Photo Essay: UA Student Photojournalists Capture the Essence of Italy

The moments that University of Arizona student photojournalists captured while studying in Italy range from the routine to the spectacular: a casual view of a woman reading in a leather shop, devout tourists lighting church candles, locals perusing open plazas and a glass blower intensely focusing on his work. 

Photo credit: McKenzie Colson

The students – hailing from the School of Journalism and other disciplines – just returned from a five-week Study Abroad at the UA photojournalism program in Italy, where they visited several cities accompanied by UA associate professor of journalism Kim Newton.

During course work in Orvieto, the students learned beginning and advanced photojournalism and multimedia. Weekly assignments and field trips sent them exploring the region between Rome and Florence, documenting their travels as they went.

Their lessons covered composition, lighting, and digital workflow. They were able to also experiment with multimedia, audio collection and caption writing, and learned about copyright laws and ethics, especially within the context of digital media.

Collectively, their photographs and video provide both a macro and nuanced view of the essence of Italy and Italian lifestyles. Here is a sample of their work, with more photos and videos presented online:

Orvieto, A Sense of Place by Jennifer Guzman on Vimeo

Photo credit: Natalie Grum

Photo credit: Molly Baker

Photo credit: Elana Roeder

Photo credit: Jamie Tugenberg

Photo credit: Olivia Mountz

Photo credit: Claire Rifkin

Photo credit: Malena Larson

Photo credit: Breiana Whittaker

Photo credit: Matthew Prevallet

Photo credit: Malena Larson

This fall, the UA School of Journalism is offering a number of courses that call for active engagement. Among them are: Reporting the U.S.-Mexico Border, which was offered for the first time last fall in Nogales, Arizona; the Arizona-Sonora News Service, a course that involves students in the running a news service; and "classlets," which are one-credit classes that cover new technology, careers options, radio journalism and other topics. To learn more about these and other course offerings, call the UA School of Journalism at 520-621-7556.