Author

John Partipilo
Working as a photojournalist for 40 years, Partipilo has won awards such as NPPA Best of Photojournalism and nominated for two Pulitzers. His photography has also been featured in national and international publications. Most importantly Partipilo’s work is about people — people in their different environments and people in their different stages of life. That’s the heart of his work. To him people are so important, because they all have a unique story.
The year in photos: Part Two
By: John Partipilo, Karen Pulfer Focht and J. Holly McCall - December 30, 2021
In our second gallery of photographs that defined 2020, we share works by photojournalists John Partipilo and Karen Pulfer Focht on topics including the environment, families with special needs children and immigration issues. While 2021 wasn’t characterized by the same type of demonstrations that marked 2020, the year nonetheless had its share of demonstrations by […]
2021: The year in photos
By: J. Holly McCall, John Partipilo and Karen Pulfer Focht - December 28, 2021
Great writing and excellent photojournalism go together like peas and carrots, and the Tennessee Lookout has the good fortune to work with excellent writers and photographers. 2021 was a lesser sibling to 2020, our launch year. If the latter gave us the opportunity to cover Black Lives Matter protests, COVID test sites and bombings, the […]
Biden inspects Western Kentucky tornado damage
By: John Partipilo and J. Holly McCall - December 16, 2021
President Joe Biden visited Dawson Springs, Kentucky on Wednesday as part of a tour of areas damaged by powerful storms over the weekend. Photojournalist John Partipilo was also in Dawson Springs, documenting the devastation. Former Kentucky governor Steve Beshear, father of current Gov. Andy Beshear, hails from the small town, where 12 people died in […]
Slow recovery begins from West Tennessee, Kentucky storms
By: John Partipilo and J. Holly McCall - December 15, 2021
Formerly known to most Tennesseans as the home of the late governor Ned Ray McWherter, Dresden, Tennessee joins the roster of towns known by name nationally for the devastation caused by tornadoes: Xenia, Ohio. Greensburg, Kanas. Joplin, Missouri. Mayfield, Kentucky and now, Dresden. The north side of the town’s Main Street was flattened, including City […]
Tornadoes devastate West Tennessee and Kentucky
By: John Partipilo and J. Holly McCall - December 13, 2021
At least four people in Tennessee are dead after tornadoes ripped through northwest Tennessee and Kentucky early Saturday morning. The National Weather Service confirmed seven tornadoes touched down in Tennessee but haven’t confirmed if the same tornado damaged Tennessee and Kentucky. In Weakley County, Dresden was hard hit, as was Newbern in Dyer County. Tornadoes […]
Abortion rights rally in Nashville draws hundreds
By: John Partipilo - October 4, 2021
A rally by abortion rights advocates drew hundreds to the Tennessee Capitol on Saturday. The Rally for Abortion Justice was part of coordinated events in cities across the nation after a Texas law banning most abortions took effect. Photojournalist John Partipilo captured the event.
Tennesseans celebrate Juneteenth
By: Dulce Torres Guzman, John Partipilo and J. Holly McCall - June 21, 2021
Tennesseans didn’t wait on President Joe Biden’s Thursday proclamation making Juneteenth a federal holiday to begin organizing celebrations marking the occasion. In the Nashville area alone, more than 45 events were held to celebrate a traditional holiday for Black Americans. On June 19,1865, U.S. Major Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston Texas bearing a copy […]
Pro-Palestine demonstrators hit streets in Nashville
By: John Partipilo and Lookout Staff - May 24, 2021
Hundreds of Tennesseans marched through the streets of downtown Nashville on Friday night to support Palestine and protest treatment of Palestinian civilians in the recent Israel-Palestine conflict. Many of the approximately 800 attendees were of Palestinian descent. “We will sacrifice our blood and souls for Palestine,” was a refrain chanted by marchers in Arabic through […]
Nashville’s Freedom Riders: HBCU students risked all to end segregation
By: John Partipilo, Anita Wadhwani and Dulce Torres Guzman - March 2, 2021
On Feb. 27, 1960, John Lewis, then a student at American Baptist College, joined other college students in Nashville as they sat down at the “whites only’’ lunch counter at Woolworth’s in the heart of downtown to begin their work integrating the city’s stores. Students at HBCUs, including Tennessee State University, Fisk University, Meharry Medical […]
FBI, ATF search Antioch house of bombing suspect
By: John Partipilo and Lookout Staff - December 26, 2020
Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives converged on an Antioch house named as the residence of a person of interest in the Christmas Day RV bombing on Nashville’s Second Avenue. Neither local nor federal agencies have named the suspect, but agents were seen entering a house […]
Christmas morning bomb devastates Downtown Nashville block
By: John Partipilo, Alex Kent, Ray Di Pietro and Lookout Staff - December 25, 2020
At around 6:27 on Christmas morning, what appears to be an intentionally-set bomb detonated on Second Avenue in downtown Nashville just outside an AT&T infrastructure building. The Metro Nashville Police Department reports the bomb was inside a vehicle, believed to be a recreational vehicle (RV.) No one was killed and three people were reported injured. FBI […]
Nashville celebrates El Dia de Independence
By: Dulce Torres Guzman and John Partipilo - September 15, 2020
For many of Nashville’s citizens, Sept. 16 is a cause for celebration. Tennessee’s population has boomed over the last decade, with droves of immigrants seeking to build a new home far from their countries of origin. Following the 2009 bipartisan movement to shoot down an effort to make the city’s language “English Only,” immigrant communities […]