New in the picture: meet your new journalist

Your Western News’ newest reporter didn’t know anything about Libby when he first applied, but after a little research, he found it was a place with a few things in common with his own home town.

Luke Hollister grew up in Sultan, Washington, a small town on Highway 2. With a river, mountains, railroad lines and a history tied to logging, he found a number of things about the area around Libby that reminded him of home, he said.

But Libby and Troy have something that Hollister’s hometown lacked: a local news presence. What news they did get mostly came filtered through newspapers from larger cities.

“I always felt less connected in my hometown, and I think that might partly be due to the lack of a local newspaper,” Hollister said.

It wasn’t until he was in college that Hollister first had a chance to see much in the news that was relevant to where he was, and he said he appreciated what he found in newspapers.

“I appreciated knowing what’s happening in the community, and knowing people in the community, and knowing how to help people,” he said. “There are so many good things — it’s just a public service, basically.”

Hollister said that he knows from experience the impact that sense of connection can have on quality of life.

“It makes me happy to live somewhere if I know the people where I’m living,” he said.

That thought led immediately to his first impressions of Libby — where as much as he knows he stands out as new in town, it has been striking to him that complete strangers haven’t treated him as a stranger.

The idea of journalism as a public service comes up often when Hollister explained how he views his role as a journalist in the community.

For him, that means being a watchdog of local government, but it also means holding a mirror up to the community and reminding people to take pride in where they live, he said. That means finding stories of which people may not be aware, and getting information out to the public of which they may not otherwise realize the importance.

And Hollister’s favorite way to show people a new or different view of their community is with his camera.

He got into journalism through photography, and the visual side of journalism is still his greatest passion, he said.

In college, he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do, and chose journalism because for the photography, he said. “Fortunately, that blossomed into a passion.”

When he is out on an assignment, Hollister said he likes to take time to consider the story his photos will tell.

“I do a lot of observing before I even take a picture, and I think of, “What do I want people to see?” or “How can I frame something in a way that makes sense?”

There are some things that pictures convey that are almost impossible to accurately capture when filtered through the words of an observer, such as a facial expression at a particular moment, he said.

But a story isn’t just one moment, and Hollister said he likes to think about his pictures not just as individual shots, but like chapters in a story.

“I think of, how can I capture photos that tell a story, and not just capture one photo — how can I capture five photos, that if you put them in a row, you could read it like a book,” he said.

Hollister said he also likes that journalism challenges him and takes him out of his comfort zone.

“It’s always a growing experience, because you always meet someone different — who you interact with different, who knows different things that you don’t know,” he said.

Luke Hollister is currently working on a couple long-form stories, but you will see more from him in the Friday, March 29 edition. His current beats include courts, fire and EMS, Libby Public Schools, City of Libby and anything else that happens — indoors or out — around Libby. As an accomplished photographer, you can also expect to see him with his camera at any number of local events and celebrations (he is already eager to shoot the fireworks show in Troy over July 4).

To reach out to Luke Hollister with any story suggestions or input, email LHollister@thewesternnews.com.