Renée C. Byer Explained

Renée C. Byer (1958) was born in Yonkers, New York.

Since 2003,[1] she has served as the senior photojournalist at The Sacramento Bee.

In 2007, Byer won a Pulitzer Prize for her photo essay "A Mother's Journey".

Byer was also a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2013, "For her heartwarming photographs of a grandfather raising three grandchildren after the violent death of his daughter and the loss of his wife to cancer."[2]

Early life

Byer was first introduced to photography by her father, who had a dark room in their apartment in the Bronx.[3] She was given her first camera, a Brownie Starmite II Kodak, by her mother for her 8th birthday, and went on to study photography in high school and took the pictures for the school yearbook. She went to Ulster County Community College to study art and humanities, before transferring to Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, where she majored in art and mass communications.

Career

Byer worked for different newspapers before starting at the Sacramento Bee as a documentary photojournalist.

A Mother's Journey

"A Mother's Journey", her photo series which won her the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography in 2007 was shot over the course of a year, about the relationship between a mother, Cyndie French, and her 11 years old son Derek who was battling neuroblastoma, a type of cancer.

Living on a Dollar a Day

Byers worked for four years on a photography project called "Living on a Dollar a Day". She collaborated with Thomas A. Nazario to write the book Living on a Dollar a Day: The Lives and Faces of the World’s Poor[4] released in April 2014. They travelled to ten countries on four continents for the San Francisco-based nonprofit The Forgotten International detailing the lives of people around the world living in extreme poverty.[3] The book won First Place Documentary Book from the International Photography Awards in 2014. A documentary about the project was released in 2016 narrated by Byer herself.

The Dalai Lama wrote a foreword for the book where he states, “Living on a Dollar a Day shows images of women, children and families in our global community who suffer every day from the effects of extreme poverty. Their stories tell us that they have the same hopes and dreams for themselves and for their children as anyone else in the world.”[3]

Non-Profit

In 2017 Byer started a non-profit named “Positive Change Can Happen” which works to end extreme poverty by 2030.

Personal life

Byer is married to fellow Sacramento Bee photographer Paul Kitagaki, Jr.[5] She is of Irish descent through her mother's grandfather who came from County Galway, Ireland.

Awards

Book awards

Solo exhibitions and presentations

Publications

TV, Film, and Radio

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Harlan . Becky . Q&A: Renée C. Byer's Living on a Dollar A Day . https://web.archive.org/web/20180308232447/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/proof/2014/04/15/qa-renee-c-byers-living-on-a-dollar-a-day/ . dead . March 8, 2018 . 2014-04-15 . National Geographic . 2018-03-08.
  2. Web site: The 2013 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Feature Photography. 2013. Pulitzer.org. en. 2018-03-08.
  3. News: Renée C. Byer: Living on a Dollar a Day. zPhotoJournal. 2018-03-08. en-US.
  4. Book: A., Nazario, Thomas. Living on a dollar a day : the lives and faces of the world's poor. 9781593720568. New York. 851419314. 2014-04-08.
  5. Web site: Bee photos win Pulitzer . Korber . Dorothy . 2007-04-17 . 2020-04-09.
  6. Web site: National Press Photographers Association. nppa.org. 2016-03-24.
  7. Web site: Pictures of the Year International Winners List. poyi.org. 2016-03-24.
  8. Web site: Scripps Howard Awards honor nation's best 2014 journalism The E.W. Scripps Company. www.scripps.com. 2016-03-24.
  9. Web site: Renée C Byer LensCulture. LensCulture. Renée C Byer . LensCulture. 2016-03-24.
  10. Web site: Pulitzer Prize Winners 2013. www.pulitzer.org. 2016-03-24.
  11. Web site: Pulitzer Prize Winners 2007. www.pulitzer.org. 2016-03-24.
  12. Web site: Winners List Sixty-Fourth Pictures of the Year International Competition. www.poyi.org. 2016-03-24.
  13. Web site: Days Japan International Photojournalism Awards. www.daysjapan.net. 2016-03-24.
  14. Web site: Meritorious Journalism Casey Medal Winner. www.journalismcenter.org. 2016-03-24.
  15. Web site: The United Nations Children Emergency Fund, Photo of the Year. author. page. www.unicef.org. 2016-03-24.
  16. Web site: Pictures of the Year International Winners List. www.poyi.org. 2016-03-24.
  17. Web site: Winners . Photoawards.com . 2020-04-09.
  18. Web site: Honorable Mentions . MIFA . 2020-04-09.
  19. Web site: Living on a dollar a day by Renee C. Byer . Monthofphotography.org . en-US.

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