Gena Asher | Feb. 24, 2010
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| Photo by Matt McClain |
| Matt McClain’s photographs telling the story of a blind man who adopted a blind child from India won a second place in the recent World Press Photo contest. Here, Jason Fayre plays with his son, Pandu Fayre. |
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McClain was a staff photographer for the now-defunct Rocky Mountain News. After the newspaper folded a year ago, McClain stayed in Denver to work as a freelancer. The photo was part of a project that was the first he embarked on as a freelancer.
“This picture story, which focused on the relationship of a blind man and the blind son he adopted from India with his wife, was one I had wanted to work on when I was still employed at the newspaper,” McClain said in an e-mail. “It had taken me some time to track down the family and finally convince them to allow me to tell their story.”
The story ran in the city’s surviving newspaper, The Denver Post. People magazine contacted McClain and hired him to continue working the story, which appeared in the magazine in November.
“As a journalist , it was rewarding to know that I not only found the story in the first place, but was then able to find a place for it to run,” McClain said.
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| Courtesy Ellen Jaskol |
| Matt McClain, BAJ ’98, launched his freelance career after The Rocky Mountain News folded. His winning work was his first project as a freelancer. |
Associate professors Steve Raymer and Jim Kelly, both photographers, said any award from WPP is highly regarded in the photography world.
“It’s a tough contest with competition literally from all over the world,” said Raymer.
See McClain’s work at World Press Photo or at his Web site.
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