Biography

Photojournalism portfolio

I have been drawing since I can remember. I got my first camera when I went to camp at about the 5th grade and have been making pictures ever since.

I got my first 35mm camera in high school and I used it to shoot pictures for the Hesston High School Yearbook and pictures of nature.

I started out at Hesston College as an art major in college and ended up transferring to the University of Kansas and majoring in Photojournalism. After graduating, I worked for many small newspapers in Kansas and one in Burlington, Colorado. The papers I worked for (insert cheer for your favorite town) are Junction City Daily Union, El Dorado Times, The Newton Kansan, and The Olathe Daily News. I also freelanced for The Lawrence Journal-World.

I decided I didn't want to be on call for a newspaper and shoot every high school football game, so in 2002, I went back to school to study computer information systems.

During this time I worked for Kinkos. I went to work for University Photography (an event photography company) after finishing the program and now I work with the web site at GCSAA.

When I'm not working, I still make art and nature photographs. Please contact me if you would like to purchase any originals.

Visit my MySpace page: Myspace.com/val_bontrager

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