Earl Neikirk - Photographer / Bristol Herald Courier

Email: eneikirk@bristolnews.com

Earl Neikirk is on his second tour of duty as a full-time photographer at the Herald Courier, where he returned in 2003 after several years of freelancing for The Associated Press and other local news agencies.

Born in San Diego to a Navy family, Earl spent most of his childhood in Charlottesville, Virginia and learned his craft by becoming the family photographer and taking thousands of photos on cross-country trips, and then processing black-and-white film and printing his photos in the family basement.

Neikirk graduated from Virginia Tech in 1983 with a degree in media studies and joined the Herald Courier the first time in 1984. He married an Elizabethton girl in 1986 and they moved to Florida, where he worked for several companies that provided photography aboard cruise ships sailing to Mexico and the Western and Eastern Caribbean. While in Florida, his daughter was born.

Neikirk and family moved to Elizabethton in 1994. Since then, Neikirk has won several awards for his photos, including recent honors from the Virginia Press Association, Tennessee Press Association, Tennessee Associated Press Managing Editors and the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association.

"Through photography, we can all live in different parts of the world without having to leave our own homes," he says. "I hope the readers enjoy riding with me every day and viewing their neighborhood as I see it through the camera."