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Irene Fertik

Last updated 10/13/2021

After freelancing in New York City early in my photography career, I got a staff job on the largest newspaper in Vermont, The Burlington Free Press. I covered game (hunting) dinners, college ice hockey, U.S. Presidential visits, house fires, double murders, and “found art,” newspaper lingo for a neat street scene. After six years wanted a friendlier climate and settled in L.A. I free lanced for the L.A. Times, Pasadena Star News, and small papers, freelancing for USC for two years before securing a full-time photo job at USC.

I worked for the USC News Service/USC Public Relations as the staff photographer for the faculty/staff weekly, USC Chronicle, from 1987 to 2002. I shot photos illustrating articles about every school and department on campus, and especially loved shooting football and basketball games. One of the most rewarding activities in my work was talking with professors. Curiosity was indeed the spice of life for them. It was fascinating to learn of their cutting edge research as I made my rounds documenting our academic shakers and makers.

For the last 20 years I have been working on a book project documenting a relatively new immigrant group in Israel, Ethiopian Jews who have been a vibrant community there for more than 30 years. I have traveled back and forth, living in Israel 15 times. After living for many years in Santa Monica, and most recently in a loft in downtown Los Angeles, I am moving on to new adventures as I relocate to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where I will continue my freelance photography.