meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
The Candid Frame: Conversations on Photography

TCF Ep. 533 - Michael M. Santiago

The Candid Frame: Conversations on Photography

Ibarionex R. Perello

Cameras, Art, Photoshop, Visual Arts, Career, Interviews, Photographers, Arts, Photography, Photo, Digital

4.8749 Ratings

🗓️ 6 October 2020

⏱️ 47 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Michael M. Santiago (b. 1980) is a staff news photojournalist with Getty Images. His work has focused on issues ranging from health, race and identity, family relationships, youth empowerment, and more. Michael is a member of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette staff that won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting for its coverage of the shooting deaths of 11 people and the wounding of seven others on Oct. 27 at the Tree of Life synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh. The judges called the staff's work “immersive, compassionate coverage ... that captured the anguish and resilience of a community thrust into grief.”  He was the recipient of the 2015 Alexia Foundation student grant for his project "Stolen Land, Stolen Future" a body of work focusing on Black farmers of California. His project “250” a work revolving the life of a man’s struggle with obesity won the 2014 Forward Thinking Museum 1st quarter photography competition and his projects  "A Promise" and "Michael the Veteran" was selected as juried winners for Morpholio Projects Future Voices. He was also invited to attend the 2015 and 2017 New York Times portfolio review and was a student at the Eddie Adams Workshop XXVII. His portfolio received an Award of excellence at the 70th College Photographer of the Year awards. He received a Grand Prize award in the Documentary/Photojournalism category at PDNedu 13th Annual Student Photography Competition and a winner in the 2016 PDN Photo Annual in the student category. the film has gone on to win an Edward R. Murrow award, final in the yearly Investigative Reporters and Editors awards, earned a second-place title in Best of The West, was honored for a Webby, a Pro-Am Student Award at the 2018 Online Journalism Awards, and a 2018 Student Production Award at the Rocky Mountain Emmy.   Websites Michael M. Santiago Brandon Bell   Education Resources: Using Your Life to Launch Your Photography Tokyo: Exploration of the Metropolis 2.0 Momenta Photographic Workshops https://momentaworkshops.com/workshops/ Candid Frame Resources Download the free Candid Frame app for your favorite smart device. Click here to download for . Click here to download Support the work we do at The Candid Frame by contributing to our Patreon effort.  You can do this by visiting or visiting the website and clicking on the Patreon button. You can also provide a one-time donation via . You can follow Ibarionex on and .

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

One of the promises of the United States is the opportunity for recreation.

0:13.0

Regardless of where or what you come from, this country offers the possibility of creating a new and different life for oneself and

0:22.7

one's family. If nothing else, it offers a sense of hope for something better. That is what's brought

0:29.7

countless people to these shores, not least of which were my parents who immigrated from the

0:35.1

Caribbean in the late 50s.

0:42.6

But that opportunity for transformation is markedly different for those original immigrants and their first generation children, whose lives are more rooted in the American experience.

0:48.7

For these children, it can be difficult to straddle expectations that reflect both the unlimited possibilities of a new

0:56.4

generation and the lack of possibilities by the generation before.

1:01.7

Michael Santiago faced just such an issue after emigrating with his parents from the Dominican

1:07.0

Republic. His desire to be a photographer was tempered by the more realistic,

1:11.9

cultural and familial expectations for consistency and reliability. But after a decades-long delay,

1:18.4

he returned to the camera and made a name for himself as a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist,

1:24.4

currently working as a staff photographer for getting images. His story is an

1:29.2

immigrant story, as much as it is the story of a photographer, but it's also the story of anyone

1:35.8

who seeks to define themselves on their own terms. This is Ibarian X, and welcome back to the

1:43.1

Candid Frame.

1:49.7

Thanks for doing this.

1:50.9

Of course, no problem.

1:52.5

I'm a beach fan of your show.

1:57.7

I mean, this is like, it's the conversations that I had on here are pretty dope.

2:00.3

So I'm glad to, an honor to be, to be part of this.

2:02.0

Well, your name has come up several times over the last couple of years so I've always had you on the had you on the list so I said

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Ibarionex R. Perello, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Ibarionex R. Perello and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.