Celebrity portrait photographer to visit April 12

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Photographer Kwaku Alston is being recognized at this year’s Distinguished Alumni Awards. As part of Alston’s visit, he will lecture on his career and present his work at 6 p.m. April 12 in the Carlson Auditorium.

Kwaku Alston, known for his creative photographic portraits of celebrities, is returning to his roots at Rochester Institute of Technology, where he is being recognized at this year’s Distinguished Alumni Awards.

As part of Alston’s visit, he will lecture on his career and present his work at 6 p.m. April 12 in the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Sciences auditorium.

Alston is internationally known as a celebrity, advertising and journalistic photographer who has crafted memorable images for well-known publications and companies including The New York Times, Time, Essence, People, Target and Verizon. His portraits of President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, statesman and activist Nelson Mandala and celebrities Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Aniston and Drew Barrymore highlight Alston’s unique ability to capture the expressive nuances of his subjects’ personalities.

“I believe it is essential for any artist seeking complete self awareness to be fully involved in the world, both internally as well as externally, in order to achieve the highest perspective,” Alston says. “To obtain this goal, one must give back, as well as take.”

Alston is a graduate of RIT’s School of Photographic Arts and Sciences. He will be recognized at this year’s Distinguished Alumni Awards during a reception at Locust Hill Country Club in Pittsford on April 13.

The lecture is sponsored by RIT’s Alumni Relations Office, the assistant provost for diversity and the School of Photographic Arts and Sciences. For more information, call 475-2884.