Meet our Photography Gurus!
Our team is selected for the best instructors, first and foremost. All are uniquely qualified for the workshops they lead with us.John Christopher Anderson
John Christopher Anderson, co-founder of Momenta Group, has been an active player in the photographic industry for nearly twenty five years. His background includes roles as a newspaper photojournalist, daily news and travel photo editor, and Photo and Illustrations Editor for National Geographic Society. This collection of experience, plus a passion for the Craft of Concerned Documentary Photography, helped him find the inspiration to launch Momenta.
The company has creative, educational, and consulting divisions specializing in nonprofit and NGO strategic communications and educational workshops. John is considered the grand architect of Momenta Group, which operates Momenta Workshops and Momenta Creative.
In 2017, John helped Momenta launch a charitable nonprofit called Wildfire Media, which provides capacity-building and development assistance, along with a dose of inspiration, to under-supported NGO communities, charities, and documentarians around the world. The challenges of using powerful visual messaging and open-source research content, as a vehicle for educating the public, has grown into his biggest passion of late.
John lives with his wife and Momenta co-founder Jamie Rose in the beautiful mountains of Oregon. When he’s not working on Wildfire and Momenta, you can find him blazing down a singletrack on his mountain bike or offroad motorcycle, perfecting a carve on a snowboard, or hiking the backcountry trails with Jamie and their rescue pup Cody.
You can follow his blog series, Musings from the Trail, which focuses on the changing face of documentary journalism and visual media from the perspective of a 20+ year veteran of the industry as he explores the open road on his trusty KTM.
Jamie Rose
Jamie is co-Founder and COO of Momenta Group, LLC, which owns Momenta Workshops, Momenta Creative, and manages Wildfire Media, a nonprofit dedicated to documentary storytelling. Her early career was spent in the halls of power as a Press Corps photojournalist covering Capitol Hill and the White House, primarily as a long-term contract for The New York Times.
Her passion for working with nonprofits led her to documentary coverage of humanitarian and health crises in Africa, North and South America, and the Middle East. Her clients included organizations such as Doctors Without Borders, The Calvert Foundation, The Global Fund, and Physicians for Human Rights among others.
Jamie has been awarded the United Nations Photographers Leadership Award, a grant from the Alexia Foundation, and The White House News Photographers’ Association Project Grant for her portfolio on Doctors Without Borders (MSF) health care workers in wartime Northern Uganda among other accolades.
Jamie is considered an expert in nonprofit communications and has been interviewed about the importance of storytelling in nonprofit communications by The Candid Frame, B&H Event Stage, Photo District News (PDN), Around the Lens, Photography Talk, Creative Marketing & Business Podcast, and News Photographer Magazine among others. She has been an invited lecturer on communications for nonprofits at Harvard University, Candid (formerly The Foundation Center), Columbia University, Georgetown University, University of Oregon, the Northern Short Course, as well as her alma maters.
Jamie holds degrees from American University and Syracuse University. She also runs the popular blog, Jamie’s List which promotes jobs and opportunities for creatives. She lives in the mountains of Oregon with her husband, co-founder of Momenta John Christopher Anderson, and their rescue dog, Cody. Please don’t look up her website because it’s woefully out of date and will be redesigned hopefully someday before the next decade. Better yet, visit Wildfire Media and learn about the great work the team is doing there.
Ibarionex Perello
Ibarionex Perello is a photographer, author and podcaster. He is the host and producer of The Candid Frame podcast, which for the past 13 years has featured conversations with some of the world’s best established and emerging photographers, including Joel Meyerowitz, Eli Reed, Mary Ellen Mark, Elliot Erwitt, and more.
Ibarionex is also the author or co-author of six books, including Chasing the Light: Improving Your Photography Using Available Light and Making Photographs: Developing a Personal Visual Workflow. His photographs and articles have appeared in numerous publications and websites including Digital Photo Pro, Outdoor Photographer, Rangefinder, Shutterbug, and Popular Photography. You can find his books here, the podcast app for Android or iOS, and his website here.
Allison Zaucha
Allison Zaucha is an independent award-winning photojournalist based in Los Angeles, California. She is passionate about working on social issues with a variety of news publications and nonprofit organizations. In addition, Allison loves developing meaningful storytelling campaigns with brands and commercial clients. She uses the camera as a means of connection, empowerment and understanding.
In 2016, was chosen for American Photography 32. In 2018, she was nominated for PDN’s 30: New and Emerging Photographers to Watch in 2018, was chosen again for American Photography 34, and received second place in NPPA’s Northern Short Course contest for portraitureAllison is an alumni NYT Eddie Adam’s Workshop, Missouri Photo Workshop as Women Photograph’s scholarship winner, a selected attendee for the New York Time’s Portfolio Review, and Momenta Workshops.
Her select clients include Cosmopolitan, The Atlantic, Broadly, Life & Thyme, Kohler, Youtube, House Beer, sweetgreen, The Wing, International Rescue Committee, Harlem Lacrosse, and Travis Manion Foundation among others. In 2018, her work was published in the commemorative historical book Together We Rise: The Official Oral History of the Women’s March by the Organizers.
