Photography at Technology News and Literature

Photos reveal three generations of dioxin effects

Alan Kotok | alankotok@gmail.com | April 22, 2022

https://www.press.org/newsroom/photographer-discuss-photos-revealing-three-generations-dioxin-effects-may-19

Photojournalism often tells a story in a compelling way that other media cannot. National Press Club member Ben Sarao, who created, collected, and published a set of images visually documenting birth defects from the toxic chemical dioxin, will share and discuss those photos at a Photography Team meeting on Thursday, May 19 at 10 a.m. in the Cosgrove Lounge. The event is open to all Club members.

Sarao is executive director of Primary Image, a documentary photography studio in Mesa, Arizona, and recently published Shared Tragedy, the collection of photos that documented the devastating effects of the carcinogenic and birth-defect causing chemical. Some of the genetic effects from dioxins persist across generations.

Sarao first captured photos in 1972 of children born with birth defects to parents exposed to dioxins in rural Illinois, where the chemicals were used in farm pesticides. In 2019, Sarao traveled to Vietnam to make a similar collection of photos, this time of children whose grandparents were exposed to dioxin-based defoliants known as Agent Orange used by the U.S. military. The Shared Tragedy collection is now available in electronic form, with text in English, French, and Vietnamese. A printed book is in production. Many of the images are graphic and disturbing.

Joining the program to discuss environmental and regulatory aspects of dioxins is Deborah Blum, director of the Knight Science Journalism program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who will provide insights on issues raised by Sarao's photos. Blum is the author of two books on toxic chemicals in the environment, "The Poison Squad" and "The Poisoner's Handbook," and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for beat reporting while at the Sacramento Bee.

The program is open to National Press Club members and guests, and will be held in-person in the Cosgrove Lounge. The event is also offered remotely via live audio, with copies of the speakers' presentation slides available for all participants. Remote participants will receive in advance telephone numbers, a link to download slides, and an email address to send in questions. The event is free, but advance registration is required for all participants.

Questions? Contact Photo Team co-chair Alan Kotok at alankotok@gmail.com

Photo exhibit fills Club lobby; reception set for Sept. 9

A line of Proud Boys approaches the east side of the Capitol on Jan. 6. Photo: Christy Bowe.

Alan Kotok, 1 Sept. 2021

Photojournalist Christy Bowe was positioned on the east side of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 when rioters stormed the building. As the crowd left the Ellipse and neared the Capitol, Bowe noticed a particular line of marchers she later learned were the Proud Boys.

"And they were walking right toward me, about 10 of them," Bowe told interviewer Gemma Puglisi on the National Press Club's Update-1 podcast. "Then they saw my pass, and started screaming 'F*** the media.'"

Bowe's photo of that Proud Boys group is now on display in the National Press Club lobby through Sept. 30 as part of the Club's 22nd annual members photo exhibit.

Bowe is one of 39 Club members providing 151 print photos and electronic images in the exhibit, put on each year by the Club's Photography Team.

The show's official opening reception is at 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 9, in the First Amendment Lounge. The reception is free and open to all Club members and guests. Registration is recommended.

This year's photo collection features images from Washington, D.C., to China's Hunan province to the Galapagos Islands off Ecuador, using cameras ranging from iPhones to a Soviet-made Gorizont panoramic camera.

Among the participants are seven first-time exhibitors, including former Foreign Service officer Bennett Lowenthal offering photos he took when posted with American troops in Afghanistan's Panjshir Valley, a region of the country reportedly still holding out against the Taliban.

Aretha Williams, another first-time participant, shares her photo of police from prisons and other agencies in riot gear patrolling Black Lives Matter protests in Washington in June 2020. Williams is a digital artist as well, exhibiting abstract lens art that combines photography with political activism.

The exhibit also displays work of photo artists Diane Stamm and Karen Thuermer, with artist and sculptor Carol Morgan offering photos of fellow Metrobus passengers she usually draws with pen and ink, as Morgan describes in a Washington Post opinion piece.

Grandmother and granddaughter ride a Metrobus. Photo: Carol Morgan.

