Justin Merriman, a freelance photojournalist based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has traveled the world to cover politics, wars, natural disasters, civil unrest as well as covering assignment throughout the United States. His work has appeared in leading national publications and he has received multiple top journalism awards.
After covering the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks – including the crash of United Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania – Merriman committed to chronicling the U.S. military and its war on terror. He has followed this story across the United States and into the conflict zones of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iraq. He also has covered life in Fidel Castro’s Cuba in 2002, India’s efforts to eradicate polio from its population, the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Cuba in 2012, the 2013 conclave and election of Pope Francis in Rome, the second anniversary of Egypt’s revolution and subsequent unrest, Russia’s invasion of Crimea and the international political crisis that unfolded in Ukraine in 2014, a look inside of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in 2015 and its uncertain future, and most recently, traveled the entire U.S. border with Mexico documenting issues on immigration.
Merriman’s work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, Time, USA Today, Sports Illustrated and other publications across the globe.
He has been recognized with numerous regional, national and international awards from organizations including Pictures of the Year International, Society of Professional Journalists, the National Press Photographers Association, the Society for News Design, the Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar, the Northern Short Course, the Southern Short Course, the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, the Military Reporters and Editors Association, and the Western Pennsylvania Press Club. He was awarded Photographer of the Year by the News Photographer Association of Greater Pittsburgh four times and most recently was honored with the Keystone Press Award’s 2016 Distinguished Visual Award from the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association.
Born in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, Merriman graduated from the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg in 2000 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Writing. In 2009, the university awarded him its prestigious Alumnus of Distinction award.
Currently Merriman lives in Oakmont with his fiancé, Stephanie Strasburg, a photojournalist with PublicSource.
A jar of water that Darrell Smitsky said came out of the tap in November 2009 sits on a fence post at his Hickory home. State environmental officials said it’s safe to drink. Smitsky says water tests have turned up xylene one time and toluene and acrylonitrile another. He fears their well water has been compromised. The nearest well is less than 1,000 feet from their home. Darrell said he began to fear the water when his goats started getting sick in the summer of 2008. He lost five goats that summer, ages 2 to 9. They all died the exact same way, with their rear legs locked rigid like they were paralyzed and with their bodies shaking all over.
John Dryer, 73, of Independence, stands on a hill side overlooking a plastic-lined frac pond that holds some 18 million gallons of water and sits on six acres (500 feet by 900 feet, and 15 feet deep) on his 226-acre farm that has been in his family since his father bought it in 1959.
Darrell Smitsky, 37, stands next to two jars of water that he said came out of the tap in November 2009 and July 2010. He fears their well water has been compromised by nearby drilling for gas.
Stephanie Hallowich, 39, stands next to a water pond with clean water that can be used to frac well and sits 150 yards from their home in Hickory’s Mt. Pleasant Township. The Hallowich's live with the industrial consequences of Marcellus shale gas wells: a gas processing plant sits within 300 yards and a compressor station sits within 600 yards. Green storage tanks on the gas wells sit within sight of their home, and a gravel access road with frequent truck traffic cuts across their property. Fearing their water has been contaminated by the drilling, the family trucks in water for drinking and bathing. They spend $156 a month for a water tank and pump, and pay $125 every time they fill the 1,500-gallon water tank every 2-3 weeks.
