Photojournalist Mason retires from UAF after 36 years

By Jonathan Wasilewski

Distinguished photojournalist Charles Mason holds his favorite photo he took, a landscape shot with a sled dog team, outside his office in the Bunnell Building on April 23, 2026.

After working as the Professor of Photography and the Chair of the Department of Science and Environmental Journalism at the University of Alaska Fairbanks for 36 years, Charles Mason said it’s time to retire. Mason’s photojournalism work has been featured in a wide variety of publications. Some include Time, LIFE, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Outside, Sports Illustrated and Newsweek.

The Sun Star sat down with Mason in his cluttered office in the Bunnell Building, an office he has been in for 20 years.

“It has to be empty on May 7,” he said. “I’m working hard.”

Mason, a distinguished photojournalist, has been working with cameras since he was just ten years old. 

“My father brought me a camera from a business trip to Japan,” he said. “I did flirt with going into physics and engineering and all, but I like photography.”

“My favorite kind of photography is street photography,” he said. “You can react instantly and shoot something that you see happening.”

Mason said that part of the reason why he was hired at UAF in 1990 was because of his photo coverage of the whales who were stuck under the ice in Utqiagvik. Mason spent 11 days documenting the efforts of the Iñupiaq people there in 1989, who were ensuring the survival of three stuck gray whales. He won the Oskar Barnack award, which he said is the equivalent of a Pulitzer Prize. 

“That was a big time award. It helped me get the job here,” he said.

Thinking about his approaching retirement, Mason brought up his children. The 67-year-old has two, and the youngest is graduating college soon.

“I timed my retirement, because my income will drop now, for her to finish college,” he said.

Mason said he plans to continue photography after he retires. “It’s a passion that I luckily made my living with. It’s my identity.”