About
Kate Medley (she/her) is a North Carolina-based visual journalist and filmmaker documenting the American South.
My work focuses on storytelling and environmental portraiture, often exploring issues of social justice and the shifting politics of this region.
My roots are in Mississippi, where I have investigated Civil Rights -era cold cases, covered the devastating impacts of Hurricane Katrina, and chased down hot tamales and Koolicles in the Mississippi Delta. I currently live in Durham, North Carolina, where I work as a photojournalist for numerous national news outlets.
I received a Bachelors in Photojournalism from the University of Montana and a Masters in Southern Studies from the University of Mississippi. For ten years, I pioneered the brand storytelling program for Whole Foods Market, focused on bringing the stories of farmers, fishers, and ranchers from all over the world into the store by way of documentary films, photographs, and narrative.
I am a proud member of Women Photograph and the National Press Photographers Association. I am also an FAA Part 107-certified drone pilot and am certified in the International Women’s Media Foundation’s course for Hostile Environment & Emergency First Aid Training.
If you’re interested in documentary filmmaking and commercial video work, please visit Medley Media at medley-media.com.
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Press
The New York Times: Where Southerners Go to Fuel the Tank and Feed the Family, by Kim Severson
NPR: ‘Thank You Please Come Again’ is an Ode to the Food of Southern Gas Stations, with Debbie Elliott
The Washington Post: Good eats in the U.S. South’s Gas Stations, Convenience Stores and Quick Stops, by Kenneth Dickerman
FORBES Magazine: The Best Food In The South Served In These Surprising Locations, by Leslie Kelly
Filling Up: How Gas Stations in the American South Mirror Their Communities, with Lena Gellar at Indy Week
On the Road for the South’s Best Gas Station Food, on WUNC’s Due South
Deep South Dining features Thank You Please Come Again with Malcolm White
Southern Filling Stations Explored in New Photo Book “Thank You Please Come Again”, on WABE’s City Lights
Musée Magazine: Vanguard of Photography Culture, interview
Kate Medley Documents the Southern Treasure of Gas Station Food, on WFAE’s SouthBound podcast with Tommy Tomlinson
The Mississippi Arts Hour with Photojournalist Kate Medley, on Mississippi Public Broadcasting
12 Southern Foods to Give as Holiday Gifts, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
2023 Gift Guide, by Civil Eats
BATCH: Kate Medley - Meat and Three & 10 Dollars Worth of Regular, on The Bitter Southerner podcast
A Taste of Southern Culture: Documentarian Kate Medley Discusses Her Work at MOCA in The Virginian-Pilot
Q&A with Photojournalist Kate Medley at The Editor’s Desk
Eyes on the South: Democratic Spaces in The Oxford American
Gas Station South in Southern Cultures
Meat and Three & Ten Dollars’ Worth of Regular in The Bitter Southerner
O Moldy Night: The Jell-O Exhibit You Need to See to Believe on Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street
O Moldy Night in The Bitter Southerner
A Spoken Dish Asks Southerners: What Is Your Food Identity on NPR
The Eudora Welty Portrait Reader in The Bitter Southerner
Kate Medley—Documentary Storyteller at Whole Foods Market on Good Food Jobs
Recent Clients
