Profiles in Success  Submit a Profile In-depth looks at life after J-School. Class Notes  Submit a Class Note Shorter updates and recent alumni photos. Sort by Decade Sort by Name/Emphasis Show All 2000-Present 1990-1999 1980-1989 1970-1979 1960-1969 1950-1959 1940-1949 1930-1939 1920-1929 Show All: List by Last Name Graduate Degree Magazine Newspaper Photojournalism Radio-Television Strategic Communication Sort by Decade More Alumni Resources 2000-Present 1990-1999 1980-1989 1970-1979 1960-1969 1950-1959 1940-1949 1930-1939 1920-1929 @mizzou For All We Call Mizzou Mizzou Alumni Association MizzouNet

David Marcou BJ '84

What do you do? And what is most interesting about it?
Freelance teaching, writing, photography, editing and publishing. The most interesting thing about my work is seeing to the publication of others, my son's, and my own work. I teach adults how to write for publication and used to teach photography as well.

What are your job responsibilities?
I sell my personal writings, photography, and editing as a freelancer, so those materials can be published. I also teach others how to do the same, and I direct adult students, professionals and hobbyists in the publication of group and personal books, as I select, sequence and edit their materials for those books. I also work seasonally in a university bookstore as a clerk.

How did you get your job?
My first job after graduating was editing for Yonhap News Agency of South Korea, which the J-School's Professor Won Ho Chang helped me to land. After that, I worked as a journalist for other companies, and was editor in 1990 for the weekly paper in Adams County, Wisc., which I applied for from a newspaper ad. I began teaching photography in 1991 and writing in 1993 for a city college. I now teach independently of any school, plus do other freelance work.

Best professional lesson learned at the J-School?
I learned how to focus on the art and craft of journalism.

What would be your best advice to current students?
No matter how lowly and/or exulted your subjects may appear to others, you should approach each and every one as if the world very much needs your work about them.

What are some recent projects?
In 2002, my group and I published a book about 9/11: "America's Heartland Remembers." The group photo-book I directed and co-edited, "Light, Shadow, & Spirit: On the Path of a Picture-Family of Life-Reflections," was published in July 2003 by Speranza. In March 2004, I had published my cover-story in the Royal Photographic Society Journal, commemorating the anniversary of the 125th birthday of the photographer Edward Steichen. Also, in 2004, I had published my essay, "Allied Journalists Aim for Victory on D-Day," on the British Heritage Web site, and edited/contributed to/published "The People Book: Photo-Essays and Montages in Monochrome." In 2005 I edited/contributed to/published "Spirit of Wisconsin: A Historical Photo-Essay of the Badger State," which included the involvement of all eight living governors of Wisconsin. I hope to direct an internationally successful group photo-essay book for 2006, too.

What is on the horizon?
As I continue helping others to get published, I'd like to see us all do very well on individual and collective tasks. The group I direct has produced ten group books, but I'd like members of our group to get their work published in many other venues as well.

What do you consider to be your greatest professional achievement?
While leading my group of more than 100 contributors, we won the Sept. 12th Initiative International Guild's Top Book Award in 2002 for "Spirit of America: Heartland Voices, World Views." My son, Matthew, typed the entire manuscript when he was only 13 years old, as well as contributed some of his own words and pictures. Also, my portrait of "Picture Post" legend Bert Hardy and his pet dogs, first published in a 1984 "Weekly Missourian," was permanently added to the Photographs Collection of Britain's National Portrait Gallery in 2003. Finally, my parents celebrated their Golden Valentine Anniversay in 2000 and 55th in 2005, and my photo of their repetition of vows to commemorate the 2000 event was published in "Spirit of Wisconsin" with the dedication: "For All Our Parents."