Pulitzer Photographer

A Pulitzer prize winning Photographer shares her secrets with local students.

Pulitzer prize winner preston gannaway recently visited the scenic city.

She was part of an art exhibit at the hunter museum.

While here, the artist took time to share story telling techniques with students from the chattanooga center for creative arts visual arts class.

News 12's david moore was there taking notes, as he gives us another example of what's right with our schools.

Natural sound: so for nearly 20 years preston gannaway has been focusing on the intimate stories of american families.

Justin: justin: preston gannaway who was the 2008 recipient of the pulitzer prize for photography, we are really privileged to have her here sharing some of her work and insight on how to be a professional photographer and artist.

To our visual arts majors.

Natural sound: so i've worked on long term projects that i do for myself.

Usually my own ideas and usually i'll find it myself.

Justin: anytime but we can bring in a professional artist to showcase and to reaffirm what we are doing here for our students, it is tremendously valuable.

Natural sound: what do i think as an artist?

Oh what do you think art is?

Oh what do i think art is?

Maggie: it is really cool for me as a writer to be able to hear from a photographer.

Because i do some photography and i really enjoyed the art but i don't consider myself a photographer.

And so listening to her and hearing her process on how she goes from concept to an actual physical piece is really cool for me.

It was really interesting to compare that to how i bring a poem to light.

The natural sound: and i saw these girls walking down the street this was halloween.

And i pulled my car over so fast.

Alex: her photography is beautiful.

And just really inspiring.

I really look up to that and i want to be an inspiring photographer.

Justin: do you know if they are passion and their pursuit of excellence in the arts is a viable chores for them to make long-term.

And having somebody here that has been a practicing artist for two decades really shows that yes there is a livelihood in self-expression.

Natural sound i would just drive around a lot and just look for people and situations that were interesting.

Justin: it doesn't always have to be this elevated masterpiece that so many of our students are familiar with through their studies.

This is somebody telling a story of an every day person; a neighbor, maybe a stranger that somehow becomes friends.

And that's a powerful message to our for our students as well.

If you have an idea for a story, go to our website, wdef dot com.

Look for the icon that says what's right with our schools, and you'll find a link to post your story idea.