You can see more of Allison’s work at www.allisonzaucha.com or on Instagram at @allisonzaucha.
Thomas Patterson
Thomas Patterson is an audiovisuals editor for Partners In Health, a social justice NGO that provides health access and research to the world’s most vulnerable communities. His professional work specializes in multimedia projects for editorial, corporate and nonprofit clients around the world; and in helping visual storytellers work together better with the businesses that hire them.
He serves on Blue Earth Alliance‘s advisory board, where the nonprofit partners with photographers building long-term environmental and social projects worldwide. He consults with individual photo editing and consulting clients around the world. Additionally, he was a regular contributor to Photo District News (pdn), the photography industry’s trade magazine.
Closer to home, he founded and runs OregonFocus.org, an online hub for the state’s photo community, and is a member of the Portland Art Museum’s Photography Council.
After more than a decade on the photo staff of the Statesman Journal newspaper, he left to pursue a master’s degree in Multimedia Journalism and completing a Graduate Teaching Fellowship at the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication. He wrote a regular column on photo editing for NGO Storytelling, worked for two years as the photo editor and content specialist at the international humanitarian organization Mercy Corps, and as a creative producer/director for Blue Chalk Media.
His photography, writing and video work have received national and regional awards from the Associated Press, the Society of Professional Journalists, Gannett Company, the Columbia Scholastic Press Association and the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association. The USA TODAY project “Ghost Factories: Poison in the Ground,” to which he contributed photography and video, received the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award for Investigative Multimedia, the Digital Storytelling and Reporting Award from the Associated Press Media Editors, the Gerald Loeb Award for Online Journalism, the National Press Club Online Journalism Award and the Barlett & Steele Award for Investigative Journalism.
You can see his work at his website or on Instagram at @yrpaltom.
Annie Flanagan
Annie Flanagan is one of the most popular faculty at Momenta because of their candor, great attitude, and brilliant editing.
Annie is a photographer, filmmaker, and educator whose work primarily focuses on trauma, gender and sexuality in the United States. Annie holds a M.S. from Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communication. Their work has been recognized by organizations including Alexia Foundation, iPOY, Burn Magazine, and New Orleans Photo Alliance. Their select clients include The New York Times, ESPN, ProPublica, and Mother Jones.
Annie grew up in Washington, D.C. and currently lives in New Orleans. See Annie’s work at annieflanagan.com.
Eva Russo
Three-time Pulitzer Prize nominee Eva Russo is a staff video journalist for the Richmond Times-Dispatch. She was born and raised in Italy, lived for an extended period of time in France, and then settled in the United States. She holds a degree in photojournalism from the prestigious Newhouse School at Syracuse University. In her role as a staff journalist, Eva uses photography, video, and audio in her photographic storytelling.
The Times-Dispatch twice nominated her for the Pulitzer Prize for her two-year-long project documenting the living and working conditions inside the Richmond City Jail. Her work focused on the daily life and struggles of the inmates with a focus on mental health and recidivism issues. Her third nomination came from a piece she created during a Momenta Workshop covering Vietnamese immigrant communities recovering after Hurricane Katrina.
She has covered daily assignments ranging from little league games to political campaigns to the Queen of England’s visit to Virginia. However, her passion for social documentary projects are what makes her tick. Her accolades and award-winning coverage for the paper include coverage of the Winter Olympics, the aftermath of the Virginia Tech shootings, the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, the Presidential Inauguration, and the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.
Her work has been published in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Morning News and she has won numerous regional and national accolades for her documentary work.
We first worked with Eva as an attendee on our Project Uganda workshop where she documented AIDS clinics and communities in the war-ravaged Northern territories. Her dedication to documentary humanitarian nonprofit stories led us to offer her a teaching position with Momenta and she is one of our most popular faculty members.
See Eva’s work at http://evarussophotography.com or the on the pages of the Times-Dispatch.
Dotan Saguy
Now based in Los Angeles and California’s Sierra Nevada, Dotan was born in Israel as the son and grandson of holocaust survivors. He grew up in a modest Parisian suburb and moved to the US as a young adult. After a 20 year career in high-tech Dotan retrained as a documentary photographer. He attended the Eddie Adams Workshop, the Missouri Photo Workshop, Momenta Workshops, and studied photojournalism at Santa Monica College.
Dotan’s photographs have been published by National Geographic, The Guardian, Los Angeles Times, etc. and exhibited by galleries in the US, Europe and Asia. Leica has prominently featured Dotan’s work in its 2021 worldwide branding campaign “The World Deserves Witnesses”.
Dotan is a frequent lecturer at the B&H Event Space. He has published two monographs: Venice Beach, Kehrer Verlag 2018, and Nowhere to Go but Everywhere, Kehrer Verlag, 2020.
You can see his work here.
Michael Rubenstein
Michael Rubenstein is a commercial/editorial photographer and director. Since 2014, he has been a member of the elite Sony Artisan of Imagery team. Michael has more than 12 years of documentary photography experience with his well-known magazine and corporate clients such as The New York Times, NBC News, the Wall Street Journal, Mastercard, Yahoo!, Nike, Budweiser, Mother Jones, and many others
Michael graduated from Prescott College with a degree in Environmental Science and attended the Ohio University School of Visual Communications before taking a contract position at the Oregonian. In 2007, he moved to Mumbai to cover South Asia with Redux Pictures where he remained until 2010. His latest home base is just outside New York City but his assignments take him all over the world.
