photo by Cenn Hall
Multimedia journalist and Pulitzer-prize winner Bill Frakes visited campus Wednesday to discuss his long career and achievements, including work at Sports Illustrated for 20 years and shooting advertising campaigns for clients such as Apple, Nike and Coca-Cola.
Frakes’ assignments have taken him all over the world, stopping in every state in the U.S. and traveling to 138 countries.
Frakes started his lecture by showing some of his favorite pieces, which were displayed in the Heuser Art Center from Oct. 3 to Nov. 10.
“I enjoy the whole process [of working on a project],” Frakes said. “The only thing I don’t enjoy is TSA.”
Frakes first told the story of a boxer’s triumph over his battle with cancer and the gym he now runs in his community. Frank Rodriguez, the boxer, was a man he met on the street who led Frakes to an amazing story.
After presenting a few more short films, Frakes closed with his all-time favorite pictures, which included iconic, profound and comical moments from his journeys. The slide show was intended to showcase how far Frakes travelled for his career and how much he has done.
“Whenever I see people talk about how journalists don’t really care, I think about the bullet hole in my back and the 16-inch scar on my stomach,” Frakes said. “And it always makes me wonder about how many other people would do that to tell a story.”
The audience consisted of a variety of students, including junior advertising major Moira Nolan, who said she was interested in the lecture to learn about being successful in photography.
“He’s a pretty well-accomplished photographer, which is somewhere I want to go in life,” Nolan said. “I just like to see other photographers’ work to be able to improve my own.”
Nolan said she thought Frakes’ diverse background allowed him to touch on parts of his career that benefit different majors in other colleges.
“I think he was somebody that was good to bring in because it wasn’t necessarily that he is just an artist,” Nolan said. “He’s also in companies that do advertising and writing, so it applies to more of the campus than just art majors.”
Junior graphic design major Amy Trompeter agreed that Frakes provided a perspective that could benefit a variety of majors.
“He was honestly one of the most accomplished artists we’ve had come here,” Trompeter said. “You could just tell he’s gained so many different experiences.”
