WKUPJ Student Gabriel Scarlett receives Alexia Award of Excellence

Congratulations to WKUPJ student Gabriel Scarlett on receiving an Award of Excellence for the Alexia 2018 Student Grant! His project, “Flock of Doves,” reexamines the reality of one city’s gang culture, with emphasis on the fragile nature of youth and longing for acceptance.

“This essay is for those who searched for brotherhood on the streets, but instead found blue jumpsuits, stray bullets, and roadside memorials. They are the doves.”

View the project here: http://www.alexiafoundation.org/stories/flock-of-doves-gabriel-scarlett

Julian Rodriguez plays with his son Christopher at their home on Pueblo’s East Side. Julian’s decades long struggle with addiction brought him intimately close to the gang operations as he often bought from and sold for the gangs in order to support his own addiction. With his son, Christopher on the way, he achieved sobriety and had his facial skeleton tattooed to remember his commitment to his son and to commemorate his brother “Bone Head” who was killed in a shootout with the police. “Everything that I desire and want in this life is for that boy.” Christopher will grow up on the East Side, in Duke territory, but Julian hopes that a loving relationship with his father can keep him from that lifestyle. | Gabriel Scarlett

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 with the family’s of homicide victims and began recording their stories with audio then transitioning to video. As the project became bigger he brought together a team of WKUPJ students to help him bring his vision for the story together. Michael along with Fahad Alotaibi, Gabriel Scarlett, and Shaban Athuman attempt to tell the stories of people that often feel their stories aren’t being told.

To view the entire piece, visit https://michaeldblackshire.atavist.com/broken-branches

 

 

Rochelle Turner wraps her body around her only son’s Ricky Jones High School jacket. Ricky Jones was murdered April 2017 from gun violence at the age of 29-years-old. “At first I would look at other mothers who lost their sons and thing their sons were into something and mine wasn’t. I would think that maybe if my son was doing something wrong or died from a disease or committed suicide I would be able to find closure, but in any way I can’t bring my son back. Hew was murdered but his life wasn’t his own. He had five children who now have to live without a father in their life,” said Smith.

Judy Wilkins, Jasmine Wilkins, and Sherry Simmons, left to right, hold the graduation picture of Gregory Wilkins who was murdered at his home on November 26, 1996 at 1737 South 22nd Street, Louisville, KY. “I visit his grave once a week. I have been once a week for 21 years,” said his mother Judy Wilkins. “I once dreamed that he was reaching out to my hand and I almost reached his. I said baby why did they take you so soon. He told me my time had come.The last thing I heard him say is take care of Jasmine, and let Sherry know that I love her, and that I love you, my mother and my dad. Then he was gone.”

Craig Bland holds middle school and elementary school photos of his son Craig Bland Jr. and Toreze Bland who were both murdered in 2012 and 2015 from gun violence in Louisville. “After my first son was murdered the situation made me worried about loosing my youngest son. I thought it was only a matter of time until they shot my youngest one. The streets killed my sons. My son’s were good people they just were around the wrong people. I watched my wife Diana die from cancer in front of my eyes, my brother was murdered, my two nephews were murdered, and now I have no more sons, no more children. There used to be a lot of live in this house. That love is gone now.” said Bland.

 

Rune Aarestrup Pederson & Srijita Chattopadhyay place 2nd & 3rd in Hearst Multimedia

Congratulations to Rune Aarestrup Pederson and Srijita Chattopadhyay for placing in the Multimedia News Competition of the 2017-2018 Hearst Journalism Awards Program. Rune was awarded second place and a $2,000 scholarship for his multimedia project he produced while in PJ436 last spring, “Changing Every Day.” Srijita was awarded third place and a $1,500 scholarship for her multimedia project, “Sanctuary” she produced for her final assignment while in PJ433.

Changing Every Day by Rune Aarestrup Pederson

Sanctuary by Srijita Chattopadhyay

WKUPJ Career Day

What: WKU Photojournalism Career Day
When: Friday, Feb. 23, 9 a.m. until mid to late afternoon. Roundtable discussion – 12:30-1:30
Where: PJ lab 127

Career Day #14 will be on Feb. 23, and is available to ALL PJ majors and minors! This is a chance to meet with several professionals in one day, show your work, and begin the all-important process of making contacts for future internships, jobs and freelance opportunities.

