Creative Direction + Large Projects
ADRIFT
About the story: In 2021, at least seven boats appearing to be from northwest Africa washed up in the Caribbean and in Brazil. All carried dead bodies.
For nearly two years, The Associated Press assembled puzzle pieces from across three continents to uncover the story of one of those doomed boats. In doing so, it revealed the people that the boat carried from hope to death.
The AP investigation found that 43 young men from Mauritania, Mali, Senegal and possibly other West African nations boarded the boat. AP has identified 33 of them by name. The “ghost boat” was in part an unintended result of years of efforts by Europe to stop crossings on the Mediterranean Sea.
Creative Direction
AWARDS + RECOGNITION
CREDITS
Creative Direction: Nat Castañeda and Raghu Vadarevu
Text and Visual Reporting: Renata Brito and Felipe Dana
See full credits list at story link
THE LAST GLACIERS
About the story: Earth’s glaciers are melting at an alarming rate and aviator Garrett Fisher is on a mission to photograph them all before they disappear. He is traveling the world in the seat of his tiny blue-white “Super Cub” aircraft. It’s here that he combines his two longtime passions — photography and flight — in a quest to document every remaining glacier on the face of the Earth. The climate clock is ticking, and the planet’s glaciers are melting. Fisher is convinced documenting, archiving, remembering all of this serves a purpose.
Creative Direction
CREDITS
Creative Direction: Nat Castañeda and Bram Janssen
Reporting: Nat Castañeda
Photos + Video: Bram Janssen
Motion Graphics: Marshall Ritzel
Creative Direction
CONSPIRACY THEORIES
About the Project: One of the things I love about journalism is its collaborative nature. Part of that process can sometimes mean work we are proud of doesn’t make it to publication. An example is this series of stories by AP’s David Klepper on conspiracy theories in the United States. I was tasked with crafting the creative direction and making media (illustrations, photo and video edits and layouts).
My favorite projects usually have a few ingredients - little original visuals (which is an opportunity for creativity), a passionate writer, and an excuse to dive into the archive. When I read over David’s drafts, I was inspired by his overview of the history of conspiracies in the US. This work, which includes a set of animated gifs, is made with images from AP’s photo and video archive and some public domain gems.
Luckily, everything didn’t end up on the cutting room floor. A talented former colleague used the work in this awesome Instagram story.
CREDITS
Creative Direction: Nat Castañeda
THE DOG WALKERS
About the story: Every February in New York City, a menagerie of purebred pups gather to compete in one of the most famous dog competitions in the world; the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. As the second oldest sporting event in the United States, Westminster - offers both competition and charm.
Enter the team of sports journalist Ben Walker and his Broadway choreographer wife Ginger “Gingey” Tidwell-Walker. When by chance a journalist assigned to cover the event with Walker was unable to attend, Walker brought in his wife Ginger to assist. Together, they have been covering Westminster for The Associated Press for over 20 years. Ben and Ginger give viewers a delightful behind-the-scenes look at Westminster.
‘Meet the Dog Walkers’ is a series of animated videos, photography, illustrations and a video with Ben and Ginger, in support of AP’s spot coverage of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.
Creative Direction
CREDITS
Creative Direction: Nat Castañeda
Illustration + Creative production: Peter Hamlin
AP IMAGES BLOG
About: In 2014, the AP Images Blog was launched as a space online to see The Associated Press’ best photojournalism.
‘The Blog’, as it is affectionately called internally, has had over 4 million views and is an online archive for over 10 years of AP’s aspirational photojournalism. The blog is a portfolio site that our photographers love to share and where photo editors are given the opportunity to grow.
In addition to photo essays and photo stories, the blog is home to behind the scenes features, Photos of the Day galleries, photographer retrospectives, and two sponsorship series by Canon and Sony.
Large Projects
CREDITS
Founder, Creative Direction + Management: Nat Castañeda
Current Photo Editors: Alyssa Goodman, Courtney Ditmar, Dario Lopez, Anita Baca, and Leslie Mazoch, Kathleen Elliott, and Julia Weeks.
Founding Photo Editors: Nat Castañeda and Rachael Hacking