Tyler Eisenzimmer
Interview Project
Communications 1010-003
11/10/2014
Interview Project
Background Research:
The Interviewee: I will interviewing Sarah Philips-McEwen who’s is a photographer for the
Casper Star Tribune. I decided to interview Sarah because I would like major in art and have
recently found a passion for photography. The reason I chose Sarah is because my co-worker
recommended that I interview her mother, whom I have never met and will be in town to help
her daughter move. My coworker said that she would ask her mother if she would have a few
moments to do an interview with me and then I would schedule a date and time. After I made
contact with Sarah to confirm if she was interested in doing an interview, I tried to schedule a
date and time to do the interview somewhere like a coffee shop or breakfast so I may show my
appreciation for her taking the time to let me interview her. She denied my offer, so on Nov. 8th
2014 at about 8:00 p.m. I will be doing my interview inside of my coworkers house since that
was the place she wanted to be interviewed.
Interview Plan
Opening: Hi, my name is Tyler Eisenzimmer. I wanted to thank you so much for taking the time
out of your day to let me ask you a few questions about your job. I am currently an art major
student and am excited to explore photojournalism as a possible career choice. I am hoping I
have a better understanding of this job.
Body: The following questions are going to be used to obtain additional information about the
photojournalism as a career.

(Open) What kind of education is needed for photojournalism?
o (Closed) About how long does it take to finish the degree of education?
o (Closed) Roughly about how much does obtaining the education cost?

(Open) What is the work environment like?
o (Closed) How much physical effort is needed to perform daily tasks?
o (Closed) Is there much time outside of work for family?
o (Closed) What are the average amount of hours?

(Open) What are the benefits of this job?
o (Open) What do you love about your job and do you like it overall?

(Open) What are the risks of this career?
o (Open) What is the worst situation you’ve been in while out in the field?

(Clearing House) Is there anything else you think I should be aware of while considering
this career?