Also exhibiting for the first time is Phoenix-based documentary filmmaker and photographer Ben Sarao with panoramic images of the American West. Sarao's images can best be appreciated on the two big-screen monitors in the Club's 13th floor lobby.

The exhibit's electronic images, including Sarao's, are displayed there in continuous slideshows on two big-screen and four smaller monitors, along with the print photos. An online exhibit catalog tells about the photographers and the stories behind the photos and images.

Photo exhibit podcast now live

9 Oct. 2020. This year's members' photography exhibit is featured in National Press Club's latest podcast, part of the Club's Update-1 podcast series. The 23-minute discussion features exhibit participants Diane Stamm and Ron Hoffer, who describe their photos and the stories behind them.

Diane Stamm, a freelance writer based in Paris, tells Club podcast interviewer Adam Konowe how she gets the stunning photos of faces she's displayed both this year and last. And Diane describes how the Washington Post's travel photo contest had to compete with the Club's exhibit this year for one of her images, which won second prize in the Washington Post contest.

All of Ron Hoffer's entries in the members' photo exhibit are part of a collection of images from his work in Russia and eastern Europe in the 1990s. Ron, a groundwater scientist working for the U.S. EPA and World Bank, tells about his exhibit entries during this tumultuous decade. He recently published this collection in a photo memoir, first in Europe and now available in the U.S.

You can listen to the podcast on the Club's web site at https://www.press.org/newsroom/npc-annual-photo-exhibit-displays-online ... ... And follow along with Diane's and Ron's photos in the exhibit catalog at https://technewslit.com/npc/photoex2020/

Annual photo exhibit now live. Opening reception on Friday.

Alan Kotok, September 02, 2020

Last October, freelance writer Skip Kaltenheuser visited Wuhan, China, when a clear sunny day instead of the usual haze brought crowds of residents into the streets. Kaltenheuser captured photos of those crowded outdoor venues, with everyone unaware that in a few weeks Wuhan would become synonymous with the global Covid-19 pandemic.

Those photos are now on display in the 21st annual National Press Club members photo exhibit.

The exhibit is the Club's annual celebration of visual story-telling. This year, 49 Club members are taking part, displaying 173 images with descriptions and stories in the show's catalog. Because of the pandemic, the exhibit is available only online, although the Club's Photography Team is ready to return the show to big-screen monitors in the 13th floor lobby when conditions permit.

The exhibit's official opening reception, also held virtually this year, is set for 5 p.m. Friday, Sept. 4. Details are available online.

The pandemic figures into many of the images this year. Photos from first-time exhibitor Christine Schiffner show empty Washington streets and Metro stations during the lockdown, while Jan Zastrow displays a deserted Senate office building, and Nancy Hart shows a shuttered Rockefeller Center bar in New York. The collection has several pandemic-inspired family photos, with Craig Shearman presenting a completely masked family portrait, and Eeda and Derek Wallbank showing their kids acting a little silly after the "circuit breaker," Singapore's term for lockdown, is lifted.

Several photos focus on pre-pandemic pleasures, including Denny Gainer's shot from country singer Wynonna Judd's last concert (pictured above), first-time exhibitor Lou Michaels's photo of minor league baseball in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Al Teich's photo of closely packed bicycle racers in Waukesha, Wisconsin.

While the exhibit can be seen on mobile devices, the images are best viewed on a laptop or desktop computer.

Link: https://www.press.org/newsroom/annual-photo-exhibit-now-live-opening-reception-friday

Annual photo exhibit instructions ready for download, entries begin Monday

Alan Kotok. July 31, 2020

The 21st members photo exhibit, National Press Club's annual celebration of visual storytelling, is rapidly approaching, with the event's instructions and guidelines now available on the Club's web site. Members can download the document by clicking here.

Due to limitations of the pandemic, only electronic images are displayed this year. The downloaded document has all of the entry steps and deadlines, but here are highlights ...

- Members can enter up to four electronic images in the exhibit.
- The entry period runs from Monday, Aug. 3 to Saturday, Aug. 22.
- The entry form is available online.
- The exhibit itself runs from Sept. 1 to 30.
- And a reminder, the event is an exhibit, not a contest. No judges or judging are involved.

