For 11 months, UVM alumnus Ian Thomas Jansen-Lonnquist '09 has had access to the presidential campaign that few will ever experience. He’s the New York Times’ go-to photographer for coverage of the campaign in his home state of New Hampshire. This month, his work documenting the race in this early primary state culminates as voters there select their parties’ candidates.
Although Jansen-Lonnquist was a natural resources major during his UVM years, he also pursued his love of photography as a student — on campus at the Vermont Cynic and abroad when during his junior, he served as an international correspondent for a National Geographic-affiliated organization in India.
Today, he makes his living working freelance from a Burlington home base.
“Photography has always been a vehicle for me to meet and interact with people,” he says. “It’s a little bit of psychology, sociology, anthropology all wrapped up into one.”
The biggest challenge covering the election, he says, is taking a fresh eye to the same subject. But on the other hand, he enjoys the up-close perspective on the American political system and seeing how a campaign is run over the course of a year.
Scroll through his work:
Senator Ted Cruz of Texas speaks to attendees after his speech at the second day of the Republican Leadership Summit hosted at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Nashua, New Hampshire, April 18, 2015.
Hillary Clinton attends a house party.
A young boy waits to get Jeb Bush's signature while he speaks to supporters after at a campaign event at the VFW in Hudson, New Hampshire, July 8, 2015.
Jeb Bush speaks to members of the press in Gorham, New Hampshire.
Campaign staff prepares for the arrival of Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont in Portland, Maine.
Color guard at a campaign rally for Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida in Exeter, New Hampshire.
Potential supporters listen to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie speak at his first campaign stop after announcing his plans to run for president earlier in the day.
A lone campaign sticker for Gov. George Pataki of New York is stuck to a wall in the Exeter Town Hall during a Marco Rubio campaign event.
Donald Trump greets supporters after a campaign rally in Laconia, New Hampshire, July 16, 2015.
See more of his photography in the Times: