Through the eyes of a photographer

Pulitzer Prize winner Fremson discussed covering

war, politics

By Joseph Hollak
The Collegian

To look at Ruth Fremson, you wouldn’t stop to think that she has personally witnessed some of the most dangerous and historically important global events of our generation.

Her nondescript stature and appearance wouldn’t lead you to believe that she is a seasoned staff photographer for The New York Times with a master’s in photography, the recipient of two Pulitzer Prizes for news photography and multiple honors from various professional news photographer associations.

Fremson spoke Tuesday evening in the Peters Auditorium about some of the images she has taken covering war and conflict across the globe, shared stories of experiences and offered a glimpse into why she chose the career of a professional news photographer.

“I was completely hooked,” Fremson said. “It was a bolt of lightening and I knew that is what I wanted to do.”

After graduating with a master’s from Ohio University, Fremson started with an internship at the Washington Times which eventually lead to employment with The Associated Press before accepting her current staff position with The New York Times.

With a curiosity for different cultures and an interest in global travel, Fremson’s passions came together when an assignment request of hers was granted in 1989.

“My first international assignment was covering the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989,” Fremson said. “It was a pretty incredible experience for any photographer and much less someone fresh out of school.”

Fremson soon found herself craving more assignments off U.S. soil.

Now, over a decade after her inaugural trip to Germany, Fremson counts the number of her global assignments on two hands. And the events she has since been asked to cover seem to only get bigger and more historical. Haiti, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq or U.S. Presidential campaigns are just a typical day at the office.

“From [Germany] I went on to Czechoslovakia to cover the fall of communism. I was sent to Haiti during the U.S. occupation there,” Fremson recounted. “After that they sent me to Bosnia and I got there right as the Dayton Accord was signed.”

The stories she covered and the images she brought back from her initial international assignments not only gave her the confidence to continue in her line of work, but it also landed her the reputation for accurately documenting conflict and providing those images for the rest of the world to see. Over time, her photography work from the laundry list of global news-making events lead to being noticed with the pinnacle of journalistic awards.

In 1999 Fremson, along with other members from The Associated Press, were honored for their work with a Pulitzer Prize for feature photography during the Clinton impeachment proceedings.

It happened again in 2001.

Fremson, based at the time in Jerusalem, was part of team of photographers that covered the events of Sept. 11 that resulted in her second Pulitzer.

Before presenting some of her work from China and India to an audience in the Peters Auditorium, Fremson offered words of advice to any would-be future photojournalists.

“If they really, really, really, want to do this they should go forward with it. But they should know it’s going to be hard work and they have to be willing to pay their dues,’ Fremson said. “It’s not easy and it’s not glamorous the way some people from the outside think it is.”

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