're like, you don't need a degree in journalism or photography. But some people, know, and I, that's what my degree is in. And so I'm not, you know, I hear it all the different ways.
Was that helpful for you? What was that experience like?
Katharine Lotze (17:41)
⁓
I think for me it was helpful. ⁓ I came from like a really small town, so we only had like one example of like, like written news media. So like one newspaper sort of around and like they were solid. And if you made it into the newspaper, like that was huge, especially if you were in high school or something for sports. but. You know, we didn't have a lot of, you we didn't have like a New York times, LA times, like San Francisco Chronicle type paper where we were. So,
I think it was really helpful for me to go to university and to learn from people who had been at those bigger publications and like to figure out how those things worked. But I agree that you don't necessarily need a college degree at all or a college degree in journalism or in any type of writing to make it as a journalist or a photographer. My school did not have a photojournalism program. There was one photojournalism class that I took. It was a three credit course, so it was not even like a ⁓ full class, so to speak.
And I did a photojournalism focused internship at the newspaper that was about 30 minutes away. So like a larger paper than my hometown paper, but like not like LA times large. And that's sort of it. Like I was pretty self-taught as far as the photography goes. So I definitely don't think it's a requirement. We have a lot of photographers that we work with, like both staff and freelancers at Getty Images who are very self-taught or people who pivoted like mid.
midlife to a different career. Like, I definitely don't think it's a requirement. Anybody from any walk of life could find their way to behind a camera.
Jess (19:14)
I love that. I think that in a lot of ways this industry is very accessible. It is inaccessible in a lot of ways, but I think there's a... We live in this really special time where there's a lot of things that you can do self-taught. You can watch YouTube videos. You can, you know, and there's a lot of networking groups and I know that those are super helpful to you where you can find some mentors and support systems there.
Katharine Lotze (19:40)
Yeah, I think that's one of the benefits of school too is the networking, especially if you go to a program that's really known for photography or journalism like Western Kentucky or Ohio or RIT. There's some of the those are some of the big schools. I had no idea about any of those programs when I was in high school. I was as my dad told me, follow the money. So I went where I got a scholarship for track and field, which wasn't that far away from home, luckily, but.
I think that's another huge benefit of school is the networking involved and the connections to the various media professionals and internships that you might have at one of those programs. But again, it's not a requirement because I didn't have those
Jess (20:18)
and then so after after college what was kind of your next step for you? How did you get to LA?
Katharine Lotze (20:25)
Oh, I know, I know. I think
we talked about this a little bit in the past, but usually you sort of move around a little bit and find your way into a large market. Media wise, I think this is really common, especially for like broadcast journalism, which I'm no expert in at all, but that's sort of how I've seen other people do it. I started with the opposite way. was like, hmm, which market do I want to be in? LA, let's go. So that it.
didn't help that at the time I was following down a college boyfriend who was from here and was moving back. So in my mind I was like, well, there's no snow, which I also don't want to deal with. And, you know, I'll have somebody who knows the area down there. So like, let's just go. So eight days after I graduated, I packed up the car and I moved. I did have an internship that paid lined up at least, but yeah, it was, it obviously did not pan off for Los Angeles, but it was.
Yeah, I went about it backwards getting to LA.
Jess (21:20)
Yeah, that is something they tell you in school. know both in journalism tracks in general, say, you know, they say you need to work in the smaller markets. There's markets, sizes, if anyone doesn't know that. LA is number two, New York's number one. A lot of the other big cities that you can think of are in the top 10, top 20. And you go to a smaller market and then you work your way up.
Katharine Lotze (21:23)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Jess (21:47)
and you kind of you spend a couple years you spend a contract or whatever and then you like work your way up and so it's really interesting that and also like i'm from just out of la and so it was like what i have to like go somewhere else and then come back and and i love that you were like i want to end up there so i'm gonna go there and i'm gonna figure it out
Katharine Lotze (22:10)
I, yeah,
I like nobody really told me about these like these markets you speak of. so I just was like, I'm just going to go to the biggest, the biggest one that I want to live in. mean, cause in my mind coming out of school, I was like, well, everybody I know here at school is going to go to Seattle, you know, cause we were a dead center Washington state. I'm like, there's not really like a big media market on the East side. So everybody's going to go to Seattle. They're going to work in the TV news or they're going to work.
you know, for the newspapers or the publications over there, like the Seattle Times or the Stranger, you know, one of these magazines. Well, I don't want to like fight with all of my classmates for jobs. So I'm going to go somewhere else where I have to fight with complete strangers for jobs. um, so I guess that's sort of, that was my thinking at the time thinking like, well, it's New York or LA or Seattle, you know, and then I was like, well, what's the climate I'd rather live in? And it was Los Angeles.
Not that is not a move I would advise to anyone picking your home, your first job market based on climate, but it did work out in my case. So that is one regret I have is that I didn't sort of move around to different markets. Like when I got out of school, I think looking back, obviously hindsight is 2020, but looking back, I think I would have really enjoyed.
moving around and trying out different markets and having different jobs and meeting different people and learning about different areas of the country. So that is that's one small regard I have about about moving straight to the market I still live in.
