Central Michigan University

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Alaska's Denali National Park through a camera lens

CMU professor donates thousands of photos to park

CMU's Kent Miller took more than 22,000 photos of Alaska's Denali National Park and donated more than 1,400 to the park for their use.

Courtesy photo

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Media Contact(s):

Heather Smith
989-774-1702
heather.smith@cmich.edu

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While planning an Alaskan cruise with his wife in June 2008, Central Michigan University photojournalism and new media professor Kent Miller also volunteered to photograph Denali National Park at his own expense. His adventure began with a 10-day shoot in the six-million-acre park, which resulted in two more 10-day visits to Denali and a prestigious volunteer award.

Miller spent 14 hours each day shooting and processing more than 22,000 photographs, of which he donated more than 1,400 to the park for use in books, Web pages, brochures, exhibits, educational presentations and more.

Through the connections he made in Alaska, Miller created a partnership to send CMU photojournalism and new media interns to Alaska each summer. The first, Neil Blake, spent a summer in Denali National Park creating media projects, online videos about specific areas of the park and various other activities. Two other interns will travel to Alaska and divide their time between Denali National Park and other national parks in the state.

Miller's efforts to provide the park with photography earned him the Harry Hassinger Award, the top annual volunteer award for the National Park Service's Alaska region.