Together in Totality

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A year ago students in our Visual Journalism and Photography program spread throughout three states to document the total eclipse. Our students were out on assignment for our student newspaper The Herald, our magazine,Talisman, and many went out on their own in pursuit of the sun. Here is a culmination of their work pulled together in one collection.

https://wkuvjp436.tilda.ws/togetherintotality

The phases of the solar eclipse as seen from Sacred Heart Church in Schnellville, Indiana. According to NASA, the path of totality crossed portions of Canada, the United States and Mexico, bringing the spectacle to millions of potential viewers in North America. (Photo by Arthur H. Trickett-Wile)


Viewers watch as a total solar eclipse begins in downtown Evansville, Indiana. (Photo by Dominic Di Palermo)

Posted in: Photojournalism Projects Class, Student Work, Through Our Eyes

Busy Bees by Madeline Powell

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What started as a hobby with two hives, 10 years ago, ended up with the Simon Family taking on a new career. Simon Apiearies now cares for over 600 hives, and it is a family affair.
Senior Photojournalism major Madeline Powell documents the Simon family’s struggle to raise 3 children and 36 million bees.

To see the entire project: http://madelinepowellmedia.com/busybees


Julie prepares dinner for the family while Andy wrapped up his daily beekeeping of checking on the hives. “Balancing a regular job with Simon Apiaries can be tough. Time flies, and there’s always more to do. But we’ve figured out how to work smarter, not harder, with the bees,” Andy said.


Julie attends her youngest son Cameron’s kindergarten class at Alvaton Elementary to show an observation bee hive and give a quick lesson about honeybees. Classmates asked questions while Cameron shared his knowledge of the bees with his class. “I like the bees because they make honey for us,” Cameron said.


Andy gives a crash course on beekeeping for new beekeepers purchasing nucs from Simon Apiaries. A nuc is a small hive that holds a small colony of bees, which contains food and a queen for the colony. New beekeepers buy nucs to help them start their hive. “It’s so rewarding when someone tells me our product helped them with allergies or sleep,” Andy said.


Beekeepers inspect their hives and check for the queen in each nuc. “I’m always thinking of ways to make things better and more efficient,” Andy said.

Posted in: Photojournalism Projects Class, Student Work, Through Our Eyes

All Too Human by Arthur Trickett-Wile

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According to a federal report released by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Kentucky saw a nearly 10 percent increase in the number of individuals experiencing homelessness from 2023 to 2024. According to the 2024 Kentucky Housing Corporation “K-Count,” in Bowling Green, the seat of Warren County, just over 150 people live year-round without any form of long-term housing or a straightforward path to obtain it.

The individual experience of each person varies, but they all share a common struggle of survival in the streets.

View Arthur Trickett-Wile’s spring 2024 senior project documenting the homeless community in Bowling Green, Ky and those that work to help them. https://www.arthur-trickett-wile.com/homelessness-in-bowling-green

Lester Martin sleeps through the dawn on a bench along a Park Greenway Trail behind Kereiakes Park and Fairview Cemetery in Bowling, Ky. Lester says he likes the spot because it is secluded and affords him the occasional glimpse of nature. “It’s really peaceful—no one bothers you,” he said. “A lot of time you’ll see deer. I had a little possum who would sleep down under my bench.”
 


 
Margie “McGraw” Mesker, who is homeless, trades head-scratches for kisses from Panhead McGraw, her three-year-old pit-shepherd mix, outside the Lifeskills Wellness Connection in Bowling Green. Mesker is known simply as “McGraw” within the local homeless community due to her long-standing delusion that she is married to country music star Tim McGraw. “Panhead’s sister belongs to Faith Hill,” Mesker said. “But that’s God’s plan.”
 

 
Bowling Green Room in the Inn director Dewayne Conner, left, prays with Lloyd Scott during an intake session at the Salvation Army Fellowship Hall on Main Avenue. Room in the Inn partners with a dozen or more local churches to provide temporary overnight warming shelters for the homeless throughout the cold season. Lloyd and Dewayne asked for God’s help in Lloyd’s battles with temptation. “I’ve been struggling, man,” he said. “I been moving toward the dark side.” He was later banned for the season after showing up at an intake intoxicated, leaving him to find a place to stay each night for himself. “Lord, I ask that you take this burden off of Lloyd,” Dewayne said.
 