As in previous exhibits, the Club's Photography Committee asks for your best, original photos shown for the first time in the annual show. However, images displayed in the Club's Coronvirus Life gallery may be entered for the members exhibit this year.

In addition, the exhibit features an online catalog, where participants can tell more about their images and themselves. The exhibit entry form has fields for capturing these details. Taking part in the catalog is optional. See the document for other instructions, guidelines, and key dates.

Questions? Contact Photo Committee co-chair Alan Kotok at alankotok@gmail.com.

Annual members photo exhibit set for September; enter beginning Aug. 3

Alan Kotok, 17 July 2020

The National Press Club members photography exhibit, the 21st annual display of visual storytelling, takes place Sept. 1 to Sept. 30. Now is the time for members to go through their collections and pick out their best work for this year's show because the entry period for images begins on Aug. 3.

The annual show, sponsored by the Club's Photography Team, offers an opportunity for members to display their top-quality photos and tell the stories behind them. It is not a contest. There are no judges or prizes.

This year, of course, is different from previous years because of the COVID-19 pandemic and all the changes to much of our daily routines, as well as sharply reduced in-person activities at Club. As a result, this year -- and we hope, just this year -- the exhibit will display only electronic images, not print photos. If public health and conditions at the Club allow for more activity, the Photo Team will ask the staff to display slide shows of the images in the main lobby during September.

Members may enter up to four images in the exhibit. Entries for the exhibit are accepted from Aug. 3 through Aug. 22. Members should start going through their collections now to find those images that capture special moments, times, and places. The Photo Team will provide an online form for members to enter their details and upload their photos.

And as before, photos or images displayed this year cannot be repeated from earlier annual exhibits. However, images submitted for the Club's Coronavirus Life collection may be entered in this year's show. Full instructions and guidelines for the exhibit will be ready shortly.

As last year, the exhibit features an online catalog where participants can tell a little about themselves as well as the stories behind their photos. And the catalog lets members display links to online stories, galleries, podcasts, videos, and social media posts related to their photos. The 2019 exhibit catalog is available online.

Questions? Contact Photo Committee co-chair Alan Kotok at alankotok@gmail.com

Photo Committee to feature next generation news photographers, July 1

Alan Kotok, 21 June 2020

At its next meeting, the National Press Club's Photography Committee will hear from two early-career, yet award-winning photojournalists. The virtual event happens at 2 p.m. Wednesday, July 1, and is open to all Club members, with free advance online registration requested.

The July 1 virtual meeting will be held by Zoom. Registration by June 29 is appreciated. Members signing up will receive an email with the link to Zoom session.

Attendees will meet Dorothy Mills-Gregg, who combines news reporting and photography in her work. She received a degree in journalism at Northwestern University in 2019, and that same year won first prize for news photography in National Press Club's annual awards contest. Mills-Gregg is a National Press Club and Photography Committee member.

Participants will also hear from Katina Zentz, a spring 2020 graduate from University of Iowa, majoring in art and journalism. At Iowa, Zentz served as photographer and creative director for the Daily Iowan, where she won the Iowa Newspaper Association's top awards in 2020 for best news feature photo and best slideshow. Just this month, Zentz took second place in the annual Hearst national photojournalism championship.

The Photo Committee's program is inspired by the National Press Club Journalism Institute's campaign to highlight outstanding new journalism colleagues receiving their degrees in this less-than-ideal academic and job-hunting year.

Questions? Contact Photo Committee co-chair Alan Kotok at alankotok@gmail.com.

Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Crowley offers news photography insights, May 13

May 7, 2020. Pulitzer Prize winner and former New York Times senior photographer Stephen Crowley will discuss how news photos can convey humanity, irony, and humor as well as news in an online presentation with National Press Club's Photography Team and Washington Photography Roundtable.

The joint virtual meeting takes place at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, May 13, via the video conferencing service Zoom. Registration is required by Monday, May 11, to receive log-in instructions. The event is free.

