A defining moment in Ochberg Fellow John Trotter’s life and career occurred in early 1997 while on assignment for his newspaper, The Sacramento Bee. The images John shares here along with excerpts from a conversation with Donna DeCesare chart his bold and determined journey to take back his life and to understand from the inside out the experience of recovery from brain injury. John’s project The Burden of Memory is in the process of becoming a book. His insightful photographic eye has since produced No Agua, No Vida an exhibition and award-winning body of work about the quiet environmental violence being done to the Colorado River.
John Trotter is a freelance photojournalist and 2007 Ochberg Fellow. His work has been exhibited in the US and in Europe and has appeared in Life, U.S. News and World Report, Nieman Reports, American Photography and numerous other publications. A selection of his recent work can be seen on his personal website.
Your contributions help the Dart Center nurture informed, innovative and ethical news reporting on violence, conflict and tragedy worldwide.
The Dart Center is a project of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
© Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York