KARE 11

The days start early when you're part of KARE 11 Sunrise’s morning news team - specifically they start at 12:00 AM. As a photojournalist, I'm there to capture the first light on breaking stories, support reporters during live shots, and transform raw footage into compelling narratives that wake up the Twin Cities. From racing to capture scene video to crafting graphics that bring stories to life, every day brings a new challenge in the world of morning news. Below you'll find a collection of my work made at KARE 11 that has made it to air - each piece representing those pre-dawn moments where creativity meets deadline in the heartbeat of Minneapolis morning television.

Sports “Win-Trackers”

The 2023-2024 was a big year for our Minnesota Men’s and Women’s basketball teams, The Timberwolves and the Lynx. After reporting what seemed like the same story day after day, one of my producers asked if there was a way to display the wins of each team. And thus — the “win tracker” was born. Designed in Adobe Illustrator, each circle represented each game that the team had to win until they were named the “champs”, but unfortunately that did not happen for the two teams. These graphics were displayed in various monitors in the studio throughout each team’s respective journey.

Minnesota Timberwolves

Minnesota Lynx

Other Graphics

Sometimes things just need to be more visual! After the producers write the script editors are sometimes asked to make things more visually appealing for the viewer to break up the monotony of information being read over an image. That’s where I come in. Here are a few fun graphics I quickly made in the editing software EDIUS that aired on the show in studio monitors and as VOs!

Mapping Prejudice

This was an introduction to a full story by Alicia Lewis about racial covenants in house deeds in Minnesota.

Message in a Bottle - Animation

Busy Holiday Travel - Drive Times

Bold Opens

Every 6am morning show starts with what our show calls “bold opens” - a short one minute teaser of what’s to come in the next hour tied up in a fun package with music and fun graphics. The bold open is written by a producer, and the anchors are recorded by production. There is template and rules to follow for the style of the bold open, but the music, video, and audio pops are all up to the editor (me!) on what to use. Here are a few of my favorites.

Videography

The city never sleeps, and neither does crime, accidents, and fires. When the call comes out, I run out to the scene and gather video and sometimes interviews. I edit my clips together and create what are called “VOs” or voice overs, in which the anchors would talk over the video to explain details of the situation.