Courtland Wells has joined the staff of The Vicksburg Post as a photojournalist.

Wells, a native of Tuscaloosa, Ala., is 2016 graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi, where he earned a degree in photojournalism.

“We are thrilled to have Courtland join us,” said Jan Griffey, editor. “His skills are exceptional and I think our readers will recognize his innate talent when they see his photos in the pages of our newspaper, website and Vicksburg Living magazine.”

Wells attended Southern Mississippi on a track scholarship and competed in the high jump. He became interested in photography thanks to the photos his mother took of him while he was competing.

“When I ran track in high school and college, my mom would come to my track meets and take photos. We had this meet in Birmingham and she showed me one photo, but I wanted to see all of them, so she left the camera with me. That weekend, I just started taking photos of everything and I fell in love with it. I knew absolutely nothing about it at the time,” Wells said.

During college, Wells was photo editor of The Student Printz, USM’s student newspaper. He also took photos for Dime entertainment magazine. Wells won the Parnell McKay Sr. Photojournalism Award for 2016 at the University of Southern Mississippi.

“I’m here to document and tell the stories of the Vicksburg community through eye-catching imagery. I look forward to getting to know the people of this community,” Wells said.

He is the son of Majihus Wells and Donna Wells, who live in Tuscaloosa, and has two brothers. When not taking photos, he enjoys skateboarding, wakeboarding and video games. You can contact Courtland at courtland.wells@vicksburgpost.com.