The Digital Journalist

Changing the Face of Power:
Women in the U.S. Senate

Women in the U.S. Senate, photographs by Melina Mara
Changing the Face of Power: Women in the U.S. Senate Introduction
It took 200 years for the first woman to be elected to the U.S. Senate in her own right.
by Alison Beck



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Interview by Alison Beck
Camera by Dirck Halstead
Requires the free Quicktime player for viewing
  • "My Dad was a cameraman for CBS News... I never really thought about photography as an option. I thought that's what Dad did."
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  • "I suggest to everybody that they do photo internships, paid and unpaid."
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  • "I noticed from doing research that these women were being covered in more the women's press, also in the popular press like People Magazine."
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  • "In popular press the women senators were known as celebrities, not as lawmakers, senators, politicians."
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  • "I started small."
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  • "It took me a lot of time to convince people that my intentions were good and that I'm an ethical journalist."
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  • "I knew I was going to need to get an affiliation from somewhere. The project was ballooning with more and more images."
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  • "To be photographed in a documentary way is difficult. The photographer is a fly on the wall and they shadow you. It's much more intimate. It's asking a lot."
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  • "We build a rapport and trust and we get to know our subject and their staff."
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  • "Another tool when you photograph is being unobtrusive, being a fly on the wall, being a bit of furniture."
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  • "Access is key to any story."
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  • "I did not shoot with black and white film."
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  • "I also try to show the comeraderie between women in the Senate. They kind of have a coalition together."
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  • "So much of what photojournalists do is wait and watch for that whisper, that moment between colleagues, for that gesture or look."
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  • "Perhaps more women will run for the highest seat in the land and we have a woman president some day."
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