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Stuart Sechriest, 1963

Posted on October 20, 2011October 20, 2011 by Staff

A Thousand Words
By Jock Lauterer


In this obviously set-up photograph (you can’t take a flash picture in a darkroom) from the J-School files, dated 1963, photojournalism professor Stuart Sechriest, in tie and white lab coat, checks a print in the final wash as two students pose at classic Omega D-II enlargers. An anonymous photographer captured this scene in the photo darkrooms of the old J-School at Howell Hall. Sechriest, who retired in 1977 after teaching for 32 years, died last week at 97.

Professor Sechriest was actually grinning when he jerked me out of News Editing class and hauled me into his office, shut the door and demanded, “Lauterer, why are you so damned DUMB?!” My curmudgeonly prof wore a perpetual Cheshire cat grin, even when he was dead serious, which completely confused and confounded his students and, I can imagine, his colleagues as well. So even as he read me the riot act, Sechriest had that little playful grin going. Why WAS I so damned dumb? Truth be told, I didn’t give a fig about his News Editing class. I did care about photography – and earlier Sechriest had denied me entry into his photojournalism class, brushing me off with, “Oh, you don’t need that class,” presumably because he regarded me, the DTH chief photographer and photo editor, as a know-it-all smart aleck. Imagine that. Somehow I limped through the required News Editing class and secured “a gentleman’s C.” Nevertheless, I regard Sechriest as the best photo professor I never had. His death last week caused me to reflect on the fine irony of life. I now teach the very same photo course into which Sechriest denied me entry. Later in life, he became a mentor to me and graciously bequeathed me with his classic 4×5 Speed Graphic press camera.

A THOUSAND WORDS
Do you have an important old photo that you value? Email your photo to jock@email.unc.edu and include the story behind the picture. Because every picture tells a story. And its worth? A thousand words.
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