Join Club Photography Team for presentation on documenting elections, March 1

Alan Kotok

February 11, 2023

Discover how photojournalist Sue Dorfman created a comprehensive visual chronicle of the 2020, 2021, and 2022 U.S. election cycles at the National Press Club's Photography Team's next meeting on Wednesday, March 1 at noon in the Reliable Source's Cosgrove Lounge.

The session begins with a self-funded lunch from the Reliable Source at noon. Dorfman's talk follows at 1 p.m., and can also be viewed by Zoom. The program is open to all Club members and invited guests.

Registration is required. Members must first log-in as a member on the NPC website to register.

Mural in Benton Harbor, Michigan says your vote matters, Aug. 2022. Photo by Sue Dorfman.

At the event, Dorfman plans to share photos and experiences from her initiative with Club members and tell how she conceived, planned, and carried out her photo documentary projects, as well as lessons she learned about elections in the U.S. and the people in communities who make elections possible.

Beginning with the first caucuses and primaries in February 2020 through the Georgia runoff elections in January 2021, Dorfman traveled 24,000 miles through two dozen states and D.C. to illustrate the 2020 election cycle.

Many of the images displayed in the nonpartisan photo collection "Documenting Democracy” — rallies, door-to-door campaigning, voter registration, early and election-day voting, and vote-counting operations — were captured during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Part of the 2020 "Documenting Democracy" collection is now online, with a book and traveling exhibit being planned.

The Carnegie Corporation of New York commissioned Dorfman to photographically document the 2022 election cycle for the Carnegie Reporter Winter 2022 Voting Issue. Dorfman is an independent documentary photographer and media strategist, who divides her time between Boston and Washington, D.C. Dorfman shoots photos for the ZUMA Press news service and consults with foundations and not-for-profit organizations. She holds degrees from Oberlin College, Boston College, and the Fletcher School for Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.