Hazard 2025

The Picture Kentucky Photojournalism Workshop will be held in Hazard, Ky on Oct 22-25, 2025

We assembled another world-class team for our students this year. Meet our five coaches at Picture Kentucky 2025.

Gary Cosby Jr.

Gary Cosby Jr. is a photojournalist in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and has the overblown title of director of photography, overblown since he comprises a staff of one (there used to be three, but staff cuts …).

That aside, Gary is a veteran of 32 years, having worked previously at the Decatur Daily in Decatur, Alabama and at The Daily Advance in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.

Gary is a graduate of the University of North Alabama. He is married and the father of eight children. His hobbies include woodworking, home renovation (mostly involuntary!) and novel writing.

While working for newspapers in Tuscaloosa and Decatur, he has shot nine football national championship games and has a great deal of experience covering tornadoes and breaking news.

Gary also writes for the Tuscaloosa News and does a weekly opinion column as well as news stories, news features and people profiles.

Matt Detrich

Matt Detrich’s career started with a Nikon FG in hand and a darkroom (with fixer!) in the basement of his childhood home. From age 12, he began his journey in photojournalism, while honing his craft and his passion for telling stories. 

Matt earned his BFA in Visual Communication from Ohio University. After completing six internships, Matt secured a position at The Medina County Gazette. Next stop, Akron Beacon Journal for 4-1/2 years, and then on to Indianapolis Star for nearly 2 decades. 
Detrich covered local community news stories, spot news, and about every major sporting championship including the NFL, NBA, MLB, NCAA (Final 4), and NASCAR/IndyCar to name a few. His work took him abroad to the Summer Olympics in Beijing, Pan Am Games in Toronto, and to Afghanistan for almost 2 months, where he documented the return of a 6-month old refugee who successfully received a heart transplant and the Indiana National Guard forces serving there. 
A four-time winner in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Annual Contest and NPPA Region 4 Clip Photographer of the Year, Matt was also named Indiana News Photographers Association POY, as well as INPA Clip Contest POY, multiple times during his tenure.
Currently, Detrich is Senior Visual Media Consultant for Indiana University Health (Indiana’s largest hospital network) located in Indianapolis. Part of a growing team, he produces a variety of video and still assignments ranging from doctor/patient education, to storytelling of patient’s paths toward healing, including interviews with doctors and nurses who made it possible. 
In his spare time, Matt enjoys Fantasy Football, fishing, golfing, and spending time with his wife, two adult daughters and their dogs.
Nicole Hester

Nicole S. Hester is an American photojournalist from Champaign, Illinois and currently working as a staff photojournalist for the Tennessean in Nashville.

Her career has taken her from the midwest to the deep south. In 2016 she moved to Natchez, Mississippi to accept a full-time position as the sole staff photographer for the Natchez Democrat, where she covered daily and breaking news until 2019.

While at the Natchez Democrat, she won multiple awards for her work, her coverage of one of the largest dog-fighting ring busts in Mississippi history. Her photographs and her colleagues reporting helped to change the state laws on animal cruelty.

Her series ‘Growing Up Southern’ which she started shortly after moving to Natchez, Mississippi looks at the different aspects of the life of kids growing up in the deep south.

She has also covered national news from the March for Reproductive Rights in Alabama to natural disasters in the deep south and midwest, to White Nationalist rallies and counter-protests in the northwest. Nicole has documented the pandemic, social upheaval, and the mass school shooting in Nashville in 2023.

Grace Hollars

Grace Hollars is a Visual Journalist (Sports Specialist) at The Indianapolis Star, a USA Today Network. She has photographed the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, 2016 Summer Olympics, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil & 2018 Winter Olympics, PyeongChang, South Korea.

Grace was a Student Photographer at Ball State Creative Services & Communications, interned at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, and worked as a photographer for the Daily News in Muncie, IN.

Stephanie Amador

Stephanie Amador is a freelance photojournalist based in Indianapolis, working with local outlets like MirrorIndy and other projects in the area.

She spent several years documenting rural communities in the South, covering everything from high school football to H2A workers.

After four years at The Tennessean, she has built a portfolio that includes portraits of country artists, concert photography, and Nashville’s local culture. She has photographed for national outlets such as USA Today and Reuters.

“My goal is to bring a bit of light in this world of chaos.”

Stephanie graduated from Ball State University in 2019 and is a Boyd Station Reinke Grant recipient.