Image provided by: West Linn High School; West Linn, OR
About The amplifier. (West Linn, Oregon) 1921-current | View Entire Issue (April 1, 2008)
Aprì! Kennedy inspires with Pulitzer Prize winning photography; emphasizes importance of opportunities offered at West Linn C hristopher E rbin Staff Reporter David Hume Kennedy, Class of 1965, has been photographing history for ? four decades, beginning as Photo Editor for the Amplifier. As a contributing Editor for Newsweek, Kennerly has traveled the globe to produce insightful images of important historic events. He has been named to Time Magazine's Top 100 Most Influential Photographers, and his inspiration derived from R oseburg, O re. —a city most people in Oregon probably could not pick out on the state map. "My interest in photography predated high school. I wanted to be a shooter from the first time I picked up a camera when I was a little kid," Kennerly said. "It was always on my mind. By the time I got to high school I was well on my way to a professional career, and, in fact, was shooting photos for the Lake Oswego Review and the Oregon City Enterprise Courier while a senior." Kennerly grew up in Roseburg, Ore., before transferring to WLHS his junior year. "My best memory of West Linn High was how readily my contemporaries accepted me when I transferred there from Roseburg during my junior year in 1964," Kennerly said, "Showing up at a new school so late in the game can be a nightmare, but WLHS was filled with great kids who took me in and made me feel right at home." Kennerly was an active student who participated in the "Sirs" boys clubs, ran two years on the Varsity Track Team and competed on the Debate Team. He was also involved in theatre, starring in multiple school plays including his personal favorite "Comrades" during his senior year, as well as working on the newspaper. "The Amplifier provided some of my best and worst memories," Kennerly said. "One of the worst had to do with putting a Gahan Wilson cartoon from Playboy Magazine in the December issue of The Amplifier which showed two workmen and an old lady standing in front of the fireplace. Laying in the fireplace was the skeleton of Santa Claus, still in his red and white outfit. The caption read, 'I think we found what's been clogging your chimney since last Christmas, Mrs. Smith.' I almost got kicked out of school for that one!" Kennerly said West Linn was the launching pad for his career choice in photography, and wishes he could spend more time giving back to the school he loves and admires to this day. 'Tve been back to the me. That job really launched me into the big time," Kennerly said. Kennerly won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography in 1972 for his remarkable photographs of the Vietnam War. After the war, Kennerly returned to the United States to work for of his images that have helped define American photojournalism. Kennerly has also photographed world leaders including Emperor Hirohito of Japan, Leonid Brezhnev of the USSR, Francisco Franco of Spain, Ceausescu of Romania, Ferdinand Marcos in Cuba. This offer was followed by many others, including President Anwar Sadat in Egypt, the horrors of Jonestown in Guyana, and major projects for Newsweek, LIFE, ABC Good Morning America Sunday, and George Magazine. Kennerly has photographed Five Presidents— Nov. 4,1991. Simi Valley, Calif. Presidents George Bush, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford and Richard Nixon during the Ronald Reagan Library dedication. Photo by David Hume Kennerly sch ool a few tim es, b u t n ever on any formal occasion. One of these days I'd like to drop by and give a talk about how a kid from a little town in Oregon covered several wars, traveled the world with kings, queens and presidents, and lived to tell about it!" Kennerly said. "I just want kids to realize how good they have it at WLHS, and to take full advantage of the opportunities that are available to you guys." His first official Time magazine, and in mid- 1973 threw himself into the domestic battles then raging in Washington. "There's no question that winning the Pulitzer Prize was the single most important work-related event in my life. It was totally unexpected. It is my profession's highest honor, and guarantees me an obituary in the New York Times when I pass on to the A ctio n sh o t o f V ietn am so ld iers fro m K e n n e d y ’s 1971 P u litz e r photography job was as a staff photographer for the Oregon Journal and then the Oregonian which led him to a position with United Press International (UPI). "When I became a staff photographer for the Oregon Journal, I was positive that this was the career field for next level!" Kennerly said. After Richard Nixon resigned, Kennerly was on the South Lawn of the White House as the soon-to-be ex-President departed. His historic photo of Nixon's wave goodbye taken when Kennerly was just 27 years old, is one of the dozens of the Philippines, Josip Tito of Yugoslavia, Suharto of Indonesia, Deng Xiao Ping of the Peoples Republic of China, and Queen Elizabeth of England during the bicentennial celebration at the White House. Kennerly is both modest and insightful about the privileges he has been blessed with in his life. "It's hard for me to pick out my best or most meaningful photo out of the thousands I have taken, although two that stick with me are both related to war. One was taken in Vietnam on Easter in 1971 of a lonely and tired soldier, a cross dangling from his neck, as he rested near his machine gun near Khe Sanh," Kennerly said. "Another was a 1975 picture of a little Cambodian refugee girl in Phnom Penh, a dog tag around her neck, as she looked hopelessly into my camera. Two weeks later the Cambodian capital was overrun by the communists, and my guess is that she was most likely killed. My photograph of Anwar Sadat, Egypt's president, standing in front of the pyramids also ranks way up on my list." After serving as President Gerald Ford's official photographer, Kennerly was approached with a job offer by Time. He was asked to photograph Fidel Castro more than 35 covers for Time and Newsweek, covered assignments in more than 130 countries, and counts more than one million images in his photographic archive. Presently he serves as National Program Chair for Washington Mutual's forward-thinking "Home of the Free™ Student Photojournalism Project." Home of the Free gives seventh- and eighth -grade students the opportunity to learn how photography is used in news reporting about government, while creating photos of public servants in their own communities. Kennerly currently resides Santa Monica, but is constantly traveling the globe, most recently visiting in Baghdad, Kaboul, Paris and Hong Kong. He is currently a contributor for NBC News, and has been shooting on the front lines of history for four decades. He has photographed eight wars, seven presidents, and has traveled to more than 140 countries along the way. "I consider myself a global photographer, as much in my element in the desert covering a war as I am in the oval office photographing the commander-in-chief. continued on page 7 mm liïirr iTiT ia T T T r n n n r i É n T r m m w in in - f f iim ï ï H Mi m m r i i i i HB i i u n i...... ... i T -fiT fW m T ilf ll i l l l l M T #