 
Bowling Green Room in the Inn director Dewayne Conner, left, prays with Lloyd Scott during an intake session at the Salvation Army Fellowship Hall on Main Avenue. Room in the Inn partners with a dozen or more local churches to provide temporary overnight warming shelters for the homeless throughout the cold season. Lloyd and Dewayne asked for God’s help in Lloyd’s battles with temptation. “I’ve been struggling, man,” he said. “I been moving toward the dark side.” He was later banned for the season after showing up at an intake intoxicated, leaving him to find a place to stay each night for himself. “Lord, I ask that you take this burden off of Lloyd,” Dewayne said.
 

 
Bowling Green Room in the Inn director Dewayne Conner, left, prays with Lloyd Scott during an intake session at the Salvation Army Fellowship Hall on Main Avenue. Room in the Inn partners with a dozen or more local churches to provide temporary overnight warming shelters for the homeless throughout the cold season. Lloyd and Dewayne asked for God’s help in Lloyd’s battles with temptation. “I’ve been struggling, man,” he said. “I been moving toward the dark side.” He was later banned for the season after showing up at an intake intoxicated, leaving him to find a place to stay each night for himself. “Lord, I ask that you take this burden off of Lloyd,” Dewayne said.
 

Posted in: Class Work, Photojournalism Projects Class, Picture Stories, Through Our Eyes

ROUTE – A visual journey down Historic Dixie Highway

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Stretching from the tip of Florida to the top of Michigan the historic Dixie Highway created communities along its Route.  Travel with Anna Leachman and Gabi Broekema as they document its path through the state of Kentucky, telling the stories of its people, religion and businesses, along its winding road.

View the entire project here: https://wkuvjp436.tilda.ws/route

Posted in: Photojournalism Projects Class, Student Work

Survivors – Finding Hope Beyond Domestic Violence

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Ever so often students do a project that shakes you and makes one stop to notice the depth of storytelling that our students are capable of producing. Survivors is a senior capstone project by Allie Schallert and Arthur H. Trickett-Wile that had the room on an emotional rollercoaster during the presentation. It is a story of two women and their journey through the impacts of domestic violence.

View the entire story here: https://wkuvjp436.tilda.ws/survivors

Posted in: Photojournalism Projects Class, Student Work

Losing Cherokee by Sean McInnis

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Western Kentucky University’s Photojournalism & Documentary Sean McInnis, a junior, explored the culture and language of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians tucked away in the Great Smokey Mountains. While interning last summer at the Charlotte Observer, Sean learned about how the Cherokee language is quickly disappearing, and the efforts that are being taken to preserve it. To better tell story, Sean created a multimedia presentation that pulls together examples of the Cherokee language in written and spoken form and broke down a timeline of the Cherokee Nations struggle the past 200 years to hold onto their culture.  Visit the it at: https://wkuvjp430.tilda.ws/losingcherokee

Posted in: Class Work, Intro to Short Doc, Photojournalism Projects Class, Student Work, Web Narratives

2023 Capstone Projects

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What happens when your freshman year of college everything shuts down for a pandemic and your a Photojournalism Major? Learn to adapt. Our graduating senior class had to learn how to engage with people when the world says to distance. When events on campus don’t resume until your junior year in college. You learn invaluable skills in an always changing world. (Example electric at our senior picnic shelter would never turn on during a rainstorm)

Students in the photojournalism sequence spend the last semester of their major working on a individual or small-team 16-week long projects.  The results of their efforts can be viewed at this site:

http://wkuvjp436.tilda.ws/2023projects

 

Survivors by Allie Schallert and Arthur Trickett-Wile

Domestic violence is a worldwide problem, but in the U.S., Kentucky leads the proportion of women who face it.

http://wkuvjp436.tilda.ws/survivors

 

Champion of My Own World by Charlie Haynes

Despite challenges, boxing coach Josh “Rocky” Mata still manages to follow his passions and inspire other along the way

http://wkuvjp436.tilda.ws/championofmyownworld

 

Route by Gabi Broekema and Anna Leachman

A documentation of Kentuckians who work, worship and live along the historic Dixie Highway

https://wkuvjp436.tilda.ws/route

 

Stone of Comfort by Gunnar Word

Despite having overcome a rough childhood and unlikely odds, Ebenezer Griffith is on a journey to try and represent the United States in the Olympics in 2024

http://wkuvjp436.tilda.ws/stoneofcomfort

 

Tonality by Georgia Mallett

Finding a voice in identity and music

http://wkuvjp436.tilda.ws/tonality

 

Unbreakable Bond by Tyler Breneman and Cristina Betz

Despite their vastly different backgrounds, two sibling support one another in a way no one else can.

http://wkuvjp436.tilda.ws/unbreakablebond

Posted in: Class Work, Photojournalism Projects Class, Student Work

Carry On

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From the moment the world learned of the death of Queen Elizabeth II on the evening of September 8, 2022, to the funeral held at Westminster Abbey on September 19, 2022, could be described as a fever dream. The city of London was still simmering with activity as it always has, but a blanket of calm and quiet sadness cloaked the streets. Citizens dressed in black and adorned in medals representing their service waited in the queue zig-zagging along the banks of the Thames to see the casket of their queen and to pay their respects to the monarch who dedicated 70 years of her life to her people.

