Tristen Rouse
Photographer & Photo Editor

I first came to know Giacomo d'Orlando's work on Nemo's Garden, an experimental undersea greenhouse, as I curated an exhibit of winning images from Pictures of the Year International. Once I came to The Washington Post, I was able to work with Giacomo to publish his photo essay there, writing an In Sight blog, "This vegetable garden is 25 feet underwater. Take a look." The story and Giacomo's essay then printed as a display in the Post's Health & Science section.

When Springfield, Mo. became an early hotspot for the Delta variant of COVID-19 I asked to take the lead photo editing the story. Photographer Christopher Smith met reporter in Fenit Nirappil, spending two days photographing life around Springfield as the local health department went door-to-door to encourage vaccinations. As someone who grew up near Springfield, and as someone whose father and grandparents still live there, it was devastating to see my home become a national example for how a now-preventable disease could harm a community with low vaccination rates. And that is exactly why it was so important to me that I had my fingerprints on this story. Click to read "The delta variant is ravaging this Missouri city. Many residents are still wary of vaccines."

Reporter Emily Schwing was heading to Alaska to write and photograph this story on a group of scientists looking for dinosaur footprints in the Aniakchak National Monument & Preserve. Photo editor Annaliese Nurnberg and I prepped her before she left. When Emily returned, I worked with her to finalize the photos for the story, worked with our design team for this Health & Science print cover and inside page. Click to read "On a trek for Arctic dinosaur footprints in Alaska preserve."

I contacted photographer Rikke Mathiasen after seeing this work on Instagram. At 14 years old, Rikke was diagnosed with scoliosis. Ten years later, she created this photo essay as a retrospective diary to explore the physical and psychological pain resulting from her condition. The photo essay was published in a Washington Post In Sight blog, "This photographer's back pain was severe and sudden. It resulted in photographs of strength"and printed in the Post’s Health & Science section.

I was assigned to the team covering the Tokyo Olympics, working with photo editor Thomas Simonetti to build the Post's daily Olympics special print section, coordinate Olympics images for use on A1 and live-edit the staff photographer working in Tokyo. These tearsheets represent a sampling of my work photo editing the cover of the Olympics print section. 

I acted as the photo editor for this Washington Post visual enterprise story that dove into the details of what the newly-released James Webb Telescope images contained. Working in a small team of visual editors, graphic designers, a science writer and in collaboration with NASA scientists, we highlighted the most interesting elements of each interstellar entity. As the photo editor, I was responsible for ensuring we had the highest-resolution photos possible to enable the project's online interactive elements and working with the team's visual editors and graphic designers to polish the project's digital design. Click to "Take a cosmic tour inside the images captured by NASA's Webb telescope."

Georgie Wileman has spent years photographing those living with endometriosis, a disease in which tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside of it, ever since she was diagnosed with it. I contacted Georgie about her project, worked with her on a photo edit that painted a portrait of people living with the disease, and wrote a Washington Post In Sight blog, "'This is Endometriosis': Life with a chronic disease." The story and Georgie's photos printed as a display in the Post's Health & Science section.

I collaborated with photographer Liz Moughon to bring her project on Type 1 diabetes, which she had been working on since her diagnosis, to The Washington Post's In Sight blog. Working with her on a photo edit, I also wrote a story that detailed her personal journey with the condition, "Learning to live with diabetes." The story printed in the Post's Health & Science section.

I collaborated with photo editor Thomas Simonetti on this Fourth of July A1 and inside package, showcasing photography from Post staff photographers Marvin Joseph and Sarah L. Voisin and frequent Post contributor Craig Hudson as residents of D.C. celebrated the post-lockdown return of July 4 celebrations. As I later found out, the lede image of fireworks at the Washington Monument was Hudson’s first A1 display for the Post.