Do1Thing Blog

Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist David Leeson has been on staff at the Dallas Morning News since 1984. He has also worked for the Abilene Reporter News and the Times-Picayune in New Orleans.

His assignments have taken him to more than 60 countries and numerous world conflicts.

He was a finalist for the Pulitzer three times prior to winning the award in 2004 along with colleague Cheryl Diaz Meyer for photographs made in March and April 2003 while on the front lines with the US Army 3rd Infantry Division during the invasion of Iraq. He has also won two Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards and numerous regional, state and national awards.

In the fall of 2000, he began shooting video for the Dallas Morning News making him the first staff photographer in the nation shooting video full-time for a newspaper. Since then he has completed more than seven documentary films.

Two of his documentaries from the war also won honors. War Stories (2003) won a National Headliners award, a national Edward R. Murrow Award and a regional Emmy Award for best television documentary.  Dust to Dust (2004) was named a finalist for best short film at the USA Film Festival. He won a second Emmy in 2007 as producer/editor of combat footage from Afghanistan.

In 2006, Leeson was named Innovator of the Year in Photojournalism by American Photo magazine for his work using frame grabs for newspaper daily still assignments. The results of his efforts have culminated in the growing trend by newspapers to use existing photo staff, transitioned to high definition video cameras, to obtain both video and stills (frame grabs) from a single assignment.

Leeson is a graduate of Abilene Christian University, is married and has five children.

View David’s Work

Robin Gaby Fisher specializes in telling stories about regular people living through extraordinary circumstances. Her Star-Ledger newspaper series “After the Fire,” about two students who were critically burned in the Seton Hall dormitory fire, was a finalist for the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for feature writing.
In 2004 her series “Last Chance High,” about a special school for troubled teens, was also a finalist for a Pulitzer. The series received the Nieman Foundation at Harvard’s 2005 Taylor Family Award for Fairness in Newspapers. Robin was part of the Star-Ledger team that won the 2005 Pulitizer Prize for breaking news.
Her new book, “After the Fire” debuted on the New York Times Bestseller List in September.

In his photographs we see people and historical events through the keen, alert eye of an eminent camera artist.”
. . . The Winds of War author Herman Wouk

David Hume Kennerly, a contributor for NBC News, has been shooting on the front lines of history for four decades. He has photographed eight wars, seven U.S. presidents, and has traveled to more than 140 countries along the way.   He is an authentic global photographer, as much in his element in the desert covering combat as he is capturing dramatic and intimate behind-the-scenes photos of the world’s leaders in the corridors of power.

Kennerly was recently named, “One of the Most 100 Most Important People in Photography” by American Photo Magazine, and last year was selected as the 2007, “Photography Person of the Year,” by Photo Media Magazine.

At age 25 Kennerly won the 1972 Pulitzer Prize for his photos of the Vietnam War, and two years later was appointed President Gerald R. Ford’s personal photographer. He has also won the Overseas Press Club’s Olivier Rebbot Award for “Best Photographic Reporting from Abroad,” for his coverage of Presidents Reagan and Gorbachev’s historic summit meeting in Geneva. He also won first prizes in the World Press contest for his dramatic and powerful photos of the war Cambodia just before it fell to the Khmer Rouge.

He was nominated for a Primetime Emmy as executive producer of NBC’s, “The Taking of Flight 847,” and was writer and Executive Producer of a two-hour NBC pilot, “Shooter,” starring Helen Hunt, based on his Vietnam experiences. “Shooter” won the Emmy for “Outstanding Cinematography.”   He is executive producer of the recent short documentary, “Portraits of a Lady,” starring former Justice Sandra Day O’Conner, which made the short list of films eligible for the 2008 Academy Award nominations.

Kennerly has been on the masthead of Time and John F. Kennedy, Jr’s George magazine, and was a contributing photographer for Life Magazine, and a contributing editor for Newsweek magazine for ten years.  He has more than 50 major magazine covers to his credit, featuring photos of Ansel Adams, Ronald Reagan, Gerald R. Ford,  Deng Xiaoping, Anwar Sadat, Henry Kissinger, Mikhail Gorbachev,  Jonestown, The Clintons, John McCain, and many others.

