FORTY AWARD-WINNING PHOTOJOURNALISTS WORK BENEFITTING THE NONPROFIT BOYD’S STATION
KI SMITH GALLERY BENEFIT AUCTION FOR BOYD’S STATION
Witness: Beauty in the Truth
FORTY AWARD-WINNING PHOTOJOURNALISTS WORK BENEFITTING NONPROFIT BOYD’S STATION
Captured by some of today’s most acclaimed photojournalists, this impressive collection of photographs depicts some of the most famous moments in recent history. These iconic images have circulated the globe in internationally-respected publications, but are rarely available to the public as authenticated, museum quality prints.
The Ki Smith Gallery Benefit Print Auction for Boyd’s Station opens with a public reception on Thursday, March 7, 2019 at 6PM-10PM showcasing over 70 large prints displayed and made available for this special silent auction benefit.
OPENING NIGHT RECEPTION
Thursday, March 7, 2019 – 6-10PM
Ki Smith Gallery, 712 W 125th St, New York, NY 10027
Special Guest Photographer Presentations and Talks at Ki Smith Gallery
Friday, March 8 and Saturday, March 9
Friday, March 8, 2019
Michael E. Keating, Hoosier Hardwood Documentary Project at 6PM
Gary Hershorn, Chasing the Moon NYC at 8PM
Saturday, March 9, 2019
Astrid Riecken, Reportage and Collage at 6PM
Jeff Swensen, American Reportage at 8PM
This Ki Smith Gallery benefit will support the Boyd’s Station Project 306.36 and the mentoring and training of tomorrow’s documentary photographers and journalists through the innovative Boyd’s Station Reinke Grants for Visual Storytelling and the Mary Withers Rural Writing Fellowship located in the beautiful Bluegrass Region of Harrison County, Kentucky.
ALL PROCEEDS from each print auctioned during this event will FULLY BENEFIT the visual documentary programs sponsored by the arts and journalism nonprofit Boyd’s Station.
These beautiful prints have been printed courtesy of Madison Photo Works in Covington, Kentucky exclusively for this benefit auction.
All horizontal prints are Digital C-Prints printed on 24” x 20” Kodak Endura photographic paper with 2” white borders on top and sides. All vertical prints are Digital C-Prints printed on 24”x 16” Kodak Endura photographic paper with 2” white borders on top and sides. Each print is signed by the photographer on front (recto) at bottom right of each image with archival black signing pen.
If you cannot attend the events at the Ki Smith Gallery in NYC, you can view the entire collection and bid on these benefit images here. www.boydsstation.org/nyc
2019 Reinke Grants for Visual Storytelling and Mary Withers Rural Writing Fellowship Announced
Boyd’s Station is honored to announce three 2019 Reinke Grant for Visual Storytelling recipients and proudly awards the first Mary Withers Rural Writing Fellowship.
The 2019 Reinke Grant recipients are Ohio University’s Michael Johnson, Ball State University’s Stephanie Amador and Kent State University’s Nathaniel Bailey.
The first Mary Withers Rural Writing Fellowship is awarded to Ohio University’s Margaret Heltzel.
An impressive and competitive field of student visual documentary photographers and journalists from 21 university programs applied for these grants and fellowship. The grants and fellowship provide recipients an intense 12-week opportunity to document the people and places of the nearly 300 square miles of Harrison County, Kentucky as part of Boyd's Station’s 306.36 Visual & Writing Documentary Project.
Submitted applications and portfolios were evaluated by a selection committee including Nikki Kahn, formerly of the Washington Post, Stephen Crowley, formerly of the New York Times, Michael Keating, formerly of the Cincinnati Enquirer, Jeff Swensen of American Reportage, Andrew P. Scott from USA TODAY, Cara Owsley of the Cincinnati Enquirer, Carrie Cochran of the E.W. Scripps Company, Amy Kinsella Gruber, Brad Mangin, Lisa Bardin and Neil Rush.
The Reinke Grant is named in honor of Ed Reinke, an award-winning Associated Press photographer and mentor to countless photojournalists. Ed died in 2011 following an injury he suffered while covering an Indy Car race at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Kentucky.
The Mary Withers Rural Writing Fellowship is awarded in the memory of Mary Elizabeth Withers who passed away on Sunday, March 11, 2018 at her home in Boyd, Kentucky. A life-long Harrison County resident, Mary was instrumental in the founding of Boyd’s Station serving as one of the founding board of directors. Mary was a passionate supporter of the historic Boyd Methodist Church, the arts, education and Harrison County, Kentucky. She is truly missed.
