BU journalism students benefit from a range of clubs and organizations to support their reporting, including news and digital publications, magazines, and journals. Reporting in visual formats, however, didn’t have an official home – until now, with the launch of a new club, the Visual Journalists Association (VJA).

The student-founded club focuses on supporting visual journalists, but anyone with a passion for visual communications is welcome to join. Within the club, some members are also a part of the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA), a national organization for professionals pursuing visual journalism.

Our goal is to create a community and a resource for photojournalists at the school. It’s a pretty niche passion, and I think we are…very motivated to support others who have this niche passion.

Clare Ong, VJA President and Senior Studying Film and Television

Ong said that she was attracted to the creative aspect of photojournalism and filmmaking, though she does not specifically want to be a journalist.

“Visual journalism is more broad in that sense, like communicating and storytelling through different forms like video and documentary,” Ong said.

Ong created a video in a visual journalism class about therapy dogs who travel to schools to engage with students and help them handle stress. She said that this project allowed her to explore a passion for animals through a visual medium.

Vice President Kate Kotlyar is studying public relations, but she still found a place to pursue her passion for photography in VJA. She currently photographs at concerts, but in the future, Kotlyar wants a career that combines photography and public relations.

“I want to be somewhere where I can use both of my abilities. I can’t ever see myself not doing photography,” Kotlyar said.

Andrew Burke-Stevenson, who is pursuing his own career in photojournalism, serves as VJA’s secretary on its executive board as well as remaining a member of NPPA.  “It’s great we have [this club] now,” Burke-Stevenson said. “The professors at BU have always been really supportive, and we have one extra pool of resources that we can tap into.”

He added, “I think pictures can be emotionally resonant in a a way that is a lot harder for words to be,” Burke-Stevenson said. “When I’m writing I can go and look at that and pretend that I know what they’re feeling. I can’t say what they’re feeling, but with photography, I can capture how they’re expressing and I think that’s enough to build empathy with an audience.”

This past fall, VJA organized several events, including an event featuring the photo editor of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, portfolio review sessions, and a photo contest open to all BU students.

This semester, the club is hoping to expand its outreach to the BU community with more workshop events, guest speaker opportunities and a special zine made up of submissions from their photo contest. Kotlyar said that the experience of physically seeing their work displayed can be “uplifting.”

“I really want to be an organization that stands the test of time. I think it could be a really difficult time for journalists. It’s important that we’re all friends and we support each other,” Kotlyar said.