2008 Woodie Awards
Photography a "portrait of the artist"
Holly Berkowitz
Issue date: 10/11/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
Award-winning photographer Dennis Chamberlin met with art students at Kirkwood Community College in September this year to share his experiences and wisdom as a photojournalist who documents the light of electronic devices on viewers. He explained to students that he thought of photography as a "portrait of the artist" and that rapport with those he is photographing is very important.
Chamberlin spent 15 years as a photojournalist in Poland with his family and recently moved back to the United States so that his children could experience our culture. He said that he decided not to fight his frustration of his subjects' immersion in the lure of electronic devices, but to document it. His "Screen Culture" exhibit reveals a stunning picture of the effects of the glow of television and other electronic devices on our psyche.
Chamberlin won the Pulitzer Prize in 1983 for flood reporting awarded to the staff of Fort Wayne News-Stand. He won the AEJMC top award of the Visual Communications Division recently for his exhibit, "Screen Culture." Currently an assistant professor of journalism and mass communication at Iowa State University, he serves as a contract photographer with the New York agency Black Star and is currently represented by National Geographic Image Collection. His work has been published in Time, New York Times Magazine, US News & World Report, Newsweek, Forbes, the Economist, National Geographic and corporate publications. His portfolio is posted at dennischamberlin.com.
His work, "New Reality" captures a picture of the possibilities that the screen opens for children. That photo appears on the cover of the Winter 2007 publication of Visual Communication Quarterly.
He said that "the worst thing about photography is the equipment…. It gets in the way of the idea." And he found that heavy loads of photographic equipment and the advantages of lighter loads force more creative approaches to photography. For instance, he has learned to take photos of the sidelines at football games.
"If you do commercial work, you take equipment just for show. If you get off the plane from business class with just one camera, they say 'What are we paying all that money for?'"
"In most situations, I prefer that people don't even think of me as a photographer."
He almost missed a flight and almost forgot to photograph the person he was photographing because he had visited over coffee so long. But that person wrote back that the photo was the best she had of herself.
Chamberlin spent 15 years as a photojournalist in Poland with his family and recently moved back to the United States so that his children could experience our culture. He said that he decided not to fight his frustration of his subjects' immersion in the lure of electronic devices, but to document it. His "Screen Culture" exhibit reveals a stunning picture of the effects of the glow of television and other electronic devices on our psyche.
Chamberlin won the Pulitzer Prize in 1983 for flood reporting awarded to the staff of Fort Wayne News-Stand. He won the AEJMC top award of the Visual Communications Division recently for his exhibit, "Screen Culture." Currently an assistant professor of journalism and mass communication at Iowa State University, he serves as a contract photographer with the New York agency Black Star and is currently represented by National Geographic Image Collection. His work has been published in Time, New York Times Magazine, US News & World Report, Newsweek, Forbes, the Economist, National Geographic and corporate publications. His portfolio is posted at dennischamberlin.com.
His work, "New Reality" captures a picture of the possibilities that the screen opens for children. That photo appears on the cover of the Winter 2007 publication of Visual Communication Quarterly.
He said that "the worst thing about photography is the equipment…. It gets in the way of the idea." And he found that heavy loads of photographic equipment and the advantages of lighter loads force more creative approaches to photography. For instance, he has learned to take photos of the sidelines at football games.
"If you do commercial work, you take equipment just for show. If you get off the plane from business class with just one camera, they say 'What are we paying all that money for?'"
"In most situations, I prefer that people don't even think of me as a photographer."
He almost missed a flight and almost forgot to photograph the person he was photographing because he had visited over coffee so long. But that person wrote back that the photo was the best she had of herself.
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