Each month, LightBox profiles a notable wire photographer in recognition of the brave and tireless work of these often unsung photojournalists. For October, in light of the recent government shutdown, we acknowledge the work of Brendan Smialowski, who shoots for AFP (Agence France-Presse).

Staged political scenarios — briefings, press conferences, state dinners and the like — account for a huge number of the professional photographs made each and every day around the globe. And while pictures of a president at a podium or a glum politician in a committee hearing very rarely feel as compelling as photos of armed conflict or natural disasters, it is in these profoundly mundane situations that photographer Brendan Smialowski excels. The 32-year-old AFP staffer’s work consistently brings a wholly unexpected nuance and visual depth to the often bland and predictable world of big-time politics.

Each wire agency typically has at least one photographer in the “pack,” as Smialowski calls the environment where shooters are working shoulder-to-shoulder with their colleagues — the competition.

“It’s difficult to separate yourself physically, let alone visually,” he told TIME. This is where risk-taking and relying on one’s instincts come in to play. Smialowski says he often ends up on the opposite side of the event from his colleagues. “It’s a good way to get a different picture,” he said, “but it’s also a good way to shoot yourself in the foot.”

Working for a foreign wire service covering American politics, he says, offers him more flexibility to try new things. “His style doesn’t necessarily fit news agency standards, but as a photo editor at AFP, I like it that way,” Eva Hambach, AFP Deputy Photo Director for North America, noted to TIME.

While even hardened news junkies often stop following day-to-day politics in non-election years, Smialowski prefers to cover this seemingly fallow period precisely because of the variety of news on offer. Although elections decide who runs the country, “what happens in between those four years can last a lot longer than an actual administration,” he said. The D.C. news cycle can be “overwhelming,” he admits, but he strives to make images that grab people’s attention.

The Washington news cycle was dominated by two non-election stories this past month: America’s response to Syria’s use of chemical weapons and the federal government shutdown. Smialowski photographed all of it.

“It’s interesting how parts of stories all around the globe can be told from Washington,” he said of covering the Senate hearings on Syria. But monotonous stories like the shutdown can be visually frustrating for photographers. “I have found it difficult to go beyond making photos of record,” he notes, “but that doesn’t change the fact that this story is perfect for making the great nuanced story-telling photos I dream of.”

With politics comes pageantry, of course, and as a photographer, Smialowski admits, it’s easy to get caught up in the spectacle. But it’s important to avoid getting carried away. “With the White House, or any major image-conscious organization, everything is controlled, so you only get glimpses of what might actually be happening,” he said. “It’s in those moments that aren’t actually part of the production when you might have a chance at making a genuine image.”

To high school seniors, May 1 is "College Decision Day," as many colleges and universities require prospective students and their families to put down a deposit to reserve their place in next year's class. But while seniors are done with the admissions process as of today, juniors are just starting it, with some cramming for the SATs on May 3 and June 7 or the ACT on June 14.
                        
                        Understanding that most 11th graders log onto Facebook to put off taking practice tests, a free mobile app called <a href="http://play2prep.com" target="_blank">playp2prep</a> launching today in the iOS and Android app stores has a feature in which two people can challenge their Facebook friends answer SAT and ACT questions. This way, preparing for the exams seem less like a solitary chore and more like friends playing video games or QuizUp, a social trivia app with <a href="http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2014/03/06/quizup-hype-cycle/" target="_blank">more than 10 million users</a> who play with friends or are pitted against random opponents worldwide.
                        
                        &nbsp;
                        
                        The player who starts a round first chooses whether to generate a question in one of two categories. The English and Math ones are boiled down to specific topics like subject-verb agreements and word problems respectively, and a Science category may be an option in ACT mode. An algorithm selects the categories based on the subjects each player needs to study more.
                        
