John and Trudy Faber Memorial Photography Contest and Show
This popular annual Smith Mountain Arts Council contest draws casual, amateur, and professional photographers from a wide area surrounding Smith Mountain Lake, including Roanoke, Lynchburg, Martinsville and beyond.
About John and Trudy Faber
In 2023 the Smith Mountain Arts Council renamed its annual John L. Faber Memorial Photo Contest to also honor Mr. Faber’s widow Trudy, a long-time supporter of the show and other SMAC activities. Mrs. Faber died in 2023. The contest is now called the John and Trudy Faber Memorial Photography Contest and Show.
For nearly 30 years the show has celebrated the career of John L. Faber, a renowned news photographer, advisor to Kodak, and author of books on photography, including “Great News Photos and the Stories behind Them,” which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1979. He was admired for his 1963 portrait of the Dalai Lama.
When the Fabers moved in 1985 to Smith Mountain Lake, Mrs. Faber , known for her energy and enthusiasm, was active as a realtor and in community affairs, and recognized as the lady who swam daily in the lake, from April to October. Mr. Faber died in 1993 and Mrs. Faber moved after that to the Glebe in Daleville, but continued to support SMAC, and especially the photo show. In her last days, she asked that friends who wished to make a gift in her memory consider supporting SMAC.
SMAC is grateful for Mrs. Faber’s longtime support and proud to continue the photo show tradition in the name of both John and Trudy Faber.
About John Faber
Source: 2007 Smith Mountain Eagle article by Rebecca Jackson
- Renown photojournalist, retired at SML with wife Trudy, passed away in 1993
- 1950-1983 served as Eastman-Kodak technical and public relations representative to the largest news organizations in the nation.
- Worked closely with Margaret Bourke-White (first Life Mag cover) as liaison between her and Eastman Kodak
- 1963 became the first westerner to interview the Dali Lama. Faber photo was used as the Dali Lama official portrait for many years.
- He documented the history of news photography, interviewing the great photojournalists, and compiling the results into a book, “Great News Photos and the Stories Behind Them. Nominated for a Pulizer Prize in 1979.
