Joseph (Joe) Couse Swayze (1944-2022) was a photographer and journalist, and a long-time teacher who inspired students to seek the truth in words and imagery. A 1966 graduate of Williams College, Joe spent a year in Vietnam as a U.S. Army information officer, writing news stories, making photographs, and escorting journalists in the field. He said that a day he spent with Larry Burrows, a legendary British combat photographer, inspired him to make photography a part of his life. Swayze returned to Massachusetts to work for the Bennington Banner and the Berkshire Eagle for a time before becoming a teacher and sharing his passion for journalism with students at Noble and Greenough School in Dedham, MA for 33 years. He also taught the Young Photographers class for many summers at the Maine Photographic Workshops.
Swayze led numerous student trips that included canoeing down the Hudson river, as well as biking adventures in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, and along the coast of California. And he always had his camera in hand, capturing portraits of life and nature. Over the years, Swayze student disciples ended up at The Boston Globe, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Washington Post, National Geographic, and other media outlets.
