As the United States closed in on a year inside, quarantining from COVID-19, Johnson & Johnson made a major announcement: The company had developed a single-shot vaccine, and would deliver hundreds of millions of doses to the country by March 2021.

It was great news in the fight against a devastating pandemic, and sent newsrooms, including News@Northeastern’s, scrambling to analyze what it all meant. It also meant that newsroom photographers had to work quickly to illustrate a story that was unfolding in real time.

“We were working on the news coverage right as Johnson & Johnson was making the announcement,” recalls Matthew Modoono, photography manager at Northeastern’s Communications department that oversees News@Northeastern. “There was nothing on the wire yet, so we had to come up with a concept on the fly,” he says, using shorthand to describe licensed photos that can be purchased from national news outlets.

So, Modoono acted quickly: He poured some water into a prop vial, held it in front of a computer screen emblazoned with the Johnson & Johnson logo, and fired away. Red gels over the lights in Northeastern’s photo studio added an aesthetic touch.

The photo worked, capturing the moment and the mood of the news, as well as being a striking image on its own—a fact supported by the judges at the University Photographers’ Association of America at their annual photo competition. The image won first place in the science and research category.

It’s one of five images for which Northeastern—and Modoono in particular—was recognized at the 2021 annual photo competition, the flagship competition of the University Photographers’ Association.

“This competition is a great place to show that Northeastern is pushing the boundaries,” says Modoono, who, in close to seven years at the university, has led the photo team to dozens of photography awards. “We’re able to take risks here; the leadership at Northeastern trusts us to be innovative and visually artistic.”

“Matt is a rare, versatile talent whose mastery of photography and unique ideas result in an abundance of beautiful stories told through the single moments he captures,” says Renata Nyul, Vice President for Communications at Northeastern. “He and his team are some of the best out there, and this recognition just confirms what we and our audiences experience every day, courtesy of their lenses.”

Some of the award-winning work was made under unusual circumstances. When Northeastern closed its campuses in the spring of 2020 to mitigate the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, getting news and public health updates out to the university community became more important than ever.

While students and faculty transformed their living rooms into virtual classrooms following public health guidelines in the early days of the pandemic, Modoono and his colleagues created at-home photo studios, news desks, digital command centers, and marketing suites.

Modoono created a collage of disposable masks in his makeshift home studio for an article that ran on April 2, 2020—just weeks after the pandemic disrupted life and work for many in the U.S. Photographing just a single mask on a red backdrop, he then cloned the image several times to create a repeating pattern. The photo illustration won third place in the UPAA’s general features and illustrations category.

It’s an example of work that blurs the line between photography and illustration, a genre that’s defined by the editing done after the photo is taken.

“We’re always finding new, creative ways to produce work that’s visual and striking, and enables us not to have to rely on stock imagery,” Modoono says.

He used a similar photo-illustration approach to visualize an article about facial recognition—first shooting a moody portrait, then overlaying it with a network of dots and lines. The piece won an honorable mention in the general features and illustrations category.

Another of Modoono’s award-winning photos was created under intense time constraints. Modoono photographed Northeastern physicist Alessandro Vespignani for the cover of Experience magazine in less than 20 minutes.

Vespignani, who is the director and Sternberg Family distinguished professor of physics at Northeastern, played an integral role in advising the White House with statistical models of the COVID-19 spread during the pandemic. Modoono’s portrait of the trailblazing researcher won second place for publication covers.

Modoono’s work was also critical to a coordinated public health campaign, “Protect the Pack,” that aided the safe reopening of the university. His photography emblazoned banners and public health announcements online, across social media platforms, and on physical displays throughout Northeastern’s campuses.

The “Protect the Pack” campaign garnered recognition from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, which awarded Northeastern’s marketing and communications teams the top prize in its annual Circle of Excellence Awards.

“We play a unique role at the university in that we have to be able to create photos that will work for a breaking news story or a sustained public health campaign like ‘Protect the Pack,’” Modoono says. “Northeastern sets the bar high in terms of photography, and it’s an honor to continue making creative photography and working with such a talented team.”

For media inquiries, please contact media@northeastern.edu.