Laura L. Camden, MA
Professor
Blg COM 16 Rm #353
Personal web page
Research and teaching interests
Professor Camden teaches Photojournalism and Documentary Studies courses and her creative interests focus on editorial photography, American studies ethnography and cultural anthropology. She is the author of the 2006 book Mennonites in Texas: The Quiet in the Land, Texas A&M Press, and her photographic collection is archived at the University of Texas at Austin’s Center for American History. She has been a professional photojournalist for the past 20 years covering such events at the 2000 presidential campaign of George W. Bush for Reuters News Pictures in Washington, DC. Before coming to NAU, she taught at the University of Montana and the University of Texas at Austin. Laura has recently completed a documentary project based on fieldwork she and her students conducted at the Mainpat Tibetan Refugee Settlement in northern India in December 2012. She taught abroad for a semester in 2013-14 at the University of Wollongong in NSW, Australia where she helped set up a trilateral exchange program between NAU, University of Wollongong and Umea University in Sweden. In 2015, Laura lead a photojournalism study abroad program to San Sebastian, Spain and is currently creating a 2016 program to Havana, Cuba.
Courses offered
- JLS 284 Basic Photojournalism
- JLS 382 Intermediate Photojournalism
- JLS 482 Advanced Photojournalism and Documentary
- JLS 431C Journalism Capstone
- JLS 483 Special Topics in Photojournalism
Representative research and creative activity
Books
Laura L. Camden and Susan Gaetz Duarte, Mennonites in Texas: The Quiet in the Land College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press, Photographic Book, 2006
Articles
2017 | “Lens on Cuba: Photographic Essay”, World Beat online magazine for the NAU Center for International Education, Fall 2017 edition, October 3, 2017
2016 |Camden, L. L. Images for feature story “How the Park Service is Failing Women” High Country News magazine. Front print page cover and inside images. National/International publication: High Country News and The Atlantic online news sites. December 12, 2016
http://www.hcn.org/issues/48.21
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/12/park-service-harassment/510680/
“Interdisciplinary Service to a Tibetan Refugee Settlement in India: A Cultural-Immersion Education Model.” Journal of Community Practice, Winter 2014.
“Photography as Sorcery: Making Accessible the Commonalities of the Human Experience.”
Article for NAU Global Magazine, Northern Arizona University, Spring 2010
Archive
Laura L. Camden Photographic Archive, Center for American History, Briscoe Center, The University of Texas at Austin, 2006-present
Invited lectures/ Conference Presentations
2017 | “Getting students out of the classroom and into the world—study abroad programming resources” Roundtable facilitator | Tahoe CoLab, West Chapter Conference of Society for Photographic Education | Lake Tahoe, CA, November 3-5, 2017
https://www.spenational.org/conferences/tahoe-colab/speakers/laura-camden
2016 |Guest panelist for study abroad teaching resources | AIGA Design Educators Conference Frontier| Montana State University| Bozeman, Montana, October 7-9, 2016 https://frontier.aiga.org<https://frontier.aiga.org/>
2014 | “Interdisciplinary Service to a Tibetan Refugee Settlement in India: Photojournalism report” | Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities | Honolulu, Hawaii, January 9-13, 2014
Multimedia/visual storytelling workshop | University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia, March 17-24, 2013
Teaching photojournalism for the iPad | Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities | Honolulu, Hawaii, January 10-13, 2013
Lights still on: The first and last of Montana’s drive-in movie theatres | Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities | Honolulu, Hawaii, January 10-13, 2012
Interpreting National Parks with Student Multimedia Projects | 11th Biennial Conference of Research on the Colorado Plateau | Northern Arizona University | Flagstaff, Arizona October 26, 2011
Holding Ground: Revisiting the Dust Bowl | Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities | Honolulu, Hawaii, January 10-13, 2011
“Mennonites in Texas: The Quiet in the Land” | Twenty-five image solo photography exhibition and public lecture | July 25 & 26, 2008 Bethel College, North Newton, Kansas
Exhibitions
2017 | Photograph “Sarah Funk” juried into Intimate Portrait competition
