Cheryl Diaz Meyer, Photojournalist and Minority in so Many Ways

Theresa Matthiesen/Digital Media, Journalism 111

Cheryl Diaz Meyer is a Filipina photojournalist who was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography in 2004.

What inspired Meyer is that she is a woman, from a small and often overlooked collection of islands. She has built a career that is widely recognized and has been published in high profile news publications such as, The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune.

Information from her website says that she considers herself a, "...visual storyteller, photo editor, videographer and producer, writer and public speaker." 

Meyer's main focus is showing the realities of war and the strife between Muslims and Christians. She has covered many countries, such as Indonesia, Afghanistan and the Philippines.

I appreciate that she hasn't taken the safe road in her work. She has put herself out there in every way to tell the stories she feels passionate about. Visually, her photographs are beautiful. I appreciate her use of black and white and composition to bring photos that focus on the faces of her subjects. They are compelling and aching, they reach for your heart and your gut. I respond in a way that just reading a caption or description in a story doesn't always require such a strong response.

For example, this is a caption from a photo she took.
"AFGHANISTAN, 2001. Momo Juma, 56, sheds her pride to beg outside the gates of the Jamay Mosque in Khoja Bahauddin. years of war have left many widows and refugee women in extreme poverty as they have little opportunity to work and earn money for themselves or their families. (Photo: Cheryl Diaz Meyer/The Dallas Morning News)"

Admittedly, this is a caption used to describe the photo. However, even a whole story told in a straight journalistic news style, would not connect the reader to the faceless "Momo Juma" in our minds. A photo included, especially an exceptional photo, draws us in visually and emotionally.

Here is the photo:

Now I see the hopelessness in Juma's eyes, feel the shame in her position, I feel frustration for her and her lack of choice in life.

”The most important thing about photography to me is the idea
that the pictures you make may make a difference.” Cheryl Diaz Meyer

In an interview video, Meyer talks about a petite, demure Asian woman who she was inspired by. To have someone to look up to in your desired field of work is important.