Award-winning Canon Explorer of Light, distinguished alumnus returns to speak at Herron

INDIANAPOLIS – Herron School of Art and Design alumnus Bruce Dorn, a Canon Explorer of Light and Emmy-nominated member of the Directors Guild of America, will visit the school on September 20 to share insights nearly half a century of industry experience.

“After almost forty-five years of a financially rewarding and ridiculously entertaining career, I’m excited to finally visit my beloved alma mater,” said Dorn. “I can’t wait.” 

A photographer, filmmaker, director, and educator, Dorn graduated from Herron in 1973 with a bachelor’s in visual communication. At the time, Herron offered only two photography classes under the visual communications program, so he pursued image-making on the side. Come senior year he was hired as a fashion, editorial, and advertising photographer for Condé Nast, living in New York City and traveling to Rome, Paris, and other destinations around the globe.

Dorn joined Herron’s faculty roster three years later to teach photography and visual communication classes. During this time, he was instrumental in advocating the development of photography into its own undergraduate program, which was formally offered as a major in 1980. That same year, Dorn left Indianapolis to pursue a career in the film industry. He eventually relocated to Hollywood, where he lived for eighteen years, and thrived in various roles ranging from director/cameraman to creative director. 

Dorn has conceptualized, produced, and directed hundreds of big-budget national and international television advertising campaigns for Fortune 500 companies. Dorn has won the Kodak Innovators Award, earned multiple Mobius Awards, and received recognition from the New York Film and Video Festivals, the New York, London, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Dallas Art Directors’ Clubs, and the Clio Awards as well as a Bronze Lion from the Cannes Commercial Film Festival.

“Whether they realize it or not, the current crop of Herron students is destined to enter the creative workforce at a very unique and exciting moment in time.” Dorn explained, “Advances in automation, robotics, and artificial Intelligence are predicted to wipe out countless ‘real’ jobs, but it's also thought that artists – the concept-generators, the image-makers, and the creative problem-solvers – will become some of the most important and productive members of future society." 

Dorn’s lecture is supported by Canon, and is free and open to the public. The event will begin at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, September 20 in the Basile Auditorium of Eskenazi Hall, 735 W. New York St. on the Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis campus. 

Parking is available courtesy of The Great Frame Up Indianapolis in the visitor section of the Sports Complex Garage (west of Herron’s Eskenazi Hall), or on the upper floors of the Riverwalk Garage (south of the Sports Complex Garage) until 6 p.m. Park on any floor after 6 p.m. Bring your parking ticket to the Herron galleries for validation.

About Canon Explorers of Light

The Explorers of Light concept came out of Canon USA in the mid 1990s as a broad-ranging initiative for photographic education and inspiration. Today, the group is comprised of dozens of the most influential photographers and cinematographers in the world, each a master of their creative specialty.

The Explorers share their photographic passions and technical expertise with eager audiences of photo professionals, hobbyists, and enthusiasts in a variety of personal appearances, seminars, and gallery showings through the United States. Examples of the Explorers' work may be found online at the Explorers of Light Gallery, as well as numerous museums, galleries, and publications.

Explorers of Light use Canon EOS photographic equipment, and many print with Canon large format printers. Most recently, many of their public presentations have been enhanced with their use of high resolution Canon REALiS projectors.

Media Contact

Whitney Yoerger
External Affairs & Content Specialist
317-278-9430
wyoerger@iupui.edu