He is a passionate supporter of climate awareness and human rights as well as a champion of his super talented wife’s work. When he’s not on assignment, you can find him surrounded at home with his many (seriously…many!) cats or searching for the perfect fountain pen. See Michael’s work at his website mrubenstein.com and on Instagram.
Gabi Pérez-Silver
Documentary photographer Gabi Pérez-Silver was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She lived on the island until she was accepted into Syracuse University’s prestigious College of Visual and Performing Arts to study photography.
During her first experience living through four seasons, she was inspired to focus her career on adapting and adjusting to new environments.
Her first major documentary project on mental illness inspired acclaimed photographer Annie Flanagan, also a Momenta instructor, to become her mentor and editor. Her long-term documentary project on her father’s battle with mental illness, entitled Our Mind; A Weapon, was published in Burn Magazine and by Vice Media. Her work impressed a group of Magnum photographers to invite Gabi to New York to join their editorial, production, and photographic support team.
Gabi returned to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria and committed her talents to document her home and its powerful stories. She works in the film industry as a freelance photographer and is currently pursuing a new documentary project on mental health. You can see her work at http://gbiprz.com and on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/
Lauren Steel
Lauren Steel is a Visuals Consultant for photographers, brands, media, agencies, foundations, and non-profits to craft authentic visual narratives. Previously, she was Director of Photography at Verbatim Photo, a subsidiary of Getty Images that she co-founded in 2016. Lauren was a part of the rebranding and launch of Getty Images Reportage where she started the Emerging Talent program. She was at Getty Images for 15 years.
She has been involved in the photojournalism community for over 20 years working with some of the greatest award-winning photographers in their field. These collaborations have produced exhibits, photo-books, and campaigns worldwide. She has guest lectured at ICP, SVA, and Columbia. Her career started in the editorial world after college when she worked at LIFE magazine as the photo and art assistant. From there she started doing photo research and continued to work on their special book projects including the New York Times Best Seller “One Nation.”
Lauren is based in Brooklyn and one of the elite team members of the Visual Thinking Collective. You can also follow her on Instagram.
Marianne Hawkins Sabrier
Marianne is a born and bred New Orleans native, enjoying photography as a second career. With her husband Steve, she runs an amazingly successful wedding and portrait business, The Red M Studio. Marianne and Steve have been delighting their clients with their clean, bold, authentic photographic style since 2011.
Marianne is a passionate storyteller with a keen eye for capturing moments that matter and that passion for moments has made her one of our favorite workshop coaches. She is a keen expert at business development (she has an MBA!) and used that knowledge to grow The Red M Studio into a premiere wedding and lifestyle exclusive studio in the Big Easy. The studio has earned accolades such as the Best of the Knot Hall of Fame and WeddingWire Couple’s Choice award winners every year for five years in a row.
While studying and researching to develop her documentary style, Marianne attended our Project New Orleans program and fell in love with the #MomentaFamily and nonprofit photography. As part of their studio’s outreach, The Red M annually donates a percentage of their family-sessions to eliminating food instability and hunger in Lousiana. To date, the program has raised more than $15,500 for local schools and non-profits in the Greater New Orleans area. Steve and Marianne also work on an annual food drive fundraiser that feeds over 1,500 people each year. As they like to say, “we feed people with our cameras”.
Year after year, Marianne has received loving reviews as a professional mentor from our students and we are delighted to have another alum on our Momenta faculty. Visit Marianne’s gorgeous work at https://www.theredmstudio.com or on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/
Preston Gannaway
Preston Gannaway (b. 1977) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning independent documentary photographer and filmmaker. For 15 years, she has focused on intimate stories about American families and subcultures. Her story on the St. Pierre family, Remember Me, was awarded the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography.
Gannaway’s foundation in community photojournalism came from spending 12 years as a staff photojournalist for newspapers throughout the United States. Her work has been honored by Pictures of the Year International, NPPA’s Best of Photojournalism, Critical Mass, American Photography and Communication Arts. She’s been supported by grants from the Chris Hondros Fund Award, Documentary Project Fund and NPPA.
A native of North Carolina, Gannaway’s photographs have been exhibited around the world. She is a regular lecturer and has served as guest faculty in a variety of educational workshops.
Gannaway is based in Oakland, California, shooting editorial assignments for clients such as the New York Times, Mother Jones and AARP while also pursuing long-term projects. Her first book, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, was just released. See Gannaway’s work at prestongannaway.com.
Syed Yaqeen
Syed Yaqeen is a professional photographer specializing in editorial, fashion, and documentary. He was born in Bangladesh, grew up in Queens, New York, and has been a working photographer for more than 15 years. He was named in the Top 10 Editorial Photographers in New York City by Peerspace.
Since 2018, Syed has expanded his work to include long-term documentary projects and promotional imagery for non-profit clients. His portfolio includes being commissioned to document a team of doctors from Operation Medical in Nepal and the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding to create portraits for their ” Muslims for American Progress” project.
