How a photographer helps change the perception of a community

Through the lens of photographer Michael Indriolo, we have a chance to see Flint, Michigan in a whole new way and to engage with the people who live there.

And, just as important, we get a glimpse into how they engage with each other.

Michael is a Report for America corps member who serves the Flint community as a photographer for the Flint Beat, an outstanding digital news organization dedicated to making sure the Flint community has its own voice and impact. Flint Beat is one of the more than 300 local news organizations in under-covered corners of America, where we have placed more than 600 emerging journalists across all fifty states through our Report for America program. We believe deeply that these local reporters and photographers are not only changing the way we all see their communities, but also how they see themselves.

For too long, Flint came to symbolize a post-industrial city in decline which has suffered from all the challenges that came as the solid, middle-class jobs created by the auto manufacturing industry left. Although Michael is from Cleveland, you can feel the proximity and passion that he feels for Flint through his photography and through his short films, which are also featured on Flint Beat. His signature work is framed through a monthly photo newsletter titled “Flint in Focus.”

Michael works closely with GroundTruth’s Director of Photography, Ben Brody, who interviewed him about the work we are featuring here in the newsletter. Michael told Ben, “So many things are special and beautiful about Flint. I'm from the Cleveland area so I'm used to crime-focused reporting: representing a vibrant, complex city as just a tally of murders and drug busts. Flint has the same problem - really coverage of midwestern cities as a whole. But I still had to educate myself about Flint specifically and the ways in which it's been historically represented.”

Please take the time to read Ben’s column about Michael’s photography and give yourself a few moments to engage with the images taken by Michael. They are all about people engaging with each other: the image of a local barber with one of his clients, kids giving each other piggyback rides and a parishioner talking about her pastor, among others. They are also about interesting juxtapositions of daily life: the photo of two boys playing cops and robbers on cracked asphalt next to a photo of grown men who serve as policemen in the community.

Michael said he hopes the newsletter will “convey immersively what it's like to live in the Flint community.”

He added, “Like we're going to block parties, city council meetings, schools, cookouts, and synthesizing it into one cohesive narrative.”

This is the true power of local reporting. It has the ability to help a local community come together and find commonality and work on solving problems together through shared sets of facts. At a deeply divided time in America and too many corners of the world, I can’t think of anything that is needed more than the kind of journalism that pulls us together and reminds us of what we all share.

Learn more about Michael Indriolo by reading Ben Brody's column