Pulitzer Prize-finalist photojournalist Jeff Widener presents lectures

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
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Posted: Oct 19, 2009

Jeff Widener
Jeff Widener
 In his 30th year as a photojournalist, Pulitzer Prize finalist Jeff Widener will give two talks on the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa campus as part of the university’s Distinguished Lecture Series.
 
 Titled Unseen Hawai‘i, a free public lecture and a sharing of Widener’s recent photographs will be held at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, October 30, at East-West Center’s Keoni Auditorium. 
 
 UH Mānoa students and faculty will also have the opportunity to hear Widener’s career highlights and view recent photos at a free lunchtime discussion on Monday, November 2, at noon at the East-West Center’s Ohana Room.   
 
                Widener is best known for his world-famous image, “The Unknown Rebel,” which captured a lone man confronting a column of tanks in Tiananmen Square during the 1989 Beijing riots.  He took the photo from the sixth floor of the Beijing Hotel, about half a mile away, through a 400mm lens.  
 
 Through the years, Widener has covered assignments in over 100 countries—such as East Timor, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Burma, Syria, Jordan, India, Laos, Vietnam, Pakistan—involving civil unrest and wars to social issues.  He was the first photojournalist to file digital images from the South Pole.
 
  In 1989, Widener was hired as Southeast Asia picture editor for the Associated Press, covering major stories in the region from the Gulf War to the Olympics.  Since 2004, Widener has been a staff photographer for The Honolulu Advertiser.
 
  Widener and his work have been featured on the BBC World News, CBS, MSNBC and NPR.  He has won numerous awards from the local Society of Professional Journalists, and was subsequently nominated for the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for “Spot News Photography.”
 
 The Distinguished Lecture Series brings internationally recognized scholars to UH Mānoa for lectures and discussions.
 
                  For more information, contact Glendon B. Hunsinger, post-doctoral associate, or Dr. Hope Jahren, a professor of Geology and Geophysics, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, and chair of the Distinguished Lecture Series, at 956-2363.
 
                 On-campus parking is available for $5 after 4 p.m.  There is a flat rate fee of $4 for parking in campus parking structures prior to 4 p.m. at the entry kiosks.