Last month’s CatchLight Visual Storytelling Summit at KQED was full of thought-provoking conversations and inspirational images. In “The Scholarship of Lived Experience,” Yesica Prado (CatchLight Local Fellow, 2019) shared best practices for reporting on unhoused communities. Prado spoke from experience as a journalist who has been living in an RV in the high-priced Bay Area since 2017.
Mainstream reporting often reinforces negative stereotypes of unhoused people: Dehumanizing framing and visual tropes of homelessness deny their stories and circumstances being represented fully and fairly. Prado’s experiences as both a vehicle dweller and a trained journalist give her unique perspective as a thought leader for ethical, accurate, and effective reporting on stories and issues related to unhoused communities.
Prado told us she learned one of the most valuable lessons about her role as a visual journalist during her CatchLight Local Fellowship: that “it’s not always what is in plain sight, but also what is hidden” that deserves our attention. “What people are trying to build out there is build homes, build community, so they can also have a sense of belongingness in our society,” says Prado.
She recalls a day when she photographed two children, the daughters of single mom Jennifer Ransbottom, playing along a row of RVs. “[Ransbottom] said living on the streets with her children had been the hardest episode of her life,” Prado remembers. “But looking at this image made her realize that there were moments when they were also happy.”
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Yesica Prado presents at CatchLight Summit 2024
“As journalists, we are walking informers, and there is so much more that we can share,” Prado told the Summit crowd. “What we give on the field can make a big difference in a person’s life.” Watch now »
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