Photo Student Lee Hoagland honored by 'College Photographer of the Year'

Photos of Lee Hoagland by Alexandra Pilichowski

From the behind-the-scenes whirlwind of the Obama campaign to a protest of the Iraq War in Washington D.C., photographer Lee Hoagland isn’t afraid to use his camera as a tool for capturing social change and political movements. And his enterprising eye (and the photos that resulted) during a protest on the fifth anniversary of the start of the Iraq War earned him an Award of Excellence from the College Photographer of the Year (CPOY) competition for a Domestic Picture Story.

Hoagland, a December graduate of Columbia’s Photography department, certainly didn’t wait until graduation to live his dream of being a successful freelance photographer. He’s been published in The New York Times and freelanced for several local media outlets to pay the bills while in school.

The Obama project, which he hopes to turn into a photographic book one day, began when Hoagland was struck by the intelligence in an Obama speech and thought, “Wow, this could be my president.” He began photographing the backstage efforts of the campaign during the Iowa caucuses. Hoagland learned quickly that the best way to get access was by being a member of the campaign and did so last summer in southwest Philadelphia, all while documenting the phenomenon in photos. “In neighborhoods where I would normally stick out, I’d put on an Obama shirt and fit in, even when I held my camera up,” he said.  He wrapped up shooting the project during the historic election night in Grant Park, but is still working on weeding through the photographs.

Hoagland’s Columbia education, specifically with teacher and mentor John White, taught him the responsibilities of a photojournalist and how to be a “visual servant” with his camera. After taking a class with photographer and professor Matt Siber, Hoagland’s mind was “engrained in the discipline [of photography],” he said. Siber “makes you realize how hard you have to work to stay afloat as a photographer.”

Hoagland moved to Paris at the year’s end because there “the art scene is engrained in the culture instead of being a subculture.” When asked why he’s moving to Paris, he responded, “Why not?”  With the economy as it is now and a free place to crash for a month in the City of Lights, there was little stopping him at the moment from a trans-Atlantic move. Plus, he’d already gotten acquainted with the city while interning at The International Herald Tribune.

-Morgan Phelps
Magazine Journalism