Photography
09.18.17
A Photo Editor Remembers The Village Voice
By Meg Handler
This week, the The Village Voice will cease publication of its print edition. [Editor's note: The final print issue of The Voice will publish on Wednesday, September 20.] For so many of us who still work (or don't work) in the media, this news felt like a punch in the gut. While the website will remain, it will never be the same as the paper itself. There's something about opening a newspaper and seeing your picture in there for the first time. This was the dream of so many, including myself.
There was a very specific aesthetic to the photographs in the paper. Having been inspired by the great documentary photographers of the 1960s, that was my aesthetic too. The black border around the photographs was considered a "Village Voice" look, the writer/photographer teams, like Guy Trebay and staff photographer Sylvia Plachy, and nightlife columnist Michael Musto and photographer Catherine McGann. The clean page design, the equal weight of words and images on feature pages, also gave the paper a unique look. The mission of the paper and its left-leaning nature, was also inspiring to me.
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Photograph by Robin Holland, photo editor: Meg Handler.
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Photograph by Rafael Fuchs, photo editor: Meg Handler.
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Photograph by Melissa Springer, photo editor: Meg Handler.
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Photograph by Robin Holland, photo editor: Meg Handler.
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Photograph by Michael Sofronski, photo editor: Meg Handler.
When I moved to New York in 1990, I knew I wanted to be a photo editor and make photographs on the side, and I wanted to do that at The Village Voice. But, Thomas McGovern had that job. I also wanted to shoot for the paper, so I made a portfolio and went in to meet with Tom (who was kind enough to give a person unknown to him, his valuable time). I never did shoot for the paper while Tom was there, but that was the first time I was in the office at 36 Cooper Square. It felt right being in there.
A few years after my first visit, I was asked to come in and work as a freelance photo editor. There was no "Photo Editor"-- at that time, the design director was essentially doing that job, with two associate photo editors. The Village Voice I knew, was a photographers paper. The fact that there was no one in the photo editor position was ridiculous to me. Without getting into the nitty gritty, let's just say, I did what I could to change that. Eventually I was hired, full time, as an associate photo editor and I became the photo editor around 1996.
I have no idea why now, but I wanted my title to be Picture Editor. Fred McDarrah who had retired a few years earlier, who was the Picture Editor Emeritus (I'm not sure what his exact title was but he remained on the masthead for as long as I can remember), would not have it. He always said, he was the first and only "Picture Editor" The Voice would ever have. We all loved him and fought with him, and he mentored us all throughout his years of involvement with the paper. For sure, he considered every Voice photographer one of his own.
The Voice had a very desirable internship. Many of the people who contributed to the paper for years, started as interns. To an extent, the paper committed to you and you to the paper. During their tenure as interns, people would work in the black and white darkroom, processing and printing for the weekly stories. They would also get to shoot one assignment per week. It was a great training ground for hundreds of photographers, many of whom have gone on to great success. It's been gratifying to watch the careers of the photographers who worked with me at The Voice soar. People who started as interns or worked for the paper for years--and I am skimming the surface here--went on to win Guggenheim fellowships (Greg Miller), they have produced historic bodies of work independently (Andrew Lichtenstein, Marc Asnin), they've published books (way too many to name), worked for The New York Times (my former intern, Hiroyuki Ito), National Geographic (Brian Finke), Rolling Stone (Laura Levine) The New Yorker (Sylvia Plachy), and El Diario (my former intern, Mayita Mendez)...and it goes on and on. It's a very impressive crew, all told.
As sad as it is to see the print version of the paper go, it's been truly heartwarming to read the remembrances of the photographers who worked at the paper over the years. Many have said they got their very first assignment from The Voice. They felt free to see in their own way, and they felt that their work was contributing to a bigger conversation about society, politics, culture, music, etc. Many continue to contribute in this way, and it may be in different forms of media or in other careers, but there is still a strong commitment to things like speaking truth to power and telling the stories of those who may not be able to tell their own, which were at the heart of The Village Voice.
Meg Handler was the photo editor at The Village Voice from 1996-99. She is currently the editor-at-large for Reading the Pictures, a website dedicated to the analysis of news photos and media images. Meg lives in Chicago.
(Above): Photograph by Andrew Lichtenstein, photo editor: Meg Handler.
