Photojournalism professor Julia Rendleman has amassed a considerable portfolio of professional publications since she began teaching in the School of Journalism and Advertising last year.

Her work has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, ProPublica, The Kentucky Lantern and numerous non-profit publications.

“Photojournalism has provided me with amazing opportunities and a front-seat to history,” Rendleman said. “It is an absolute privilege to be trusted to tell people’s stories. Sometimes the stories are hard, they’re sad – and that someone trusts me to get it right and share images from what might be the toughest day of their life – it’s just a really precious thing. I hope I can get SIU journalism students excited about that awesome responsibility and privilege.”

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One of Rendleman’s photos appeared on the front page of the New York Times in July, as part of the article “Abortion Networks Adapt to a Post-Roe World.”

“This summer, I met a woman flying across the country – from Minnesota to the East Coast – seeking an abortion. It was the first time she had ever flown. She allowed me into that day of her life,” Rendleman said.

When Rendleman moved back to Illinois last year, she said she knew the state would be “central to the shifting nature” of abortion care.

“As a storyteller, I was looking for unique ways to tell the story and came across Elevated Access, an Illinois-based non-profit organization connecting pilots with patients seeking abortions in states where the procedure is illegal. The pilots provide transportation for free,” she said.

Rendleman said it was an extremely hard assignment to photograph.

“Neither the patient, pilot nor location could be revealed in the images,” she said. “At the same time, my photographs should give readers a sense of what the cross-country journey (and first time the patient was ever on an airplane) looks and feels like and hopefully, gives them a greater understanding of the real-world result of Supreme Court decisions.”

Rendleman’s work also appeared on the front page of the Washington Post in August 2022, in a story following up on a 1997 school shooting in Paducah, Kentucky, when the gunman became eligible for parole.

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Photos by Rendleman were heavily featured in a ProPublica article about residents being displaced from HUD housing. The story, written by SoJA’s newly minted investigative journalism professor Molly Parker, told of the closure of four public housing projects in Cairo, Illinois.

Not all of her assignments are so hard-hitting. Rendleman covered numerous topics for a large European news organization: Finland’s Helsingin Sanomat. One story took her to dude ranches in the American West, where she shot still photos and video, including drone footage.

“I rode across Montana on horseback for a European outlet, documenting the best American cowboy experience money can buy,” Rendleman said. “In the spring, I went to south Florida for the same European outlet to find out what the American Spring Break experience was all about.  I went several times to Mayfield, Kentucky, to document the recovery and use of recovery funds after a tornado devastated the area in December 2021. My camera brought me to all these places.”

Rendleman wants her students to be excited by the example of her work.

“I’m an SIU alum,” she said. “If I can do it, they can do it too.”

Rendleman also wants her students to know there’s no need to despair over the state of journalism and traditional news outlets.

“I think there are things to be excited about and stories to tell,” she said. “That’s what I want to help Salukis do. I want them to come back in five years and tell me about their summers, riding horseback across the American West, or wherever their stories take them.”

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