Heather (23:40)
thinking about how that's such a testament to you have to do what works for you ultimately, because I think there are a lot of these rules, these unspoken rules, like, well, you have to leave school. And if you want to be in, you know, journalism broadcast, like you need to go to a lower tier market and then work your way up. And, you know, these are all recommendations based on what other people have had success with, but
You know, I think there's not these hard and fast rules of this is the way that you have to, you know, in order to make a career as evident by, you know, your path. I think so. That's just something interesting that kind of stands out for me. But I do also appreciate that you brought up sort of the regret of not taking more more time. That's that's something I go, man, I wish I would have like really, you know, spent time while I was in school and been happy to be in school and not try to.
get out of school to get to the next thing, you know? So yeah, is there anything you wish you would have within that? I know you have those different experiences, but that you would have, you know, spent more time with or anything like that that you would have put more emphasis on? Was it making connections or was there anything like that for you?
Katharine Lotze (24:39)
Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, there was a lot I feel like I didn't know in school because I was in such a small, like I was a, I went to Central Washington University, which is in Ellensburg, Washington. It's pretty rural by the standards of most like college towns. Like it's very much a college town. The population explodes during the school year, but the rest of the year, it's much quieter. It's much more rural. It's very similar to where I grew up. So I was very comfortable there, but I also didn't like, I didn't have exposure to.
the to the knowledge that like, my gosh, there's all these internships out there. And I started to realize that a little bit later in school and I did end up interning with the Huffington Post directly after college here in LA, but I didn't know that I should be applying to like multiple internships like throughout school. And I should be willing to like take a quarter off and like, you know, do an internship, which isn't for everyone. And you can still be totally successful without doing that. But
Coming out in 2013, I went to the Mountain Workshops, which is an excellent workshop for photojournalists of all ages, really. But it does skew a little bit younger because it's put on by Western Kentucky University, so a lot of their students end up going. I went to that workshop and I was surrounded. I think I was like 22 or 23 at the time that I went.
Um, I felt old compared to the students who were there because they were all like, you know, 18, 19, 20, and they're still in school and they're like, oh yeah, well my internship this summer at such and such publication. And I felt so behind at that workshop. And I was like, oh man, why didn't I know about all of this stuff in school? Um, I, I just didn't have exposure to it. I think with the explosion of social media and Instagram, cause Instagram wasn't a thing when I was in college. So there wasn't this like.
feed of images before you every single day showing you like, so and so is working for this publication and so and so just freelance for them. So there wasn't this like exposure to all of that stuff that we have now that I think is probably both a probably a benefit and a detractor to a lot of people currently. But I sort of wish I would have had that exposure in school to those things to know to apply to those internships or to even go look for them.
⁓ because I thought internships were something you did as a rising junior or graduating senior because, you know, the idea, I think coming from some of my professors in school was, well, you get an internship and then you sort of hope that there's a job at the end of it. I think that's maybe a little bit old school. I'm not sure how things were in the past, but that seems to have been the case for like a very, very long time in the media industry. And now recently it's more like, you, you do an internship to get experience.
and you build on that experience and then a lot of people will go freelance or they find another staff job or maybe there is a job at the end of the rainbow. It's very highly dependent on the public agent's needs at the time. But yeah, I didn't know about any of that and I sort of regret not doing more internships. I wish I could have, but that's okay. I found my own experience.
Jess (27:54)
one of the reasons I find you to be a very inspiring person is because you did find your own way. And I think that a lot of people are looking for other people who have found their own ways. And I mean, I remember when I was in college, my counselor was like, okay, well, you need to take this class and this class and this class because that's part of the requirements. And I was like,
I've been working professionally in radio. I don't need to take another radio class. Like I want to learn how to write better or I want to learn how to do this better. Like I need to work on the skills that I that I don't have or make myself more well-rounded. And so I think breaking the rules a little bit is really helpful in kind of finding your own path. Heather and I talk a lot about how there's kind of this blueprint sort of.
And but the blueprint may not work for you. It may have worked for, you know, Heather or I or, whoever else, but it may not work for the next person. And so just kind of figuring out these resources and tools and stuff that you can use to kind of carve your own path is one of the most important things I think anybody anywhere can learn. Because it's not going to it's always everything's changing always.
and it's never gonna be the same and everybody's path is gonna be different.
Katharine Lotze (29:19)
Yeah, I agree. I mean, obviously my own path was a little different and not, guess, the traditional, but then again, it is sort of traditional in other ways. I, after my internship at the Huffington Post, I sort of wasn't sure if journalism was for me after that because it was a writing focused internship. And I was like, hmm, well, I'm not sure, but this is what I want to do. Like their style at the time, I think things
long since changed. think they've gone through many evolutions, so I have no idea. at the time, was more of like, we were aggregating like stories that other outlets were putting together. So I was like, well, if this is journalism, I'm not sure if this is what I want to do. So I took a different route. I coached track for a while. I worked as an assistant to a documentary filmmaker and an author and had a great experience doing that. And then by luck of
timing and geography, I ended up at the Santa Clarita Valley Signal, whereas it's where I met you, Jess. But yeah, took a couple of, I don't want to say it took a couple of years off of journalism, but I definitely sort of have this gap where I wasn't doing directly journalistic-related things. was sort of working on the margins of it, I guess. Documentary film is still sort of a form of journalism. So I feel like being a documentary,
filmmaker's assistant was sort of like on the margins of that. I was still exposed to those kind of things frequently, but I wasn't actually doing them myself. yeah,
Jess (30:50)
when we met, we were working for rival outlets. Well, rival as much of like, and Santa Clarita is kind of a small town in a way. It thinks it's a small town, even though it's a pretty big one now.
