Melissa Lyttle

Background

About Melissa Lyttle

I'm a photographer with over 20 years of experience. And I'm based in Washington, DC. This means I'm also close to Baltimore, Philadelphia, Newark, Richmond, and Wilmington. I make pictures for newspapers, magazines, NGOs, non-profits, corporate and commercial clients. I specialize in portraits, documentary work, day-in-the-life stories, and long-term projects, but my real passion is sports culture. I've worked in countries like Mexico, Haiti, Jamaica, Pakistan, Bolivia, Taiwan, Japan, England, Denmark, Israel, and the Gaza Strip. I've always prided myself on being a photojournalist, not just a photographer. Everything has the potential to be a story and everyone — every brand, every company, and every foundation — has one. In 2021, I was awarded the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund grant, the Alan Hagman grant from the NPPF, and a Pulitzer Center for Reporting grant for my project on the dismantling of racism, one confederate monument at a time My work has also been recognized by the Emmys, American Photography 34, UNICEF, POYi, NPPA's Best of Photojournalism, Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar, Southern Short Course, Casey Medals for Meritorious Journalism, and the Alexia Foundation. I earned a journalism degree from the University of Florida and began my career at Florida newspapers, where I worked for nearly 15 years. I spent over two years in Los Angeles working behind the scenes on films, making portraits of the famous and infamous, and pushing my work into a new space. Now, I work for both commercial and editorial clients who appreciate storytelling images. I can disarm people, establish trust, and build relationships quickly. That's allowed me to witness some pretty incredible moments — 1/250th of a second at a time. I'm the founder of APhotoADay and GeekFest, a member of Women Photograph, an International Women's Media Foundation US-Mexico border reporting fellow and grant recipient, and I was an Eddie Adams Workshop faculty member for over a decade. I also served on the NPPA board for seven years, including two as President. I'm an FAA Part 107-certified drone pilot and worked on a huge photogrammetry project for Quartz a few years ago that allowed me to fly a drone in eight cities, on four continents, making 3-D augmented reality models of buildings withSeeBoundless. And this past year I got to work with SeeBoundless on another cool technology-driven project, shooting 360-video which will let potential college students virtually tour North Carolina campuses from an app on their phones.