Who Am I To Photograph?
On the ethics of making images of other people — who gets photographed, by whom, and what the photographer owes the subject.
Columbia SIPA · M.I.A. Candidate, Class of 2028
Sheridan K. Smith
Technology policy, AI governance, and the media that shape them.
International affairs researcher, journalist, and editor based in New York City. My work examines the intersection of geopolitics, technology, media, ethics, and development — with current research on AI governance, authenticity and mis/disinformation, and the ethics of visual storytelling.
New York, NY•ss7606@columbia.edu•831.251.2905
About
I am a first-year M.I.A. candidate at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, concentrating in Technology Policy and Innovation. My research sits where emerging technology meets public trust: how AI-generated media challenges authenticity and transparency, what responsible deployment looks like, and how regulation and ethics keep pace with both.
Before SIPA I studied journalism, media, and ethics at New York University, where I graduated cum laude with a 3.9 GPA and spent three years at Washington Square News — leading pitch meetings, commissioning and editing visual stories for a 55,000-reader publication, and reporting on subjects from the psychedelic renaissance to the people of Washington Square Park.
Since then I have reported on U.S. foreign policy and global development for The Borgen Project, written a monthly column on industry ethics and policy for the National Press Photographers Association, and worked as a photo editor across breaking news and entertainment desks. Alongside that I assist photojournalists on assignments for National Geographic, The New York Times, The New Yorker, and others — work that taught me how access, logistics, and ethics decide which stories get told.
At SIPA I write for The Morningside Post, and I research AI and technology policy under Professor Sarah Holloway and Dr. Anya Schiffrin.
My reporting and essays are collected at sheridansmith.substack.com, and my photojournalism portfolio lives at sheridansmithphotography.com.
Not the British actress: I'm Sheridan K. Smith, a journalist and photojournalist in New York City.
Published Work
Reporting, columns, and features — every link goes straight to the published piece.
The Morningside Post
Columbia SIPA's student publication
Has the Era of Social Media Accountability Begun?
My photograph ran with another writer's piece in the same issue.
National Press Photographers Association
“Sheridan Shares,” my column in the NPPA newsletter
Sheridan Shares
My column in the NPPA newsletter: industry news, ethics questions, and policy shifts, translated for working photographers.
Sheridan Shares
A later instalment of the same column — the industry round-up, and the ethics questions behind it.
The Borgen Project
Business and politics reporting on global development
US Aid to Colombia: Navigating the Complexities of Internal Conflict
How U.S. assistance lands in a country still negotiating the terms of its own internal conflict.
$95 Billion Package for Foreign Aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan
What the largest U.S. foreign aid package in years actually funds — and what it leaves out.
The Role of AI in Reducing Poverty
AI deployment in global development — health care in Brazil, education in Kenya, and disaster response in Bangladesh — read through a poverty-reduction lens.
Washington Square News
NYU's independent student newspaper — 12 credits, 2021–2023
NYU in the psychedelic renaissance
Reported and photographed: the university's entanglement with psychedelic research, culture, and commerce.
Brooklyn Baby
Original visual and written reporting on a changing borough and the people shaping it.
The people of Washington Square Park
A portrait-driven series on the regulars and subcultures of a park at the center of campus life.
Bringing back Broadway
Among my earliest credits at the paper — news photography, shot on assignment.
There's No Place Like Home
A shared photography credit on an Under the Arch feature.
NYU profs discuss Turkey and Syria earthquakes at town hall
News photography covering a campus response to a disaster abroad.
The Gallatin Review
NYU's literary and arts review — selected photograph
Valentine
A photograph selected for NYU's literary and arts review, published in Volume 37 while I was at Washington Square News.
Link coming soon
Writing With Light
My Substack — photography, ethics, and the shifts reshaping both
Why the Sky Is Blue
On light, perception, and what a camera can and cannot hold.
Photographing Reality TV in the Hamptons
What it is like to shoot a production that is itself about being seen.
“Our disagreements are with politics, not people.”
Reporting from Morocco on the distance between a government's line and the people living under it.
Who Am I to Photograph?
The original version of the photo-ethics essay later published in The Morningside Post.
Echoes of the Future
Notes on technology, memory, and the images we leave behind.
Crónicas de Lima, Perú
Dispatches on Venezuelan migration in Lima, reported and photographed.
Sheridan Smith Photography
Documentary and editorial portfolio
A Venezuelan in Lima, Perú
Following one man's migration to Lima, in photographs and text.
Joga Favela: Soccer in Rio, Brazil
Football, community, and everyday life in Vidigal.
Morocco: “Politics, not people”
A reported visual series on politics and daily life in Morocco.
Zohran Mamdani: NY is Not For Sale
On the trail with a New York City mayoral campaign.
Featured Assisted Projects
The photographs here are not mine. These are a few selected assignments I supported — research, production, logistics, access and editorial coordination — for photographers whose work I admire, out of many more. Each is credited to the photographer who made it, because the picture is theirs.
I list this work as assisting, never as my own. It is here because it is the part of my experience a picture desk can use directly: I already know how a commissioned assignment runs, from the brief through to the file transfer.
Photograph by Dina Litovsky
Portraits of 9/11 memorial cleaners
The New York Times (Opinion) · September 2022
My role Production and research support
Portraits of the workers who clean the memorial pools. No link to the article survives in any index, so this points to my own account of the assignment instead.
