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Pittsburg State alum follows his heart capturing emotional images that seek to tell athlete's stories

Derek Extended Interview

If you follow Pittsburg State Athletics on Facebook or Twitter or visit their website, you've likely seen the work of Pitt State photographer Derek Livingston.Today, he resides in Joplin, but he was born and raised in southeast Kansas and is a part of an extended family tree of Pittsburg State alums.

For those unable to attend Pittsburg State football games this season, Derek's photos, published at PittsStateGorillas.comand through PSU's social mediachannels, took us to action. Whether it was the opening kick-off of the football season on September 1st or the final seconds of the gut-wrenching 17-14 loss to Ferris State that ended the Gorilla's undefeated season.

Derek covers Pittsburg State football and shoots everything from men's and women's basketball teams to volleyball, softball and baseball, cross country, and track and field.

Earlier this week, Derek sat down with KRPS's Fred Fletcher-Fierro to talk about what got him interested in sports photography, what he has learned along the way, and what major event he would like to cover that isn't in the Four States.

Since 2017 Fred Fletcher-Fierro has driven up Highway 171 through thunderstorms, downpours, snow, and ice storms to host KRPS’s Morning Edition. He’s also a daily reporter for the station, covering city government, elections, public safety, arts, entertainment, culture, sports and more. Fred has also spearheaded and overseen a sea change in programming for KRPS from a legacy classical station to one that airs a balance of classical, news, jazz, and cultural programming that better reflects the diverse audience of the Four States. For over two months in the fall of 2022 he worked remotely with NPR staff to relaunch krps.org to an NPR style news and information website.

In the fall of 2023 Fred was promoted to Interim General Manager and was appointed GM in Feburary of 2024.