Our September Monthly Meeting will be on Thursday, September 8, 2022 at 6:45 pm!
The monthly club meeting is a free event for anyone who shares a passion for photography, from the total beginner with your phone to a professional with multiple gear sets. Please join us in-person or online and invite anyone who may be interested in exploring and learning about photography!
We meet at Atlanta Tech Park at 107 Technology Parkway, Peachtree Corners, GA 30092. You are welcome to arrive at 6:15 pm for fellowship and social time to meet new and current members.
Access the September Meeting online on September 8th at 6:45 pm:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84807365372?pwd=RU1QZkJ1QlVLbHVvbDR0T2JaakhGZz09
Meeting ID: 848 0736 5372
Passcode: 371324
Our September Speaker is Ben Gray and the topic will be “30 Years of Photojournalism and Never a Typical Day”.
Come and learn what it’s like to be a photojournalist from an award-winning, lifelong professional who was a staff photographer for the AJC for 18 years. It’s incredibly difficult work, often under dangerous or highly emotional conditions.
A photojournalist seeks to report on a story through pictures. Their photographs must follow a specific set of ethics and guidelines while conveying an objective truth. Ben will share stories and photos of his career in photojournalism – the good, the bad, and the ugly.
He will also attempt to address the numerous questions raised at our August 2022 meeting, for example:
What has been your most challenging assignment? The most dangerous? The most heart-warming?
What was your most impactful photo and the story behind it?
The pull between recording history vs being IN history -- the urge to be engaged in the event yourself rather than just recording it for others to see and experience.
The best and worst photo shoots/assignments.
What mindset do you usually have when you go to shoot dangerous situations?
Do you ever work alone, and if you do, do you feel safe?
If you were given an assignment that you were too scared to do, were you able to say "no," or did you have to go anyway?
In your 30 years, how have you seen photojournalism change? The types of camera gear, how you prepared, how you submitted your photos, all the technical stuff then vs. now, and the huge photo staffs most papers had then vs. now. And perhaps more importantly, the cultural and societal shifts we have seen especially in the last 5 or so years both in the U.S. and internationally with the negative attitudes towards the media (and police too). Photojournalists being targeted and taken hostage and killed.
Would you encourage or discourage young people from pursuing a career in photojournalism today? Why?
What skills and abilities would it take to be a professional photojournalist today?
About Ben Gray
Ben Gray is a creative visual communicator with nearly 30 years of professional experience as a photojournalist, videographer, photo editor and communications officer. Ben has been a freelance photographer based in Atlanta since returning from the Middle East in 2020, where he worked in Jerusalem and Palestine in the non-profit and religious sector with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land and the Lutheran World Federation.
Prior to moving to the Middle East, Ben worked for 18 years at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, as a photojournalist, photo editor and director of photography. He is a graduate of Ohio University’s Visual Communication program and serves on the board of directors of The Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar.
Ben has written blogs, deadline stories and feature-length narratives. He is a winning ultramarathon runner who has completed 100-mile races and is a patented inventor (graymatterinventions.com).
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