Profiles

Troland Prevails from Unsettling Town

In a town plagued with sex offenders and the occasional naked chicken killer, Middleboro, Massachusetts is where Jess Troland calls home.

Once known as the cranberry capital of the world, Middleboro is the second largest town in Ma, and a mere 20 minutes away from the Bourne Bridge into Cape Cod. Although in close proximity with the beaches, Troland explained Middleboro in one word: "boring."

Troland recounted her childhood days spent at the town park with her younger brother Brendan. Although she spent much of her childhood singing, Troland still found time to take swimming lessons offered by the town it the Olympic sizes swimming pool at the park.

A scenic rural town, Middleboro may have a utopian image to a passerby. What visitors don't realize is that Middleboro has a darker side.

"There were three sex offenders living in my neighborhood," recounted Troland.

Sadly, sex offenders in the neighborhood were only where the stories began. Troland recounted a story of a deranged man in her town who nakedly killed chickens in an obscure mental state.

With such an interesting surrounding culture, it is no surprise that Troland chose a private high school in Darmouth over Middleboro High School.

When asked about her experience at Bishop Stang, a private Catholic high school, Troland said, "I loved it, it was the classic high school experience."

Troland was quite active in her school’s music program. Being a part of the a capella choir, she also created her own ensemble with 2 teachers and 3 other students. Her younger brother Brendan played drums for the group.

Troland has since moved on from the town, and is now currently a sophomore journalism major at the University of Massachusetts.

"I know Middleboro will always be a place I can go back to, but for now, it's time to go exploring," said Troland.

Amen, sister.






From the Newsroom to the Classroom

It was when he was 12 years old, watching the presses roll for the first time in the offices of the Woonsocket Call, that UMass Photojournalism professor Dennis Vandal knew his future lay in the field of journalism.

“It was absolute magic, real magic,” Vandal said, “and I remember it to this day.”

Woonsocket Rhode Island was not a large town, compiled of about 40,000 residents. An old factory town, Vandal described it as a “pretty good place to grow up, because it was manageable for a kid who liked to talk to people.”

It was an interest in law that first sent Vandal into the realm of journalism at 12 years old.

“I was curious to find out what lawyers did,” Vandal said. “Members of my family advised me to go down to the district court. I went down there to see what lawyers do. A janitor told me there was a man who had a pad and a pencil, and because he had a pad and a pencil he could go anywhere he wanted.”

This man turned out to be Harvey VanBrocklyn, a local police reporter for the Woonsocket Call.

VanBrocklyn became Vandal’s mentor, showing him the presses of the Woonsocket Call, which was the turning point for Vandal’s passion.

Vandal would meet VanBrocklyn every Saturday morning at the courthouse, where VanBrocklyn would show him a list of those seeing the judge that day. Vandal would take this information home to write small stories which he brought back to VanBrocklyn for editing.

At this same time, Vandal was developing an interest in photography after having acquired cameras and dark room materials from his father who was an amateur photographer.

As a teenager Vandal’s writing and photography evolved side by side, and soon he saw the possibilities of merging the two. “Newspaper photography” is what he called it then, but soon learned the real name was photojournalism.

After he graduated Mt. St. Charles Academy in Woonsocket in 1971, Vandal went on to Suffolk University to study journalism with a minor in english where he graduated in 1975. His first job after college was working for a small weekly newspaper, the Cumberland Lincoln NewsLeader in Cumberland, R.I.. His love for both photography and writing hit a pivotal moment when he realized he had to choose.

“Newspapers that belonged to the Newspaper Guild would require you to either be a report or a photographer. You couldn’t do both. I was forced into making the choice.”

After covering a story on a well known Providence photographer, Vandal chose photography, leaving the NewsLeader in 1978 to become a photographer’s apprentice at Carriagehouse Studios in Providence, R.I.

Vandal spent a year at the studio, spending countless hours in the dark room mastering proper technique. This skill set is what helped him stand out later in his career. It was in this dark room that his future as a photojournalist began.

“One day I was in the dark room of this photographer’s studio, and this girl who I dated called me on the phone. She was a reporter for the Milford Daily news in Milford Masachusetts. She called me up and said ‘you know, they just fired the second photographer, so why don’t you put in for the job?’”

Vandal realized with his degree in journalism and his experience as a photographer, he was perfectly cut out for the job. When he applied, he got the position.

“They loved my print quality,” Vandal said.

Vandal’s time at the Milford Daily News instantly kickstarted his career as a photojournalist. Shooting constantly through all kinds of weather and all hours of the day at the will of a demanding boss, he rose up the ranks quickly.

“I was so successful there” Vandal said, “that after about a year I started to torture the editors at the Worcester Telegram and Gazette, because I was out shooting their people. So I sent them a resume, and they hired me to get them away from the competition!”

Vandal’s time at the Gazette really solidified his knowledge in the field. After eight years, Vandal left in 1987 to freelance for the Boston Globe, as well as start his own commercial photography business where he was able to do corporate work alongside his photojournalism.

With so much time in the field, Vandal has seen great changes in the field of photojournalism. He recounts how the biggest change was in technology.

“We’ve seen the transition of shooting only black and white film, and only being able to send 12 photos to the Associated Press in a 12-hour shift, to going digital and having a wild stream of photos, thousands of photos, being able to upload on a very regular basis,” he said.

The change to digital photography has been regarded by many as the greatest change in photojournalism. Never before had photographers been able to transmit such vast amounts of pictures so easily, let alone have the comfort in knowing their shots were correctly exposed on the spot. Vandal explained how this new technology was both positive and negative

“It’s changed things for good, and also for bad. It has made photography far more accessible for far many more people.”

Vandal explained how many jobs that previously were only held by professional photographers can now be done with a device as commonplace as an iPhone. Previously only professional photographers had pictures published of newsworthy events. With digital cameras so commonplace, many news shots are no longer professionally covered, and are instead shot by a bystander at the scene with a camera phone.

New technologies have also annihilated some opportunities of the past.

“The entry level jobs that I was able to take advantage of in the 1970’s are probably gone,” Vandal said.

One of these jobs includes a dark room technician, which was a good entry point for many aspiring photographers. Since technology has outdated film, these positions are no longer necessary in the digital age.

Although digital photography has changed the game of photojournalism dramatically, Vandal still loves his new digital equipment.

“I’m terribly happy with the digital tools that we have. And to be really honest about it, I would never go back to the days of film.”

A veteran of the photojournalism field, Vandal eventually decided to share his wealth of knowledge with the classroom. Starting his educational career at Northeastern in 1997 with their summer program, Vandal later moved to the Amherst area, and has worked at the University of Massachusetts in their journalism department since 2005.

“I love teaching, because teaching in my opinion keeps you sharp. Here, the UMass journalism program has a lot of great people who are very much interested in remaining on the cutting edge.”

Teaching has helped give Vandal a unique view on the field. Not only does he look back at the history of photojournalism in order to teach, but he is also forced to look towards the future as well.

“We who are involved in teaching are always terribly aware that we need to stay sharp for our students, because our students are going 40 years into the future,” he said.

Vandal sees photojournalism moving away from the print of newspapers and towards the light of the computer screen. He also sees a change in its content.

“I see it (photojournalism) going more and more to the web, becoming much more involved in video. Video is terribly important, and is going to become more important.”

Vandal has a unique view on the field, as he still shoots professionally as a commercial photographer alongside teaching. This helps his teaching because he has to keep with current trends in the industry. When asked about his advice for prospective photographers, Vandal had one important bit of life advice to share.

“No matter what happens, you always have to go with the flow towards the future. If you weld yourself into the past, you fail. If you don’t grow, you die.”