Nic Coury is a photojournalist with the Monterey County Weekly in California and has been a guest twice on the Around the Lens Podcast.
Today he posted a link to his most recent story, an interview with the mother of a man who was killed in a DUI related accident. It was a “story has stayed in local news headlines” for months as the trail went through it’s process. I was deeply moved by Nic’s two photos (one below and one at the site) and by the way that he talked with the victim’s mother, so I asked him if he would answer a couple brief questions – we have that interview below.
I recommend reading the interview Nic did with the mother over at Monterey County Weekly and then coming back here.
Around the Lens: You’ve done quite a few interviews in your years working as a journalist what was different about this one?
Nic Coury: This story wasn’t different from other hard news I’ve covered, but I think the access to covering the story was much more intimate due to the family’s generosity in allowing me into their lives to document the tragedy.
ATL: How do you even start the conversation of asking for photos in a situation like this?
NC: After the arraignment for the woman charged in the double fatal DUI crash, the victim’s family was outside the courthouse and a few of us in the media were shooting it from afar as is typical, but I decided to go talk to a family member and see if they were willing to talk about the whole situation. Through a few family members, I got connected with the mother of the guy who was killed.
ATL: Did you separate the photos from the interview or shoot and talk at the same time using the reactions?
NC: I did the interview on it’s own as I already had a connection set with the family. They had invited me to the memorial for man killed and at that event I only shot photos.
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