Katharine Lotze (30:54)
Mm-hmm.
It does remind
me where of where I grew up, like not the town I directly grew up in, which is really small, but like the neighboring towns, Tri-Cities Washington. There's a lot of similarities, like the same number of big high schools, you know, like it's, it's kind of wild to me how similar they are. And when I say that to people, they're like, really? Are you sure? And I'm like, yes, I'm absolutely sure. Like, so.
Jess (31:13)
Yeah.
And
I just remember, I just remember I was very competitive and I was and the organization I was working for at the time was very like, you we got to get stuff out. We got to, you know, we got to be the first on scene. And I was very interested in breaking news. And I, I just remember meeting you and you were just friendly and nice.
and not competitive like you know it wasn't it was like hey we can work together and I was like I like that I have a buddy out here because a lot of times you're so alone I feel like when you're you know as a photojournalist or as a videographer um I think going back to what we were talking about earlier that camaraderie is really helpful especially when you're in a small market especially when you're trying to learn how everything works and how and you know there's a lot of
stress that comes with it
Katharine Lotze (32:16)
No, no, I agree. think that's the similar experience that I had that I had meeting you was like, wow, like people are so friendly here. Like, and I'm going to follow Jess around because she knows everybody. Like she's been working here longer. So she knows who the important players are. So like, if I follow what she's doing, she's, I'm going to get the right stuff. So, I mean, yeah, we, we were at competitive outlets at the time, but I still, I don't know. In my mind, I always think of like,
TV, radio, and newspapers that's like separate. And maybe this is just me, but like separate in my head. like, yes, they're competing, but like it's a different medium. like, you're not, I don't know, like it's not quite the same each of them. So.
Heather (33:00)
one of the things that really stuck out to me as you guys were talking through all of this, Kat, is like the things you talk about being kind of on the margins, right? And you talk about those different experiences. But from what I know what you do now, you were an athlete yourself. You had experience in sports. So OK, now you have this.
storytelling experience, now you have this admin experience, now you have, you know, all these things along the way that you kind of just pick up that actually shape who you are in your path. And so I think there's a lot of people just coming into the workforce that they feel like this has to be very linear, right? And they're like, okay, so point A, point B, point C, right? And it is the things that we pick up the little detours that we take that shape us and make us valuable.
Katharine Lotze (33:39)
Mm-hmm.
Heather (33:48)
in our role and sort of the intangible that helps us just be better at what we do. So yeah, I just was curious like how, you know, do you feel, and maybe this is jumping too far ahead, but the experiences you've had in your past, maybe if they're, even if they're just more intangible soft skills, how they help you in what you do today, kind of on a daily basis, you know?
Katharine Lotze (34:13)
That's a really good question. I've actually never thought of that, like the way you put it about like the little experiences you pick up along the way that sort of helped contribute to where you are now. And you said admin work, which that is what I was doing as an assistant. know, like I was making sure we sent out all the posters to the schools that were screening the documentary and like making sure that all of the, you know, festivals got applied for and that kind of stuff. Like that is very much what I.
The part of what I do now as an assignment editor at Getty Images is trying to make sure that all the credentials are applied for and make sure that we have all the logistics in place for any big events that we're covering, like making sure we have, you know, like ethernet cables and all of those things. I work with colleagues on that too, so it's not just me. It's just like one person handling all of this. Our big events are very, very much a team effort. But all those like little things that you may not think about and.
like you said, those little skills that you pick up along the way sort of help contribute and can make you better at your intended goal job, I guess your dream job or your goal job. And you don't even really know it until you're there. I never really thought about it like that, but yeah, I don't know how to answer that because I truly didn't think of that until just now when you said it about the...
to some, some jobs I would like leave off my resume, you know, like track coaching isn't super relevant to some of the other stuff I've done. So, know, like applying to a photography role. Do you really need track coaching? Well, yeah. I mean, if you're planning out a season's worth of track meets for like 30 athletes, you know, like that's planning skills that I use now. So, um, yeah, that was, that's a lot to think about. Yeah.
Heather (35:53)
Yeah, it's kind of cool. Well,
like you say that I'm like, but that means you're, you're a leader and you know how to like, you know, motivate others and you know how to have create structure and create systems and you know, so I think it's just very cool to hear all about your different experiences and then see how they're, you know, what kind of subtly just incorporated in into the success you've had in your career.
And I think for me, it kind of just, I'm going, it boils down to not shying away from experiences if they're interesting to you. you know, I think it doesn't always have to be so literal to help you in where you want to go. So that's really cool.
Katharine Lotze (36:37)
Yeah, that's so true. It does not have to be literal. Not at all.