During the Covid pandemic, he also worked with non-profits and mutual-aid groups in New York City to document their efforts to bring food supplies to vulnerable communities. His personal projects include focusing on racial equity and understanding, such as his portrait series, More than a Headwrap, which was featured on B&H Photo Event Stage.
Syed is a (mostly) self-taught photographer but has studied photography with School of Visual Arts (SVA), the International Center of Photography (ICP), and Momenta Workshops’ business and photography programs. He currently resides in Reading, PA with his lovely wife, two boys, and their cat “Billu”.
You can follow Syed’s work at www.syphotography.com or www.syedyaqeen.com and on Instagram at https://instagram.com/syedyaqeen or https://instagram.com/editorialfashio.
Meet Our Instructor Alumni
Kathleen Flynn
Kathleen Flynn is a New Orleans based photojournalist and documentary filmmaker, who focuses on stories of struggle and injustice. Flynn has spent nearly 20 years as a working journalist, including a decade at the Tampa Bay Times and three years at NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune.
She has covered in-depth community news, veterans issues throughout the country, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the tsunami in Thailand, immigration in Mexico, post-conflict Liberia, India’s booming pharmaceutical industry, and the war in Afghanistan. Her work has been recognized with six regional Emmys, honors from the Overseas Press Club, World Press Photo, Pictures of the Year International, the Edward R. Murrow awards, the Nieman Foundation, the National Press Photographers Association’s Best of Photojournalism, and with a Casey Medal, which was awarded for the nation’s best reporting on children, youth and families.
In 2019 the National Press Photographers Association awarded their Humanitarian Award to Flynn, for her career covering human rights issues and injustices. She is a member of Women Photograph.
Jeff Hutchens
Jeff Hutchens was born in Lansing, Michigan in 1978. The son of an American diplomat, he spent his childhood throughout the U.S. and across China, South Africa, and the Philippines. Jeff has shot professionally on six continents, where he’s faced grizzly bears, lava floes, Komodo dragons, and all manner of corrupt officials.
From work on the surreality of life in China, to documenting underground epidemics in the jungles of central Africa, and photographing polar bears in the Arctic Circle, he captures images that convey transcendent moods and subtle beauty.
Jeff was recognized as one of PDN’s 30 (2009) and has won multiple awards in the World Press Photo competition, National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) Best Of Photojournalism competition, Pictures Of The Year (POYi) and Communication Arts (CA). Additionally, Jeff and his filmmaker brother Peter are the subject of a six-part travel/adventure series airing on the National Geographic Channel. The show follows them as they document far-flung regions of China through their respective lenses.
Jeff is represented by Reportage by Getty Images and Orchard Represents. He lives in Washington, D.C. when not on assignment. See Jeff’s portfolio at https://www.jeffhutchens.com/.
Gail Fisher
From the Los Angeles Times, to National Geographic Magazine to Brooks Institute, Gail Fisher’s main focus as a senior photo editor, photojournalist, digital journalist, producer, teacher, has been in-depth story telling for broadcast, internet and social media.
In 2015, Fisher started her own business, Gail Fisher Media, photographing projects for editorial, educational, corporate and NGOs, as well as photo editing book projects and portfolios. Among her clients is ESPN, in which she has been doing in-depth story telling behind the scenes of athletes.
After an illustrious career in journalism as a photojournalist and photo editor, she joined Brooks Institute of Ventura as Department Chair of the School of Film and Communication in 2011. Fisher is also a former senior photo editor of National Geographic magazine, and senior editor, special projects for the Los Angeles Times. As a photojournalist, Fisher traveled extensively throughout Asia, Middle East, Eastern Europe, Africa, South and Central America, covering social issues and documenting the human condition.
Fisher’s editing skills and photographs have been recognized internationally with numerous awards, as well as invitations to judge contests, teach and lecture. In 2009, Pictures of the Year International awarded her Magazine Photo Editor of the year and in 2007, she was recognized Best of Photojournalism Newspaper Picture Editor of the Year by the National Press Photographers Association. In 2006, the Los Angeles Times was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Journalism, for a project that Fisher photo edited. And, in 2005, she was part of the Los Angeles Times team that received the Pulitzer Public Service award.
Other accomplishments as a photojournalist include receiving the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for outstanding coverage of the disadvantaged, the Rosalynn Carter Fellowship for Mental Health Journalism, and the Harry Chapin World Hunger Award. She received the Community Awareness Award from the National Press Photographers Pictures of the Year in 1996 and again in 2002.
A native of Akron, Ohio, Fisher earned her Bachelor of Science in Education from Miami University of Ohio, and she holds a Master of Arts in Visual Communication from Ohio University. You can see Gail’s portfolio at GailFisherMedia.com.
Liz O. Baylen
Liz O. Baylen has been a staff photographer with the Los Angeles Times since 2007. Prior to this, she spent five years with The Washington Times before embarking on a freelance career in New York City.
