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Furman staffers cinch national awards for photography and design
Multimedia Content Creator Owen Withycombe captured this award-winning image of the northern lights in the night sky above Furman University Oct. 10, 2024.
Furman University has an eye for talent, and its talented staff’s great eyes have earned the university four awards from a global higher-education nonprofit for photography and design work.
The Council for Advancement and Support of Education awarded Furman four Best of CASE District III awards.
Christian Anderson ’26 and Max Ferrier ’25, sitting, work with Greg Lewis, professor of biology, left, and Brannon Andersen, the Rose J. Forgione Professor of Earth, Environmental and Sustainable Sciences testing methane levels in local streams as part of a research project on July 3, 2024. Photo by Nathan Gray, Furman University.
For one of these accolades, Owen Withycombe, a multimedia content creator, braved a chilly October night in 2022 for five hours to capture a once-in-a-lifetime image of the northern lights. He walked Furman’s campus that night watching weather reports and updates on the geomagnetic storm making the arctic phenomenon visible in South Carolina, looking for the perfect angle to capture this celestial event.
“I had no idea if this shot would turn out well. It’s a long exposure shot, which means you are stabilizing the camera in some way and opening its shutter for a few seconds,” Withycombe said. A 20-second exposure let just enough light in to capture what few could spot that night; Withycombe was stopping strangers on campus “just to make sure they’d take a second and appreciate it.”
He and Nathan Gray, also a multimedia content creator, take more than 100,000 images a year for Furman, and only a fraction of them make it through editing and publication on social media, Furman Magazine, Furman News stories and various university publications.
One of those photos was Gray’s award-winning shot of students Christian Anderson ’26 and Max Ferrier ’25 taking water samples from a local stream during a research project in 2024 with Brannon Andersen, of earth, environmental and sustainability sciences, and Greg Lewis, professor of biology. The shot focuses on the student-faculty relationships Furman fosters, and research that can take students out of the classroom and into the field.
Graphic Designer and Illustrator Chris Turner brought some whimsy into this admissions publication mailed to prospective students visiting campus by adding a custom pocket to house a Dining Hall cookie (yum!).
“Photography, for me, is always about adding a little whimsy and being playful,” Gray said. “The reflection on the water, the hanging vines, the symmetry all felt very playful to me and allowed me to balance artistry with the marketing goals of the university.”
Chris Turner won two awards for his work as a graphic designer and illustrator; one a welcome sign at Furman’s entrance to the Swamp Rabbit Trail, the other a cookie-carrying mailer sent to prospective students participating in a campus tour. Turner worked with admissions to reimagine how to share an overview of the university and showcase its values and culture while being fun; hand-drawn elements mix with photography and a custom pocket to hold an official Daniel Dining Hall cookie.
Turner’s designs begin with research for ideas and inspiration, and he keeps projects on budget while juggling multiple other projects. From there, his imagination and craft take over to help round out the university’s personality, letting visitors and prospective students know that Furman “also offers a full and fun all-around college experience.”