The 2025 Senior Capstone Projects
Each spring, the graduating seniors of the Western Kentucky University Visual Journalism & Photography program offer a final, unforgettable look at stories that captured their attention. These deeply personal and …
PJ & DOC projects
Together in Totality
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 …
Busy Bees by Madeline Powell
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, …
All Too Human by Arthur Trickett-Wile
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 …
ROUTE – A visual journey down Historic Dixie Highway
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 …
Survivors – Finding Hope Beyond Domestic Violence
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 …
Losing Cherokee by Sean McInnis
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 …
2023 Capstone Projects
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 …
Carry On
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, …
Nourishing the Soul by Kennedy Gott
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 …
Our 2022 Senior Exhibition
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 …
Our 2021 Senior Exhibition
With COVID and all that jazz, we recently realized that we overlooked posting the 2021 Senior Class work so we thought before THIS year’s seniors graduate, we want to make …
Looking Inwards
LOOKING INWARDS As the global pandemic transitioned from novelty to reality, Western Kentucky University college students realized their lives would be altered forever When students of the School of Media at …
Our 2020 Senior Single Photo Exhibition
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 …
The Making of “These Days”
In a socially-distant approved Slack exchange, PJ436 Projects in Photojournalism professor Tim Broekema interviewed These Day’s student project manager Nic Huey about how the idea germinated and how did …
Before I go
In her personal project Before I Go, WKU senior Morgan Hornsby examines her relationships with her immediately family as she reckons with her decision to move away. With rural Kentucky as her …
All In My Head
In her personal project, In My Head, WKU senior Lydia Schweickart, of Louisville, Ky., reflects on her experience recovering from a traumatic brain injury and how it affected her mental …
These Days: A 2020 Senior Class Project
A multimedia enterprise that captures the emotional journey Americans have collectively experienced during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic. This project aims to highlight how the universally shared experience …
WKUPJ winners 2020 Eyes of History – White House News Photographers Association
Congratulations to WKU Gabriel Scarlett the 2020 Student Still Photographer of the Year for the White House News Photographers Association annual photography and video competition. Michelle Hanks 2nd place in …
2019 Capstone Senior Projects
Here at WKUPJ, we are excited to present a collection of the 2019 PJ436 Projects course final thesis. Students complete their photojournalism curriculum by enrolling in a semester-long instructional “workshop” …
Our 2019 Senior Single Photo Exhibition
At the end of the semester, we ask our capstone PJ436 students to select one photo that means the most to them from their time here at WKUPJ and to …
Embody – by Srijita Chattopadhyay
She had the life others could only dream of, a career as a musician in the music city – Nashville, Tennessee. She was talented, and she was beautiful. There was …
2018 Capstone Projects
We are excited to present an exhibition of the 2018 PJ436 Projects class, WKUPJ’s capstone course. Arms to Embrace A short documentary about protecting the ones you love in the …
Families tell their story of loss to Louisville’s Gun Violence
Michael Blackshire started his journey to document victims of gun violence last semester in Louisville, Ky. What started as a series of portraits evolved over time as he came closer …