Staff photographer
Marc Lester has been a staff photographer for the Alaska Dispatch News (previously known as Anchorage Daily News) since 1999. In addition to still photojournalism, Marc has been involved in multimedia and video production for several years. Recently, Marc and reporter Kyle Hopkins completed a yearlong look at alcohol's impact in Alaska in the ADN's series State of Intoxication, which included a 21-part video series, Alcohol & Me.
![A married homeless couple profiled by Alaska Dispatch News. [Photo by Marc Lester/ADN]](/sites/default/files/styles/teaser_list_thumbnail/public/title_images/Lester_Homeless.jpg?itok=3dYTouqU "A married homeless couple whose story was told by Alaska Dispatch News. [Photo by Marc Lester/ADN]")
Homelessness has long been a serious problem in Anchorage, Alaska. The challenge for two reporters at Alaska Dispatch News was to find new ways to cut through old perceptions and debates to tell stories that showed their subjects’ enduring humanity. Here's how they did it.
Every day, outreach workers try to lift homeless alcoholics from the streets of Anchorage, Alaska. In the past, a sober life has always been the goal. But a controversial approach called Housing First is challenging that thinking. Last story in a four-part series.
Daniel Sopcak and Betty Sanchez are married, homeless and struggling with alcohol and other ailments in Anchorage. Their days are a window into a rough, often invisible world.
Every one of the people who have panhandled on an Anchorage street corner or passed out in a park has a story. Alaska Dispatch News reporter Marc Lester profiles nine in his series on the plight of the homeless in Alaska's largest city.
Being homeless isn't easy anywhere, but especially not in Anchorage, Alaska, where hundreds subsist at the confluence of chronic homelessness and addiction. These individuals are the most prolific consumers of public services, gripped by a lifestyle of compounding health problems and risk of death.
Homeless Alaskans are being found dead on the street with alarming regularity. During a one-year period beginning in spring 2009, so many bodies appeared that some residents in the state's largest city that spread rumors of a serial killer. What's being done to assuage their plight?