| SE Photography Center | Greenville, South Carolina | November 3-December 3, 2017 |
Juror Joyce Tenneson
http://mailchi.mp/sec4p/other-worlds-selections-776173?e=61a98c65c4
2017 | “A look at Cuba” student and faculty photographic exhibition of 40 images | School of Communication 2nd floor gallery |October 30-Nov. 11, 2017
2017 | Photographs “Jossie” and “School Recess, Mainpat, N. India” juried into
Photography that Matters competition | Coconino Center for the Arts | Flagstaff, Arizona |
July 25-September 30, 2017 | Juror David Brookover
https://flagartscouncil.org/2017/04/photography-that-matters/
2016 | Image “Venus” juried into the GREEN show at the Darkroom Gallery | Darkroom Gallery in Vermont. Essex Junction, Vermont | Juror Sara Elise Abramson http://darkroomgallery.com/exhist?uid=7592
The image taken in India was part of a 50-piece exhibition at the Darkroom Gallery in Vermont and was included in a full color exhibit catalog. http://darkroomgallery.com/exhist?uid=7592
2016 | Honorable mention for “Herman Funk” in FotoTexas: People, Places and Culture Texas Photographic Society competition| Brazos Gallery at Richland College | Dallas, Texas | October 20-November 11, 2016 | Juror Dan Burkholder
http://texasphoto.org/fototexas
2016 | Honorable mention for “Sarah Funk” in 29th annual Members’ Only Texas Photographic Society competition| San Antonio Public Library |San Antonio, Texas | September 1-30, 2016 | Juror Reid Callanan
http://texasphoto.org/members-only-show
2016 | Photograph “Taxi Hail”, La Habana, Cuba in Narrative: People, Places and Things competition| Black Box Gallery | Portland, Oregon July 1-20, 2016 | Juror Christy Karpinski
http://www.blackboxgallery.com/Narrative-2016-EP.html
2016 | “Migrant Lives and Leadership” binational student photography exhibit | Murdoch Community Center and Firecreek Coffee House | 35 image student exhibition for public program and community panel lecture with Professor Leah Mundell | Flagstaff, Arizona April 30-May 30, 2016
http://news.nau.edu/student-exhibit-explores-lives-migrants/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=NAUNews&utm_campaign=4-27-16%20edition&utm_term=internal&utm_content=Exhibit#.V_GIgCMrLpB
2016 | Photographs of “Venus” and “Mother of three” in Portrait Photography competition | Black Box Gallery | Portland, Oregon March 1-20, 2016 | Juror Amy Arbus
http://www.blackboxgallery.com/Portrait-Photograpy-EP.html
2016 | The Quiet in the Land: Mennonites in Texas | A new traveling exhibition for Humanities, Texas, the state affiliate for the National Endowment for the Humanities | 50 images | Sam Houston State University Katy and E. Don Walker Sr. Education Center Exhibit Gallery | Huntsville, Texas Jan. 19- Feb. 28, 2016
https://events.shsu.edu/event/mennonites_in_texas_exhibit#.V-l_5SMrLpD
2015 | The Quiet in the Land: Mennonites in Texas | A new traveling exhibition for Humanities, Texas, the state affiliate for the National Endowment for the Humanities | 50 images | Confederate Reunion Grounds State Historic Site, Mexia, Texas April 1-May 24, 2015
http://www.humanitiestexas.org/news/articles/quiet-land-new-traveling-exhibition-mennonites-texas
2013 | The Photo Review: Best of Show juried photo exhibit| University of Arts in Philadelphia, PA| Gallery 1401| 14th place | November 1, 2013 thru December 6, 2013, Juror Paul Roth
http://www.photoreview.org/competition/portfolio.php/50/1
2013 | Group photography Show of Mainpat, India Images | School of Communication Gallery | 25 image exhibition for public program and Mainpat Seminar Series lecture
2012 | Photograph “Old Leupp Trading Post” in Iconic Arizona, an online photography gallery exhibit, Norton Photography Gallery, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona November 12, 2011 thru March 4, 2012
2011 | International Cultural Center, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas | Mennonites in Texas: The Quiet in the Land | 25 image solo exhibition for public program
2010 | Photograph “Sarah Funk” in the tenth annual juried photo exhibit, High and Dry: People and Places of the World’s Dry Lands | Texas Tech University’s International Cultural Center, Lubbock, Texas, Juror Roy Flukinger
2010 | Photographs “Old Colony School” and “Herman Funk” from juried photo exhibit, High and Dry: People and Places of the World’s Dry Lands | The University of Texas at El Paso Centennial Museum, El Paso, Texas
Education
MA, Photojournalism, The University of Texas-Austin, 1999
BA, Journalism, The University of Texas-Austin, 1991