WKUPJ student Gabi Broekema, who was studying a semester in Denmark, took the opportunity to hop over to London to document this historic event.

You can view the project here

Scenes from across London, England, of people mourning of the passing of Queen Elizabeth II and looking forward to a new era with the recently appointed King Charles III.

Julia Finder poses for a portrait after waiting nearly 8 hours in the que to pay her respects to Queen Elizabeth II’s casket as she laid in-state at Westminster Abbey on Friday, September 16, 2022. “It’s my queen,” Finder says. “I would have even waited 12, 15 hours.”

A mourner pauses on her trek to lay flowers at the Green Park floral tribute for Queen Elizabeth II and waits for a glimpse of the recently crowned King Charles III on Friday, September 16, 2022. The King and his siblings were to stand vigil at Westminster Abbey over their mother.

The crowd outside of Buckingham Palace gets pushed back by security to make way for the recently crowned King Charles III as he headed to stand vigil over his mother, Queen Elizabeth II as she laid in-state at Westminster Abbey on Friday, September 16, 2022. Parents and guardians keep a steel grip on their children’s coat collars while pushing forward against the wall of spectators in hopes of helping them catch their first glimpse of the new head of the monarch.

The crowd cheers and waves as the King Charles III rolls by in full military uniform to stand vigil with his siblings over his mother’s casket as it laid in state on Friday, September 16, 2022.

Posted in: Photojournalism Projects Class, Picture Stories, Student Work, Through Our Eyes

Nourishing the Soul by Kennedy Gott

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Kennedy Gott’s WKU Photojournalism capstone project, examines a family as they tackle the challenges of sourcing their own food in a more healthy manner.

Ellen Aldridge practices modern homesteading by growing and raising her own food on their family’s land at their home in Bowling Green, KY. The Aldridge family is living an old-school and natural lifestyle while many in society struggle with the conveniences of a fast-paced life that results in unhealthy eating.

Click here to view the interactive project.

 

 

Posted in: Class Work, Photojournalism Projects Class, Student Work, Through Our Eyes

Our 2022 Senior Exhibition

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At the end of each school year, we ask our capstone PJ436 students to select one photo that means the most to them from their time here at WKUPJ and to tell us something about the image.  We hope you spend some time with the work of these talented alumni, it is no easy feat to earn a degree from WKUPJ.

Brenna Pepke

Memphis, Tennessee | Photojournalism major; Studio Arts BFA

INTERNSHIPS

  • Artist Residency Boyd Station, Kentucky
  • Creative Director, SHOW&TELL, Kentucky
  • Artist Residency Azule, North Carolina

ABOUT THIS PHOTO

As the COVID-19 pandemic lock down was at its’ peak, I was in a studio lighting class. However, without access to campus and therefore the studio, I was forced to experiment with more creative portraits that were created within my own home. Although it was incredibly challenging to be in school during the pandemic, I was able to delve into an un-journalistic portrait series revolving around what I imagine various colors’ personalities might be.

CAPSTONE PROJECT

View Entire Story: http://wkuvjp436.tilda.ws/findinghome

Finding Home: After losing their shared house in the devastating series of tornadoes that swept through the midwest in the winter of 2021, a mother and daughter duo see an opportunity to build separate lives. Facing homelessness, and financial uncertainty both women must continue to provide for their families and redefine their idea of home.

Jordan Matthis

Owensboro, Kentucky | Photojournalism major; Advertising major

INTERNSHIP

  • Falling Creek Camp, North Carolina
  • Image West, Kentucky

After being sent home from COVID in March of 2020, Jordan Matthis was enrolled in Intro to Studio Lighting in which she was challenged to learn technical lighting skills through weekly zoom classes and photographing herself. This photograph is part of a 5-studio portrait final, where she replicated famous paintings and dedicated a portrait to the 2020 graduates who lost their important chapter of graduation.

