Multimedia Storytelling

As a photojournalist for a major daily newspaper, David Wallace ’01 Photojournalism Option (Photographic and Imaging Arts BFA) has produced compelling stories honored with prestigious awards. 

Wallace, a senior producer and strategist for documentary video at The Arizona Republic, is one of RIT’s Pulitzer Prize-winning photographers, as well as a seven-time Rocky Mountain Emmy Award winner. He is well-versed and accomplished in multimedia storytelling. 

In 2018, Wallace helped the newspaper staff and USA TODAY NETWORK win the Pulitzer Prize in explanatory reporting for a project on President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall.

“The Wall: Unknown stories, Unintended Consequences” included more than a dozen stories and documentary videos, a podcast series and a digital map with video of every foot of the 2,000-mile border showing existing fencing.

Wallace, who has been with The Arizona Republic since 2006, was one of a few videographers who worked on the 15 documentary videos that were part of the project. He spent three-and-a-half months in 2017 with a reporter and photographer in the field talking to the people most affected by the border. 

That honor was followed a year later by Wallace capturing his seventh regional Emmy Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Wallace and Michael Chow were the directors, cinematographers and editors of The Arizona Republic’s documentary “An Unnatural Wonder,” which won the environmental news category.

The film details how the Colorado River’s ecology has been altered since the Glen Canyon Dam’s gates closed in 1963. For the project, Wallace and former Arizona Republic reporter Brandon Loomis captained their own raft and recorded a 16-day trip down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. They recorded dynamic video footage, photography and interviews with experts and others.

Wallace’s role at The Arizona Republic has evolved over the years to incorporate a high volume of video work in addition to some still photography. His multifaceted skill set is similar to the one being instilled in current RIT Photojournalism students.

“The differences between still photography and documentary video are huge but storytelling is still storytelling,” Wallace said of multimedia storytelling. “And RIT was pivotal in teaching me how to be a good visual storyteller.”