Mercury News Photo

Karen T. Borchers has been a photojournalist at the San Jose Mercury News for 22 years. She has also worked at the West Palm Beach Post and the Dayton Journal Herald. She has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Photojournalism from Bowling Green State University and a Master of Arts Degree from Ohio University.

Jim Gensheimer worked at National Geographic as an intern and at the Louisville Courier-Journal before coming to the San Jose Mercury News in 1984. He holds a BA degree from Western Kentucky University and an MA degree in visual communications from Ohio University where he attended as a Knight Fellow in 1999. Gensheimer is author of “Pain and Grace; A Journey Through Vietnam,” a book of photographs published in 2000.

Richard Koci Hernandez, 35, has been with the San Jose Mercury News for the past 13 years. His work has been awarded numerous recognitions by local, national and international photojournalist organizations.

Josie Lepe has been at the Mercury News since 1999. Lepe is the Director of the Photography Lab and shoots for the style section. She loves to photograph hockey and has been documenting the Rockbilly scene in the Bay Area for the last 10 years. Lepe has a BFA from San Jose State University. She is a native of Guadalajara, Mexico and grew up in downtown San Jose.

Pauline Lubens, 50, has been a staff photographer for the San Jose Mercury News since 2000. She spent the previous 17 years at the Detroit Free Press. Pauline has covered the war in Iraq twice for Knight Ridder, focusing on the impact of the war on Iraqi civilians. Lubens has been a Pulitzer Prize finalist twice — in 1991 for a team entry documenting the U.S. visit of South African leader Nelson Mandela and in 2004 for a team entry covering the California Recall election.

Meyer has been a staff photographer for the San Jose Mercury News since March 2000. He previously worked at The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Virginia for three years. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in photojournalism from the University of Missouri in 1995.

Gary Reyes has been a staff photographer at the San Jose Mercury News since 1993. Some of his projects include: Minority-Majority, California’s changing racial demographics; Filipino World War II veterans; and Sikh-Americans. Reyes is a graduate of California State University, Sacramento. He previously worked at the Sacramento Bee and the Oakland Tribune.

A native of Japan, Sugano, 31, has been a staff photojournalist for the San Jose Mercury News since 2002. Sugano has covered a wide range of assignments, including: Hmong refugees’ immigration to the United States; the California recall election of Governor Gray Davis; and formor Japanese internment camp survivors. Sugano’s achievements include: 2004 finalist for Pulitzer Prize feature photography; 2001 College Photographer of the Year; and several prizes from the William Hearst Foundation.

A native of Springfield, Ohio, Tehan has been a staff photographer at several newspapers across the country. Tehan has contributed to several books in the “Day in the Life” series: America, California, Spain, the Soviet Union, China, Italy, Ireland, as well as Christmas in America, the Jews in America, The Power to Heal, Baseball in America, Passage to Vietnam and 24 Hours in Cyberspace. Among Tehan’s many distinctions include: runner-up Newspaper Photographer of the Year for 1992, NPPA. In 2003, Tehan was part of a group entry that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

Len Vaughn-Lahman has covered the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq along with many other stories over a long career at the Mercury News. His work has won numerous local and national awards.