Photograph by Dina Litovsky
Apparatus: the MUMS event
Commissioned by Apparatus · 2022
My role Production support
A client commission, so there is no editorial link. Litovsky's Apparatus party photographs also ran in Architectural Digest.
Photograph by Natalie Keyssar
A Ukrainian Bar Arrives in Soho
New York Magazine · November 3, 2022
My role Production and research support
A reported restaurant opening — the job was helping make the shoot happen, not taking the pictures.
Photograph by Katie Orlinsky
Where are all the caribou?
National Geographic · November 7, 2023
My role Production support
Reported in Alaska on the disappearance of caribou herds.
Experience
Research & Policy
AI & Technology Policy Research
September 2026 – PresentColumbia University — School of International and Public Affairs · New York, NY
- Analyze emerging policy challenges surrounding AI-generated media, authenticity, transparency, and public trust.
- Research regulatory and ethical considerations around AI deployment and responsible innovation, and their intersections with media.
- Apply quantitative and qualitative research methods to emerging technology policy questions.
- Work under distinguished faculty including Professor Sarah Holloway and Dr. Anya Schiffrin.
Relevant Experience
Contributing Writer
2026 – PresentThe Morningside Post · New York, NY
- Write for Columbia SIPA's independent student publication; my October 2026 piece on the ethics of photographing other people was the issue's featured essay.
- Contribute photography alongside writing — the same issue carries my photographs with another writer's piece.
Business and Politics Reporter
March 2024 – July 2024The Borgen Project · New York, NY
- Researched and analyzed geopolitical, U.S. foreign policy, and foreign aid issues through the lens of global development and poverty alleviation.
- Produced weekly analytical reporting on U.S. assistance to Colombia and Ukraine, divestment and geopolitics, and AI's role in developing countries.
- Initiated independent research and synthesized information from diverse sources, using R for data visualization, to communicate complex political, economic, and international development issues to a general audience of seven million readers annually.
Columnist
2025 – 2026National Press Photographers Association · New York, NY
- Communicated current industry ethics and policy issues to nontechnical audiences on a monthly basis.
- Piloted weekly industry analysis and insights, writing and designing the “Sheridan Shares” segment of the NPPA newsletter.
Media & Journalism
Photo Editor
February 2025 – PresentReach Plc · New York, NY
- Source and produce visual content for Reach Plc's news and entertainment platforms, reaching an average of two million daily views across three sites.
- Liaise with editorial, management, SEO, and platform teams to develop and execute content for evolving news cycles, and to frame and communicate stories.
- Manage relationships and negotiate image licensing and usage estimates with external agencies including Getty, AP, Mega, and Backgrid.
- Research, evaluate, and commission visuals with close attention to copyright, licensing, attribution, and ethical considerations.
Photo Editor, Staff Photographer
January 2021 – May 2023Washington Square News · New York, NY
- Led weekly editorial pitch meetings and commissioned, edited, and developed original reporting and visual stories for a 55,000-reader publication.
- Researched and reported on emerging social, scientific, and political issues, translating complex subjects into accessible written and visual narratives.
Photojournalism Assistant
January 2022 – PresentFreelance · New York, NY
- Support photojournalists on assignments for National Geographic, New York Magazine, El País, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, and The New York Times — contributing research, production, logistics, and editorial coordination.
- Orchestrated outreach to 50+ PR, editorial, and climate NGO contacts to develop reporting opportunities and support assignment research and access.
- Partner editorial teams at The New York Times and other publications, supporting multidisciplinary reporting and visual storytelling.
Coursework
Graduate coursework at Columbia SIPA, with undergraduate foundations from NYU underneath.
Technology, AI & Entrepreneurship
Columbia SIPA · M.I.A., Technology Policy and Innovation
- Social and Regenerative Entrepreneurship: Tech, AI, & Design for Global Change
- Viral Videos and Generative AI in a Changing World
Ethics, Law & Policy
Columbia SIPA · M.I.A., Technology Policy and Innovation
- Ethics in Public Policy
- International Law
Methods & Quantitative Analysis
Columbia SIPA · M.I.A., Technology Policy and Innovation
- Quantitative Analysis I for International and Public Affairs
Undergraduate Foundations
New York University · B.A., Journalism, Media, Ethics
- Political Economy of Financialized Life
- Race & the Visual Field
- Psychoanalysis & Social Theory
Education
Columbia University
2026 – 2028School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) · New York, NY
M.I.A. Candidate · Technology Policy and Innovation
Graduate study in technology policy and innovation, with research on AI governance, authenticity and transparency, and media policy.
New York University
2020 – 2023New York, NY
B.A. · Journalism, Media, Ethics · Cum Laude · 3.9 GPA
Journalism, media, and ethics, with coursework spanning political economy, visual culture, and social theory.
Fulbright Program
2023NYU-endorsed applicant · New York, NY
Selected student applicant · Project: Post-pandemic overtourism in Barcelona
Selected as an NYU-endorsed applicant for a project on post-pandemic overtourism in Barcelona.
Skills
Languages
Research & Data
Communications
Beyond the Résumé
Recognition, conference attendance, service, and volunteer work.
Rubin Award in Visual Art
Awarded for a photograph published in The Gallatin Review.
AI for Good
Attendee at the UN ITU's AI for Good summit.
Preschool Teacher
Community Building Project Volunteer
Get in touch
I'm always glad to talk about AI governance, visual ethics, or a story worth telling. The fastest way to reach me is email.
Elsewhere: Substack — Writing With Light · Photography portfolio · LinkedIn · Instagram · X