OHIO-trained photojournalists cover range of top sporting events like NBA Finals, U.S. Open, WNBA, Belmont races and next: the Paris Olympics

From Boston’s TD Garden Arena to river stand-up paddle board training in Alaska, sporting events showcase the visual talent of elite award-winning photojournalists trained at Ohio University.

The talent pool of photographers from OHIO’s School of Visual Communication is so deep that sometimes two alumni are even assigned to the same sporting event.

Sarah Stier, BSVC ’18, and sports photojournalist Maddie Meyer, BSVC ’14, photographed the Olympic Swim Trials in Indianapolis on June 16 in preparation to cover Aquatics: swim, dive, water polo and artistic swimming, together at the Paris Olympics.

Paris will host the 2024 Summer Olympics July 26 through Aug. 11.

New York-based Stier and Boston-based Meyer work for Getty Images, a global visual media company. Prior to covering the Olympic Swim Trials in Indianapolis, Meyer photographed games one and two of the 2024 NBA Finals in Boston. Her images were widely published by The Wall Street Journal, Yahoo Sports, MSN, The Washingotn Post, CNN, The Ringer, The Gist, The Dallas Express, Forbes and more.

Photos of “all shapes and sizes” of Boston Celtic fans by Erin Clark of The Boston Globe were seen by a large audience on social media and elsewhere. Clark, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, attended Ohio University.

Golf/WNBA/baseball/taekwondo

On June 14 and 17, lead photos in the print editions of The Washington Post Sports page were taken by Frank Franklin II of The Associated Press, who attended Ohio University.

On June 17, The Washington Post also published a photo by Emilee Chinn, BSVC ’21, of Angel Reese (Chicago Sky) and Caitlin Clark (Indiana Fever) of the WNBA. Chinn, who graduated from the School of Visual Communication in December of 2021, is team photographer for the Cincinnati Reds and also documents other professional sports.

Recent visual communication graduate Tanner Pearson, BSVC ’24, is a photo intern at the Cincinnati Reds.

Globetrotting photojournalism alumnus Choi Won-suk, MA ’14, of The Korea Times documented young Syrian refugees competing in a taekwondo tournament in Jordan in May.

Praised by peers

Pictures of the Year (POY) International is a contest sponsored by the Reynolds Journalism Institute at University of Missouri. This prestigious competition has recognized Ohio University alumnus Matt Gade, MA ’21, as Sports Photographer of the Year, not once but twice.

Gade, photo editor of the Rapid City Journal, documents a wide variety of sports including rodeo, the official sport of South Dakota. He shared a favorite sports photo, showing celebration of a match point at a state volleyball tournament, which won an Award of Excellence from the Pictures of the Year contest.

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In Louisville, award-winning OHIO alumnus Dan Dry has photographed the Kentucky Derby 46 times. Dry is the managing director of the Content Creation Studio at PriceWeber, based in Louisville.

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Stier’s photos of the 2024 Belmont Stakes horse race for Getty Images were published by Sports Business Journal, CNN, Forbes, New York Daily News, Bleacher Report, FOX News, Draft Kings Network and more.

The wide-ranging portfolio of Miami Herald photographer Alie Skowronski, BS, BSVC ’21, includes the Florida Panthers pro hockey team. Skowronski is the 2021 Hearst Photojournalism Champion.

Another type of “stand-up”

Loren Holmes, MA ’07, of the Anchorage Daily News is among the Pulitzer Prize winners trained at the OHIO School of Visual Communication. On June 4, his newspaper published Holmes’ photo of a paddle boarder and her dog, training for the GoPro Mountain Games, a down river stand-up race in Vail, Colo.

While not a comprehensive list, these alumni represent Ohio University well in current sports photojournalism. To learn more about the School of Visual Communication, please visit ohio.edu/scripps-college/viscom. 

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