NEWS PHOTOGRAPHER | June 19, 2022

The house that Chuck built: A Father’s Day tribute to photojournalism legend Chuck Scott

By Terry Eiler

My father-in-law Chuck Scott is gone (1924-2015); his legacy lives.

Chuck trained a generation-plus of visual storytellers. His mantra that photos, images, and illustrations are equal to text seems prescient in today’s digital world. In sum, Chuck Scott was right!

First, Chuck’s resume:

• He was a Navy-trained photographer who earned the Distinguished Flying Cross (Pacific theater, World War II) and other recognition from the military
• Photographer of the Year (1952), National Press Photographers Association (NPPA)
• Photo Editor of the Year (1966), NPPA
• We started the Institute of Visual Communication at Ohio University, which became the School of Visual Communication in 1986. He retired as director in 1995.

Forty-four individuals from the School of Visual Communications have won Pulitzer Prizes, and some have won more than one. I would like to share thoughts with my father-in-law Chuck on this Father’s Day: The schoolhouse that you built continues to produce excellence:

• This year, Drew Angerer won First and Second Place, Politics, in the NPPA’s Best of Photojournalism contest. He and his Getty Images colleagues also shared a Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News for coverage of the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
• Marcus Yam, Los Angeles Times, won a Pulitzer Prize in Breaking News Photography for documenting the chaotic U.S. exit from Afghanistan. He also won the NPPA’s 2022 Photojournalist of the Year, Large Market, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Journalism Award with colleagues, and First Prize in the Istanbul Photo Awards in Story News. Yam’s current work from Ukraine defines bravery and visual artistry.
• Columbus, Ohio-based freelancer Maddie McGarvey’s work appears regularly in The New York Times, The Washington Post, TIME, and other leading publications.

Chuck Scott’s teaching gift combined a passion for the subject, straight-forward speech, humor, and joy for student success.

He was 91 when he died in 2015 in Athens, Ohio — two generations removed from today’s photographers. But as I think about him on this Father’s Day, I’m pretty sure that Chuck would have liked to see this:

Images from June 11, 2022, Belmont Stakes were published around the globe by Sarah Stier, Ohio University Class of 2018, for Getty Images. Also at the track was alumna Jiang Haiyun, on photo fellowship at The New York Times.

These are just a few of the multitude of talented visual photojournalists from the House that Chuck Built.

Terry Eiler is a professor emeritus from the of School of Visual Communication, Ohio University. He has been an NPPA member since the early 1980s.

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