Photo students are off to the races

Alyssa Wolfe

Mike Cohea

photos by Kathryn Stevens

Two University of Montana photojournalism majors have been selected to participate in the 13th annual Collegiate Sports Journalism Seminar.

Alyssa Wolfe and Mike Cohea will attend the seminar hosted by Churchill Downs Inc. in Louisville, Ky., from April 22 to 25.

The program selects 40 of the nation’s top student journalists and photojournalists, who have an interest in a career in sports journalism and sports photography. The participants will observe and interact with professional sports writers, photographers and broadcast journalists as they prepare to cover the Kentucky Derby. They will also participate in a daylong sports journalism workshop, allowing them to work against the backdrop of one of the nation's largest sporting events.

“I think that the conference is going to be a great opportunity to meet other students who are interested in the same type of journalism as I am,” Wolfe said.

“As well as to meet professional sports photographers and get constructive feedback from them on my skills. Plus I think it'll be a lot of fun.”

Cohea and Wolfe were required to submit 10 color sports photos and were selected based on the quality of their work and nomination by a professor. Cohea is a junior from Portland, Ore. Wolfe is a senior also from Portland who will graduate in May.

-Josi Carlson

R-TV student wins $1K scholarship

Ryan Axmear

photo by Kathryn Stevens

Ryan Axmear, a junior in Radio-Television production, has won the 2004 National Press Photographers Foundation Television News scholarship, worth $1,000.

The foundation, an arm of the National Press Photographers Association, awards several prizes in still photography, and created the television production scholarship to recognize that TV camera operators are also photojournalists.

Barrett named to Fulbright Committee

Sharon Barrett

J-School professor Sharon Barrett is one of six people nationwide selected by the Council for International Exchange of Scholars to serve on the Fulspec Communications and Journalism Peer Review Committee for the Fulbright Senior Specialists Program.

The Senior Specialists Program offers two- to six-week grants to academics and professionals who are authorities in their fields. As a member of the peer review committee that helps select grantees, Barrett will help evaluate applications and recommend candidates for further consideration.

Barrett, a former Fulbright Lecturer at the University of Lima, Peru, was a Fulbright Senior Specialist teaching at the University ORT of Montevideo, Uruguay, May-June 2003.

Students show work to Missoula

Jennifer Erickson	Luke George	Nick Wolcott	Tom Baker

Several University of Montana photojournalism students have recently exhibited their work in venues around Missoula. The pictures range from the Mission Mountains to Nicaraguan sunsets to fire dancing.

Jennifer Erickson exhibited her work at Crazy Daisy Clothing Exchange, a vintage clothing shop in Missoula. Her work was up from last October to January.
The theme of the photos was humanitarian aid, and Erickson photographed the poor in the Philippines, Russia and Bolivia. The photos are “kind of a reality check,” she said, adding that they are beautiful because people are being true to themselves.

For her next project she is trying to get funding to go to the Republic of Georgia and photograph people of different races, cultures and religions living together.

Luke George exhibited his work from the first Friday of March until April 7 at the Break Espresso near the University.

George included three different themes, including a homeless couple in Missoula, fire dancers in Missoula and some nature photos taken over the West. If he were to name the photos, he said, he would call them “passion, pain and perseverance.”

Tom Baker exhibited his work in February at the Break Espresso. His photos have an ocean theme and were taken in Maine as well as Nicaragua.

Baker got into photography while working as a deckhand on a boat in Maine. On board were several amateur and professional photographers who helped him hone his craft. Some of the pictures in the exhibit are of his time on the boat.
Baker said he likes shooting the ocean because of “how alive it is, it’s always constantly changing.”

Nick Wolcott also exhibited his work at the Break Espresso in February. His photos were of Western Montana landscapes and included shots of the Mission Mountains, Bozeman and Missoula. The pictures were taken over the last year and half.

-Matt Pritchard

Double whammy award

photo by Heather Telesca

UM student and Eagle Scout Chris Ambra teaches a group of boys how to use compasses at one of their weekly meetings.

A University of Montana photojournalism major recently received first and second prize in a regional photo contest.

Heather Telesca, a junior from Binghamton, N.Y., received $500 for her first-place finish in the “Faces of Civic Engagement” photo contest. The winning photo of Telesca’s boyfriend, a local Eagle Scout, will be submitted for the state competition.

Telesca also claimed second-place in the competition for another Eagle Scout photo. Telesca won’t be eligible for any cash prizes in the state competition because of the $500 she was already awarded.