​Join us for an evening celebrating photography, photojournalism, and visual storytelling.

​Former Copley photographers will gather to share photographs, experiences, lessons, and stories from careers spent documenting everyday life and historic events.

​Photographers, journalists, students, educators, friends, family members, and anyone interested in photography and visual storytelling are invited to join us.

​Whether you worked in newspapers or simply appreciate great photography, this is a rare opportunity to hear directly from some of the people who spent decades documenting our communities and our history.

​Saturday, July 18

​Doors open at 6:00 p.m.

​Bureau Gravity
56 S. LaSalle Street
Aurora, Illinois

​Evening Schedule

​6:00 p.m. — Doors Open

​Arrive, explore Bureau Gravity, reconnect with friends, meet the photographers, and spend time looking at the work.

​7:00 p.m. — Welcome and Opening Remarks

​Jimi Allen will welcome guests and introduce the evening, the Bureau Gravity space, and the enduring value of documentary photography and visual journalism.

​Featured Photographer Presentations

​Jimi Allen

​Jimi Allen is a former photojournalist and the founder of Bureau Gravity and TalkLab. He has remained rooted in Aurora, investing in the community and building a place where photographs, stories, ideas, and people can continue to gather.

​Over the years, Jimi has often imagined the millions of photographs made by his Copley colleagues as they traveled throughout the country and around the world. Together, they witnessed an extraordinary amount of life and history, creating a bond that remains difficult to explain to anyone who was not part of it.

​Jimi sometimes describes himself as the "last man standing"—not because he was the only one who stayed, but because he is still here in Aurora, opening the doors and welcoming everyone home. He is grateful to serve as a kind of doorkeeper: thankful for what God has allowed him to build, for the community he has been able to invest in, and for the opportunity to bring these people and their stories together again.

​Mike Davis

​Mike Davis is a visual editor, author, and Professor Emeritus at Syracuse University. His career has been dedicated to helping photographers and institutions achieve excellence in visual storytelling.

​Deb Pang Davis

​Deb Pang Davis is a designer and visual storyteller whose career bridges photography, editorial design, art direction, technology, and education. Her background includes work with Copley Sun Publications, the Chicago Tribune, The Oregonian, National Geographic Traveler, and Virtuoso Life. She currently leads design work for Blurb, MagCloud, and RPI Print.

​Todd Heisler

​Todd Heisler has been a staff photographer for The New York Times since 2006. Before joining the Times, he worked at Chicago-area weekly newspapers and the Rocky Mountain News.

​Todd received the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography for Final Salute, his deeply human documentation of military casualties, their families, and the Marines entrusted with bringing them home. His career has taken him from local communities to wars, disasters, presidential campaigns, and historic events around the world.

​Scott Strazzante

​Scott Strazzante is a veteran photojournalist whose four-decade newspaper career includes work at Chicago-area Copley publications, the Chicago Tribune, and the San Francisco Chronicle.

​An 11-time Illinois Photographer of the Year, Scott was also part of the Chicago Tribune team awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting. His acclaimed long-term project, Common Ground, has appeared in National Geographic, Mother Jones, The New York Times Lens Blog, and on CBS Sunday Morning.

​Following the Presentations

​The formal program will be followed by questions, open conversation, photographs, stories, and time together throughout the building.

​Registration

​Admission is free, but registration is appreciated to help us prepare for attendance.

​We look forward to welcoming photographers, journalists, students, educators, families, and members of the community for an evening celebrating the enduring power of visual storytelling.