One of our newest staff members has some big news to share! Straight from the shores of New York, Elaine Sanders has been selected for the 13th annual New York Portfolio Review. Sanders was one of 160 lucky applicants who was accepted; in years past, the pool of applicants have been between 2,500-3,500 photographers from across the world. Sanders started as an intern last June, and after her final semester at Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, she joined our staff as a full-time reporter and photojournalist.
When did you first start at the Independent? What got you interested in journalism?
I had my first taste of journalism when I worked for my undergrad paper The Daily Sundial at Cal State University Northridge. I was an art major focused in photography, and I got into video reporting and graphic design. I ended up becoming the print production manager for the weekly print paper. I loved the collaboration of the newsroom and the adrenaline of tight deadlines, but I didn’t have the confidence in my reporting skills just yet. COVID struck, the paper moved temporarily to online only, and life plans changed for everyone.
Fast-forward five years later, and I found myself wanting a career job, and I had such fond memories from my days in the college newsroom. I went back to grad school — Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY in Manhattan — to get some reporting skills under my belt, and I landed a summer internship at the Independent in June 2025. After finishing my internship after Fiesta weekend, I went back to N.Y.C. to finish up my final semester of grad school. I got a call from our Editor-in-Chief Marianne, and she offered me a full-time position as a reporter and photojournalist, and I started back at the paper at the beginning of March!
Tell me about the New York Portfolio Review. What is a portfolio review like and what do you hope to gain from it?
It is such a huge honor to be selected for the New York Portfolio Review. It is hard to put into words how exciting it is to be a part of this as a young photojournalist. I am one of 160 selected; in years past, the pool of applicants has been 2,500-3,500 photographers from across the world.
This is the 13th annual review hosted by The New York Times and my alma mater, Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. The school hosts the event, and The New York Times reviews applicants and selects editors to review participants.
What is a portfolio review? Each photographer comes prepared with a portfolio of their strongest work and gets the opportunity to sit, one-on-one, with photo editors from publications ranging from National Geographic to the Associated Press. Editors give feedback on the photographer’s work and learn more about their interests and skill. I am thrilled to get some more eyes on my photos, get some tips to help me hone my craft, and to meet some editors who I may be able to get some freelance work with in the future. My goal is to keep developing my photojournalism to better my documentation of the Santa Barbara community and maybe get some local stories to national news audiences!
How was journalism school in New York? What were your experiences like, and how did it help you grow?
I was really in the belly of the beast! So much is happening constantly, and there are so many diverse communities to cover and so many reporters covering it! This made it really challenging to keep up and, ironically, harder to suss out a good story.
Over the course of my graduate program, we saw Trump get elected for his second term, the ongoing conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, the rise of increasingly violent Immigration and Customs Enforcement tactics, and Zohran Mamdani’s amazingly energetic campaign and election to become N.Y.C.’s first Muslim and Asian American Mayor. These news events were combined with major threats of press freedom, mass firings of journalists from major media outlets, and the massive amount of disinformation and AI slop present in the current mediasphere.
All of this proved ample case studies to be learned from in my international reporting and photojournalism courses. It was a real-time crash course into how critical the jobs of journalists are, and some of the shortfalls of our work.
What have been some of your favorite recent stories to cover? What’s a story you’re working on now that you’re excited about?
I have been having a lot of fun tagging along on my coworkers’ stories as a photojournalist, taking some fun photos for living articles featuring local community groups and businesses such as honey boy press, The Rack, and a mah-jongg playing group in Carpinteria. Currently, I’ve got a couple stories I am excitedly digging into, and I have a story about the family history of some seahorses at the Sea Center coming out soon!
It is really rewarding to cover local news and the vibrant Santa Barbara community. I always get so excited when I see someone out in the wild with a copy of the Independent in their hands; it is such an honor to be able to report for such an engaged community.
What’s your process for getting photos while you’re out in the field? What’s a challenge you’ve found that might surprise people?
My first step is always to observe. I try to get to events early, or even drive past the day before. I want to be able to see what the space looks like, and to try and guess where the action will take place so I can be in the right spot.
