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2 Post photographers put down their cameras after more than 203,000 images
2 Post photographers put down their cameras after more than 203,000 images
By Susan Levine and Natalia Jiménez-Stuard
December 30, 2023 at 6:00 a.m. EST
Sept. 11, 2002: Alice Hogland, mother of United Airlines Flight 93 passenger Mark Bingham, gets a hug in Shanksville, Pa., after a service in memory of those who died when the plane crashed there during the country's 2001 terrorist attacks. (John McDonnell/The Washington Post)
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I'm all out.
Between the two of them, John McDonnell and Bill O’Leary have a combined 85 years of shooting photographs for The Washington Post. Theirs is a legacy rich in images of the nation’s capital as well as the country — some searing, some quirky, some iconic and some simply capturing a moment that otherwise would have gone unnoticed.
“An incredible privilege,” McDonnell says of the work he’s done, camera in hand.
With both journalists closing their careers at the end of 2023, we asked them to pull out a few favorite photos. The ones they picked are grounded in the Washington region, which seems appropriate since each man was born here and never left. Each landed at The Post by happenstance, not design. O’Leary came as a darkroom technician and only planned on a short stint, but the energy of the newsroom, then powered by legendary editor Ben Bradlee, “was undeniably thrilling. It sucked me in.”
Exactly how many images these colleagues have published is impossible to figure; The Post’s online archives mostly represent the digital era, and McDonnell, who started in 1978, and O’Leary, who began in 1984, were shooting film long before that. But the following bridges the divide and the decades. It’s a fitting tribute.
{snip}
Share
I'm all out.
By Susan Levine
Susan Levine is a deputy editor on the National Desk's America team. Twitter https://twitter.com/SKLevine
By Natalia Jiménez-Stuard
Natalia Jiménez-Stuard is a senior photo editor on the National desk at The Washington Post. Before joining The Post in 2018, she was the photography manager at NBC News. Twitter https://twitter.com/nataliathinks
By Susan Levine and Natalia Jiménez-Stuard
December 30, 2023 at 6:00 a.m. EST
Sept. 11, 2002: Alice Hogland, mother of United Airlines Flight 93 passenger Mark Bingham, gets a hug in Shanksville, Pa., after a service in memory of those who died when the plane crashed there during the country's 2001 terrorist attacks. (John McDonnell/The Washington Post)
Share
I'm all out.
Between the two of them, John McDonnell and Bill O’Leary have a combined 85 years of shooting photographs for The Washington Post. Theirs is a legacy rich in images of the nation’s capital as well as the country — some searing, some quirky, some iconic and some simply capturing a moment that otherwise would have gone unnoticed.
“An incredible privilege,” McDonnell says of the work he’s done, camera in hand.
With both journalists closing their careers at the end of 2023, we asked them to pull out a few favorite photos. The ones they picked are grounded in the Washington region, which seems appropriate since each man was born here and never left. Each landed at The Post by happenstance, not design. O’Leary came as a darkroom technician and only planned on a short stint, but the energy of the newsroom, then powered by legendary editor Ben Bradlee, “was undeniably thrilling. It sucked me in.”
Exactly how many images these colleagues have published is impossible to figure; The Post’s online archives mostly represent the digital era, and McDonnell, who started in 1978, and O’Leary, who began in 1984, were shooting film long before that. But the following bridges the divide and the decades. It’s a fitting tribute.
{snip}
Share
I'm all out.
By Susan Levine
Susan Levine is a deputy editor on the National Desk's America team. Twitter https://twitter.com/SKLevine
By Natalia Jiménez-Stuard
Natalia Jiménez-Stuard is a senior photo editor on the National desk at The Washington Post. Before joining The Post in 2018, she was the photography manager at NBC News. Twitter https://twitter.com/nataliathinks