                        Next, a time frame to answer the question is selected, which could be one minute or 50 seconds for a math problem or two-and-a-half minutes or three minutes if it's a reading comprehension passage. The last step is choosing whether the question will be worth 1 or 2 points. If players answer correctly, they get the points, and if they answer incorrectly, their opponent gets the points. And because game play is still just practice ultimately, three bottom icons help players get the question right: one gives a hint, one adds time to answer, and one eliminates a wrong multiple answer. Three rounds make up a game, and the highest scorer wins. 
                        
                        "When we initially started testing the app, it was an amazing thing to see four boys sitting around a conference table absolutely trash-talking each other and having a great time," says Kenny Nova playp2prep’s founder. "That’s when we knew we were on to something."
                        
                        But isn't there enough trash-talking in the college admissions process? In New York City, there was the student who <a href="http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/10/horace-mann-college-admissions-sabotage-scandal.html" target="_blank">sent letters</a> making false and damaging claims about a classmate to several colleges, and the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/26/education/stuyvesant-high-school-students-describe-rationale-for-cheating.html?_r=0" target="_blank">more than 70 students</a> who cheated on state tests so that they could be at the top of their class apply to most selective universities in the U.S. Long Island students were <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/02/education/on-long-island-sat-cheating-was-hardly-a-secret.html?pagewanted=all" target="_blank">paid as much as $3,600</a> to take the SATs for others in a massive cheating scandal, while the College Board cancelled the May administration of the SAT in South Korea due to allegations of widespread cheating — <a href="http://world.time.com/2013/05/10/for-the-first-time-sat-test-gets-canceled-in-an-entire-country/" target="_blank">the first time</a> the test was cancelled in an entire country.
                        
                        Students are already competing against one another to get into the most select colleges and universities — SAT <em>prep</em> shouldn't be turned into a bloodbath too. Downloaded by students who already attend hyper-competitive schools, this app will provide details about student's progress that can be fodder for gossip among classmates and their parents, thus only fueling the frenzy.
                        
                        That said, the app is free, which will hopefully help the majority of college-bound students who cannot afford to pay <a href="http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/03/05/for-high-schoolers-with-ivy-league-dreams-summer-has-gone-from-time-kick-back-time-lean/Bkwk8XIM0WfijqzQyszSlM/story.html" target="_blank">$275 an hour</a> for private consultants and $4,000 for college prep boot camps this summer. And another way to tamp down the hysteria would be to either use the multi-player mode with a sibling, family member, maybe a peer who is already in college, or just use the single-player feature. Every day, the "Home" screen features five new ACT questions and five new SAT questions for users to answer. Whether they're playing in single-player mode or multi-player mode, users earn 10 "XP" points for each question answered, points that are given just for using the app (as Woody Allen <a href="http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F20814F83A5E16738DDDA80A94D0405B878BF1D3" target="_blank">once said</a>, "Showing up is 80% of life"). As play2prep founder Kenny Nova put it another way, "It’s not just about getting it right, it’s about the effort of doing it."
                        
                        But if you do want to see whether you're smarter than an 11th grader, take a stab at these questions from the play2prep app:
                        
                        [polldaddy type="iframe" survey="AB3F7D96F63F036D" height="auto" domain="timecontributor4" id="sat-prep"]
                        
                        <strong>MORE:</strong> <a href="http://time.com/36307/snapchat-grows-up-how-college-officials-are-using-the-app/" target="_blank">How College Officials Use Snapchat to Engage Prospective Students</a>
                        
