Picturing Water: Photojournalist Julia Rendleman will share her work on water issues at Smith/Patterson Lecture
By Quinn Dang
Julia Rendleman, a photojournalist and assistant professor of journalism based in southern Illinois, has more than 10 years of experience working on photo stories about water issues across America. She will share her work in a lecture titled “Picturing Water” at the Missouri School of Journalism’s Smith/Patterson Science Journalism lecture on Nov. 12. The free lecture will begin at 6 p.m. in Smith Forum at the Reynolds Journalism Institute, and complimentary pizza will be served at 5:30 p.m.
Rendleman will share images from a decade of reporting on five water-related issues, from rising tides and land loss to pressing threats to safe drinking water, as well as a story about how an Illinois farmer switched crops to deal with increased flooding. She will address why water is an urgent story and how visual journalists can use storytelling to illuminate its impact on communities, influence policy, and inspire action.
“I think it has deep implications for every single one of us,” she said of her focus on water.
Julia Rendleman will share images from a decade of reporting on five water-related issues, from rising tides and land loss to pressing threats to safe drinking water, as well as a story about how an Illinois farmer switched crops to deal with increased flooding.
She noted that water quantity and quality are already under threat in the United States. For example, the Colorado River basin is drying up. “What’s going to happen to Las Vegas when they don’t have access to clean and safe drinking water? History already tells us. These issues are already prevalent on the Navajo Nation, and in some places in West Virginia, people are already adapting to this unfortunate way of life.”
Rendleman wants to raise awareness about the critical threat to water that exists not only around the world but also in the United States. Through visual stories of how the average person across the globe struggles daily to obtain clean water, Rendleman intends to provoke curiosity and greater consciousness about water accessibility issues.
“I hope that someone sees that photo, and it’s enough to stop them in their tracks and then proceed into the story and want to know more.”
“It’s not always easy to show what climate change or water contamination looks like. Julia has a knack for finding ways to tell those stories visually.”
Sara Shipley Hiles, professor, Missouri School of Journalism
Missouri School of Journalism Professor Sara Shipley Hiles said Rendleman is a good choice to give the lecture because science communication can take many forms, including photography. “It’s not always easy to show what climate change or water contamination looks like,” Hiles said. “Julia has a knack for finding ways to tell those stories visually.”
Rendleman first reported on water issues in graduate school during a visit to the island nation of Palau, where sea level rise and overfishing prompted people to adapt their way of life. She continued covering water stories throughout her career as a staff photographer, then as a freelancer and an assistant professor at Southern Illinois University.
At SIU, she works with colleagues and students in a local reporting lab to help students with long-term and in-depth stories. She collaborated with students on the coverage of rice farmers replacing corn and soybean with rice to cope with increased flooding. She sees it as a climate change adaptation story.
Rendleman said her talk will highlight problems and possible solutions.
“I hope that people come and learn something they didn’t know about both the threat to water resources in our country, but also I hope that people leave with some sense of hope, because there is hope in all of these stories,” Rendleman said.
Learn more about her work here.
About the Smith/Patterson Lecture Series
The Smith/Patterson Science Journalism Fellowship and Lecture Series was established in 2008 by Missouri School of Journalism alumnus Russell G. Smith II and his wife, Gail, to honor Joye Patterson, Smith’s former professor and mentor. The program is a partnership with the Pulitzer Center, established in 2017, to enhance the School of Journalism’s emphasis on science, health and environmental journalism.
Updated: November 5, 2025