Baylen prides herself in documenting homegrown issues affecting her own community, using both still images and video to give added dimension to her work. Baylen has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize three times, most recently in 2013 for her photography documenting the shattered lives of people entangled in prescription drug abuse. She was also a part of the team that was honored with a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award in 2011 for their coverage of the aftermath of Haiti’s earthquake. Throughout the years she has been recognized for her efforts by other prestigious organizations as well including Pictures of the Year International, National Press Photographer’s Association, White House News Photographers Association, and World Press Photo. Baylen, a California native, grew up in Ohio and attended Ohio University, graduating in 2000.
A.J. Chavar
A.J. is The New York Times’ staff video journalist based in Washington, D.C.
A.J.’s career spans from swimming with a sea turtle in the National Aquarium, to filming exclusive interviews with President Obama in the Map Room of the White House.
Prior to the Times, A.J. was a staff video journalist at The Washington Post, a Carnegie-Knight News21 Fellow, and a Syracuse University student at the…
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…S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. His work covering politics and features has been recognized five times by the White House News Photographers Association, and twice by Pictures of the Year International. His dispatches from the aftermath of a mass shooting in Arizona that wounded U.S. Representative Gabby Giffords was awarded the National Edward R. Murrow Award.
A.J’s work has also been awarded by the Capitol region Emmys, the College Photographer of the Year competition and the Society of Professional Journalists. When not behind a camera, laptop, or phone, A.J. is likely somewhere in the woods ignoring all three of those things. See A.J.’s work at ajchavar.com.
Katie Falkenberg
Katie Falkenberg is a staff photographer at the Los Angeles Times. Raised in Ohio, Falkenberg began her career in Washington, D.C., covering the White House and Capitol Hill as a freelance photographer. Prior to joining the Times, she was a staff photographer at The Washington Times, where she began to focus on documenting contemporary issues in America.
Falkenberg has been the recipient of the Robert F. Kennedy award for Domestic Photography…
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…the Hillman Prize in Photojournalism, the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism for Short Form Video, and the Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi award for Feature Photography. Her photography and multimedia work have also been recognized by Pictures of the Year International (POYi), the White House News Photographers Association (WHNPA), and the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA). Her short film, “Uninsured in the Mississippi Delta,” won the Human Rights award at the Media That Matters film festival. Falkenberg graduated from Warren Wilson College, in North Carolina, with a degree in Studio Art. Visit Katie’s website at http://www.katiefalkenberg.com/
Nicholas Pinto
Nicholas Pinto (b. 1979) is an Italian-American documentary and street photographer based in Chicago, IL. He served three years in the United States Army and completed his Bachelor’s Degree in Photography from Columbia College in Chicago.
Nicholas’ work has been exhibited at the Leica Gallery in Bellevue Seattle, The History of Miami Museum, The Rangefinder Gallery in Chicago, and the Leica Gallery in Washington D.C. He is a member of the National Press Photographers Association and the Leica Historical Society, where he recently gave the keynote speech at their 50th Anniversary.
His passion for street and documentary photography has led him to explore projects on the topic of cultural and social awareness, poverty, and mental health issues. Capturing moments in time as a visual story-teller, Nicholas uses these projects to shine a light on the daily struggles of many and to give a face to it most people don’t see firsthand. You can read more about his perspective on photography on Leica Camera’s blog here.
In addition to his personal projects, Nicholas works with many nonprofits around the United States and teaches workshops for Leica Akademie North America. In 2015, Nicholas won The West Award for Momenta’s Project New Orleans and, later, was the official Leica instructor to that same workshop in 2017.
His currently photographic project tells the powerful story of a group of disabled dancers in Cuba. You can see this story and the body of his work on his website http://www.nicholaspinto.com, or follow him on Instagram at @_nicholaspinto.
Whitney Shefte
Pulitzer Prize Finalist, award-winning video and multimedia journalist Whitney Shefte works on staff at The Washington Post. As an expert in Final Cut Pro and multimedia production, Whitney joined the Momenta team in 2010 as a video and multimedia instructor and coach.
Whitney’s documentary storytelling work covers a wide range of breaking and feature news from the AIDS crisis in Washington, D.C. to traumatic brain injury in the military to documenting daily life in India. Her award winning pieces…
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…including Sacred Ground, A Guide to Nationals Park, and A House for Healing, have won recognition from the National Press Photographer Association (NPPA) and White House News Photographers Association (WHNPA). Her work as a multimedia journalist for The Healing Fields was nominated for an Emmy award in 2009.
Using multiple aspects of her journalism training, Whitney pitches, researches, shoots, reports, edits and produces multimedia stories for the Washington Post’s digital and print outlets. Whitney also experiments with motion graphics and digital music composition in her multimedia production in addition to using multiple storytelling platforms of video, photography, audio and writing.
Whitney is active in the professional community locally and nationally. She serves on the Video and New Media committees for WHNPA, she volunteers for VisionWorkshops teaching photography to children and she is actively involved with the nonprofit organization WPOW: Women Photojournalists of Washington.
Originally from North Carolina, she is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication. When she’s not traveling on assignment, Whitney lives in Washington, DC. See Whitney’s website blog at http://whitneyshefte.blogspot.com.