ABOUT THIS PHOTO

While being in the pandemic and locked in my house, my creativity and motivation hit a low. While seeing everything diminished and halted by the shutdown, I took it on myself to produce something that is meaningful, impactful, and represents a portion of time of graduation. I find this photograph now to be very sentimental to me as my college career comes to an end and seeing how the world has changed.

In 2019, Jordan Matthis created a series of iconography and photography campaign posters to address and create awareness of the issue of sexual assault towards young adults. Western Kentucky students Hannah Reed and Daniel Garcia volunteered to model for the campaign to showcase that both genders can be affected/silenced by sexual assault.

ABOUT THIS PHOTO

These campaign posters are important to me because it was the first project between my two majors, advertising, and photojournalism, that I could intertwine my technical and creative skillset of photography and studio lighting with my knowledge of strategy and communication to connect to a wide audience over a sensitive topic.

CAPSTONE PROJECT

View Entire Story: http://wkuvjp436.tilda.ws/unconditional

Unconditional by Sam Mallon & Jordan Matthis

Zane Meyer-Thornton

Los Angeles, California | Photojournalism major; Sociology minor

INTERNSHIPS

  • Cincinnati Enquirer, Ohio
  • Native American Journalists Association, Fellowhip/Remote

Ellie Banaszynski, 5, has a snack between games of Killerqueen on Sunday, June 20, 2021, at Wondercade Cincy. By having only classic arcade games, Wondercade Cincy is helping a new generation of people enjoy games from years past.

ABOUT THIS PHOTO

When I first got to this arcade, I thought to myself “what a nightmare of a place to photograph”. All the windows were covered, which made available light extremely scarce. As I walked down an aisle and looked to my left, Ellie’s infatuation with the game stopped me in my tracks and reminded me to never overlook a situation.

Sarah Anderson is swarmed by goats during her goat yoga class at Westbrook Farms in Bowling Green, Ky. on April 17, 2021. The class was organized by Be Happy Yoga and Westbrook Farms to combine the calming effects of yoga with the joyful experience of playing with goats.

ABOUT THIS PHOTO

Photographing a goat yoga class was something I would have never imagined doing but represents why I love photojournalism. Inhabiting these light slivers of the world where people find true joy will forever be why I enjoy this craft.

CAPSTONE PROJECT

View Entire Story: http://wkuvjp436.tilda.ws/crux

Crux by Addison LeBoutillier & Zane Meyer-Thornton

Our individualistic perspective of the world determines what makes life fulfilling. Rock climbing represented this for Sunny Yang, until he was left paralyzed from the neck-down after being struck by a distracted truck-driver. When doctors informed Sunny that he would be paralyzed for the rest of his life, he told them to not provide any more life-saving treatment for him; he would rather die than live a life without rock climbing. However, the support of his wife children, and the rock-climbing community helped him realize what matters most.

Kennedy Gott

Bowling Green, Kentucky | Photojournalism major; Philosophy minor

During weekly Sunday meetings at Faith Works Sober Living Home, the women living in the home reflect on their week, their struggles, their success, and their emotions. Regina Hensley (second to the right) relapsed after losing her sun to cancer on August 9, 2015. She gave into her addiction to alcohol through these tough times; yet, in September 2020, she chose the road to recovery and moved into Faith Works Sober Living Home in January 2021. “I can’t remember anything from the past two years. But I remember everything since September. Since I’ve been sober. Since I’ve lived in this house,” Hensley said.

ABOUT THIS PHOTO

This was the first story that I did where I got completely out of my comfort zone. I had been photographing family members since I started my photojournalism journey in the middle of the COVID pandemic, and this was the first story that I did where I got to connect to and get to know someone that I had never met before. This story made me realize the importance of photojournalism and the impact that it makes on others and the world. The ladies of the Faith Works told me that they were happy to have me and share their stories because “most people don’t care about people like them,” and they appreciated that I did care.

 

Lauren and Lucas Moore got married on October 2nd, 2021. It was a day filled with tears, laughter, and lots of dancing. They did a huge sparkler send-off at the end of the night, where the sparkler smoke filled the air and lit the sky in orange, red and yellow colors.

ABOUT THIS PHOTO

Wedding photography has been a huge part of my photojournalism journey. When I got my first wedding inquiry for a wedding on August 8th, 2020, I was baffled. This was something that had been a goal of mine since I picked up a camera. After I photographed that wedding, the wedding inquiries started flooding into my email inbox. I photographed 3 weddings in 2020, 25 in 2021 and have 16 planned for 2022. Photographing weddings has taught me a lot about how to connect with people, how to take pretty and meaningful photos and how to hustle. I am thankful for each of my couples that I have had the honor to photograph and get to know.