 

WKU College GeekFest

College GeekFest is coming to WKU March 23-24 for a workshop full of speakers, a shootout, and a print trade. The event is free and open to everyone, thanks to the folks at A Photo a Day.

Saturday 10-1p.m- Guest speakers will present

We will have a shootout Saturday afternoon in the community, and return for free pizza and small group edits.

More information is available on the Facebook event page, at https://www.facebook.com/events/759827324223309/.

SJ&B Gallery: Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Then and Now

A Visual Exploration of a Country in Change

Over 50 photographs by Lara Ciarabellini, Amel Emric, James H. Kenney, Jr., Jose Lopez, Matt Lutton, Dijana Muminovic, Roger M. Richards and Andy Spyra will be on display January 31 – April 13 exploring the people and places of Bosnia and Herzegovina since the start of the war in 1992 until today. 

ABOUT THE GALLERY EXHIBITION

On display January 31 – April 13

Gallery Hours

Sunday  |  4:00PM – 9:00PM

Monday – Thursday  |  9:00AM – 9:00 PM

Friday  |  9:00AM – 5:00PM

Closed when WKU is not in session

 

ABOUT THE PHOTOJOURNALISTS

Lara Ciarabellini

Lara Ciarabellini is an Italian photographer currently shooting between Trieste (Italy), Sarajevo and Rio de Janeiro. She received a Master degree in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography, at London College of Communication, University of Arts, in 2012. Her research “A visual comparison of Yugoslavian National Liberation War Movies” will be part of the Research Centre NAM at LCC. Ciarabellini’s work titled Bosnia: If chaos awakens the madness was a finalist in The Aftermath Project 2011 and work of hers has been exhibited at Nursery Gallery – London, at Savignano OFF Festival 2013, at AFFGallery – Berlin, at Officine Fotografiche – Rome, at National Scientific Library – Tbilisi, and at The Library Project – Dublin, Galerija Hran – Sarajevo, Fodar Biennal – Pleven.Cariocas in Olympia has been exhibited at Kaunas Festival in Lithuania.

Amel Emric

Photographer Amel Emric provides a uniquely intimate view into the lives of refugees fleeing ethnic cleansing in Bosnia-Herzegovina. He has taken some of the most iconic photographs of the aftermath of Srebrenica, with the mourners pictured amongst the rows of coffins and headstones. Emric’s photographs from during the campaign of ethnic cleansing from 1992-1995, when refugees were fleeing for their lives, finding themselves in the most desperate situations with what few possessions they had saved, are powerful reminders that give a very intimate insight into the lives of those caught up in the horrific events leading up to the worst atrocity on European soil since World War Two.

James H. Kenney, Jr.

Professor James H. Kenney received his bachelor’s degree from California State University, Fresno, and his master’s degree from Syracuse University. He has taught at Western Kentucky University since 1993 and has been the coordinator of the photojournalism program since 2001. Kenney has taught courses in photojournalism, multimedia, design and picture editing. He is also the director of the Mountain Workshops. He received the WKU Teaching Award in 2001.

Kenney was a photographer and photography editor for newspapers in Las Vegas, Nevada, before entering the teaching profession. He has spent his summers photographing projects in China, Thailand, Vietnam, Mongolia, Nigeria and Jamaica. He spent a summer as a photographer for the Lexington Herald-Leader and worked a summer for National Geographic in their faculty fellowship program.

In 2012, Kenney made three trips to Haiti for a documentary project that was part of his sabbatical. He has been photographing the Tennessee Titans NFL home football games for the Associated Press since 2015. In 2017, Kenney traveled to Bosnia and Herzegovina to document the people of this country 20 years after the end of the Bosnian War.

Some of Kenney’s professional credits include still photography and multimedia awards in the Best of Photojournalism contests, a multimedia award in the Pictures of the Year International contest, a Best of Show in the Southern Short Course, AEJMC’s First Prize in its Creative Project Competition and multiple awards in the Kentucky Newspaper Photographers Association’s Photographer of the Year contest.

