A Ukranian soldier prays as the Russian invasion rages in his country at the Church of the Most Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in Lviv, Ukraine on March 12, 2022. Many funerals are held here for fallen Ukrainian troops killed in the war. Photo by Carol Guzy/Zuma Press
Women in Photojournalism exhibit visits Glenwood Springs
CMC professional photography program hopes images inspire viewers
By Mike McKibbin
Colorado Mountain College
Nov. 9, 2023 - An exhibit of images produced by women in photojournalism that focuses on many serious national issues opens in the Colorado Mountain College ArtShare Gallery at Morgridge Commons in Glenwood Springs on Nov. 15.
It is an annual traveling exhibit by the Women Photojournalists of Washington, a nonprofit that educates the public about the role of women visual journalists and helps to foster their professional success, according to their website.
The exhibit is presented locally by the professional photography program at the Isaacson School for Communication, Arts & Media at CMC Spring Valley.
“Anytime you can put photos by photojournalists in a gallery, you’ll get greater attention just based on the daily news cycle,” said Isaacson School’s professional photography professor Joseph Gamble. “You can get an inspiration point by seeing how the events of our time are captured by professional photographers.”
CMC students helped lay out and install the 28-image exhibit, which allowed them to learn about the curation process, Gamble noted.
Leigh Vogel, president of the Women Photojournalists of Washington from 2016-18 and a former photographer for The Aspen Times who taught a CMC photography class, will be the guest speaker at the opening reception,.
The group’s website states the exhibition opens in Washington, DC, and then tours up to 10 colleges and universities each year. An accompanying speaker series sends group members to the institutions to speak to students about the career and craft of visual journalism.
“I’m there to help bridge the gap between students and working photojournalists and to help them get to the next step in their careers,” Vogel said. “I like to talk about things they don’t always teach in college, like finances and physical and mental health issues that come with these positions.”
Vogel has a black-and-white photo in the exhibit. It shows police officers on the first anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol building attack and riot in Washington.
“I hope when people see these images they’re inspired to follow the stories they’re passionate about,” Vogel said.
The exhibit opening is on Wednesday, Nov. 15 in rooms 1 and 2 plus the second-floor ArtShare Gallery at Morgridge Commons, 815 Cooper Ave., in Glenwood Springs. The reception will run from 5:30-6:30 p.m. and the presentation will begin at 6:30 p.m. The exhibit can be viewed through the second week of January and is sponsored by Sony, Canon, Digital Silver Imaging and the Philip and Edith Leonian Foundation.