A UM Journalism student kneels with a camera and takes photos of a controlled burn in the University of Montana's Lubrecht Experimental Forest near Missoula, MT.

Journalism

Photo and Visual Journalism Track

This spring, a UM photojournalism graduate became a national champion. That's not an outlier — it's what four years of shooting real assignments, for real publications, with real deadlines, builds toward. The Photo and Visual Journalism track gets you behind a camera in your first semester and keeps you there, covering everything from wildland fire crews in the Lubrecht Experimental Forest to Montana's tribal nations, until you graduate with a portfolio that's already been tested in the field — not just in a classroom critique.

Jobs and Career Opportunities

When you study photojournalism and visual journalism at UM, you graduate with a portfolio full of professional clips that sets you apart from photographers who only have school assignments to show. Recent graduates have gone on to staff photography jobs at major metro newspapers, the Associated Press, and as independent documentary photographers working with outlets like National Geographic.

A few of the jobs that our graduates find after graduation include: 

  • Breaking news photographer
  • Feature photographer
  • Magazine photographer
  • Filmmaker
  • Commercial photographer
  • Documentary photographer
  • Photo editor
  • Photo director

The Student Experience

Students participating in the Montana Photo Workshop
Students participating in the Montana Photo Workshop

Photojournalism — including film and video — is one of the strongest programs at the School of Journalism. UM students regularly compete for the top national awards in photojournalism and multimedia, including the Hearst Awards (often called the "Pulitzers of college journalism") and the Society of Professional Journalists' contests. UM has ranked among the top ten programs nationally in Hearst photojournalism competition, and recent graduate Maddie McCuddy won the national Hearst Photojournalism Championship — built on a portfolio shaped by a internship at the Missoulian and the highly competitive Mountain Workshops in Kentucky.

"I really have this curiosity with people," McCuddy says. "I feel like having a camera allows me to talk to people and be curious and ask questions in a very candid way."

Students don't have to leave Missoula to get that kind of intensive training, either. Each fall, the School hosts its own Montana Photo Workshop — a four-day photojournalism intensive, modeled on programs like the Eddie Adams Workshop, that brings early-career photojournalists from across the country to campus to shoot real assignments around western Montana under the mentorship of working photo professionals. UM alumni return to teach it — Brontë Wittpenn, now a staff photojournalist at the San Francisco Chronicle, has come back as an instructor — and UM students take part alongside them. McCuddy herself was a workshop participant during her senior year, the same portfolio-building period that helped carry her to a national title.

Students get real-world experience starting in Beginning Visual Journalism and continuing through capstones like the Native News Honors Project, Byline Magazine, the Student Documentary Unit, and intermediate and advanced visual journalism courses.

All that hands-on experience builds portfolios — but just as importantly, it builds connections.

"The biggest thing that I’ve learned is connections are super important," said former student Ridley Hudson. "The J-School and professors are a great place to start with that. And getting involved in the J-School is really important because getting involved, you make connections, and then connections lead you to connections that lead you to further opportunities down the road."

Alumni

Two women and a man with cameras look at camera.

Maddie McCuddy, 2026 national champion, Hearst Photojournalism Awards

Brontë Wittpenn, (pictured at right, middle, covering Standing Rock while at UM) staff photojournalist, San Francisco Chronicle

Tommy Martino, photographer, University of Montana

Tailyr Irvine, (pictured at right, right)independent and documentary photographer, 2019 National Geographic Explorer

John Locher, photographer, Associated Press

Louise Johns, documentary photographer

Evan Frost, (pictured at right, left) freelance photographer

Greta Rybus, freelance photographer

Courses

Starting in beginning visual journalism students get their hands on cameras and hands-on experience. That stays the same throughout the program with ample opportunities for students to be out shooting in the real world. 

Here's a suggested course plan for photographers and visual journalists:

Lower-Division Required Coursed in Major

  • JRNL 100H - Journalism and American Society
  • JRNL 170 - Writing the News
  • JRNL 257 - Beginning Video and Photojournalism
  • JRNL 270 - Reporting the News

Upper-Division Required Courses in the Major

  • JRNL 300 - First Amendment and Journalism Law
  • JRNL 400 - Ethics and Trends in News Media
  • JRNL 498 - Supervised Internship

Upper Division Writing Requirement Suggestion

  • JRNL 340 - Intermediate Audio
  • JRNL 362 - Feature Writing

Five Upper-Division Elective Requirement Suggestions

  • JRNL 328 - Intermediate Photojournalism
  • JRNL 350 - Intermediate Video
  • JRNL 427 - Photo Stories
  • JRNL 428 - Freelance Photography
  • JRNL 430 - Print & Web Editing & Design
  • JRNL 433 - Marketing Your Work
  • JRNL 494 - Pollner Seminar

Capstone Requirement Suggestions

  • JRNL 410 - Native News Honors Project
  • JRNL 412 - Magazine Production and Design
  • JRNL 470 - Campaign Coverage
  • JRNL 488 - Student Documentary Unit

Courses Outside JRNL Suggested

  • MART 255 - Photoshop: Art and Design
  • MART 345 - Sound for Film
  • MART 327 - Intro to Cinematography
  • MAR 252 - Screenwriting
  • ARTZ284A - Photo I-Technologies and Processes
  • ARTZ383 - Analog Photography
  • ARTZ388 - Alternative Process Photography
  • ARTZ445 - History of Photography