Alumni Spotlight Jacqueline Luttrell

Kalamazoo Valley graduate Jacqueline Luttrell would have been content working in Kalamazoo as a freelance photographer if she hadn’t been encouraged to transfer to Columbia University in Chicago. With camera in hand, she often documents mixed martial arts matches, a talent she developed when her son Darin was competing. But the urging of her Center for New Media instructors and a scholarship from Columbia made the move irresistible.

Luttrell, a former car salesperson who enrolled in Kalamazoo Valley classes at age 50, credits CNM Director Tom Hamann with convincing her to apply to Columbia. “He kept pushing me to show my work to the Columbia rep,” Luttrell recalled. “I didn’t even have a portfolio so I showed her some of my fight photos on my iPad.” That meeting was a turning point. “She told me that I had a talent for photojournalism and that it’s an instinct that can’t be taught,” Luttrell said.

Last year, when she was a junior, Luttrell’s work was featured in the Grad Show for the Photojournalism department and she had a short documentary premiere called Jab. “I also gave a talk in the Communications department about coming to Columbia as a professional photographer and how it has changed my trajectory,” Luttrell said. “It’s been a crazy year!”

She’ll graduate from Columbia in May 2020 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications with an emphasis on photojournalism. In addition to a full class load, Luttrell works two part-time jobs - as a Columbia Chronicle photographer and at a creative shared working space in Evanston. One of her recent Chronicle assignments included capturing President Barack Obama’s October trip to Chicago to promote the Obama Presidential Center.

“It really didn’t hit me until the next day,” Luttrell said. “There was limited press – four or five news cameras and a platform for photographers, so it was tight for different shot angles. I kept telling myself, get the shot, get the shot. My goal was trying to make sure I got the shot that showed emotion.”

Her photos were on the Chronicle website the next day and on the cover on Monday. “Wow! I did that,” was Luttrell’s reaction. “To see it in print and pick it up and hold it was like oh my gosh!” she said. “I’m still getting used to seeing myself in print.” In addition to photography, Luttrell’s op-ed writing has been published.

Luttrell firmly believes that education has transformed her life – and she’ll gladly share that news with others. “Everything I learned at Kalamazoo Valley prepared me for being here,” Luttrell said. “I went into class at Columbia feeling very confident, but humble about what I could learn.” A stint as an intern in Kalamazoo Valley’s marketing department helped her adapt to the pressures of deadlines and multi-tasking. Today, Luttrell is soaking up the knowledge and spreading her infectious cheer among her classmates and professors.

The Pulitzer prize-winning photojournalist John H. White is Luttrell’s professor and mentor. “He nicknamed me Sunrise and told me that my sunrise shot was the best he ever saw,” Luttrell marvels. I stood on Montrose Pier at 5:30 a.m. in -20 wind chill waiting to see my first sunrise over Lake Michigan. “The things you do for the shot!” It was White who Nelson Mandela called for a photograph when he was released from prison, Luttrell said. “He has a way of putting you in touch with your humanity. People need to see the humanity and I’m glad he taught me that,” she said. “Wherever I am, I have to show and tell the truth. That’s what matters. I’m supposed to take the shot and I’m supposed to tell the story. I feel like my work is from the heart – it’s instinct.”

Luttrell now belongs to the National Society of Black Journalists and the Society of Professional Journalists. “A lot of this has changed my soul, but even in the big city, I’m still a country girl from Kalamazoo,” Luttrell said. “I’m enjoying this journey and excited to see where it takes me.”