Jess (36:40)
I wanted to know, was there an experience that you had at the signal?
you a story that you have that really kind of
helped you learn a lesson or that you, you know, still use today.
Katharine Lotze (36:59)
Yeah, actually I was just thinking about this today and it involves you Jess, cause you were the other side of this that actually I still think about this all the time. You remember, was it the save Lexi campaign with the little girl? Yeah, so there was a little girl that was, yes, it was very tough. Cause there were a lot of, lot of nuance to that story that I think got missed and a lot of, a lot of
Jess (37:13)
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. That was really hard to work on.
Katharine Lotze (37:27)
you know, some of our work that we did at the Signal, but also others work around it. But I think Jess, you ended up writing a really good story for your outlet at the time that sort of tried to dig into some of these nuances. It was a really complicated story about a girl who was being fostered, a young girl, think like six, who was being fostered by a family in the Santa Clarita area and her birth family's relatives.
who are Native American and I think lived in a different state, wanted to bring her home to live with them. And it was very complicated and a lot of nuance because of the laws around like Native children being placed with non-Native families. And Jess actually wrote like an amazing story. And I always think about that now because I'm always thinking like, are all angles of this story being told?
everything getting covered here or are we missing something? we missing some context? Are we missing some nuance? And I think that's really important, especially in this age of social media when, you know, people just read the headlines sometimes. I mean, I'm guilty of doing this too, but just reading the headlines and then glomming onto that and saying like, well, I heard this or I saw this or this person said that instead of like reading the whole story or maybe multiple stories about the subject and finding out sort of all the angles and
kind of synthesize this thing, all that information for yourself. So yeah, I think I was actually just thinking about that this morning. I don't remember why, but.
Jess (38:57)
Gosh,
I haven't thought about that story in a very long time. That has to be nine, eight, nine, 10 years ago maybe. And that was a big investigative piece that I had done and.
Katharine Lotze (39:06)
yeah.
Jess (39:14)
I just remember, like, it was so hard for all involved. It so difficult. And at the end of the day, nobody really wins, you know? Because it's just, yeah, so, wow. Yeah, I think, like, I think today when we read things or we see things or, you know, we hear a story about something, we're often quick to be like, ⁓
Katharine Lotze (39:21)
Yeah.
No.
Jess (39:41)
this is how I feel about it, that this is the story, this is that. And reminding ourselves to question everything and to question, you maybe there's something I'm missing, maybe I don't know the whole story, maybe that, yeah, I think that's a fantastic lesson.
Katharine Lotze (39:43)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, I still think about that. That and then the pictures I took, mean, because that's a great story of examples for many things, including like making sure you're getting all angles and you're talking to all, you know, stakeholders. But it was also, I met some photographers from the LA Times and they were like really friendly and helpful to me because they also came up to cover the story at a couple of points.
And I was like, wow, like even people have been publications are super, super nice. And of course they are, but like, hadn't really met anybody yet. So, that was like my first introduction. That was a really pleasant, nice one. So I always think of that as well, but I really remember your investigation and your story on that because it took a little longer to come out and it wasn't like, because it was investigative and you did a lot of work on it. and I think.
there was a lot of, there was a little bit of sensationalism at the start of that where people sort of glommed on to like the initial headline, which wasn't the whole story as we later learned from your story.
Jess (41:00)
I have to thank executive director at the time, because he was very much like, no, you need to dig more into this. It's not just this. We need to look more into this. We need to look more into this. Because it is so easy when you're telling stories to get locked on to the sensationalism, I think. And when you're a young journalist, you're like,
Katharine Lotze (41:20)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Jess (41:26)
and you're hungry for stories and you want to get stuff out there. And I know I'm a little, I could, I at the time was a little impulsive. I just remember being like, ⁓ I need to get this out. I need to get this out now. And one thing that I think as I've gotten older and learned more, and especially having a passion for media literacy is, you know, it's not necessarily being the first person to put things out.
Katharine Lotze (41:40)
Mm-hmm.
Jess (41:53)
it's maybe taking a beat and thinking about who this story is about, how this is going to impact them, who could get hurt, or on the flip side, who is this going to benefit? And yeah, wow, there were so many lessons from that story, for sure.
Katharine Lotze (42:02)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
And I think the media landscape, as we all know, has really changed, you know, in probably the last 30, 20, 30 years, like really dramatically with the advent of social media and how things can very quickly move around the world, like instant instantaneous almost on Twitter, on Instagram, on, you know, just, just Google searches too, like web story, you know,
A story can be up in seconds online. And how that impacts the people in the story is really important to understand and to really, same thing with images. Images are the same way, you know,
tough because a moving image like video, know, somebody dancing on stage, like it's very fluid, know, clothing is moving around, hair is moving around, you know, arms, legs, all that. Well, that in video provides way more context than an image can sometimes. So it's being respectful and careful about the images that you publish sometimes like that too. like, don't like a
I always compare it, it's like you're freezing, you're freezing like one thing in time with an image. So you don't want to freeze it at like a horrible time for the person in the
Jess (43:30)
the context of things is so important and I'm sure you look at that now as you're
you're kind of a filter for Getty images and the images that Getty puts out, know, they put out so many and also and being able to kind of filter and a lot of the photo editors, their job, you know, is to kind of filter that and to put that through and to tell a story through, you know, oftentimes a limited number of images, but yeah.