2019 REINKE GRANT FOR VISUAL STORYTELLING RECIPIENTS
Michael Johnson, Ohio University
“I try to seek out the quiet moments to better understand people. I feel determined when someone includes me in a part of their everyday life. Catching someone in an instance of quiet can tell more about the person than they could with their own words.”
Stephanie Amador, Ball State University
“I'm curious about how people affect their community. Just like myself, there's an identity that needs to be explained. I listen and empathize to people's story because their life reflects on their community.”
Nathaniel Bailey, Kent State University
“Documentary photojournalism allows others to see people they would likely never meet and it allows them to view places they would normally never be. By doing so, excellent storytelling can broaden our understanding of what each of us as humans share.”
2019 MARY WITHERS RURAL WRITING FELLOWSHIP RECIPIENT
Margaret Heltzel, Ohio University
“I know a little about a lot. Conversations come easily that way. I have been a livestock handler at Mount Vernon Estate since I was 14 years old. There, I learned how to drive horses and oxen, cultivate fields using an 18th-century plow, assist ewes in lambing, sheer sheep, and curate history. The job requires teamwork, calmness, and a certain meticulousness. As a journalist, I have to be a decent writer. I can research, interview subjects, and put sentences together to create a story. In a way, journalism is like farming. Both require patience, observation, and cultivation. Truth drives success. Hardships inspire innovation.”
Project 306.36 Image Showcase at Rohs Opera House
Reinke Grant for Visual Storytelling Photographer Showcase at Rohs Opera House
Mark your calendar now! Please join BOYD'S STATION PROJECT 306.36 and the REINKE GRANT FOR VISUAL STORYTELLING photographers Arden Barnes and Michael Swensen at the historic Rohs OperaHouse in downtown Cynthiana, Kentucky on August 4, 2018 at 3PM for a FREE public showcase of their photographs taken during the inaugural Reinke Grant for Visual Storytelling and the Boyd’s Station Project 306.36 program.
University of Kentucky’s Arden Barnes and Michael Swensen from Ohio University will be on hand to speak about their experiences documenting the people and places of Harrison County over the past three months.
Their amazing photographs are the first images to be added to the Boyd’s Station Project 306.36 archive which will continue to document Harrison County bringing student documentary photographers and professional visual journalists to Harrison County for many years to come.
Rohs Opera House
133 E Pike St, Cynthiana, KY 41031
PROJECT 306.36 SPONSORS
Project 306.36 and the Reinke Grant for Visual Storytelling would not be possible without the generous support from Nikon, the official sponsor and supplier of professional photographic equipment to Boyd’s Station and Project 306.36, PhotoShelter, the official provider of the Boyd's Station Project 306.36 archive powered by Libris and the countless number of professional photojournalists who graciously donated their work in a true grassroots effort to successfully fund this visual documentary project along with support from the Northern Kentucky Clyde N. Day Foundation, The Troy Foundation & Northern Kentucky University School of the Arts and Roberts Camera along with the Oskar and Charlotte Buschmann Fund along with generous donations from Charles Bell and Nancy Baird.
Dawn to Dusk Photo Challenge 2018
The Boyd's Station Dawn to Dusk Photo Challenge
What started out as a friendly photo challenge among the Boyd's Station Reinke Grant for Visual Storytelling recipients Arden Barnes and Michael Swensen and visiting college friends Michael Johnson and Daniel Linhart seamlessly grew turned into the Boyd's Station Dawn to Dusk Photo Challenge.
Pretty amazing what can come together in a very short time frame with a little help from the amazing group of Boyd's Station supporters!
The idea of the Dawn to Dusk Photo Challenge was for each student photographer to interpret in their own visual essay the words of the poem “ Where I’m From" by Kentucky poet laureate George Ella Lyon.
Michael Swensen
“I believe
I believe in thirty minutes there and thirty minutes back.
I believe in windy roads.
I believe the water tells us which way to go.
I believe in the old white oaks who hide the stop-signs.
I believe in the fog to make your dreams vivid.
I believe in the devil’s backbone.
I believe in the long row to hoe.
I believe in the mimosa trees for a lick of paradise.
I believe in all of the good ol’ dogs.
I believe in the conflicted cat who makes a better dog.
I believe in the 89-year-old gardener.
I believe in finding the honey hole and never telling a soul.”
