About David Hume Kennerly

Photo Credit: Karen Ballard

Kennerly has been shooting on the front lines of history for more than 40 years. He has photographed eight wars, as many U.S. presidents, and he has traveled to dozens of countries along the way.

At 25, the Roseburg, Oregon native won the 1972 Pulitzer Prize for his photos of the Vietnam War, and two years later was appointed President Gerald R. Ford’s personal photographer. He has been presented with numerous other honors, among them the Overseas Press Club’s Olivier Rebbot Award for “Best Photographic Reporting from Abroad,” for his coverage of Reagan and Gorbachev’s historic first summit meeting in Geneva. He was named, “One of the Most 100 Most Important People in Photography” by American Photo Magazine.

Kennerly was nominated for a Primetime Emmy as executive producer of NBC’s, “The Taking of Flight 847,” and was writer and Executive Producer of a two-hour NBC pilot, “Shooter,” starring Helen Hunt, based on his Vietnam experiences. “Shooter” won the Emmy for “Outstanding Cinematography.” He is executive producer of the recent documentary, “Portraits of a Lady,” starring former Justice Sandra Day O’Conner, which made the short list of films eligible for the 2008 Academy Award nominations.

Kennerly has been on the masthead of Time Magazine, John F. Kennedy, Jr’s George magazine, Life Magazine, and was a contributing editor for Newsweek magazine for ten years. He has more than 50 major magazine covers to his credit.

He has published several books of his work, Shooter, Photo Op, Seinoff: The Final Days of Seinfeld, Photo du Jour, and Extraordinary Circumstances: The Presidency of Gerald R. Ford. Most recently he produced Barack Obama: The Official Barack Obama Inaugural Book, with Bob McNeely, who was President Clinton’s official White House photographer. He also provided some exclusive behind-the-scenes photographs of President Obama for the project.

A major exhibition of photographs from the book was mounted in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., earlier this summer, and more than a million visitors saw it.

Kennerly is on the Board of Trustees of the Gerald R. Ford Foundation, and the Atlanta Board of Visitors of the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). His archive is housed at the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas, Austin.

He recently directed a commercial starring former mayor Ed Koch shot for New York Presbyterian Hospital.

Kennerly Overview:

• Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his Vietnam War photographs (1972)
• Contributing editor, NEWSWEEK Magazine (1996 to 2006)
• Personal photographer to President Gerald R. Ford, (1974-77)
• National Program Chair for Washington Mutual’s HOME OF THE FREE STUDENT PHOTOJOURNALISM PROJECT.
• Contributing correspondent, ABC's GOOD MORNING AMERICA SUNDAY (1996-98)
• Contributing photographer, GEORGE Magazine (1996-99)
• Co-Executive Producer, PROFILES FROM THE FRONT LINES, ABC reality series based on military personnel fighting in America’s war against terrorism.
• Executive Producer and Writer, SHOOTER, NBC Television Movie of the Week based on his book about Vietnam combat photographers (1989)
• Executive Producer, THE TAKING OF FLIGHT 847, NBC Movie of the Week (1989)
• Contract photographer, TIME Magazine (1973-74, 1977-90)
• Contributing photographer, LIFE Magazine (1972, 1993-96)
• Staff photographer, United Press International (1967-72)
• Staff photographer, The Oregonian (1966-67)

Books:

• SHOOTER, Newsweek Books, 1979
• PHOTO OP: A Pulitzer Prize Winning Photographer Covers Events That Shaped Our Times, University of Texas Press, 1995
• SEIN OFF: The Final Days of Seinfeld, HarperCollins, 1998
• PHOTO DU JOUR: A Picture-A-Day Journey through the First Year of the New Millennium, University of Texas Press, 2002. Photo du Jour named one of American Photo Magazine’s Best Photo books of 2002.
• EXRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCES: The Presidency of Gerald R Ford, University of Texas Dolph Briscoe Center for American Hostory
• BARACK OBAMA; THE OFFICIAL INAUGURAL BOOK, Five Ties Publishing

Selected Awards:

• 1972 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography.
• Five prizes each in the 2001 & 2003 White House Press Photographer's contest, including first place for best 2000 campaign coverage.
• Named one of the top 50 journalists in the March 2001 issue of WASHINGTONIAN Magazine, the only photographer on the list.
• 1997 President's Award for Excellence in Journalism from the Greater Los Angeles Press Club.
• 1989 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Drama as Executive Producer of NBC’s THE TAKING OF FLIGHT 847: THE ULI DERICKSON STORY.
• Overseas Press Club Award for Best Photographic Reporting from Abroad (The Olivier Rebbot Award, 1986).
• 1976 World Press Photo contest (two first place prizes for Cambodian coverages).
• National Press Photographers’ contest (first place).

Exhibitions:

• Photo du Jour exhibition at the Houston Center for Photography April 30 – June 12, 2004
• Photo du Jour exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution’s Arts and Industries Building from October 1st through December 29, 2002.
• Images from Kennerly’s upcoming book of behind-the-scenes political photography, BALANCE OF POWER were exhibited at the New York Historical Society from October 21, 2002 through January 30, 2003. This exhibition was sponsored by Washington Mutual as part of its Home of the Free Student Photojournalism Project.
• Fine art photography exhibitions throughout 2003 and 2004, including Photo Expo, Photo LA, SF & Miami and the Simon Patrich Gallery in Vancouver, BC. Exhibitions include political images, selections from PHOTO DU JOUR, evocative international imagery, a portrait gallery, as well as fine art murals of some of Kennerly’s boldest works.
  

Additional Information:

Getty Images exclusively represents David Hume Kennerly for assignments & editorial sales.
www.gettyimages.com

Updated September 20, 2009