Katharine Lotze (43:50)
Yeah, millions.
Yeah, it is. mean, our editors are amazing. Our field editors, our photographers who edit for themselves, they're all really good and they're so professional about how they go about this and like what they see in the image and how it works to tell the story. And they're amazing about filtering out anything that's, you know, out of focus or like maybe that's just like, this, this moment just wasn't quite there. Like they're very, very good. And we, we have ⁓ calls where we talk about the
the best pictures of the week. And we, I love those calls because I learned so much about like the things that people are looking for in the images. And sorry, this is like going off out of the filter conversation, but like you learn so much about how photographers see on those calls and like what they're looking for and like what they see in other people's images, why they like it, why they dislike it, like what they're seeing. And I've just learned
so so much from those calls. I wish I'd been on them like for years prior but I wasn't on the right team yet. Now I am.
Jess (45:06)
Yeah,
I was talking to a photographer recently, a person who has photographed for Getty Images, and she was telling me she picked up some photo editor jobs during COVID and stuff. She was telling me that being a photo editor and looking at other people's images and thinking about them helped to make her a better photographer.
Katharine Lotze (45:31)
Yeah, totally agree. And I think, yeah, my, when I came to Getty and sort of, guess this sort of circles back to the transition to Getty that we were initially starting on. I left the signal in 2017 when a job opened up at Getty images and I applied and to my amusement, I actually got a call for the interview cause I was like, who am I to like apply to Getty images? But.
⁓ they called me back and I was amazed. ⁓ I got a job working on the LA picture desk. at the time we were working in an office, so I was working with, think eight other editors, like maybe in total, but we all worked like rotating days to get the shifts all covered. but doing that and seeing all of those images come in from different photographers all around the world across news, sport, entertainment. was a lot of entertainment that I was doing just because we're based in LA and we do a lot of entertainment stuff.
seeing all that stuff come in, it really helps you develop your eye. So, and that's, I mean, I'm not, when I took the job at Getty, I guess I was, I mean, it was Getty images, of course. Like I really wanted to work there. I still do. I love it
⁓ I wasn't sure what to expect. Honestly, I really wasn't like I didn't know anybody else who worked for Getty. I didn't really know what a picture desk did. Didn't know that it was different than our field team or assignment team, but just getting to see all of those images come in. It teaches you so much overtime like you. You can go from like having to look at every image like with like a microscope to figure out like OK.
You know this shouldn't, you know, if I were taking the picture, I would have moved the camera slightly this way to get rid of that thing over there on the side. Or maybe I would crop it like this or I would tone it like that. To, know, by the end of my time on the picture desk last September, I was like, you know, you can really fly through images because you've developed an eye becomes like a
took a lot of left turns.
Heather (47:27)
So for those
don't know, can you dive in just a little bit to what does your job actually entail? Like what you do now? Like what is your day to day? What are you responsible for?
Katharine Lotze (47:37)
Yeah.
Jess (47:42)
And actually, I'd love if you start with your role at the picture desk and then how that role is different as an assignment editor.
Katharine Lotze (47:52)
Yeah, for sure. So Getty, we have like three types. I mean, in my head, maybe we have more. It's possible we have more of editors essentially. So we have the picture desk, which handles. And this is like a very truncated version of what they do, because they do a ton, a ton, ton. And I know firsthand. So the picture desk, assignment editors and field editors. So the picture desk editors was just what I did for seven years.
They're in taking images from around the globe 24 seven, they're open 24 seven. So we have people in LA, New York, London, Australia, Singapore also in taking images that are already edited and captioned either by field editors or by photographers themselves. So that's like your regular season MLB games, you have photographers sending images in from those, you have like New York fashion week photographers and field editors sending in images from those.
We have like breaking news events from around the world coming in as well. And those are already edited and captioned. So the picture desk is going through those and basically checking that all the metadata is correct. You know, making sure that no images with like sensitive information get out or maybe adding an editor's note to images that need it. Maybe there's graphic content or maybe there's like profanity in the image. And so we'll add an editor's note for that.
So basically it's like we're a second set of eyes on everything before it goes out to our clients and to our website. A field editor might send images to the picture desk. We use a combination of staff and freelance field editors. They are live editing images. So those images are coming straight from the photographer's camera to the field editor for them to caption and edit. like your basic cropping and toning and.
then captioning the image and then they're sending it out either directly to our site and customers or through the picture desk for another set of eyes. And then the last type is what I do now as an assignment editor where we, so I sort of think of it as they went from one end of the spectrum to the other. So the picture desk, I'm seeing the final product. So I'm seeing the images after they've already been assigned, the photographer's already been at the event, they've taken them, they've captioned them.
I'm at the other end of the process now where I'm the one doing the assigning. So I'm finding the photographers to cover the events. I'm setting them up with credentials and making sure that they have parking for the event, you know, helping plan some of our major event coverage, like with the upcoming Olympics and also like, you know, the, I manage college basketball, so men's and women's final fours and making sure we have coverage of those tournaments, making sure we have world series coverage, all of that. So, and planning sort of
ahead of all of these events. my, lot of my work comes in planning. So once the event is actually happening, my work is mostly done. So that's sort of what I do now. That's like the short version, which didn't feel very short. Sorry.
