As a photojournalist, I've always had tangible, marketable content: photographs. Through the following artifacts, see how I've leveraged this medium across various platforms — personal, scholastic and professionally — to demonstrate viable economic sustainability and audience outreach in media. Additionally, take note of how I use photos as a gesture of goodwill in one artifact.
Vincent Edward H. LLC
I built vincentedwardh.com on SmugMug so families can reliably view, download and purchase photos through a professional storefront, promoting my services while also posting relevant school event coverage also published in Ladue Media. I sell both digital downloads and prints, with pricing scaled by event: typically $5-$15 per individual download, and standard prints from $2.50-$30. I keep lower-sales, news-oriented galleries easy to view (small corner watermark) while higher-demand event galleries (dances, sports, graduation etc.) are monetized with stronger watermarking. No gallery is ever paywalled, a responsible business decision on my part allowing anyone to access my coverage. I drive traffic through mentioning my site in captions and posts, and in-person QR flyers/business cards. I turn the attention of my audience into sustainable funding that will stick with me no matter who I work for or if I only freelance.
Ladue Media Photo Fundraisers
To help fund Ladue Media, I contribute as a lead photographer for fundraiser mini-sessions at Tower Grove Park. Families book 15 minute sessions for $100; with three photographers running “stations,” we can move efficiently while still giving clients quality variety. My role is a major value-add: I’m the only artificial/off-camera flash shooter, producing a consistent, pro look that helps draw families in and keeps the product competitive. Each client receives at least 15 edited images via a download folder. My adviser promotes primarily through email, supplemented by word of mouth. The past three have sold out (~15 clients each), generating several thousand dollars that directly supports printing costs, contests and occasional travel/equipment needs.
Ladue Publications photographer Isak Taylor and his family were a client in the photo fundraiser
Silly sibling pose
Promotional material my adviser sent out
St. Louis Post-Dispatch Events
After connecting with Gary Hairlson — the Post-Dispatch multimedia director — at a journalism camp the summer after my freshman year, he saw my talent and referred me (and my business) to the marketing/advertising arm of the P-D when they were looking for a new photographer to cover their events. To date, I have covered four Post-Dispatch events: Trivia Night (twice); the Top Workplaces Celebration; and the STL Headliner Celebration.
All of these events are part of the Post-Dispatch's experiential marketing strategy, i.e. community philanthropy through proceeds from the Trivia Night; and recognition of local businesses/organizations through the Top Workplaces and STL Headliner awards. My role in their strategy is to create journalistic photos of each event to drive marketing engagement. The idea is that readers love seeing themselves or their friends on a site like STLToday.com. Even though I am just a photographer, I now better understand the dynamics between the editorial and advertising departments within a newspaper. I know it's better for someone like me to be hired as a freelancer versus a staff photographer who must stay editorially independent from advertising.
Click image to view gallery
As seen in the Go! Magazine, published weekly in the Friday edition of the Post-Dispatch
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Click image to view gallery
Behind the scenes: Photo Mechanic metadata dialog box for my captioning of photos in Post-Dispatch style (in-house blend of AP style), as well as the first page of notes in my reporter's notebook for collecting names of people in my photos accurately. I write down the time of the photo as well as a short slug to keep track of names.
It's fun to photograph my role models :)
MaxPreps Professional Photographers Network Membership
I applied to the MaxPreps Professional Photographers Network with a strict portfolio and equipment review and was accepted in March 2024 — currently one of only four photographers from Missouri and among very few high school students nationally (most photographers among the network are professional working freelancers). Through MaxPreps, I can upload, tag and distribute high-quality sports images for sale directly to Ladue team and athlete pages, making them discoverable through MaxPreps' strong SEO. This extends Ladue athletics' visibility beyond our school community to a national audience while crediting my work by name. The process requires professional standards in shooting, captioning and athlete tagging, and it's time-intensive. But it reinforces responsible distribution, builds credibility and serves as another way to connect families and athletes back to Ladue Media coverage and my galleries.
Professional-quality photo of Vicky Derdoy, a committed collegiate athlete who often topped local stats rankings compiled by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Her recruiting profile showing her high talent can be viewed here
Screenshot of MaxPreps gallery page which provides player tagging of both teams to their profiles. I have to be impartial in the tagging process.
Screenshot of post on X showcasing and linking the gallery.
Instagram Distribution Channel for School Coverage
My Instagram has proven to be a single-purpose, professional outlet for school photojournalism: no personal posts, just coverage. Starting at zero followers (homecoming 2022), I grew it to over 850 by publishing high-interest events and pairing images with detailed, informative captions. I treat it like journalism: I double/triple-check details and invite corrections to keep trust high. This account promotes both me as an independent journalist and Ladue Media, since most of my current images are made for them.
See Web and Social Media for additional specific examples on how I use my work to allow for audiences to engage both my school's publication and my business
Calls-To-Action Through Linktree
I don’t just make posts, I guide audiences toward full coverage. My major posts have pointed readers to my Linktree hub, which connects to my photo galleries, Ladue Media’s Issuu page and my MaxPreps Professional Photographers Network profile. The goal is to make journalism usable: a viewer can move from a highlight post to the complete gallery or full publication context. It’s about access to the fuller picture and having archival value, not just likes.
Note the Linktree plugs at the bottom of each caption.
Coverage on X as a Real-Time Service
On X, my coverage is more “real-time”: photos and videos quickly uploaded, short writeups and score/context updates that help the community follow events live. This complements my Instagram (more curated) by acting like a live wire: quick (and accurate) info, then later a gallery/long post for the archive. The idea is consistency: if I’m posting, then I’m including timely, accurate updates, with a clear separation between the reporting and my promotion.
Courtesy Emails to Photo Subjects
As a simple courtesy and "thank you" to my photo subjects, I have often sent them separate galleries to their photos than what was originally published. They are always free of charge, but I give them the option to order prints, a practice that will allow for my sustainability as an independent journalist in the future. I always take more photos than what will be selected for the final print, so this is a great way to not leave extra photos to waste. "Goodwill" and making Ladue Media "amicable" to the school we serve are the describing adjectives. Below is one such example email with a link redacted. The link to the published story by Mason Eastman and Ryan Snyder is here.
Another example when I shot photos for Norah Murphy's music story
Photos of this year's Ladue Athletic Signing Ceremony sent to one of the committed athletes recognized in the event
See Design; Web and Social Media for Ladue Schools mission-aligned audience engagement posts
See Reporting and Writing to view an Instagram post that garnered hundreds of likes and shares and thousands of views more than the usual post on an ICE walkout I covered.