John W. Poole
John W. Poole is a video producer for NPR and was a lead instructor on our Memorial Day Multimedia Workshop in 2009 and on our roster of Private Tutoring: Multimedia instructors. John’s work has brought him to two national Emmy nominations for the NPR Music series ‘Project Song’ and one for an investigative series on traumatic brain injury.
Over his 15-year career, Poole has covered a range of subjects, including national elections in South Africa and the United States, the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks…
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…and their aftermath, the effects of global climate change, and conservation issues in Peru and Namibia.
Poole was part of a small team of visual journalists who developed the documentary video department at The Washington Post in 1998. That work was recognized with the first-ever Edward R. Murrow award for multimedia journalism in 2004 and his feature story about violinist Joshua Bell contributed to a Pulitzer Prize in 2008.
The White House News Photographers Association has honored Poole with more than 20 awards for his work, including the 2005 Video Editor of the Year. His film, “The Sheriff of Gay Washington,” produced for The Washington Post, screened in festivals across the country and was optioned by HBO Documentary Films in 2006.
John’s expertise and great teaching style make him a valuable member of the Momenta family!
Jaime Windon
For the last decade, Jaime Windon has been on a whirlwind path to success. From Africa to India to South America and all over the US, Jaime has not stopped moving since she burst onto the photography scene.
With a degree in journalism and philosophy, Jaime began her career in journalism as a writer. Once her passion for photography was discovered, she began working in Washington, DC covering politics for The Hill newspaper. In addition to her daily newspaper assignments, she found…
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…herself at red carpet events, star-studded parties and black tie affairs with socialites for Washington fashion and life magazines. However, her passion for stories with more depth led her into the lives and homes of everyday people.
Soon, she realized she preferred people to politics and wedding parties to political parties. Jaime started her own business, Blonde Photo, and, in just a few years, Jaime became one of the most sought after wedding photographers in the region. Her fun-loving nature and endless energy was perfectly suited for the field.
As her clients spread the word and her demand increased, Jaime branched out into the international destination wedding industry. Her weddings have taken her from DC to Europe to Africa to Mexico and everywhere in between. Never one to rest on her laurels, she founded The Blonde Creative to promote and share amazing talent across all mediums of art including photography, design, art, fashion and more.
While her US and destination weddings fed one side of her creative soul, Jaime discovered a passion for nonprofit photography and used this to document social and humanitarian issues that were important to her. Her passion lead to clients like Children’s National Medical Center and LeadingAge as well as personal projects like sustainable fishing on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.
Today, Jaime spreads her time between photographing for clients, documenting nonprofits and volunteering as an instructor with groups like Critical Exposure and Higher Achievement. This love for teaching photography and encouraging aspiring professionals makes her an ideal Momenta instructor. Her vivacious personality and gifted talent has made her a popular and inspiring team member! See Jamie’s portfolio at http://theblondephotographer.com.
Chris Usher
Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, Chris Usher graduated from Indiana University at Bloomington with a degree in Journalism. Usher spent several years as a newspaper photographer before going freelance and moving to Washington, DC in 1990.
Since then Usher’s images have appeared in numerous domestic and international publications including TIME, LIFE, Newsweek, US News & World Report, Sports Illustrated, People, Fortune, Forbes, BusinessWeek, L’Express…
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…Der Spiegel, Stern, VSD, and Globus. Throughout his career, Usher has received numerous awards for his photography: Indiana College Photographer of the Year, the William Randolph Hearst Photojournalism Championship, POY, WHNPA, CHIPP, and an Eisenstaedt Award for his unique and controversial depiction of Clinton’s post-acquittal speech. His award-winning photos have most recently been exhibited at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.
Both of his last two personal projects, One of Us, a three-year photo-documentary project begun on the day Hurricane Katrina made landfall in the Gulf Coast, and Behind the Velvet Rope, Usher’s documentation of behind-the-scenes moments at the White House, are now traveling exhibitions and books.
Currently, Usher is immersed in wet plate and other alternative photographic processes. When he isn’t working on assignments or projects, Chris would rather be fly-fishing in Montana. See Chris’ portfolio at http://chrisusher.com.
T.J. Kirkpatrick
T.J. Kirkpatrick is an award-winning documentary photographer and multimedia producer based in Washington, D.C. He enjoys sharing the stories of those he meets, and is driven to leverage the power of photography to aid humanitarian causes and spark social development.
In the course of working in various states across the U.S., as well as working internationally, T.J. has come to understand that people around the world have much in common. It is his firm belief that despite humanity’s ugly side…
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…average and everyday individuals have a great capacity for kindness. T.J. holds a B.S. in Photojournalism from Boston University and he was a student at the Eddie Adams Workshop XXII in 2009. In the course of his career, T.J. has worked in East Africa, at national news organizations and a variety of newspapers, and at VII Photo Agency. His still photography from the U.S. and from the Democratic Republic of Congo has been recognized by the National Press Photographers Association, New York Photo Festival, the Society of Professional Journalists, and the Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar. T.J.’s multimedia coverage of the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill was awarded in the National Press Photographers Association Northern Short Course competition.
T.J.’s work has appeared in Time Online, L’Express, Le Monde, MSNBC, New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe and the Washington Post, among others.