A lot of times, I am not only taking photos, but also reporting and taking some video for our social media editor Maya to use in wonderful ways. It’s a real challenge; reporting and photographing take two completely different parts of your brain. My eye is looking for the shot, and my ears have to be listening for the quote, and my body has to physically be in different places to best do both. So, when I am out in the field, I am doing a lot of running around! You may see me climbing up on something to get a photo, and the next minute crouched in front of the podium frantically jotting notes and trying to grab a portrait. Then I gotta head back to the office to sift through all of the information I just gathered to put out a story.
Right now, I am rather limited with my gear, mainly shooting on my Canon R5 with an 85mm portrait lens. For those of you who are fellow photographers, you know that this lens is wildly impractical for many situations. But I quite like the limitation; it gets me thinking creatively, and I find it keeps me more engaged when I am shooting. And I can get some beautiful portraits, which I really value since we are a paper about the community, for the community.
What are some of your favorite things to do in Santa Barbara when you aren’t working?
I feel as though I am a newcomer to Santa Barbara in many ways; I was born and raised in Ventura and frequented up here for outings on State Street or to head out on an Island Packers whale-watching or dive trip. But it hasn’t been until just recently that I have started to explore all of what S.B. has to offer. I love to bike around town, try a new coffee shop, or stop by one of my favorite shops, Lewis & Clark.
I’d say one of my favorite things about the county is driving up the coast and into the Santa Ynez Valley. There is something just so special about the rolling golden hills, gnarly old oak trees, and the sound of the shimmering ocean hitting the beach that really puts me in a good headspace.What have been some of your favorite recent stories to cover? What’s a story you’re working on now that you’re excited about?
I have been having a lot of fun tagging along on my coworkers’ stories as a photojournalist, taking some fun photos for living articles featuring local community groups and businesses such as honey boy press, The Rack, and a mah-jongg playing group in Carpinteria. Currently, I’ve got a couple stories I am excitedly digging into, and I have a story about the family history of some seahorses at the Sea Center coming out soon!
It is really rewarding to cover local news and the vibrant Santa Barbara community. I always get so excited when I see someone out in the wild with a copy of the Independent in their hands; it is such an honor to be able to report for such an engaged community.
What’s your process for getting photos while you’re out in the field? What’s a challenge you’ve found that might surprise people?
My first step is always to observe. I try to get to events early, or even drive past the day before. I want to be able to see what the space looks like, and to try and guess where the action will take place so I can be in the right spot.
A lot of times, I am not only taking photos, but also reporting and taking some video for our social media editor Maya to use in wonderful ways. It’s a real challenge; reporting and photographing take two completely different parts of your brain. My eye is looking for the shot, and my ears have to be listening for the quote, and my body has to physically be in different places to best do both. So, when I am out in the field, I am doing a lot of running around! You may see me climbing up on something to get a photo, and the next minute crouched in front of the podium frantically jotting notes and trying to grab a portrait. Then I gotta head back to the office to sift through all of the information I just gathered to put out a story.
Right now, I am rather limited with my gear, mainly shooting on my Canon R5 with an 85mm portrait lens. For those of you who are fellow photographers, you know that this lens is wildly impractical for many situations. But I quite like the limitation; it gets me thinking creatively, and I find it keeps me more engaged when I am shooting. And I can get some beautiful portraits, which I really value since we are a paper about the community, for the community.
What are some of your favorite things to do in Santa Barbara when you aren’t working?
I feel as though I am a newcomer to Santa Barbara in many ways; I was born and raised in Ventura and frequented up here for outings on State Street or to head out on an Island Packers whale-watching or dive trip. But it hasn’t been until just recently that I have started to explore all of what S.B. has to offer. I love to bike around town, try a new coffee shop, or stop by one of my favorite shops, Lewis & Clark.
I’d say one of my favorite things about the county is driving up the coast and into the Santa Ynez Valley. There is something just so special about the rolling golden hills, gnarly old oak trees, and the sound of the shimmering ocean hitting the beach that really puts me in a good headspace.
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