Politics and pandemic consumed our photojournalists for the latter portion of the year.
When President Donald Trump nominated Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court, Memphis photojournalist Karen Pulfer Focht went to Barrett’s alma mater, Rhodes College, to get images from Justice Barrett’s college years. Focht also got what may will be one of our last original images of 2020: a Memphis firefighter getting his first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.
John Partipilo was the only member of the media to hang out with Sen. Heidi Campbell on Election Night at her home, and photographed her jubilance at the moment the state senate race in District 20 was called in her favor. At Vanderbilt University Medical Center, he shot a group of COVID-19 nurses looking angelic in full protective gear. The intrepid, old-school Partipilo also captured several iconic shots of the damage on Nashville’s Second Avenue following a Christmas Day suicide bombing, including the one featured here, which was also picked up by NBC and ABC news.
Meanwhile, Alex Kent and Ray Di Pietro had each other’s backs at several pro-Trump “Stop the Steal” rallies following the Nov. 3 election. Di Pietro was called a “communist journalist” at the first and hostility from the crowd increased over the next few weeks of the demonstrations.