Photographing weddings also taught me that it is okay to change my dreams and goals. I came into the photojournalism department at WKU with tunnel vision that I was going to be a wedding photographer for the rest of my life and that was it. As I learned the value of photojournalism, I realized that there might be more out there for me than wedding photography, and I am open to seeing where life takes me after graduation.

 

Addison Leboutillier

Owensboro, Kentucky | Photojournalism major; Digital Advertising minor

INTERNSHIP

  • Center for Gifted Studies, Kentucky

The Pastor of Little Flock Church in Owensboro, Ky sings praises after Nala Olou (left) announced that she had finally gained her United States citizenship after ten long years of appeals.

ABOUT THIS PHOTO

For me, this photo was one of the first times that I felt truly pushed out of my comfort zone. It was for our Faith assignment freshman year, and I didn’t have many leads going into it. However, I remembered a small wooden church sitting in a field just off the bypass that I had seen several times while driving between Bowling Green and Owensboro. One day I went, and I could not have felt more welcomed. It gave me an insight for the first time into how important it is to just stop and ask, there can be good images wherever you go.

Stars trail across the sky on Saturday, October 9, 2021.

ABOUT THIS PHOTO

This was one of my favorite nights over the four years I spent in this program. Our class had the opportunity to go film star trails together in October of 2021. Whenever I look back at this composite, I think of the four-plus hours spent sitting together in the dark trying in vain to keep the moisture off our cameras. Yet despite all the frustration, it was a reminder of why this program is special. In the middle of the night when no sane person would be awake, we were all up together. For no reason other than wanting to try, we stayed out in that soggy field pushing each other to create something beautiful.

CAPSTONE PROJECT

View Entire Story: http://wkuvjp436.tilda.ws/crux

Crux by Addison LeBoutillier & Zane Meyer-Thornton

Our individualistic perspective of the world determines what makes life fulfilling. Rock climbing represented this for Sunny Yang, until he was left paralyzed from the neck-down after being struck by a distracted truck-driver. When doctors informed Sunny that he would be paralyzed for the rest of his life, he told them to not provide any more life-saving treatment for him; he would rather die than live a life without rock climbing. However, the support of his wife children, and the rock-climbing community helped him realize what matters most.

Sam Mallon

Silver Spring, Maryland | Photojournalism major; Gender and Women’s Studies minor

INTERNSHIPS

  • Lexington Herald Leader, Kentucky
  • Friends of Acadia, Maine

“I thought a lot about Wild Earth being this space where we don’t just say what’s wrong with the world, we really show what can be right with the world,” Heather Patrick said, a co-founder of Wild Earth Farm and Sanctuary. Patrick homeschools her daughter, Everly, 5, and the two spend most of their days learning and playing outdoors.

ABOUT THIS PHOTO

This photo is from a story that was a bit of a passion project of mine: I happened upon Wild Earth Farm and Sanctuary on Facebook one day and immediately knew that I needed to get out to Eastern Kentucky to capture the essence of the place. Co-founder Heather Patrick was gracious enough to let me into her and her daughter’s lives whenever I was able to make trips out there that semester, and the entire experience taught me so much not only about who I am and want to be as a storyteller, but as a person. When I look back at this photograph, I am immediately reminded of why I love this craft so much; and I can’t help but grin to match Everly’s contagious smile.

Jockey Chris Landeros is speckled in dirt after finishing seventh riding King’s Mischief in Race 14, the final race of the evening at Churchill Downs following the Kentucky Derby on May 1, 2021, in Louisville, Kentucky.

ABOUT THIS PHOTO

Photographing the Kentucky Derby is an experience unlike any other — the energy that exists at Churchill Downs that first weekend of May is surreal, contagious, and beautifully bizarre. It might be a sporting event, but the intersection of light, color and personality that erupts throughout the entire stadium is any feature photographer’s dream. This is one of the last photos I took after last year’s race day; most photographers had retreated to the media room by that point, but I simply couldn’t peel away — there’s no fourteen-hour workday I look forward to the way I do the Derby.

CAPSTONE PROJECT

View Entire Story: http://wkuvjp436.tilda.ws/unconditional

Unconditional by Sam Mallon & Jordan Matthis

Posted in: Photojournalism Projects Class