Crowley is a winner of the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography along with four other New York Times photographers for their coverage of the war in Afghanistan. That same year the White House News Photographers' Association recognized Crowley as its Photographer of the Year for his work in Afghanistan and a photo essay on a day in the life of President Bush. In 2001, he was part of a team at the New York Times that won the Pulitzer Prize for national reporting on race in America.

In his talk with the Club's Photography Team and Photography Roundtable, Crowley will provide insights from his career and offer examples of infusing humanity, irony, and humor in his personal work, with images of the country's character as hinted by physical structures, shifting light patterns, and happenstance. After his talk, Crowley will take questions from participants for 15 minutes.

Questions? Contact Photo Team co-chair Alan Kotok at alankotok@gmail.com or Photographer Roundtable founder Marshall Cohen at bigmarsh@verizon.net.

Reprinted from National Press Club web site: https://www.press.org/newsroom/pulitzer-prize-winner-stephen-crowley-offers-news-photography-insights-may-13

Photos of life and work amid coronavirus now on display

May 3, 2020. Images captured by National Press Club members and staff of their work and day-to-day life in this unique moment in history are now on display in an online gallery.

View the photos here.

While many of the photos sent in from the 45 members and staff show scenes probably considered routine in normal times, these are hardly normal times. Other images depict healthcare workers and ordinary citizens helping out people in need.

The gallery, organized by the Club's Photography Committee, displays the effects of Covid-19 lockdowns. Images show emptied-out venues from the usually bustling Embarcadero in San Francisco and quais in Paris, to the boardwalk at Ocean City, and food stalls at Eastern Market in Washington, D.C. Photos also show social-distanced seating arrangements for a cancelled garden party and social distancing practiced at a family funeral.

Many more photos display work-from-home arrangements by members and staff, including a television interview in progress from a living room. And many other photos show family activities and pets, both with and without face masks.

Ed Hazelwood, for example, contributed photos of healthcare staff as they tested patients at the drive-through Covid-19 testing site in Arlington, Va., and Nancy Shia's contribution shows a passerby in the Adams Morgan section of Washington helping a person who collapsed on the street.

More than 100 photos are now on display in the Coronavirus Life gallery, with more recently arriving photos expected to be posted shortly. The Club's membership department and web site manager are still accepting photos for the collection. Send your photos as email attachments to members@press.org and include a caption and credit for each.

Reprinted from National Press Club web site: https://www.press.org/newsroom/photos-life-and-work-amid-coronavirus-now-display

Join the collection of Club member photos showing life and work during COVID-19

2 Apr. 2020. If you have photos of doing your work or day-to-day life under the coronavirus siege of 2020, National Press Club's Photography Team wants them. To date, 25 of your fellow Club members and staff have sent in some 60 photos about life and work during this unique time in history.

The collection so far shows work-from-home offices -- both with and without kids and pets -- and videoconferences in progress from the living room sofa. Photos from members also show the impact of COVID-19 on economic life, with empty streets, empty beaches and parks, empty buses and ferries, a nearly empty Ocean City boardwalk, a closed-down movie theater with "I'll be back" on the marquee, and shuttered artist stalls along the Seine in Paris.

In addition, the images offer a look into daily life with grocery shoppers in rubber gloves, an elevator sign warning against crowding to prevent viral transmission, the drive-through COVID-19 testing site in Arlington, and plenty of face masks. The collection even has a photo from a member's family funeral, showing mourners keeping a safe physical distance from each other.

The Club will post images from the collection in galleries on the website. In the meantime, if you have photos to contribute, please send them as e-mail attachments to members@press.org. Be sure to include a brief caption and credit for each image. If sharing the images on Twitter or Instagram, please tag @PressClubDC in your posts. Recommended social media hashtags are #CoronavirusNPC, #NPCsocialdistancing, or #NPCstayathome.

And don't worry if the photo subjects seem ordinary. In these unusual times, there's little that's ordinary. Questions? Contact Photo Committee co-chairs Alan Kotok at alankotok@gmail.com or Cheriss May at cheriss@cherissmay.com.

Alan Kotok, alankotok@gmail.com

Reprinted from National Press Club web site: https://www.press.org/newsroom/join-collection-club-member-photos-showing-life-and-work-during-covid-19