GREENFIELD – Anyone can snap a picture, but not everyone can be a photojournalist. Carol Barrett believes dozens of photographs displayed this month prove that point.
The Twenty North Gallery is featuring “Our World Thru Their Eyes,” a show of life through the lenses of local photojournalists Tom Russo and Tom Strickland.
Barrett wanted a photojournalism exhibit at the gallery for years, and she’s pleased with how it turned out.
“There are so many stories behind these photos,” said Barrett, gallery chair for the Hancock County Arts Council.
Russo is the staff photographer and photo editor of the Daily Reporter, having captured images of the community for 23 years. Strickland was a mentor, having worked at the DR about 25 years prior to Russo but also at several publications and as a freelance photographer.
The friends said they’re flattered to be asked to display their works to the community.
“It’s in good company if it’s with him,” said Russo of Strickland, who jokes that he pays Russo $5 for every compliment he gives.
Russo and Strickland have plenty of professional banter for each other, but also a lot of respect for the other’s work.
Walking through the gallery is a stroll through time: Strickland’s first photograph on display is a saluting veteran in the early 1970s; Russo’s is of a child bouncing off a trampoline to dunk a ball in a basket. It was a simple assignment in Russo’s first year at the DR in 1999, when he was told to just go out into the community and get a feature photo. He snapped the picture through the window of his car.
“It’s just the people you meet,” said Russo of his love for the profession, having gained trust and respect from athletes, farmers, teachers and others over the years.
Strickland, a Greenfield native, started journalism as a writer but decided to pursue the career through photography. While he dabbled in photography in Greenfield in the early 1970s, he was hired as a staff photographer in 1976 by the Richmond Palladium Item and later worked for the Marin County Independent Journal in California. Strickland and his family returned to Greenfield to purchase his grandparents’ historic home and has since freelanced for the Associated Press, The New York Times, USA Today and more.
His photographs on display range from the Queen of England stepping off a plane, to Vietnamese immigrants bundled in blankets, to Peyton Manning’s “satisfied look” in a winning playoff game. Strickland said his favorite photos are those of people — portraits with expressions that have meaning.
“The work of a good photographer is to take an ordinary situation and make an extraordinary picture out of it,” said Strickland, who was named Indiana New Photographer of the Year in 1980.
Russo and Strickland met in the 1980s when Russo was just beginning to explore the profession. He knew from seeing Strickland’s work that he wanted to emulate a similar “intelligent style” – photography with depth.
Russo, an Indianapolis native, has twice been named Photographer of the Year by the Hoosier State Press Association and twice by the Indiana Associated Press Media Editors Association. Four of his photographs have earned the prestigious “Photo of the Year” award by the HSPA, at least one of which is on display at the gallery. The photo of two hands grasping a vase after a barn fire brings back memories to Russo of the family devastated by their loss, trying to salvage mementos of the past.
Russo’s work on display ranges from emotional images at the Hancock County Fair, to celebration of students winning their state band competition, to Tiger Woods playing golf.
His portrait of a woman who scraped the frosted window of her dilapidated rental property brings back memories of the community support that followed shortly after the image and story was printed. The woman received thousands of dollars in donations and soon a new place to live, Russo said.
Those who want to see the free exhibit this month can simply drop by during gallery hours, every Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. A reception is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. this Friday, Nov. 11. Barrett plans to have a book available for people to sign at the event, to write notes to the photographers thanking them for capturing the stories of the community through their art.
“It’s important to let the community come in and let Tom and Tom know how much we’ve appreciated them for years,” she said. “A picture’s worth a thousand words and to have that tie into an event that’s happening is important, and we appreciate it so much.”
