Member spotlight: Jason Lozada

Being a grassroots organization that prides itself on interpersonal relationships and connections is what has made Reclaim Philadelphia grow over the past three years and make an impact on the city. We have so many members across so many neighborhoods doing amazing work it is sometimes hard to put a face to all that has been accomplished.

Reclaim Member Jason Lozada has been working with the communications team. You may have seen him at a Reclaim event – with his camera! Jason has been capturing the faces that make up this organization with beautiful photography.

Get to know Jason:

1. What made you want to join Reclaim Philadelphia?

I attended the Occupy Ice protest a few days in July.  I had taken a break from volunteering for a while but spending time there made me realize if all these people are willing to put their bodies on the line defending the dignity of kids that look like me maybe I should really reassess my priorities.

I was originally trying to help out with individual political campaigns. I found out a friend of mind, Jeff Frankl, was involved with Reclaim.  Jeff put me in touch with the Reclaim Comms team and I've been taking photos ever since.

2. What is the hardest thing about photographing a political event?

Trying not to block anyone in the audience view.  People are there to see the speakers; not my back.

The scene at the Occupy ICE protest. (Photo by Jason Lozada)

3. How have you grown as a photographer over the past year volunteering?

I've been taking photos for less than a year so I still have a ways to go.  The first time I went to photograph an event for Reclaim I took an absurd amount of pictures.  I learned pretty quickly a) people only need a handful b) you're free to take a million pictures but you're the person who then has to sift through and cut them down and color correct them, which can end taking hours.  So I've gotten way more efficient with knowing when I've taken enough.

Shooting in various locations has also helped.  From large auditoriums to smalls meetings at a campaign offices. There's so much going on in the city in so many different places that I've gotten better at assessing what settings I might need on the fly.  I mean, I'm still totally blocking people's view, but I'm doing it with much better camera settings than a year ago.

Check out some of Jason’s amazing work from past events here and make sure to follow him on Instagram  (@btswithjason)!