David Hume Kennerly (born March 9, 1947) is an American photographer. He won the 1972 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography for his portfolio of photographs of the Vietnam War, Cambodia, East Pakistani refugees near Calcutta, and the Ali-Frazier fight in Madison Square Garden. He has photographed every American president since Lyndon B Johnson. He is the first presidential scholar at the University of Arizona.
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Early life
Kennerly is the son of O.A. "Tunney" Kennerly, a traveling salesman, and Joanne (Hume) Kennerly. He has three younger sisters.
His interest in photography started when he was only 12, and his career began in Roseburg, where his first published picture was in the high school newspaper The Orange 'R in 1962.
Kennerly graduated from West Linn High School in West Linn, Oregon, in 1965. He briefly attended Portland State College but left at 19 to become a staff photographer for The Oregon Journal. In 1967 he entered the Oregon National Guard and was sent to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, for basic training and then advanced training at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana. After completing six months of active duty in the US Army, he was hired as staff photographer by The Oregonian.
During his early career in Portland he photographed some major personalities, including Miles Davis, Igor Stravinsky, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, the Rolling Stones, and the Supremes. The encounter with Senator Kennedy gave him the determination to become a national political photographer.
Professional life
In late 1967, he moved to Los Angeles to become a staff photographer for United Press International (UPI). On June 5, 1968, he took some of the last photos of Senator Robert F. Kennedy at the Ambassador Hotel as he declared victory in the California presidential primary. Moments later Kennedy was gunned down by the assassin Sirhan Sirhan. That night Kennerly also took a picture of Ethel Kennedy in the back of an ambulance.
The following year (1969), Kennerly moved to New York for UPI, where among many other assignments he photographed the "Miracle" New York Mets winning the 1969 World Series.
In early 1970, he was transferred to the Washington, D.C. bureau of UPI. At age 23 he took his first ride on Air Force One with President Nixon as a member of the traveling press pool. However, Kennerly believed he was missing out on the biggest story of his generation, the Vietnam War. He said, "I felt like that scene in Mr. Roberts where Henry Fonda, an officer on a supply ship, watched the destroyers sail into battle while he was stuck in some South Pacific backwater port."
Kennerly was sent to Saigon in early 1971 as a combat photographer for UPI. Unbeknownst to Kennerly, UPI photo editor Larry DeSantis started a portfolio of his favorite Kennerly photographs of the year, beginning with the Ali-Frazier fight photo that ran on the front page of The New York Times on March 9, 1971. DeSantis submitted that photograph along with images of the Vietnam and Cambodia wars and refugees escaping from East Pakistan into India to the Pulitzer Prize Board for consideration. It was only when the winners were announced that Kennerly, who was still in Vietnam, learned he had been awarded the 1972 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography. The committee noted that he "specialized in pictures that capture the loneliness and desolation of war."
Kennerly became the photo bureau chief for UPI in Southeast Asia, but still spent most of his time in the field covering combat operations. In September 1972, he was one of three Americans to travel to the People's Republic of China to cover the state visit of Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka.
While still in Vietnam, he joined Life in November 1972 as a contract photographer. After the classic picture magazine folded a few weeks later, Kennerly stayed on as a contract photographer for Time. Among the many stories he covered for them while still in Asia was the last American prisoner of war release in Hanoi, March 30, 1973.
Personal life
He was married to Susan Allwardt from 1967 to 1969, actress Mel Harris from 1983 to 1988, actress Carol Huston from 1989 to 1992, and Rebecca Soladay from 1994 to the present.
Accomplishments
Trustee, Gerald R. Ford Foundation, (2008–2024)
Contributing editor, NBC News (2006–2008)
Contributing editor, Der Spiegel (2008)
Contributing editor, Newsweek (1996–2006)
Personal photographer to President Gerald R. Ford, (1974–1977)
National program chair for Washington Mutual's, Home of the Free Student Photojournalism Project
Contributing correspondent, ABC's Good Morning America Sunday (1996–98)
Contributing photographer, George (1996–1999)
Executive producer, Portraits of a Lady, HBO (2011)
Co-executive producer, Profiles from the Front Line, ABC reality series with Jerry Bruckheimer and Bertram van Munster (2003)
Executive producer and writer, Shooter, NBC Television movie based on his book about Vietnam combat photographers (1988)
Executive producer, The Taking of Flight 847, NBC movie (1989)
American Film Institute directing fellow, 1984–1985
Contract photographer, Time (1973–1974, 1977–1990)
Contributing photographer, Life (1972, 1993–1996)
Staff photographer, United Press International (1967–72)
Selected honors and awards
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography (1972)
Five prizes in the 2001 and 2003 White House Press Photographer's contest
Named one of the top 50 top Washington journalists in the March 2001 issue of The Washingtonian, the only photographer on the list
Photo Media magazine's 2007 Photographer of the Year
1997 President's Award for Excellence in Journalism from the Greater Los Angeles Press Club
2015 Lucie Award for Achievement in Photojournalism
1989 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Drama as executive producer of NBC's The Taking of Flight 847: The Uli Derickson Story
Overseas Press Club Award for Best Photographic Reporting from Abroad (Olivier Rebbot award), 1986
1976 World Press Photo contest (two first place prizes for Cambodian coverage)
National Press Photographers Association contest (first place)
Honorary Doctorate, Lake Erie College, 2015
Named "One of the 100 Most Important People in Photography" by American Photo magazine
Selected exhibitions
Extraordinary Circumstances, various locations 2008
Savannah College of Art and Design, Lacoste France 2007. Retrospective.
University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication 2006–2007.
University of Texas at Austin - permanent. Photo du Jour exhibition.
Houston Museum of Fine Arts – 2004. Photo du Jour exhibition.
Smithsonian Institution's Arts and Industries Building 2002. Photo du Jour exhibition
New York Historical Society from 2002 - 2003.
Visa Pour L'Image, Perpignan France. 2000 Retrospective.
U.S. Capitol, Cannon Building Rotunda. 1995 Photo Op exhibition.
Portland Art Museum, Portland Oregon. 1995 Photo Op exhibition.
The Harry Lunn Gallery, 1979
Moderator – World Press Photo. Moderated conversation among 2006 award winners, USC, 2007
Guest lecturer - Savannah College of Art and Design, Lacoste France 2007.
Keynote speaker - Eddie Adams Workshop 2000 – present;
Works
Photographs
Kennerly's photographs include:
Books
Kennerly has authored six books:
Shooter, Newsweek books, 1979
Photo Op: A Pulitzer Prize-Winning Photographer Covers Events That Shaped Our Times, University of Texas Press (1995) ISBN 0-292-74323-8
Sein Off: The Final Days of Seinfeld, HarperCollins, (1998)
Photo du Jour: A Picture-a-Day Journey through the First Year of the New Millennium, University of Texas Press, (2003)
Extraordinary Circumstances: The Presidency of Gerald R. Ford, The University of Texas Center for American History, (2007)
On the iPhone: Secrets and Tips from a Pulitzer Prize-winning Photographer. Goff Books, 2014
Kennerly has been a major contributor to the following:
Unprecedented: The Election That Changed Everything, CNN, 2017
Barack Obama: The Official Inaugural Book
A Day in the Life book projects: America, Spain, the Soviet Union; The People's Republic of China; the United States Armed Forces, Hollywood
Cultural depictions
Kennerly was portrayed in the Showtime television series The First Lady, by Cody Pressley, depicting the scene where he shot the photos of First Lady Betty Ford on the Cabinet Room table.