When he’s not behind a camera, T.J. can be found on a bicycle saddle or experimenting in the kitchen. View T.J.’s portfolio at http://www.tjkphoto.com.
Emanuel Echeverri
Emanuel Echeverri is an international freelance photojournalist based in New York City and a member of the National Press Photographers Association.
He has worked in the U.S. and Latin America. He was raised in both the United States and Colombia, holds passports from both countries, and is fluent in both English and Spanish. He holds a BA from the College of Charleston in Communication and International Studies with a concentration in Latin America and the Caribbean…
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Emanuel currently works with non-profits and online publications covering culture, events, and narrative storytelling. His work ranges from covering Fashion Week one day to political campaigns to animal rescue organizations. His real passion though is social documentary photography that exposes harsh truths and bright hopes among many different socioeconomic sectors of North and South America.
Emanuel actively seeks out projects that require a high level of engagement and cultural understanding. Through these projects, he seeks to show the many dualities that exist in topics that are both forgotten, as well as those that are at the forefront of public debate. He is currently working on a two documentary series: the passionate culture of Venezuela immigrants in the neighborhoods surrounding Manhattan and a documenting the lives of handicapped entrepreneurs in Medellín, Colombia.
Justin Maxon
Justin Maxon was born in the woods of Northern California in the same hometown as our company founder Chris Anderson. However, they didn’t meet until years later in professional circles.
We are so thrilled to have Justin on our team. He is, without a doubt, one of the biggest rising stars in photojournalism today. His award count rivals those who have been in the industry for decades. His accolades include awards from World Press Photo, UNICEF Images of the Year, POYi, and NPPA’s…
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…Best of Photojournalism. He won the Deeper Perspective Photographer of the Year at the 2008 Lucie Awards. In the same year he was named one of PDN’s 30 Emerging Photographers to Watch.
In 2010, he was selected from an international group of applicants to participate in the 2010 Joop Swart Masterclass. Likewise, he received the 2010 FotoVisura Photography Grant and was awarded the prestigious Cliff Edom “New America Award” from the National Press Photographers Association for his work on a violent, misunderstood community in urban Philadelphia.
Justin’s initial interest in photography blossomed when he worked as a wilderness trail crew leader for a youth corps in the deeps woods of Idaho, Washington and Oregon.Today his work explores the complex link between human struggle and perseverance.
Justin’s feature assignments have graced the pages of TIME, Newsweek, Mother Jones Magazine, Fader Magazine, AARP Bulletin, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and NPR. He spends his time criss-crossing the country on assignments but still goes back to California to gain perspective, breath the fresh air and find inspiration. See Justin’s work at http://justinmaxon.com.
John Harrington
For over two decades, Washington DC-based photographer and business guru John Harrington has photographed the world of politics, international travel and news. And all the while, he was negotiating and fighting for fair contracts along the way. As a leader in business practices, John was a natural fit for Momenta’s Business Series one-day workshops.
John was the 2007 recipient of the United Nations’ Leadership Award in the field of photography. His work has appeared in Time, Newsweek and Rolling Stone…
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…and his commercial clients have included Coca-Cola, SiriusXM Satellite Radio, Lockheed Martin, and the National Geographic Society. Harrington has produced three commissioned books for the Smithsonian and the second edition of his book Best Business Practices for Photographers, remains a best-seller.
In the Fall of 2010 a retrospective of the first 20 years in the profession – Photographs from the Edge of Reality, revisited highlights of his career. John has lectured across the United States during events for the American Society of Media Photographers, Advertising Photographers of America, Professional Photographers of America, and the National Press Photographers Association. John concludes serving his second term as the President of the White House News Photographers Association in May of 2011.
No matter what genre or venue John is shooting in, the one constant throughout his career is a meticulous attention to the business side of photography. Whether shooting newsworthy stories, editorial, rock-n-roll, or weddings, he does not hesitate when it comes to the pricing and contracts used in your business. Whether pets or Presidents, leading ladies or lead singers, John can help you drive clients to your company and keep your businesses thriving. See John’s portfolio at http://johnharrington.com.
Mary Calvert
Before starting her freelance career, photojournalist Mary F. Calvert worked as a staff photographer at The Washington Times for eleven years. Mary’s freelance career currently has her covering the Washington, DC political arena while focusing on international, long-term photo stories related to women’s issues.
In 2008, Mary received the coveted honor of the 2008 Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award in International Photography for her project, Lost Daughters: Sex Selection in India.
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A two time Pulitzer Prize finalist, Mary’s photo story on fistula in Africa was a finalist for the 2007 Feature Photography category and her coverage of Rape In The Congo was a finalist in 2010. The judges commentary reflected great praise for her haunting depiction of sub-Sahara African women afflicted with fistula after childbirth: ” …her courageous work…that vividly documents how rapes, by the tens of thousands, have become a weapon of war in Congo.”
In 2008, she was awarded the White House News Photographers Association 2008 Project Grant for her photographic coverage of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo. She has also been awarded the Photojournalist of the Year by NPPA (Smaller Markets), First Place Portfolio Award in the White House News Photographers Association’s Eyes of History Competition, as well as accumulating many POYi, WPOW and NPPA awards.