Arden Barnes
“Where I’m From
As a Kentuckian, I see this as a poem about home, as I assume was Lyon’s intention.
My home is a small brick house across the street from a large white one.
I slept in the brick house, but the way the white house glows with golden light rings truer as a part of me than anything in the other.
My love for photography was probably developed in that white house.
My Grandaddy is gone and where I thought we had nothing in common, we share two very important things— a love for my grandmother and for a camera.
He has photography, but the rest of my being is shared with the 70-year-old soul that still resides in that white house.
I share her dimples, love of books, passion for quotes.
I am from her love of printed photos,
Kentucky,
And the golden light that shines through her house.”
Michael Johnson
Daniel Linhart
The catch to this photo challenge was that none of the photographers knew the details until the night before the competition was scheduled to start.
The photographers were presented with the rules for the competition on a Monday night along with the words of a poem written by George Ella Lyon and told they had between 6AM and 10PM the following day to interpret the poem in their own visual storytelling style.
Each final photo essay could be no more than 10 frames total.
All the images absolutely had to be taken from inside the borders of Harrison County, Kentucky.
Where I'm From
A poem by George Ella Lyon, Kentucky Poet Laureate 2015-2016
I am from clothespins,
from Clorox and carbon-tetrachloride.
I am from the dirt under the back porch.
(Black, glistening,
it tasted like beets.)
I am from the forsythia bush
the Dutch elm
whose long-gone limbs I remember
as if they were my own.
I'm from fudge and eyeglasses,
from Imogene and Alafair.
I'm from the know-it-alls
and the pass-it-ons,
from Perk up! and Pipe down!
I'm from He restoreth my soul
with a cottonball lamb
and ten verses I can say myself.
I'm from Artemus and Billie's Branch,
fried corn and strong coffee.
From the finger my grandfather lost
to the auger,
the eye my father shut to keep his sight.
Under my bed was a dress box
spilling old pictures,
a sift of lost faces
to drift beneath my dreams.
I am from those moments--
snapped before I budded --
leaf-fall from the family tree.
Daniel Linhart, Michael Swensen, Arden Barnes and Michael Johnson following the Dawn to Dusk Photo Challenge judging at Biancke's Restaurant in Cynthiana, Kentucky. Michael Swensen was named the overall winner taking home a ThinkTankPhoto ShapeShifter backpack courtesy of Robert's Camera.
Gary Landers and Charles Bertram (along with Michael Keating not shown here due to his documentary instincts taking over in making this photograph) judge the photo essays submitted during the Boyd's Station Dawn to Dusk Photo Challenge.
With a deadline of noon the following day, the real surprise for the student photographers was arriving at Biancke's Restaurant in Cynthiana, KY to learn their photo essay submissions were to be judged and critiqued by a visiting panel of photojournalism's best - Michael Keating and Gary Landers, both formerly of the Cincinnati Enquirer and Charles Bertram of the Lexington Herald-Leader along with Cynthiana's Dr. Neil Rush and Mrs. Bruce Florence, a close personal friend of George Ella Lyon, who spoke about the acclaimed Kentucky poet and her work.
Ohio University's Micheal Swensen wins the 2018 Dawn to Dusk Photo Challenge taking home a ThinkTankPhoto ShapeShifter backpack thanks to Robert's Camera.
Michael Keating remarked, "We congratulate Mr. Swenson who emerged as the winner of The Boyd's Station Dawn to Dusk Photo Challenge. Fellow judges Gary Landers and Charles Bertram who viewed the quality work of the foursome observed that the high quality and respect for the subjects shown by the group left the future of visual storytelling in good hands going forward!"
"It was practically impossible to pick ONE winner." said judge Charles Bertram, the six-time Kentucky News Photographer of the Year winner, "All four were outstanding and the debate could have gone on for hours. I finally thought Michael's "moments" put him on top although as Gary Landers said, we could have easily been persuaded to pick one of the others."
Project 306.36 and the Reinke Grant for Visual Storytelling would not be possible without the generous support from Nikon, the official sponsor and supplier of professional photographic equipment to Boyd’s Station and Project 306.36, PhotoShelter, the official provider of the Boyd's Station Project 306.36 archive powered by Libris and the countless number of professional photojournalists who graciously donated their work in a true grassroots effort to successfully fund this visual documentary project along with support from the Northern Kentucky Clyde N. Day Foundation, The Troy Foundation & the Oskar and Charlotte Buschmann Fund along with generous donations from Charles Bell and Nancy Baird.