January Open Topic Judge Walt Calahan

Walt Calahan is an old friend of SSCC, and he’s served both as judge and speaker many times in recent years. Because of his wide variety of photographic interests and experience, he’s just the right person to judge our open competitions. Walt’s career in photography has taken him under the Atlantic Ocean on a US Navy Trident submarine, down lava tube caves in Idaho, into surgical clinics for Afghan refugees in Peshawar, Pakistan, canoeing the Okefenokee Swamp of Georgia and the great northern woods of Canada, and being launched off the deck of a US Navy aircraft carrier. As if that weren’t enough adventure, Walt has photographed myriad subjects, from the tumult of the revolution in Romania to children learning to tap dance. As his web site shows, Walt loves photographs that tell stories.

walt-calahanHundreds of magazines have used his work, including the National Geographic Society, Boys’ Life, Time, Fortune, Smithsonian, Rolling Stone, and Vanity Fair. General Electric, Yamaha, The Washington Performing Arts Society, Hillel Foundation, and Harvard Business School have asked him to illustrate their
publications and advertisements.

As an adjunct professor, Walt teaches photography for Stevenson University and McDaniel College’s art departments. He’s dedicated to his role as a teacher and claims it helps ensure a love for photography in the next generation of image makers. In his own education, Walt graduated with honors from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications and then earned a Master of Liberal Arts degree from McDaniel College.

To learn more about Walt’s accomplishments and passions, visit www.walterpcalahan.com