August 27, 2024
Tom Fox
From High School Stadiums to the Olympic Pitch
Pick up sports photography tips and tricks while hearing and viewing behind-the-scene stories from longtime sports photographer Tom Fox.
Tom Fox is a Sr. Visual Journalist for The Dallas Morning News.
As a photojournalist, Tom has spent over 30 years experiencing the lives of others and sharing their stories through the lens of a camera. Along the way, he's had the privilege of working on many stories from Arlington to South Africa from the plight of sick orphan Texas children denied healthcare to the World Series champion Texas Rangers.
In that time, Tom was part of a small team of photographers at The Dallas Morning News who won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography for coverage of Hurricane Katrina.
He was also a 2020 Pulitzer Prize finalist in Spot News Photography for coverage of an active shooter outside Dallas’ Earle Cabell Federal Building, which houses federal courts. He photographed the ordeal at great personal risk. The series of active shooter photos were shown at the 32nd International Festival of Photojournalism (“Visa pour l'image) in Perpignan, France.
In 2022, Festival della Fotografia Etica (Italy) recognized his photo from a Dallas courtroom wedding with the World Report Award's Single Shot of the Year.
Stateside, the National Headliner Awards honored him with Best of Show (2018 and 2020) for his first place photography portfolio.
September 24, 2024
Richard Sharum
Book Title: Spina Americana
(accompanying essays by Bill Shapiro- LIFE Magazine; April Watson- Nelson-Atkins Museum)
One-sentence summary:
A three year journey documenting the Central United States, from the Mexican to Canadian borders, respectively, at a time of national division not seen since the decade preceding the American Civil War.
Written Content:
With Spina Americana (American Spine in Latin), I am attempting to determine what the people, and their land, of the Central U.S. have to do with contributing towards what I consider to be the “national character” of this country.
In this current political climate, where seclusion and division have gained the upper hand in the national psyche, it is my aim to find the unifying elements not only as Americans, but as a people. As a humanist, I still find photography to be the most efficient “visual mediator” between groups of people who will never speak to one another, either through distance or through lack of desire. I want to see if this region could hold the key to other Americans having a better understanding of who we are as a country, where we came from, and what remains of the collective hope we still have as a nation. This, I feel, can only be accomplished using a spectrum of long-term documentation, highlighting the overall complexity of what is generally assumed about this area.
Thus, I have carved out a 100 mile wide path of land, splitting the geographic center of the U.S. It runs vertically all the way from the Mexican to the Canadian border, respectively, traversing and creating a backbone over the land. This corridor spans a total of around 157,000 square miles. The commonly used expression for this area is “flyover country”, which I find highly demeaning to the millions of people living there, and presumes a land of unimportance- culturally or otherwise.
There is a vast spectrum of individuals and cultures that live within this “spine”, including Native Americans, Mennonites, Mexican Americans and many others. In showing aspects of daily life, I plan on equalizing the positions of mechanics, surgeons, police officers, prisoners, exotic dancers, politicians, migrant laborers, and others, as all contributing factors to what defines this part of the country. I do this simply as an American who is witnessing a level of division not seen here since the late 1850’s, and as one who believes that through the power of observation, divisions can be seen for what they truly are- transitory and obstructive. I am not alone in this national anxiety.
I want this work to be able to contribute to the larger discussion of what makes us Americans in the first place and that being a patriot means the ability for us as a people to still immerse ourselves in groups that may seem foreign or hostile to us at first glance. I consider it a patriotic duty to bring up sensitive topics of discussion in order for us to observe, talk about, and ultimately repair the trenches we have so willingly dug amongst one another.
As a former proponent of “conflict imagery” as a means of ending conflict, I have grown to understand that this formula no longer works as the best strategy towards preventing conflict.
It is my belief that we desperately need to get back down to the personal level, to find the emotional ties that bind us all- the ones that transcend all matters of race, language, nationality, socio-economics, and power. We are a social species, meaning we need that sense of community. Where technology and social media made promises of a more inter-connected world, we instead have seen rates of personal isolation, loneliness, tribalism, suicide, and murder go up in the last twenty years.