Kennerly has published several books of his work, Shooter, Photo Op, Seinoff: The Final Days of Seinfeld, and in the year 2000, Kennerly traveled more than 250,000 miles to 38 states and seven countries for his fourth book, Photo du Jour:  A Picture-a-Day Journey through the First Year of the New Millennium.  Photo du Jour was selected as one of the best books of 2002 by American Photo Magazine, and the Smithsonian Institute exhibited photographs from the book in their Arts & Industry Building in Washington, D.C., one of the largest photographic shows ever mounted by them.  He also worked on several, “Day in the Life,” book projects on The Soviet Union, America, The People’s Republic of China, and the United States Armed Forces.

His most recent book is Extraordinary Circumstances: The Presidency of Gerald R. Ford. Former First Lady Betty Ford said, “Extraordinary Circumstances is a wonderful record of the Ford Presidency.  David Kennerly’s heart and soul are in this book.”

Award-winning photographer Doug Menuez said, “The range of images and perfect moments add up to a master class of great photojournalism, timeless, classic and relevant. It feels very emotional, intimate, and worlds away from our current super-posed, photo-op political culture. What is truly amazing is how easy Kennerly makes the photography look. … Extraordinary Circumstances fills an important gap in American history from a rare talent given a ringside seat, it is an incredible achievement.”

Kennerly is on the Board of Trustees of the Gerald R. Ford Foundation, the board of the Eddie Adams Photo Workshop, the Atlanta Board of Visitors of the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), and a member of the advisory council, Center for American History, University of Texas, Austin.  His archive is housed at the Center for American History at the University of Texas, Austin, which is also the publisher of three of his books.

Kennerly is a Canon Explorer of Light, and exclusively uses their digital cameras for his work.  The August issue of  “pdn” features a full page Canon ad about one of his photos that runs on the inside back cover of the magazine.

View David’s work

John Kaplan is one of America’s most accomplished photographers. In 1992, his project about the diverse lifestyles of American 21-year-olds was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography. His work is exhibited at museums and galleries worldwide including recent solo exhibitions in the United States, Bolivia and Korea as well as group shows in the U.S., United Kingdom, France, Japan, Korea, Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

In 2003, Kaplan’s project on survivors of torture in West Africa was awarded the Overseas Press Club Award for Feature Photography and the Harry Chapin Media Award for Photojournalism. The project was also recognized by the Robert F. Kennedy Foundation, National Headliner Awards, Best of Photojournalism Competition, Pictures of the Year International, Society of News Design and Photo District News Best of Photography Contest.

In 1989, Mr. Kaplan was named Photographer of the Year in the annual Pictures of the Year (POY) contest. That same year, he received the Robert F. Kennedy Award for outstanding coverage of the disadvantaged in the United States. His international work in West Africa was again recognized by the RFK foundation in 2003.

A professor at the University of Florida, Kaplan teaches photography, design and international journalism. He has twice been named a photography juror for the Pulitzer Prizes. Kaplan is a frequent lecturer at photo workshops and seminars throughout the world and has also received recognition for his poetry and writing.

In 2003, Kaplan’s second book, Photo Portfolio Success, was published by Writers Digest Books.

In his own words: I have been a photojournalist for over 33 years, beginning my career at the Topeka Capital-Journal. For 30 years I was a staff photographer and special projects photographer for the Des Moines Register. I recently left the newspaper business to freelance.

While at the Register I won two Pulitzer Prizes, the first in 1987 for Feature Photography for a photo essay on Iowa’s Farm Crisis. The work was done with the help of a Nikon/NPPA sabbatical. I shared in another Pulitzer in 1991 for Community Service for a story about a rape victim. Seven of my photographs were included in the entry.

Other accolades while at the Register include two stints as judge for Pictures of the Year, White House News Photographers contest judge, three times Region 5 Photographer of the Year, and numerous other local, regional and national awards.

I have worked on several book projects, including Baseball in America, A Day in the Life of Ireland, 24 Hours in Cyberspace, The Power to Heal, One Digital Day, America 24/7 and America at Home. I am currently publishing multi-media projects for Drake University and other local clients in the Des Moines area. I am also working on a sports book about the Drake Relays to coincide with that event’s 100 year anniversary.

I live in Pleasant Hill, Iowa, a suburb of Des Moines with my wife Julie and three cats. I have 3 children, and 3 grandchildren who all live nearby. It looks like 3 is a lucky number for me right now.