Blue Chalk is thrilled to announce that Jamie Francis has joined our staff as director of photography. 

Jamie Francis grew up in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, but his work as a visual storyteller has taken him all over the world. His essays about Iraq enduring world sanctions and Afghans emerging from war earned international awards. 

Jamie has worked on extensive documentary projects in the U.S., including life along a small street in St. Petersburg, FL, riders of the public bus system in Columbia, SC and families who lost a loved one in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. 

For the past decade, while working as a journalist at The Oregonian, his passion has been documenting the land and people of rural Oregon. He is based in Portland. 

Learn more about Jamie at jamiefrancis.com.

Photo (above): The Bland family children (Tanya, 10, Johnathan, 1, Jason, 7, Darlene, 6 and Joey, 8) sleep in the back seat as their mother Violet, drives their father, Albert, to work. They are homeless and have been living out of their car near Norfolk, VA. Photo by Jamie Francis.