Journal photographer recognized as news leader
Chancey Bush can be found at protests and parades, vigils and football games, behind the lens of a camera.
The 35-year-old Albuquerque Journal photojournalist was selected as one of Editor and Publisher Magazine’s top up and coming journalists in its annual “25 Under 35” section, which recognizes the next generation of news publishing leaders.
“Chancey is simply the best of the best,” Albuquerque Journal Executive Editor Patrick Ethridge said. “For those of us who work with her, it’s no surprise that she’s being honored. I’m happy to see her getting the recognition she deserves. The impressive thing about Chancey is that in addition to her amazing photos, her personality and the attitude she comes into the office with every day is equally amazing.”
Bush was nominated by a fellow photojournalist who follows her work online.
Bush joined the Journal staff in 2022 and is driven to tell everyday stories that can inspire. Some assignments that have resonated with her include the annual Mexican wolf count and the protests after Roe v. Wade was overturned.
In 2021 and 2022, four Muslim men were murdered in Albuquerque. The Journal was invited to cover a funeral service for two of the men, Aftab Hussein and Muhammad Afzaal Hussain. The photos Bush created as the men were laid to rest ran in newspapers around the globe.
It can be especially difficult to cover vulnerable moments, like a vigil after someone is lost to gun violence, but those photos can also spark change.
“When humans can connect to each other as strangers, maybe they don’t see each other, but if they look at that photo, they’re going to feel that emotion and hopefully, that can enact some change in this world,” Bush said.
One of the photojournalists who influences her work is James Nachtwey, who worked at the Journal in the 1970s.
“The greatest war photographer of all time, James Nachtwey, with his haunting images of war that the people weren’t seeing, I think really changed the way we looked at war and how it affects people for years,” Bush said.
Bush is always looking to frame her photos within a frame and to play with composition and, most importantly, trying to capture the moment.
“I think photographs should raise questions,” Bush said.
Becoming a photojournalist
Journalism had always been in the back of Bush’s mind.
As a child, she made her own newspapers — but she never had a camera. In her first photojournalism class at Metro State University of Denver, everything clicked.
“I just knew, this is what I wanted to do. I wanted to tell stories through pictures,” she said.
Bush showed up to the class with a film camera — her mom’s Printex 35-millimeter — but had to drop the course because it was a digital class. She came back with a digital camera and hasn’t stopped shooting photos since.
Bush took all the journalism classes she could and began shooting for her college paper. She interned at the Boulder Daily Camera and The Coloradoan. She also freelanced for Evergreen Newspapers before joining its staff. In 2015, she was even selected for the Eddie Adams Workshop, a talent-based photojournalism workshop that brings 100 photographers together.
But her first internship was at the Guadalupe County Communicator in Santa Rosa, New Mexico, with publisher M.E. Sprengelmeyer.
“That was an amazing experience. You can’t learn that from a textbook,” Bush said.
Bush also spent stints working at The Daily Sentinel in Grand Junction, Colorado, and her dream Colorado paper — the Colorado Springs Gazette.
Then Albuquerque came calling. A friend on the Journal staff pushed Bush to apply for an open photography position. After some encouragement, Bush said, why not?
“I’ve been in Colorado my whole life. I’ve covered that state, every square inch. Maybe change would be good for me,” Bush said. “So, I made the trip down here, and my professor, Kenn Bisio, he told me, ‘You’ll know immediately when you walk into that newsroom if it’s right for you.’ And it sure was. I got that feeling right when I walked in.”
Bush has never regretted the decision to bring her talents to New Mexico.
“It’s been amazing, and I’ve learned so much, and New Mexico is truly a beautiful, special place and the stories here are — I mean, the diversity of the people, the culture. It’s been ... there’s so much more work to do.”