Mary’s teaching experience includes being a featured faculty member for Western Kentucky University, The Mountain Workshops, The DC Shoot Off and NPPA’s Flying Short Course. For the last 13 years, she has been a member of the faculty for the Department of Defense Worldwide Military Photographers Workshop in Ft. Meade where she has mentored hundreds of the best of photojournalists in the armed forces.
Mary is a graduate of San Francisco State University. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and an Associate of Arts degree in Fine Art Photography. She makes her home in Annapolis, Maryland, with her husband, photojournalist Joseph M. Eddins, Jr. and 19-year-old daughter, Mary Stone Eddins.
Chip Maury
Maury began his photography career in 1956 as a U.S. Navy Photographer’s Mate. During his illustrious military career, he was a Navy diver and underwater photographer. He served in Underwater Demolition Team Eleven. With the team he served in three combat tours in Vietnam.
He was also a Naval parachutist specializing in free-fall photography and made more than 1,500 jumps. His last assignment before retiring from the Navy was as the Photo Chief at Pacific Stars and Stripes, based in Tokyo, Japan…
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While there, he and his staff took first place, runner-up and almost one-half the individual awards in Military Photographer of the Year competition for three years in a row.
Maury retired as a Chief Petty Officer in 1975 and worked as a staff photographer with the Associated Press in Boston. After spending four years with AP he became the Director of Photography for The Providence Journal in Rhode Island. After nearly eight years at the Journal he moved to Indianapolis, IN. There he worked as the Director of Photography at The Indianapolis Star for 15 years.
Chip has been a visiting photojournalism professor at Syracuse University, working with both military and civilian photojournalists for more than 30 years. Maury now resides in the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York with his lovely wife Judy and continues to mentor, edit and coach young photographers through Momenta, NPPA, Military Picture of the Year competition, Eddie Adams’ Barnstorm, the Shoot Out workshops and Syracuse University’s The Fall Workshop.
Barbara L. Salisbury
Barbara L. Salisbury is the Chief Photographer at the Washington Times, based in our nation’s capital. With over a decade of political and daily news coverage, Barbara’s work covers a wide range of both national and international topics.
She regularly covers stories at the White House, on political campaigns and recently, she has begun working with nonprofits and NGOs in both the US and abroad. In late 2010, she will travel to the Middle East to complete a nonprofit multimedia documentary project. Barbara was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize…
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…in 2009 for a child labor story she produced during Momenta’s Myanmar Workshop. Barbara has won several National Press Photographers Association and Maryland Delaware DC Press Association awards for her still photography, multimedia and video pieces. She holds degrees from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Journalism and Wake Forest University.
In 2007, Barbara joined Momenta Workshops as a mentor and instructor. She excels at teaching photographers how to collect and produce multimedia storytelling pieces. She has traveled extensively throughout Europe, Asia and United States exploring cultural, socioeconomic and children’s issues.
She regularly lectures at universities and professional organizations about her documentary work and was selected as featured participant of the Eddie Adams Workshop. Barbara currently resides in Northern Virginia with her husband, their baby girl and their beloved daschund, Taylor. See Barbara’s portfolio at http://barbaralsalisbury.com.
Gaston Lacombe
Gaston Lacombe is an award-wining photographer and filmmaker specializing in documentary narrative. Born in Canada but lived all over the world, he now calls Washington, D.C. home.
Gaston studied at the B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. levels in History and holds a degree in Photography from Boston University CDIA, D.C. campus. He is usually juggling two or three long-term projects at once, along with various editorial assignments, and working with both Momenta Creative and Momenta Workshops…
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…His work has been featured in PDN Magazine, Wired Magazine, Burn Magazine, the Washington Post, the UK’s Daily Mail, Germany’s Die Welt, Italy’s Il Focus, and many others. Most notably, his photos series “Captive,” which looks at the living conditions of animals in zoos around the world, has attracted international attention. “Captive” was also a featured exhibit at Photoville in New York City in 2013.
He is currently working with Smithsonian Institution on production of a film about reviving Native-American languages. His short film from his experience in Antarctica, “Living Esperanza,” has been shown worldwide and was an official film selection for the WiLD 10 World Wilderness Congress.
He serves as the Communication Coordinator at the International League of Conservation Photographers, where he works with many of the world’s top photographers on projects and expeditions to help save the planet’s endangered places, animals and cultures. You can see his work at www.gastonlacombe.com
Matt Rose
Matt Rose is an ex-Corporate suit, ex-Bartender, former United States Marine, Road Warrior, World Traveler, Image Maker, and Storyteller. His photographic goals are to change perspectives by documenting and adding to the human narrative. Matt is a graduate of The Corcoran College of Art+Design with a BFA in Photojournalism and currently enrolled in the Master of Arts program at Cal-State Northridge with a focus on Photography/Photojournalism…
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Matt’s clients include Ghost Group Media, Beacon Media, Momenta Creative, Viacom, ClockShop, OutFest, Associated Press, and Griffith Park Productions. Matt is currently working on a body of work about people and their fetish and is very close to achieving the perfect pie crust. Follow Matt on Instagram at @mattrosephotography.