Photos by Zack Johnson
Who am I?
My name is Seth Herlinger and I am a 26 year old multimedia journalist, visual storyteller, and street photographer. In 2022, I graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with a BA in Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies.
After college I moved to Chicago and worked as a Journalism Coach at The News School, an after school program for at-risk youth located on Chicago's West Side. I was also the Editor-in-Chief for the program's monthly print newspaper, The Chicago Leader.
Today I work as a freelance writer, editor, photographer, and documentarian.
Why do I do what I do?
Shortly after I turned nine years old, my family started taking annual trips to Chicago. I can remember that very first trip being absolutely mesmerized by the towering skyscrapers; the cars and people dashing in and out of the sprawling street corners and cityscapes. For most of my life I had lived only 25 minutes from the city of Milwaukee, but I had not been downtown very often, so these trips to Chicago are what really sparked my interest in both photography and later filmmaking.
Ever since then I have enjoyed, either by myself or with friends, exploring and capturing beautiful and unique images and stories at home, across the country, and abroad.
I love to learn about the stories of people from around the world. My passion comes from my own experiences with such people. I've had the privilege to travel to several countries around the world, and meet people from cultures vastly different from my own.
My interest in world news and foreign affairs stems from early experiences in high school, when I worked closely with a group from my church that helped resettle, provide furniture and clothing, and teach English to refugees and asylum seekers from countries across Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia.
How do I do what I do?
When I go to a new city, what I enjoy most is to capture areas and viewpoints that the average person might never see. Whether I am exploring the depths of an abandoned building, walking the streets and alleyways of a downtown area, or shooting from above atop an upscale skyscraper, I find that the greatest images require work to be discovered and captured.
I would say that I think I have a strong sense of “spatial intelligence”, which is defined by Howard Gardener as "a human computational capacity that provides the ability or mental skill to solve spatial problems of navigation, visualization of objects from different angles and space, faces or scenes recognition or to notice fine details."
This has helped me with my photography and filmmaking by allowing me to see spaces from different perspectives that create unique scenes and shots in a city that may not typically seen by the average person.
I've been a strong writer for about as long as I can remember. Some of my skills in this area can probably be attributed to my mother, who was an English teacher for many years, and a published writer herself. I think I was also blessed with a number of great English teachers and professors from middle school through college that helped me round out my skills in writing.