WATCH: KSAT Storytellers: 2022, the year in video

Go behind the lens with KSAT photojournalists in this one-hour special in the player below

SAN ANTONIO – Photojournalists are a vital part of the success of every newsroom, including here at KSAT 12.

Currently, KSAT has 17 full-time photographers and 8 full-time editors — men and women who help tell the stories you see every day on air and online.

They are photojournalists, videojournalists and storytellers.

Now, they’ve helped create a one-hour special that takes you behind the lens and introduces a few of the station’s photography staff.

This KSAT special explains the approach and challenges some of the station’s photojournalists experience when putting together stories.

They also talk about why they love what they do.

Here are some of the stories featured in the special:

Rescue training

Hurricane season is here and that means several state agencies are preparing for the worst but hoping their lifesaving skills aren’t put to the test. The GTAC team, within Customs and Border Protection, is focused on the sky. KSAT Photojournalist Bill Caldera shares how they’re using the experience from Hurricanes Harvey and Ida to prepare for future large-scale disasters.

Airforce Recruits

Every young man and woman who enlists in the United States Air Force arrives here in San Antonio — Military City U.S.A. But their journey doesn’t begin until they arrive at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, better known as the Gateway to the Air Force. New recruits will go through eight weeks of basic military training where they’ll learn everything needed to become an American airman.

Death Row Inmate

It’s been 17 years since two men were brutally murdered at a well-known bar near downtown San Antonio called Taco Land. As residents celebrated the Spurs’ third NBA Championship nearby, shots were fired inside the bar, killing owner Ramiro “Ram” Ayala and doorman Doug Morgan.

Plein Air Artist

Uvalde Cross

A 15-foot metal cross has a new home in Uvalde after coming from a city west of Fort Worth with the help of a motorcade. Just before its arrival, a group helping to place it into the ground gathered to say a prayer.

Unregulated Nursing Home – KSAT INVESTIGATES

A twice-sanctioned nurse continues to operate an unregulated boarding home in Castle Hills despite two previous criminal cases against her in Bexar County involving people in her care, a KSAT 12 Investigates investigation reveals.

Confidential Informants – KSAT INVESTIGATES

Watch the full one-hour special — “‘A Necessary Evil’: The Cost of Confidential Informants” — below. You’ll also find more reporting and web extras on the use of confidential informants.

Honey Creek Cave

In this episode of KSAT Explains, Meteorologists Sarah Spivey and Justin Horne take us inside Honey Creek Cave for a swim and to highlight how it now coexists with the fast-growing Comal County.

Cave Conservation

Hundreds of pounds of trash were removed from a Comal County cave in an effort to keep the drinking water quality high in San Antonio. The Bexar Grotto regularly cleans caves and showed KSAT what they found during a cave cleaning.

Jacala Fire

A fire that broke out early Thursday morning destroyed a long-time Northwest Side restaurant and took with it years of memories for the owner and the local community. Only a shell of the building that was home to Jacala Mexican Restaurant remains at the corner of West Avenue and W. Ridgewood Ct.

IDEA Signing Day

KSAT photojournalist Robert Samarron takes us inside the IDEA Signing Day, where more than a thousand students got accepted into colleges and earned millions in scholarships.

UT Health Match Day

Friday was a big day for new doctors at UT Health San Antonio. After years of hard work, they found out where they go next to continue their medical careers. It’s a big deal, and it’s treated like one at Floore’s Country Store in Helotes. KSAT Photojournalist Sal Salazar was there for the excitement of Match Day.

Big Bertha

It is one of the most iconic sounds in all of college football: Big Bertha. If you have ever seen a Longhorns football game or listened to it on the radio, you’ll know that every time the team scores a touchdown or field goal or puts any points on the board, the Bertha crew strikes the drum, however many times equals the points on the board.


About the Authors:

Jason Foster is an executive producer at KSAT. He's worked in the news industry in Texas for more than 15 years, including as a photojournalist, and been at KSAT since 2015.

William Caldera has been at KSAT since 2003. He covers a wide range of stories including breaking news, weather, general assignments and sports.