Great Ball of Fire!!

Director of Photography Doug Hoke started his career at The Oklahoman and Times as a part-timer December 1976. After just his third semester at Central State University (now University of Central Oklahoma). Hoke was moved onto the full-time staff in March of 1977 and continued his education at CSU full-time while working full-time. He graduated from CSU in 1980 with a degree in Photojournalism. As you can imagine, Hoke has covered just about everything while at The Oklahoman. His early career had strong emphasis in the area of sports, where he has covered collegiate championships in eight different sports and various other national championships, as well as state championships on the high school level. Another area of specialty throughout his career has been fashion where his sense of design and creativeness can be exploited. Always in the forefront of new techniques and styles in his photography, Hoke now uses those skills to photograph the occasional environmental portrait. As Director of Photography, Hoke uses his vast experience to direct the staff in many areas now. As times have changed, The Oklahoman has moved from black and white film only, to color slides, color prints, then scanning color negatives, to digital cameras, and now video. With publication covering print products and online web sites, blogs, and galleries the photo department has more places to display their work than ever before.