Capital Gazette Photographer Honors Slain Colleagues, Journalists

In 19 years as a photographer for The (Annapolis) Capital, Paul Gillespie has taken a lot of pictures.

Few are as personal as the ones he's taken in the last year.

Gillespie was in the newsroom of the Capital Gazette on June 28, 2018, when a gunman opened fire and killed five of his colleagues. He wanted a way to honor them and to cope.

In the basement of his Brooklyn Park home, Gillespie took pictures of his fellow reporters, photographers, editors and many of the family members of the five people who were killed last year: editor Rob Hiassen, editorial page editor Gerald Fischman, community reporter Wendi Winters, reporter John McNamara and sales assistant Rebecca Smith.

Those pictures are the focus of an exhibit, Journalists Matter: The Faces of the Capital Gazette.

An opening reception will be held Sunday at ArtFarm Studios in Annapolis, where it will remain on display until Oct. 30.

Gillespie has been working on the project since January on his days and nights off from work. Gillespie said photography has helped him cope with the post-traumatic stress disorder he has suffered from since the shooting.

There is one picture of reporter Selene San Felice that defines the exhibit.

It shows her holding a reporter's notebook in one hand and a pen in another. Gillespie said the pen serves as her sword, the notebook her shield.

"The saying the pen is mightier than the sword, and as journalists, it felt right," Gillespie said. "We got it just right, and as soon as I shot it, I knew it was a pretty special image."

Included in the exhibit are pictures of relatives of four of the five victims.

Gillespie said he has approached Smith's family and hopes to have some of her relatives pose for pictures that can be added to the exhibit.

He has raised nearly $18,000 on GoFundMe to pay for the exhibit.

Gillespie said he is not trying to generate sympathy for journalists but does say the exhibit has an important message for people who see it.

"I want them to remember those that we have lost. I want them to come away with that journalists are people," Gillespie said. "We're just regular people trying to do their job, trying to do the best job we can. Trying to tell the true stories, of our communities. You know, we're your husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters and we just want to do the best job we can to tell the truth."

Gillespie said he hopes to show the exhibit at other venues.