Mike Humphries is the Chief Photographer at KENS 5 in San Antonio and has worked in Texas television news since first starting out 1988. A native of Kenedy, Texas, he went to work in TV in order to pay the bills after getting laid off from his one and only newspaper job and ended up preferring moving pictures to photographs. Mike says that for the first four years that he worked in TV news, he was actually trying to get out and do some other kind of video work but eventually concluded that being a photojournalist was probably his first, best destiny and stuck
with it.
After starting at KVCT in Victoria and a stop at KBTX in Bryan/College Station, Mike moved to San Antonio in 1993, first working at KSAT before moving to KENS four years later. He says he’s chosen to stay in San Antonio for so long because, historically, producing storytelling-style journalism there has always been more challenging than in other television markets and he wanted to prove that it could be done in an “if it bleeds it ledes” environment.
Because of that, over his long career in the Alamo City Mike has been rewarded by becoming the most award-winning television journalist in San Antonio history, with nearly 300 wins from the Emmys, National Press Photographers Association, RTDNA, and many more. Mike says he’s proud to tell the stories of the people of San Antonio and South Texas.
In addition to his role as a photojournalist, Mike has risen to the rank of chief photographer at three of the four stations where he has worked. Since 2012, Mike has led the photography and multi-skilled journalist staff at KENS and, in 2019, his staff won General Station of the Year in the NPPA Quarterly Clip contest, an honor that no other San Antonio television station has ever achieved.
In addition to members of his own staffs, Mike has also coached, trained, and mentored other photojournalists, editors and reporters in newsroom across North America. By making those connections and developing relationships, he’s been a tremendous talent recruiter for KENS and for other stations within Tegna, the corporate owner.
Mike says he could not have had the career he’s had without the support, encouragement, and endless patience of his wife of more than 30 years, LeAnn, and their two daughters, Kaeli and Taylor.