People: Vernon Doucette
Photographer, Creative Services
Vernon Doucette’s eye for a good shot has earned him national recognition on several occasions. In June, for example, he took first prize for sports photography in the University Photographers Association of America’s (UPAA) annual photo print competition. And in 2005, the UPAA awarded him first prize in the personal vision category for his striking picture of white geese against a freshly fallen bed of snow on the banks of the Charles River—an image he had envisioned months earlier and prepared for accordingly.
That kind of initiative and creativity are encouraged here, Doucette says. “You’re always expected to shoot beyond the mean. And I find hitting that target to be a satisfying thing to do.”
At Marketing and Communications, “there’s a premium on your bringing as much of yourself to the job as you can.” For Doucette, that could mean climbing to the crow’s nest of a tall ship, or suddenly pitching in to help student volunteers rebuild a house in hurricane-torn Florida. In that instance, “as it says in the Bostonia article, I put down my camera and became a construction site supervisor, taught the kids how to use power tools safely, and tried to find an occasion to photograph. And it worked out.”
A lover of the outdoors, Vernon enjoys sea kayaking and has traveled to the Arctic twice.
