Ted Jackson is a photojournalist, writer and public speaker who has spent over three decades exploring the human condition while covering news, sports and features for the New Orleans Times-Picayune. He joined the newspaper in 1984 after two years photographing in the heart of Acadiana. He is a native of McComb, Mississippi, and studied art design, journalism and photojournalism at Southwest Mississippi Junior College and
the University of Southern Mississippi.
"Ted Jackson’s photos and narration document his struggle to do the right thing under extraordinary circumstances." - Greater Good Magazine
In 1987, he photographed his first major photo essay, “Desire, Death of a Dream,” an essay on life in the Desire housing development, one of the country’s worst. Other major projects have included the opening of the Berlin Wall, the Persian Gulf War, life in Cuba and political upheaval in Haiti. In 2003, he photographed “LEAP Year,” where he documented one eighth-grade class through their year as they prepared for high-stakes school testing.
"...within moments, in his audience of around 100 students and professionals, you could have heard a pin drop as he related one of the most hypnotic and spellbinding stories we had ever heard from a photographer." - The Digtal Journalist
In 1997, he was one of a four-person team that won a
Pulitzer Prize for public service for “Oceans of Trouble,”
a comprehensive look at the impending collapse of the
world’s fisheries. Through the years, he has covered the physical destruction and emotional trauma of earthquakes and hurricanes, most notably, Hurricane Katrina. For their coverage of Hurricane Katrina, The Times-Picayune staff won
a Pulitzer for public service and another for breaking news.
Ted and his wife, Nancy, live in Covington, La.
"But to hear Jackson explain what he went through personally to capture the many stories of the storm, is to know there is an answer to the question he asked himself ten years ago: yes, a picture can bring help. It can also bring hope." - Andrea Israel, ABC News