                        <strong>MORE: </strong><a href="http://time.com/54342/it-doesnt-matter-where-you-go-to-college/" target="_blank">Decision Time: It Doesn't Matter Where You Go to College</a> (Brendan Smialowski—AFP/Getty Images)
To high school seniors, May 1 is "College Decision Day," as many colleges and universities require prospective students and their families to put down a deposit to reserve their place in next year's class. But while seniors are done with the admissions process as of today, juniors are just starting it, with some cramming for the SATs on May 3 and June 7 or the ACT on June 14. Understanding that most 11th graders log onto Facebook to put off taking practice tests, a free mobile app called playp2prep launching today in the iOS and Android app stores has a feature in which two people can challenge their Facebook friends answer SAT and ACT questions. This way, preparing for the exams seem less like a solitary chore and more like friends playing video games or QuizUp, a social trivia app with more than 10 million users who play with friends or are pitted against random opponents worldwide.   The player who starts a round first chooses whether to generate a question in one of two categories. The English and Math ones are boiled down to specific topics like subject-verb agreements and word problems respectively, and a Science category may be an option in ACT mode. An algorithm selects the categories based on the subjects each player needs to study more. Next, a time frame to answer the question is selected, which could be one minute or 50 seconds for a math problem or two-and-a-half minutes or three minutes if it's a reading comprehension passage. The last step is choosing whether the question will be worth 1 or 2 points. If players answer correctly, they get the points, and if they answer incorrectly, their opponent gets the points. And because game play is still just practice ultimately, three bottom icons help players get the question right: one gives a hint, one adds time to answer, and one eliminates a wrong multiple answer. Three rounds make up a game, and the highest scorer wins. "When we initially started testing the app, it was an amazing thing to see four boys sitting around a conference table absolutely trash-talking each other and having a great time," says Kenny Nova playp2prep’s founder. "That’s when we knew we were on to something." But isn't there enough trash-talking in the college admissions process? In New York City, there was the student who sent letters making false and damaging claims about a classmate to several colleges, and the more than 70 students who cheated on state tests so that they could be at the top of their class apply to most selective universities in the U.S. Long Island students were paid as much as $3,600 to take the SATs for others in a massive cheating scandal, while the College Board cancelled the May administration of the SAT in South Korea due to allegations of widespread cheating — the first time the test was cancelled in an entire country. Students are already competing against one another to get into the most select colleges and universities — SAT prep shouldn't be turned into a bloodbath too. Downloaded by students who already attend hyper-competitive schools, this app will provide details about student's progress that can be fodder for gossip among classmates and their parents, thus only fueling the frenzy. That said, the app is free, which will hopefully help the majority of college-bound students who cannot afford to pay $275 an hour for private consultants and $4,000 for college prep boot camps this summer. And another way to tamp down the hysteria would be to either use the multi-player mode with a sibling, family member, maybe a peer who is already in college, or just use the single-player feature. Every day, the "Home" screen features five new ACT questions and five new SAT questions for users to answer. Whether they're playing in single-player mode or multi-player mode, users earn 10 "XP" points for each question answered, points that are given just for using the app (as Woody Allen once said, "Showing up is 80% of life"). As play2prep founder Kenny Nova put it another way, "It’s not just about getting it right, it’s about the effort of doing it." But if you do want to see whether you're smarter than an 11th grader, take a stab at these questions from the play2prep app: [polldaddy type="iframe" survey="AB3F7D96F63F036D" height="auto" domain="timecontributor4" id="sat-prep"] MORE: How College Officials Use Snapchat to Engage Prospective Students MORE: Decision Time: It Doesn't Matter Where You Go to College
Brendan Smialowski—AFP/Getty Images

Despite its calculated nature, Washington is not immune to surprise. Last week, Smialowski found himself in the Capitol at the time of the shooting — an action that immediately locked down the building and severely restricted the movement of those inside. “A challenge covering spot news on the Hill, or any secure place, is staying ahead of the lockdown,” he said. “It is very easy to stop to make a photo and get trapped.”

Smialowski studied ancient history at the University of Missouri. He pointed out that the knowledge we have of some pre-historic societies is gleaned from drawings on pots. He hopes his photos will survive, as well, to “give somebody a little more than just a news story that died — a story whose shelf life was limited. You want to give them a taste of what it was to be [present] when this picture was taken.”


Brendan Smialowski is a staff photographer with AFP based in Washington D.C.

Tanner Curtis is an associate photo editor at TIME.com. Follow him on Twitter @tannercurtis.

This feature is part of TIME’s ongoing spotlight on wire photographers. See our previous profiles on European Pressphoto Agency photographer Ali Ali and Associated Press photographer Muhammed Muheisen.


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