A Year of Photojournalism@HKU

Photojournalism@HKU, a year-long series that includes masters lectures, public courses and an exhibition of works by JMSC students, has started.

The highlight of the year, presented by the JMSC, is a student-led exhibition that opens at the end of November at the Fringe Club in Hong Kong.

The exhibition, called Visual Moments,  will explore the reality of everyday life in Hong Kong, as seen through the lenses of The University of Hong Kong’s journalism students and graduates. It runs from November 29 to December 7.

The photos are a mishmash of ideas, visions and realities of what life is like in Hong Kong, some from master photographer Michael Coyne’s photojournalism class at HKU, others by graduates who have become established photojournalists in their own right.

The year-long programme also includes a short course for the public by Coyne, an award-winning photojournalist and visiting lecturer at the JMSC, and a lecture series by masters of photojournalism from around the world.

Coyne, who teaches photography as an integral part of the courses available at the JMSC, has had work appear in National Geographic, Time, Life, the New York Times, Sports Illustrated, Smithsonian Magazine, Vogue and more.

He has won awards from organisations such as the American National Press Photographers Association, the Overseas Press Club of America and the Foreign Correspondents’ Club, Hong Kong.

Coyne will deliver a public talk, called Tell Me a Story, about the importance of visual literacy in an image-saturated world, on December 3 at the Fringe Club.

In this talk he will discuss the elements of visual literacy and how a powerful picture can tell a story. It will be illustrated by photographs from his international assignments. Admission is free and all are welcome.

Coyne will also teach a public course called Beyond Basic Photography between December 2 and 4 from 10am to 1pm at the JMSC.

This course will explore different photographic techniques, purposes and outcomes. Students will learn how to produce effective portraits, which illuminate the subjects’ personality as well as their appearance. This is a paid course and registration is necessary.

The masters lecture series has already begun.

Featured to date have been Liu Heung Shing, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer and an expert on the archiving of photos, and Nick Ut, also a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer who took the famous Vietnam War-era Napalm Girl photo.

Upcoming speakers include Dutch photojournalist, Kees Metselaar, who has covered the fall of dictators Marcos and Suharto; Michael Coyne himself; and Shahidul Alam, who uses photography and new media in support of social activism. Click here for more details of the lecture series.