Jess (50:42)
I think it's such an interesting process, honestly. And I appreciate you sharing that process. I'm wondering if, you still, in your professional capacity, you're not taking a lot of photos, under your certain job title, do you still go out and take photos? How do you?
Katharine Lotze (50:57)
Yeah.
yeah,
yeah, I still do that. I still like to photograph a lot of gymnastics when I can, when schedules allow. You know, I live really close to UCLA, whenever I can make it to a game there, it's fun. I'm currently actually out in the Palm Springs area while we wait out some home improvement projects. So.
things that happen out here occasionally, but I actually just got a little Fujifilm camera that I'm really, really excited about. It's gonna be like my fun, it's like my purse camera. It's literally my purse camera. It sits in my purse, the lens cap on of course, and I can pull it out anytime, it's so small, it's like this big, and it's so light, it's not like a big DSLR or even like a mirrorless with like a detachable lens and all that. Just can sit in there and I can pull it out anytime that I see a picture that I think needs to be made.
So yes, do still, I get to photograph stuff and I'm very lucky in my role now that I get to go to a lot of these big events. So I get to go, just in this last year, it's been a very busy year for me, but I love it. I went to the World Series last year, I've got to do some photos there, but I was mostly editing at Dodger Stadium. And then I got to go to the...
Stanley Cup, the first two games of the Stanley Cup in Edmonton and that was really fun. We had editors online for that. So Bruce Bennett, bless his heart. I love working with him. He's our hockey guru. Been at it for like 50 years and he's going to be inducted into the hockey, the US hockey hall of fame this year, which is really exciting. He was like, well, you brought your camera. Do you want to, you know, just take some pictures? So I'm like, okay. I hadn't, I hadn't shot hockey in like years and I was like, oh gosh, this is.
way too, it way faster than I remember. But yeah, I do still find opportunities to do it when I can. But I love being the person who is able to give people work and to find new photographers and new talent. So I really, and develop that new talent. So I really enjoy that part of my role too. Like it's fun to take pictures, but I also like being the person who helps other people take pictures. So.
Heather (53:05)
What do you feel like is a quality from your, having worked with so many photographers and you see images all the time, what is a quality of an image or a photographer's eye that is that like raw thing that of course you can develop all those technical skills, but is there something that you feel makes a great image or just makes a great photographer?
Katharine Lotze (53:29)
Ooh, that's a good question. Edghetti images, guess it's sort of twofold what I'm looking for. Like I need somebody who can take like really good stock photography images. You know, like we call it just in short, call it, what is it? Solo athlete action. So it's basically the guy swinging at the plate or even not even swinging, just like standing at home plate, like getting ready to swing.
just a really clean image where you can see the athlete's face, the uniform, you know, like what sport they're playing, like all that stuff. And there's no other identifiable people in the image. Somebody who can do that and upload like a lot of good clean images like that, fully captioned, of course, looking for that, but also looking for the people who can do like the really artsy, interesting images, because we also work with a number of clients and they have various needs and various
about what they're looking for and some of them want that really artsy stuff. Others want more stock type stuff. It really depends on what the end use is going to be, so I sort of look for people who can do both and when I'm assigning something it really depends on what the assignment is and who it's for. Recently we covered the Women's Professional Baseball League tryouts. The first tryouts that they've ever had. The last day was at Nationals Park in DC, which is super exciting.
And I was, I instantly thought because this was happening in DC, I thought, my gosh, Win McNamee, who's our news photographer, chief news photographer in DC, part of our Pulitzer Prize winning team a couple of years ago. I was like, ⁓ I know Win loves a day at the ballpark. So I'm going to see if he's available for this. And sure enough, he was, and he went all four days and got some incredible images, like storytelling images. So.
Like I immediately thought of his eye on it because he has like that, that newsy eye that not all sports photographers have because some, you know, some people skew more toward the stock side and some people skew more towards the artsy side. Everybody's got their own thing and that's totally fine. We work with all types. but I was really happy to get win for this specific project, to go all four days because, I really wanted like some more feature images. So it's really dependent on.
what it is we're assigning for. We also had Jess Rapfogel who's one of our freelancers in the DC area on the last day and she also made some incredible images. So I think it's, it's really important to consider like what you're looking for as an editor, but also what your clients might be looking for out of a certain assignment. So for our baseball coverage, I look for like people who can do artsy, but also a lot of stock stuff and who can handle a shot list at times, because sometimes we do have a shot list for certain clients that are looking for specific images.
or specific types of images from games.
Jess (56:11)
Well, so I want to circle back to we were talking about how there's so many different jobs at Getty Images. And I feel like oftentimes people are like, I want to be a Getty photographer. And that is a very, you know, that's a very high, high ranking thing. know, every like, of course, you want to be a Getty
But I just want to kind of hear from you about if you were to give somebody advice about you know they're like I want to I want a job with Getty Images or or even
any other outlet? What advice would you give them?
