Stacy L. Pearsall

statement

I spent many memorable years in the military and there is nothing more honorable than serving one’s country. I came to live in Charleston because I was stationed at the First Combat Camera Squadron located at Charleston Air Force Base. South Carolina hosts every branch of service: Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines and Coast Guard. Given my military history and connections to each of the state’s bases, I decided to make them my focus. I traveled to Fort Jackson, Charleston Air Force Base, Charleston Naval Base, Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island and Coast Guard Sector Charleston. Each base and each face made my mini-mission worthwhile. From those kooky military-issued glasses (a.k.a. birth control glasses) right down to their muddy boots, South Carolina’s military men and women make me so very proud to be a veteran.

bio

Stacy L. Pearsall got her start as an Air Force photographer over 12 years ago at the age of 17. During her time in the service, she traveled to over 41 countries, and attended S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. During three tours in Iraq, she earned the Bronze Star Medal and Commendation with Valor for heroic actions under fire. Now retired from the military, Pearsall works worldwide as a freelance photographer, and is the owner and Director of the Charleston Center for Photography.

Pearsall gained wide public exposure when she shared her experiences as a female combat photojournalist with Oprah Winfrey on the media star’s television show in February 2009. Her work has appeared in print and television media, including Time magazine, The New York Times, CNN, BBC, The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Soldier of Fortune, Sports Illustrated, and Bahrain Times. Pearsall’s photographs have also been featured in the Oscar-nominated PBS production, Operation Homecoming, and GQ magazine’s “This is Our War.” Her portrayal of combat experiences in Iraq, “Inside An Ambush,” was published in News Photographer, the National Press Photographers Association’s (NPPA) magazine in 2007.

Pearsall was one of only two women to win NPPA’s Military Photographer of the Year competition, and the only woman to have earned it twice. She was also honored as the Air Force Veteran of the Year in a musical tribute to America’s heroes by the Air Force Band and PBS. In Charleston, she was presented with the Trojan Labor American Hero Award for 2009.

In 2007, Pearsall’s project titled Birth Control Glasses was featured at LOOK3 Festival of the Photograph. The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art presented a selection of her photographs in the two-person exhibition, War on Terror: Inside/Out—Photographs by Christopher Sims and Stacy Pearsall from January 23 to February 27, 2009.

Among Pearsall’s numerous clients are Barnes & Noble, BBC, Boeing, DSM Dyneema, Lockheed Martin, McDonald Douglas, PBS, Southparc Communications, and the magazines, Femmes Universelles and Skirt!