Photojournalist Sean Rayford finds himself in an unusual place: in front of his own lens.
Photo by Sean Rayford
Sean Rayford
Age: 47.
Resides in: West Columbia.
Occupation: Photojournalist.
Early brush with greatness: Princess Diana read a story to his grade-school class.
Career spark: He won a photography contest in middle school.
Quote: "Photojournalism is like having a permanent hall pass. I have a lot of exploratory freedom."
When everyone was fleeing Hurricane Helene in 2024, Sean Rayford was heading in.
He picked his way through the devastation in a cargo van tricked out with a bed, survival gear of all types and a solar-powered communications system that would make an astronaut jealous.
Rayford chases storms, but he's not a storm chaser. He chases news, from hurricanes to protests. His photographs frequently appear in international publications from The New York Times to London's The Guardian.
Curiosity drives him. "I just want to see what's around the next corner," Rayford says.
He was working regularly as a professional freelance photographer when, in 2015, he got a call from an editor for Getty Images, a worldwide news syndicate.
They wanted a photograph of the empty, shrouded desk of South Carolina Sen. Clementa Pinckney, pastor of the historic Mother Emanuel AME Church, who was killed by a white supremacist in a mass shooting in the Charleston church's basement. Rayford's somber photo was seen around the nation and beyond, as was another photo he took of the state flag at half-staff over the State House, juxtaposed with the Confederate flag flying over the Monument to Confederate Dead in front of the capitol.
"That photograph went everywhere," he says. "It got me in line to shoot for other organizations. Now, if you Google 'photojournalism SC,' I'll probably be at the top or near the top of the list."
Since then, he's worked for nearly every major print news outlet in the country. He's covered every presidential campaign since 2015 and more than a dozen hurricanes, including hunkering down in a Florida parking garage in the eye of Hurricane Milton. Among his memorable news shots are an empty mall during the COVID pandemic, the removal of the John C. Calhoun statue in downtown Charleston, and a Ku Klux Klan rally at the S.C. State House during the Confederate flag controversy in 2015.
More recently, he chronicled this year's crippling winter storm in the Carolinas.
"Photojournalism is like a sport; I love the excitement," he says. "I don't have to read about stuff. I can be there."
You can see Rayford's work on his website, seanrayford.com, and his photo blog, sodacitizen.com.