Katharine Lotze (56:48)
Yeah.
I would give them the advice that somebody gave me like a while ago was twofold. One, make the work that you want to be hired for. make, like put it in your portfolio. Like if you want to cover sports, go out and cover whatever sports you can. And I've told people, I've, I field emails from people occasionally who find me online and they email me about, you know, like, Hey, I really want to get into sports photography. How do we do it? I tell them.
Often they're in Southern California and not always, but often they're in Southern California. And I can say, look, we have a lot of sports here that you do not need permission to go out and photograph. We have the Venice skate park. got a lot of skate parks in LA and the LA area. You can go out and photograph them. You know, be mindful. Some people don't want to be photographed, but they're in a public place. can photograph them. Generally surfing. You can photograph. We've got all sorts of like tennis and pickleball courts and like handball courts and
you know, street basketball courts and things like that. Like find a sport and photograph it, even if it's like your nephew's T ball game. Like that's a sport. You can make amazing pictures at any level. So make the work that you want to be hired for. If you want to be hired for like storytelling photography, go out and find a story and work on it and work on it and work on it and work on it and like keep improving, keep going back, keep getting better because that shows you have the wherewithal to stick with
my mentor, Renee Byer at the mountain workshops, she was incredible. And I stayed in touch with her for a long time. Another Pulitzer prize winning photographer at the Sacramento Bee. She told me, she's like, you've, you've got to get your work in front of the right people. It's like, don't be afraid to like, if you do something new, if you have a new story you're working on, if you have a new idea, like send it to people.
Like get your work in front of people. Obviously send it in a way where your images can't be duplicated or like used without your permission or something like that. mean, retaining, you know, the copywriting work, but that, yeah, get your work in front of people. Like don't be afraid to email your stuff out, which I think is a lot as hard for people just starting out because you're like, no, like, am I, you're afraid of the rejection? I know I was, I didn't want to pitch anything, but.
making sure that you're promoting yourself and you're getting your work in front of the right people is really helpful. So yes, make the work that you want to be hired for, however you can do that and get that work in front of people. Like don't hide it in your closet. you got to, people have to see this if they're going to hire you.
Yeah, so that's sort of the advice I would give to young people. That and like, don't be afraid.
to work at it on the side. Because that works too. That's what I did for a while when I was working as an assistant. Like, I would do photo stuff on the side when I could. So.
Jess (59:43)
Yeah. And is there, I mean, is there advice that you would give to younger Kat?
Katharine Lotze (59:51)
Hmm to younger me Yeah, I guess I mean I Guess this advice was given to me and I was just too afraid to act on it but maybe just some of the same things I just said was like get your work in front of people and I got Years ago when I was still at the signal And I took a picture that got like third place in the NPPA's best of photography
It was a news photo of a firefighter sort of like being blown back as this like giant flame explosion happens. It was like a really small fire in like a Caltrans storage yard or something and like a barrel of explosive sort of, I think it was like something to do with road paving stuff, like exploded. And he was totally unharmed and turned out to be a very cool picture of this like big orangey turning to blue and pink flame.
He's like falling backwards. It's like he's the only thing in the frame. Very, really cool picture, but honestly, a nothing story in the end. I got third place in that contest and Renee told me, she's like, you need to be emailing editors with this. Like you need to tell people. I'm like, well, won't they see it? Because it was like in the contest. She was like, no email. And I didn't. And I should have done that. But it turns out news wasn't my path anyway. When I left the signal and.
I had about six months where I didn't really photograph anything. I needed that break. But when I started thinking about photographing stuff again, I thought, gosh, what is it that I miss the most about being out there in the field? And I was like, I miss going to high school football games. I miss being on the sidelines. Like that's what I miss the most. So, you know, I think that probably stems from me being an athlete myself, but I just love it. Like it's so fun. It's like high stakes, but not life threatening at the same time in sports.
Jess (1:01:35)
That's great advice.
Heather (1:01:37)
Yeah, I think that's such good advice. I mean, there's a fine line, right? But you know, of sending out your stuff to people and all that. But I think, you know, Jess and I and yourself are like in similar type roles where we do are looking for talent. You know, we're looking for the right person for the right, you know, for the job at the right time. And so when done strategically, you know, if you're looking for a particular type of
Katharine Lotze (1:01:45)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Heather (1:02:02)
person, you know, and something comes into your inbox and they fit that, you know, then there might be there might be an opportunity there, you never know. But if you know, that person just never shares that image, or, you know, just kind of keeps it quiet, you're not going to be able to like make that connection and find that fresh talent, you know,
Katharine Lotze (1:02:03)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Yeah, no, I mean, I get those emails now as an assigning editor. So I do appreciate it when people reach out to me. I mean, I don't, I can't respond to everyone because there are a lot of them that come in. but if somebody emails me from an area where we are looking for more talent actively, or we are looking for more people to sort of bolster our roster, you know, I'll even if I don't reply right away, I may remember that I save all of those inquiries. So.