Jose Lopez

As a professional photojournalist, Jose Lopez had the great pleasure of covering major historical events and news stories from three Presidential administrations, the end of the Bosnian conflict, Super Bowls and Olympic games to the small but powerful stories of daily life. As a picture editor, he has guided the work of the world’s best in a collaborative effort, working together to place them at the right place at the right time — allowing their talent to capture the moment. Each role is essential to effectively communicating each story. Lopez has been in the industry all his life, 31 one of those years at The New York Times (16 years as a staff photographer; 15 years as a picture editor). He was member of the picture editing team that won both Pulitzers in 2002 for the Times coverage of the 9-11 attacks.

Matt Lutton

Matt Lutton is an American photographer who splits his time between his hometown of Seattle, WA and Belgrade, Serbia. He has photographed for a diversity of publications from The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Vice Magazine, the Financial Times and 2012 Magazine.

Dijana Muminovic

Dijana Muminovic, a Bosnian-American award-winning documentary photographer who, for the past eight years, has been telling stories of immigration, human rights, and people of Bosnia and Herzegovina who are still living in the aftermath of war. Most recently, she has been documenting the migrant crisis in Croatia. In the past three years, Muminovic has produced photo essays to reflect on the philanthropic work by the Sanela Diana Jenkins Foundation. Muminovic has her Masters from Ohio University and her B.A. in photojournalism from Western Kentucky University.

Roger M. Richards

Based in Norfolk, Virginia, Roger M. Richards works in nonfiction, fiction and commercial film production, photojournalism/documentary photography and multimedia production for magazine, newspaper, commercial, TV and motion picture clients. His work has ranged from coverage of the White House in Washington, DC to conflict zones around the world, including the disintegration of Yugoslavia (particularly the wars in Croatia and Bosnia and the 44 month siege of Sarajevo), the civil wars in Nicaragua, El Salvador, the US invasion of Panama, the guerrilla and narco-conflict in Colombia, political and social issues in Haiti and Peru, and the search for peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Richards was a founding Senior Producer and Director of Photography with The Drew Carey Project at ReasonTV from December 2007 to November 2009. Prior to that he was Multimedia Editor/Producer, photo editor and staff photographer for The Virginian-Pilot newspaper in Norfolk, Virginia from 2001 to 2007. At the Pilot he helped pioneer Hamptonroads.tv, the first newspaper video portal in the world. He is a former Associated Press photo bureau chief in Bogotá, Colombia, and was a staff photographer at the Washington Times in Washington, DC, from 1997-2000.

His films have screened in cinemas and at many film festivals and alternate venues like as universities and schools. As a director, his first feature documentary “Sarajevo Roses-A Cinematic Essay” has been seen by audiences in Europe and the USA, including a special event screening for lawmakers at the European Parliament in Brussels and at the 2016 Sarajevo Film Festival, the leading film festival in southeast Europe. On television, his work has been broadcast on several TV networks, including ABC, NBC, FOX and the National Geographic Channel.

Andy Spyra

Andy Spyra, born 1984 in Hagen, Germany, is a freelance photographer currently based in Dortmund, Germany. He worked one year as a freelance photographer for a local newspaper in his hometown Hagen before he started to study photography at the Fachhochschule Hannover until the beginning of 2009, when he quit his studies.  Besides assignments, he’s working on personal long-term projects in the Balkans and the Middle East.

WKU Photojournalism Career Day

The #14 WKUPJ Career Day is shaping up nicely.

Make plans to participate in this special day of interaction with members of the photojournalism world. This is a chance to meet with several professionals in one day, show your work and begin the all-important process of making contacts for future internships, jobs, and freelance opportunities.

Though it is not the main purpose of this event, participation has led to many internships and other employment opportunities over the years. More important than this, it is an opportunity to make several contacts within the profession you have chosen to pursue, so you need to commit to getting involved no matter what level you are in our program.

The list members to appear are:

Mike Zajakowski – Chicago Tribune
Will DeShazer – Freelance, Nashville, Tennessee
Mykal McEldowney – The Indianapolis Star
Denny Simmons – Courier and Press (Evansville)
Marcia Prouse – The Tennessean
Michel Fortier – San Antonio Express-News
Cara Owsley –  Cincinnati Enquirer
Brett Marshall, Wesley Bacon – Kertis Creative
Alex Slitz – Lexington Herald-Leader
Scott Utterback – Courier-Journal (Louisville)
Patrick Murphy-Racey – Freelance, Knoxville, Tennessee
Teak Phillips – St. Louis Review
Mark Humphrey –  AP Tennessee