Chris Usher
Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, Chris Usher graduated from Indiana University at Bloomington with a degree in Journalism. Usher spent several years as a newspaper photographer, (Troy Daily News; Richmond Palladium Item; Louisville Courier Journal; Miami Herald; Orlando Sentinel ) before going freelance and moving to Washington, DC in 1990.
Throughout his career, Usher has received numerous awards for his photography: Indiana College Photographer of the Year (1985 and 1986), the William Randolph Hearst Photojournalism Championship (1985 and 1986), POY (2000, 2001, 2003) WHNPA (2001, 2003, 2005, 2007), CHIPP (2006), and an Eisenstaedt Award (2000) for his unique and controversial depiction of Clinton’s post-acquittal speech. His award-winning photos have most recently been published in American Photography 22 and The World’s Greatest Black & White Photography.
Usher’s documentation of behind-the-scenes moments at the White House, entitled Behind the Velvet Rope, is a traveling exhibition that next opens at the Southeast Museum of Photography in June 2008. One of Us, a two-year photo-documentary project begun on the day Hurricane Katrina made landfall in the Gulf Coast, is currently in development as a book (scheduled for publication in 2008) and a traveling exhibition. Usher photographed and interviewed residents of the Gulf Coast for three weeks immediately after the storm, and five times since, most recently on the 2nd anniversary.
Currently, Usher is immersed in wet plate photographic processes. When he isn’t working on assignments or projects, Chris would rather be fly-fishing in Montana.
Usher’s presentation is sponsored by Kodak.
Kristen Ashburn was born in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, USA. Committed to humanitarianism beyond the lens, while still in college she made five trips to Romania as a volunteer working with neurologically- impaired orphans, and in 1997 established an American chapter of the Romanian Challenge Appeal, becoming its first chairperson.