I'm always, I save them in a folder because I'm like, ⁓ do we need a photographer in Tallahassee? Like, who's that guy that emailed me like two years ago? Like, I'll go find him. So even if I don't reply right away, it's, and maybe my younger self, like there was a reason that I didn't email out that fire picture to editors. And maybe it's because subconsciously I was like, I don't really want to photograph fires anymore because
I can't tell you how glad I am now not to have to rush out to fires when they happen. I'm sure Jess, I'm sure you feel the same. But maybe that's why I subconsciously didn't do it. But yeah, think reaching out to editors and getting your work in front of people, however that is, like if you have a newsletter, if you cold email people, if you post to Instagram, that's also helpful. The number one thing I would say about having a good...
If you're reaching out to an editor, say where you are, like include what city you're in and like what markets you can cover. Cause sometimes people reach out or they have a website and they don't say where they are. or if they've, or it's not updated. So it doesn't say where they are now. Like maybe if they've graduated and they've moved back to their hometown or moved to a new city, you've got to say where you are. Cause that's really, that's really critical. Like geography is very important in assigning photographers. So.
Jess (1:04:06)
Yeah, I bet. Absolutely. Now I'm thinking about my website. Do I need to update it?
Katharine Lotze (1:04:11)
I know.
I do. I probably do too.
Heather (1:04:14)
Yeah,
it needs to be strategic. And it's like how people I mean, I get emails all the time, you know, like the hire me, hire me, I'm a great this. And I think in people wanting to be everything, they don't lean into their strengths, like someone being in a smaller market, someone having a certain type of skill, or experience with a certain topic or something like lean into that, let's stop trying to be like everybody else. Because that might be the thing that gets you noticed or gets you know,
Katharine Lotze (1:04:26)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Heather (1:04:42)
you and the door an opportunity.
Katharine Lotze (1:04:45)
Right. And I think you hit it on the head too with small markets because like I have a lot of people who email and say, oh, I just moved to New York or LA or Chicago. And I'm like, cool. Like those are cities where we have a lot of people generally. But if you email me and say, Hey, I just moved to Knoxville or I just moved to Des Moines. Like those are places where we don't have as many people. Granted, we also don't have as much stuff we're covering there all the time, depending on the season, but.
You you never know when we're going to need somebody in those places. Like I'll give an example. Last year we had the NCAA basketball tournament. And the women's side is just sort of the locations for the first rounds of their tournament are determined based on who is top ranked at the time. So we don't really know who's going to host until like two days before the games are happening, like when they make the draw. So it's really stressful. And we ended up having, I think there were like four or five different
NCAA tournament sites in North Carolina alone, because we had, I think at least one for men's that was like, the men's are predetermined. So that's much easier. The women's are based on the draw and like there were like UNC Duke and NC State and South Carolina women's were all in the top. I guess North and South Carolina, but yeah. So it was like, wow, we need more people in the Carolinas, you know, like who can go or who, who's there like who maybe we haven't tapped.
who can help us cover this. So that's just an example, but you never know when we're gonna need people in a smaller market for stuff. So I don't necessarily think a big city is a sure ticket to getting a lot of work. Everybody's path is different and I don't think you have to be in like a major, major sports market to be a sports photographer.
Heather (1:06:29)
I guess the only other thing we would say is, what's coming up for you? Is there anything you're really looking forward to? I know you mentioned the Olympics. I think we need to talk about that super briefly. know you've got big stuff coming up. So is there anything you're looking ahead towards that you just want to mention briefly?
Katharine Lotze (1:06:38)
shit.
Yeah, I so yes, I have the Olympics coming up. I'm super excited to be on the team going to Milano Cortina Winter Olympics in Italy this coming year. We actually have to land in Italy on my birthday, which I'm really excited about, so I could just celebrate in Italy this year. never been so I know. Yeah, I'm so excited so we're.
Jess (1:07:09)
That is so exciting.
Katharine Lotze (1:07:14)
I'm working on the commercial assignments team. So I'm setting up our commercial clients who need photographers with our photographers. So I'm matching skill sets to what our client needs are. But skill sets can mean a lot of things, including language or like, I don't think we need anybody who skis, but who knows? Maybe we have a client who needs somebody who skis. So matching up those kind of skill sets with photographers. I'm really, really excited about that. Also excited, of course, because I managed baseball about the World Series and seeing
who's in it this year. We'll see. I sort of have an idea. I have who I'd like to be in the World Series just because I want to go to those ballparks. But yeah, that's sort of what I'm excited about coming up, like in the immediate. But yeah.
Heather (1:07:58)
That's very cool. Lots of exciting things happening.
Cool. Thanks, Kat.
Jess (1:08:01)
Well, thank you so much, Kat. We appreciate you being
on the pod.
Katharine Lotze (1:08:04)
Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate you having me here and I'm really excited to see it come to fruition for you.
Jess (1:08:10)
All right, that's the show for today. But before we switch back, we want to remind you.
Heather (1:08:16)
Subscribe to the pod you guys it is exceptionally important subscribe subscribe Follow us on social we're posting lots of fun stuff over there and get on our mailing list To be notified first of all the cool things that are happening with switching to Thanks for listening to switching to hosted and edited by Heather Kate Duncan and Jess Boyer Original music by top flow courtesy of the pixabay royalty free music library
Recorded on location in Los Angeles, California.
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