RANDY OLSON

GROWING POPULATIONS, SHRINKING RESOURCES:
DYNAMICS OF A WORLD IN CRISIS

Moderator: Kim Komenich

ABOUT THE EVENT

Join us for an evening of great photography.
National Geographic photographer Randy Olson will present his work on overpopulation, environmental issues and disappearing cultures. Moderator Kim Komenich will follow up with and interview and Q&A from the audience. Light refreshments will be served.

ABOUT RANDY OLSON

Randy Olson is a documentary photographer whose work for National Geographic magazine has taken him to over 50 countries in the past 25 years. From the Australian Outback, to the tundra of Siberia and the savannas of Sudan and rivers of Ethiopia, Randy Olson has shot over 30 stories for National Geographic magazine on issues of overpopulation, environmental degradation, resource extraction and disappearing cultures.

Randy Olson was the Magazine Photographer of the Year in the 2003 Pictures of the Year International (POYi) competition, and was also awarded POYi’s Newspaper Photographer of the Year in 1991; that same year Olson received the Robert F. Kennedy Award for Excellence in Journalism for his story on the problems at the Section 8 Housing in Pittsburgh. In 1995, while working as a newspaper photographer at The Pittsburgh Press, Olson received an Alicia Patterson Foundation Fellowship to support a seven-year project documenting a family with AIDS,

His work has been published in LIFE, GEO, and Smithsonian magazines. In 2011 National Geographic Society published a book of his work in their Masters of Photography series. His commercial clients include Toyota, HSBC, Stratos Global, and Becton Dickinson.

Olson is the founder of The Photo Society, the non-profit organization of photographers contributing to National Geographic Magazine.

“What’s important to me in a photograph is to be able to see what the person in the image is thinking and feeling; I always want my pictures to connect with people. Young photographers often look for how we are different – the wacky world we live in. I look for how we are all the same. If I do a good job documenting an issue, those images can bring light to stories that otherwise could be easily ignored. I am a journeyman photographer; I always try to push myself to take pictures that make a difference.”

One Little Hammer: Randy Olson from Blue Chalk on Vimeo.

ABOUT KIM KOMENICH

Kim Komenich is a photographer, filmmaker and current assistant professor in photojournalism at San Francisco State University.

Komenich worked as staff photographer and editor for the San Francisco Examiner (1982-2000) and for the San Francisco Chronicle (2000-2009). He was awarded the 1987 Pulitzer Prize in Spot News Photography for his coverage of the 1986 Philippine “People Power” Revolution. In addition to his work in the Philippines, Komenich has photographed the ramifications of conflict in Vietnam, El Salvador, the former Soviet Union and Iraq.

Komenich is the recipient of many awards including the 1983 World Press Photo News Picture Story Award, the 2005 National Press Photograhers Association`s Clifton C. Edom Education Award, and the 2010 NPPA Humanitarian Award, among others. His 2016 book ‘Revolution Revisited’ is part of an ongoing re-examination of the effects of People Power Revolution, 30 years later.

EVENT PHOTOS

CLick here to see photos from this event by Kristin Little Photography.