Updated Bio:
Richard Sharum is an editorial and documentary photographer based in the Dallas, Texas area. Mainly focusing on socio-economic or social justice dilemmas concerning the human condition, his work has been regarded as in-depth, up-close and personal. Selected exhibitions have occurred in Kyoto, Japan, Sao Paulo, Brazil, Reggio Emilia, Italy, and Dallas. His work has been added to the permanent collection of the Witliff Center for Documentary Studies, as well as others. His commissions include those by The Meadows Foundation, Centers for Community Cooperation, Harvard Law School, Student Conservation Association, Children's Medical Center (Oncology), Childrens Cancer Fund.
His publications include those by LFI (Leica International), British Journal of Photography, LensCulture, The Atlantic, Texas Monthly, Publico (Portugal), El Pais (Spain), Observer (UK), The New York Times Lens Blog, B+W Photo Magazine, Huck Magazine, Glasstire, PATRON, Creative Review, among others.
Recent Appearances include: A Photographic Life Podcast with Grant Scott, ATO/Bridging the Divide Podcast, and an essay on “Truth in Photography” for their Winter 2023 issue.
Richard Sharum is represented by The Hulett Collection, Tulsa, Oklahoma.
October 22, 2024
Zach Warner: Funtography
Brief Description / Take Away
In this creative, fun, and entertaining program, Zach will explain his concept of "Photography Forecasting". Zach is able to capture the images he does by reading people and looking 5 steps ahead in multiple directions.
Biography
I’m half German sausage and half Italian sausage, and that makes for one tasty sandwich! My favorite past time is being on tour. There is nothing like being in a different city and state every day, constantly meeting new people and making connections.
2024 Programs
January - Members Show
February - Janet Cunningham Enhance Your Creativity With LENSBABY
March - Grahan Hobart - Visualization
April - Rebecca Flores - Making the Move to Moving Images
May - 90th Anniversary Celebration - cancelled due to storms
June - 90th Anniversary Celebration
July - Anita Oakley - Travel and Photographing the World
August - Tom Fox - Sports Photography Tips and Tricks
September -
October - Zach Warner - Funtography
November -
December - No Program
2023 Programs
January 2023 - Members Showcase "The Elements"
February 2023 - Dennis Fritsche: Themes and Projects
March 2023 - Norm Diamond: Photography from the Heart and Soul
April 2023 - Jeremy Lock: Outside Your Front Door
May 2023 - Ximena Peryea
June 2023 - Ian McVea
July 2023
August 2023 - Russell Graves
September 2023 - Night Shoot at Reunion Tower
October 2023 - Bird
November - Susan Kindley - How Photography Changed My LIfe
December - No Program
2022 Programs
January - Member Show "My Favorite Photographs"
February - Sean Fitzgerald
March - Kaye Hargis
April - Jim Hamel: Night Photography: Big City Lights
May - Richard Sharum: Campesino Cuba
June - Steve Reeves: Contest Judging Confidential
July - Richard Klein: Finding Inspiration & Permission, The Contemporary Photographers’ Paradox
August - Jarrod Oram: Journey, Not Destination and Shooting with Intention
September - Chris Rusanowsky:
October - Michael McLean: Environmental Portraits and Building Visual Narratives
VIDEO
November - Frank Richards: (sometime in the last half of 2022)
December - No program
2022 Programs
January - Members Photos of the DFW Metroplex
February - Lisa Langell An artistic photographer lies in ALL of us
March - Smiley Pool DMN Photographer
April - Robert Moore - My Life on the Street
May - Jim Walsh
June - Carla Golden
July - Lisa Langell
August - Jeff Parker
September - Larry Petterborg
October - No Program - DCC Hosts the Bird
November - Steve Hawiszczak & Dalis Foglia
December - No Program
History of prior programs HERE