What Newspaper Photojournalists Get to Shoot in the Course of a Month

My name is Robin Roots and I’m a photojournalist for Õhtuleht, one of the largest newspapers in the small country of Estonia. Our team of five photographers has to write down every trip we do with a company car. I was looking over our trips from last month and thought that perhaps others would like to know what we newspaper photojournalists do on a daily basis.

This list is only a small part of the assignments we were given, but it’s a good snapshot of what we get to shoot over the course of just one month.

  • Interview with tree huggers
  • Music festival
  • Somebody got shot
  • Song festival
  • Press conference after song festival
  • Deadly car crash
  • Football match
  • Pictures of an intersection
  • A USA 4th of July party
  • Traffic jam pictures
  • Football press conference
  • Theater
  • Video of a local celebrity
  • Interview with a soccer player
  • Traffic jam pictures
  • Portraits of an actor
  • Beer festival
  • Pictures of a shooting suspect
  • City mayor candidate
  • Tennis
  • Stray dog getting a new home
  • Photos of church
  • Police station from inside
  • Dead bees on a field
  • Car on fire
  • Hockey
  • Local historian interview
  • Music festival
  • Football match
  • School on fire
  • Local writer portrait
  • School construction
  • Photos of cafeterias
  • Building a wind generator
  • Search for a rapist
  • Somebody got bitten by a dog
  • Theater
  • Long lines in a police station
  • Yoga festival
  • Street performer portrait
  • Chess player portrait
  • Fire on a harbor
  • Basketball match
  • Searching a drunk driver
  • Walking on hot ashes
  • Rugby match
  • Businessman portrait
  • Local celebrity arriving to airport
  • Smoking fish
  • Carwash
  • Witchcraft enthusiasts gathering
  • Self-driving buses
  • Basketball match
  • Searching a bear
  • Videos of a food
  • Syrian refugee living conditions
  • Abandoned prison from inside
  • Beach football
  • Train traffic
  • White wedding pigeons
  • Music festival
  • Courthouse
  • Tennis match
  • WRC rally

Again, these are just some of the assignments we drove to in the company car — mainly the things that translate easily to English. Hopefully you got a taste of what work looks like for our small team of photojournalists working for a large newspaper in a small country.


About the author: Robin Roots is a 25-year-old newspaper photojournalist who has been doing photography for a decade. You can find his (and his fellow photographers’) work on the Õhtuleht website.


Image credits: Header photo by Miha Jan Strehovec

Discussion