(Clearing House) If I come up with any other questions, who do you recommend I speak
with for additional information?
Closing: Well I wanted to thank you for your time today. That is all of the questions I have
for you. Now do you have any questions for me? Thanks again for helping me obtain a better
understanding about your career.
Interview Analysis Memo
Date: 11/10/2014
To: Wayne C. Hackett
From: Tyler Eisenzimmer
Subject: Interview Analysis Memo Comm. 1010-003
I had the opportunity to interview Sarah Philips-McEwen, who is a photographer for the
Casper Star Tribune. Sarah has a degree in art, a teaching certificate and a degree in
photojournalism. She currently works at the Casper Star Tribune, but has worked as a
stringer, she describes this as a freelance photographer, for the associated press. She has also
been published in the Western Racing news along with multiple other journals and
newspapers. Sarah has won 1st, 2nd and 3rd for 3 years in a row while she was in college for
college sports photography.
My coworker recommended that I interview her mother if I wanted additional
information on photography and photojournalism. So as a result I called her, and set up a
interview date.
I have been interested in art as a whole for as long as I can remember, however only
recently have I found a passion for photography and wanted to know more about it. I am
currently an art major but still do not know what exactly I want to do. It wasn’t until I
interviewed Sarah, that I had found out that she was a photojournalist, I was under the
impression that she was just a photographer. I found many things interesting during our
interview and am now considering photojournalism as a possible career choice.
This memo summarizes the interview and is a collection of useful information.
Summary of Lessons Learned
Getting Started With Photojournalism: I learned that photojournalism may not be quite as
easy going as I had hoped for. I imagined just working for a paper, then given an assignment
with a reasonable deadline where I can calmly take the pictures needed. Unfortunately that is
not the case.
To get started in photojournalism, a bachelor’s degree in art or photojournalism is greatly
recommended, however does not guarantee a job. In fact, again it is greatly recommended,
however just applying with the knowledge for this job generally does not end with obtaining
the position. The key to landing this position is by networking and knowing people in the
company. Knowing people in the department, or by working your way up will have better
chances of getting the job than just having a 4 year degree. The cost of a 4 year bachelor
degree in art or photojournalism depends on which college you attend, however Sarah says,
“It still costs too much for a piece of paper to prove you know something”.
The Work Environment:
The work environment is extremely fast paced, jam packed with multiple deadlines that
cannot be missed. It can also be very stressful, however it can also be very fun and rewarding
at the same time. Sarah says, “It is the most exciting work I have ever done”. For this
particular job you do not have to be so incredibly fit that you can bench press buses, but you
do need to be able to stand on your feet for extended periods of time and also be capable of
carrying a decent amount of equipment. The average amount of hours a week Sarah works
varies between about 50-60 with no overtime because of her salary pay, so there isn’t much
time for family. The pay of the job is also “So so”, as Sarah would describe, but is not
horrible.
Benefits:
Photojournalism is a particularly rewarding career. You do get to meet quite a number of
interesting and fascinating people, both good and bad. You get to see some things and events
that most people don’t usually get to see. Also you get to see your work published in the
paper, where a large number of people see it so you get a sense of being “Famous”. The job
is extremely fun and always keeps you on your toes. Sarah has told me that she absolutely
loves her job and wouldn’t give it up for anything else in the world.
Risks:
Sarah has informed me of all of the amazing benefits of this career, but also many of the
risks that I need to also be aware of. Time is one of more important risks. Someone who can’t
manage time very well will have a very hard time with this job because it’s all about
deadlines, and if you can’t meet them then you might be without a job because then the
newspaper has nothing to publish. Also if having time to be with your family and you love
doing events outside of work, then this will also be an issue because there is so much you
have to do as far as obtaining the photos and gathering additional information.
I asked Sarah to describe some of the worst situations she has been in while she was
working in the field and she told me two quite frightening stories. The first one was with her
being shot at, but not injured. The second is where she actually had a gun pointed at her while
she was trying to obtain some pictures for the paper. She said to me, “Every day you work out in
the field, there’s a chance that you put your life in harms way”.
Closing House:
I asked Sarah if there was anything else that she could think of that I should be aware of
while considering this for a possible career. She said the only thing was if I did not like working
really hard on projects with very limited deadlines with a team, then this might not be a career I
would want to consider. I also asked her who would be good to contact if I had any addition
questions. She replied with contacting the local paper and possibly a local photojournalist and
get their views on their career, because she admitted to being biased about her job since she loves
it so much. She said that getting another opinion on the job might give me additional information
and help me in making a decision whether or not it’s something I really want to pursue.
Interview Analysis:
Through this project I learned that knowing people goes quite a long way. Without my
coworker I would probably would not have had the chance to interview Sarah, and she has taught
me that having connections to people is one of the most important things when trying to get a
career, for it will increase your chances greatly.
Analysis of Photojournalism as a Possible Career Choice:
From doing this assignment, I have obtained more information regarding a possible
career I really had not taken into much consideration. I do believe that I will look into it further
and grab more information on what is needed to apply for this position, since she was fairly
vague. She mostly mentioned that I would need to know people within the department to have a
great chance of getting the job, however I believe that there has another way as well. I am going
to look into more photography classes and what exactly is needed for a degree in
photojournalism.
Analysis of My Interviewing Process:
First I would like to say that I am a horrible public speaker. I am not all that great socially
with meeting new people, I just don’t know what to say as a good first impression. I become
particularly nervous and sort of fall off the methods I had established to help me keep
professional. I did not do anything fancy as far as writing my questions on notecards, I just had
them written down in my notebook and had a few sections in between to fill out information as
she talked.
I did inform her that if I was not making eye contact, that I apologize, it was because I
was trying to take notes of what she was saying while she was talking. I did however try to make
eye contact as much as possible, like when asking the questions and I would look up on occasion
as well while writing down information. I had practiced saying the questions multiple times to
help me with not having to look down every single time I had a new questions, which really
helped in making it feel more like a friendly talk rather than a nervous interview or interrogation.
I stayed to the questions I had in order, that way I wasn’t jumping around topics. This also
helped me keep the flow of the interview smooth rather than just asking a bunch of questions
whenever they came to mind.
If I were to do this interview again I would definitely work on actually speaking to the
interviewee without sounding nervous. I would want to practice this by rehearsing it with
someone that I know until I had all of the stuff down and I wasn’t quite so disorganized
sounding. I would also word my questions differently because even though Sarah did answer
them wonderfully, it did not feel like it was very long till it was over and I was out of questions.
By the time that the interview was coming to a close, I was feeling a little more
comfortable with talking to Sarah. I had lost most of my nervousness, however she was still quite
an intimidating person. I did not follow the ending that I had written down because it just did not
sound quite right so I improvised, and I believe that it sound pretty good. I have sent her the
evaluation form, and I am hoping that I will get it back here in the next few days.
This was a very useful assignment because I got to explore a possible career path
that I had not considered before. It also has helped me with my speech skills and talking to
strangers, by helping me sound more confident on what I was saying.
Letter of Thanks:
Dear Sarah Philips-McEwen,
I wanted to thank you for taking the time out of your day to let me interview you about
your job. You have given me a lot of needed and useful information regarding photojournalism
as a career. The information you have given me has really opened my eyes and made me aware
of how exciting, but also how risky, this job could be.
This career is definitely something I am still interested in and will continue to pursue it.
Also I am now more aware of the negatives and the risks that may come with this career choice. I
will continue to look into it and gather more information to better help with my final decision,
but it still sounds exciting.
Your time, again, has been greatly appreciated. I am really excited to start looking into
photojournalism as a career choice and I am going to start asking around about positions here in
salt lake.
Sincerely
Tyler Eisenzimmer