Mike Davis’ role as a visual editor has taken many forms since he began as a picture editor in 1987 after completing graduate school at the University of Missouri. Regardless of the setting his goal has been to help elevate photographers’ craft and storytelling abilities while making publishing environments better for visual media.

Most recently Mike directed The Alexia Grants and taught project-based courses as an endowed faculty member at Syracuse University, where he is now a professor emeritus. He continues to work independently with photographers the world over to develop, refine and achieve significant bodies of work. He has edited more than 50 books in this capacity. Mike wrote the book Creating Visual Narratives that is published by Focal Press/Routledge.

Before teaching and working independently, Mike worked as a visual editor at National Geographic magazine, The White House and five newspapers with tiny to large circulations. Another of Mike’s great joys is helping photographers successfully submit work to competitions and for grants. It’s an equal pleasure to be on jury panels.

Mike grew up in Tekamah, Nebraska and graduated from UN-L J-School after spending four years in the U.S. Air Force working on base newspapers. He now lives in Minneapolis with his wife, Deb Pang Davis, who is the design director for Blurb.com.

**Mark's bio tin type photo was made by Mark Osterman