S.J. State journalism students’ Civil Rights path to Inauguration

Photojournalism, art photography, studio happenings & resources

S.J. State journalism students’ Civil Rights path to Inauguration

Originally posted on 3/13/2009

Paradise and Reality

For years my picture making was a visual effort to make my world right, to make “pretty pictures”. Don’t get me wrong, we all have some need to create our own visions of paradise. However, nearly three years ago, I began to have an urge to photograph a more active, vital world through photojournalism.

Photonite at Exposure Gallery in San Francisco

San Francisco Press Photographers Association’s monthly Photonite at Exposure Gallery gives PJ students, young, and (in my case) older, a chance to meet and see the work of some titans in the field. At one of the first Photonites I attended, newly minted Pulitzer Prize winner, Renée Byer, Sacramento Bee photographer, shared her photos and experiences making the heart rending documentary of a young boy dying of cancer.

Professor Cheers takes San Jose State journalism students on an assignment of a lifetime

Last night at Photonite, Professor Michael Cheers and three of his photojournalism students from San Jose State’s Journalism Department treated us to work from their project, “44 Years to the 44th President: Connecting Our Past to America’s Historic Future.” Dr. Cheers and ten of his students made a 10-day journey through the Civil Rights South documenting seminal people and places involved in the movement. CNN aired some of the stories they produced. The Inauguration of Barack Obama in Washington D.C. was the high point for the students which I think is exemplified by the intimacy of the work of Derek Sijder, staff photographer for San Jose State’s Spartan Daily newspaper.

Written by annbrooksphoto

March 17, 2009 at 2:42 am

Posted in Photojournalism

Tagged with Barack Obama, CNN, Derek Sijder, Exposure Gallery, inauguration, Renée Byer

Ann Brooks Photography