Our goal here is to publish work from WKU photojournalism students and faculty, however, this week’s news out of Denver is a special situation. We here at WKU would like to express our sympathy for the death of a truly amazing news organization. Many of our graduates have passed through the doors at the Rocky – both on internships and as staff members. The Rocky Mountain News will be missed and our students will have one less place to admire and use as an example of truly great visual journalism. Click here to read more about the making of this historic video and what it meant to the editors of this production.
Equipment company makes good on educational promise.
Check out these awesome instructional video clips that B&H has been posting on their web site. They are somewhat product driven but it is a great place to go and watch some instructional direction if you are in the market for purchasing anything from lights, cameras, video or audio. I also really enjoyed this article on unique ways journalists are adapting to the limitations in the audio track for the Canon 5D Mark II. A very thorough review of multiple on-board mic systems for that camera.
Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist to spend week at WKU.
The Western Kentucky University School of Journalism & Broadcasting is pleased to present the 2009 Gaines Lecture, “World in Conflict” by Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist Rick Loomis. He will be presenting his work to the public Tuesday, March 3, 2009 at 7:30 pm at Mass Media and Technology Hall auditorium. Admission is free.
Rick Loomis is a staff photographer at the Los Angeles Times where he has worked 
since graduating from Western Kentucky University in 1994. He served as an embedded photojournalist during the 2003 invasion of Iraq and has covered conflicts in Afghanistan, Haiti, Israel and Palestine. In 2007, he won the Pulitzer Prize for his work on a five part series, Altered Oceans, which delved into the ills of the world’s oceans.
The National Press Photographers Association recognized Loomis as Newspaper Photographer of the Year in 2003. Also in 2003 and 2004, The California Press Photographers Association acknowledged him as Photographer of the Year.
Before joining the Times, Loomis completed internships at the News-Sentinel (Ft. Wayne, In.), the Gazette (Colorado Springs, Co.), the Seattle Times and the Syracuse newspapers.
The Gaines Lecture Series began in 2004 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of The Park City Daily News, the local newspaper owned by the Gaines family of Bowling Green. For more information contact the Chair of the Gaines Lecture Series, Jeanine Howard-Cherry at (270) 745-8921 or jeanine.cherry@wku.edu.
Photo by Rick Loomis/LA Times
A Journey to Remember
WKU photo faculty member Tim Broekema, working with AARP Bulletin Today and former WKU graduate Mark T. Osler put together this mini-documentary film looking back at the history of Deland, Fla. legislator Joyce Cusack.
Cusack never dreamed that she would see an African American as president of the United States. But the former Florida state representative and superdelegate to the 2008 Democratic National Convention will be among the crowds streaming into Washington to witness the inauguration of Barack Obama.
On the eve of the inauguration, Cusack and other members of the class of 1960 at DeLand’s segregated Euclid High School reminisce about the lunch counter sit-ins they organized and their experiences as students during the Civil Rights Movement.
WKU students win Alexia scholarships.
Carl Kiilsgaard won the Alexia student competition with a proposal to document poverty in Eastern Kentucky. An image from his winning portfolio is seen above.
Kiilsgaard is a senior history major at Western Kentucky University and is from Corvallis, Oregon. He has interned at Bucks County (Pa.) Times, the Napa (Calif.) Register, and the Palm Beach Post. Carl was one of Getty Images Reportage’s Emerging Talent picks in 2008. Kiilsgaard is awarded a full tuition scholarship to study photojournalism at Syracuse University in London in the Fall of 2009, plus a $1000 cash grant to help produce his project.
Award of Excellence winners are Philip Scott Andrews and Bryan Anselm, both seniors at Western Kentucky University. Each Award of Excellence winner receives a $1600 scholarship that pays part of tuition, fees and living expenses to study photojournalism in London in the fall semester at Syracuse University in London and a $500 cash grant to help produce their proposed stories.
Congratulations to all of you!
Photo by Carl Killsgaard
A Dream Realized
Faculty member Tim Broekema and WKU 1992 graduate Mark T. Osler traveled to Washington, D.C. to document the end of the journey for Florida legislator Joyce Cusack as she witnessed the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States. Broekema was the project producer and worked as a photographer and sound journalist along with Osler to gather the images necessary for this production.
WKU student, Philip Andrews places in the White House News Photographer Association contest.
Congratulations to Philip Andrews for an Award of Excellence in the White House News Photographer Association “Eyes of History 2009” photojournalism contest Pictorial category. To view this and see other winners, go to http://www.whnpa.org/contest/eyes2009/stills/pictorial/hm/7.shtml
Telling stories, using one frame at a time – and lots of them.
Senior Projects student Matt Schauer used single frame imagery used in rapid sequence to create this “poetic” montage of the water cycle. Students were given the theme of “State of your environment” and then were told to use multimedia techniques and music to explain their point of view.
Senior photo students capture a moment by shooting only one frame.
Photojournalism Project students were assigned the theme of “Black and White” and then told to immerse themselves in a real situation where they could look at opposites. They had to observe the environment they were in and then determine when would be the right time to take ONE picture. They could use any lens they wanted but they were only allowed to shoot one frame. This exercise makes you think about the power of the single moment and encourages the photojournalist to observe.
Photojournalism Projects class makes use of inexpensive cameras to tell their stories.
Students in the Photojournalism Projects class were asked to represent the “state of their environment” by making use of plastic cameras. The images they took were to represent a complete feeling or emotion surrounding their theme.