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The Journey

Headquarters/Location:
The Photo Alliance
in The Garden District
1111 St Mary Street
New Orleans, LA

Dates:
April 14-17, 2020

Cost:
Tuition: $1500

Limited Enrollment:
15 available spaces
5 spaces remaining

Project New Orleans 2020

Working with Nonprofits

This workshop is our longest running and most popular program. Because, let’s be honest, it doesn’t get much more fun than photographing amazingly dedicated nonprofits in the Big Easy!

Momenta is deeply rooted in New Orleans. For every year since our founding, Momenta has been learning from and learning with the incredibly dedicated nonprofits in New Orleans. The nonprofits benefit from your brilliant photos by using them to tell their story to the world and you will learn real-world skills to documenting humanitarian issues.

You can be a force of change. On this inspirational workshop, you will be paired with a local nonprofit to create a powerful photo essay about their staff and all their efforts to fulfill their mission. You’ll also have a full day of educational lectures, hands-on instruction to help improve your technical skills, as well as daily one-on-one editing sessions. We will end our week together with a huge public slideshow party celebrating the amazing nonprofits from your projects!

Scroll down this page to learn about your instructors, the details, and the program description.

Your photography skills can change lives.

This workshop will inspire, challenge, and invigorate your photography like no other.

Work directly with local nonprofit staff and clients
1-on-1, personalized editing for each student, every day for an hour or more
Lectures on inspirational documentary photography
Our public slideshow party will end the week together

Be a Force of Change!

The Destination

At Momenta, we believe in the power of photography as a force of change and we know the residents of NOLA value that supportive change. After facing down hurricanes, the Gulf Oil Spill, and historically fast gentrification in the past decade, the people and nonprofits on the city still work tirelessly to make their city as prosperous as ever.

Join Momenta on this unique workshop to participate with the devoted volunteers of the Crescent City. Volunteer your time and skills to document their tremendous hard work and resilience. You will be a part of the effort to help each and every nonprofit on their path to a successful future. You, in turn, will walk away with a successful photo package to use in your portfolio to market yourself to other nonprofits clients and collaborators.

If you’ve never been on a workshop with us before, we recommend you visit the blog series, 5 Questions With…, to read interviews with our alumni here. You will come to learn about the #MomentaFamily and the amazing experiences of those who came before you.

We will focus our work with local NGOs and nonprofits of varying specialization and scale. From musical preservation organizations to community outreach to animal rescue, workshop attendees will be given the task of creating compelling visual or multimedia narrative packages in collaboration with their assigned nonprofit. This is truly a once in a lifetime experience!

What To Expect

An unparalleled chance to use your photography skills to help local nonprofits thrive
Your own nonprofit partner to work with, based on your answers to a detailed pre-workshop student questionnaire
Momenta’s management of pre-workshop logistics to find your nonprofit assignments
You keep the copyright to all your photographs; each attendee donates a license to a collection of images to your local nonprofit partner so they can use them to promote the great work they are doing
Supportive direction and intensive instruction on photo workflow and file management
Option to participate in nighttime group discussions throughout the week
One hour per day of 1-on-1, private editing sessions with an instructor to help build your style and skills
Orientation lectures guide you on narrative storytelling, elements of a photo story, the importance of documentary photography, & much more

Join Us in The Big Easy!

Meet Your NOLA Faculty

Jamie Rose

Jamie Rose is a co-owner of Momenta Group LLC. She has worked as an international photojournalist on five continents and has been a contract photographer and communication strategist with some of the world’s largest nonprofit organizations.

In 2011, Jamie was awarded the United Nations’ IPC’s Photographers Leadership Award. She has also won awards and grants for her documentary and nonprofit work including from…

Learn More about Jamie Rose

…The Alexia Foundation, and the prestigious White House News Photographers’ Association Project Grant for her portfolio of nonprofit work from Africa. Jamie received her Master’s Degree in photojournalism from the Newhouse School at Syracuse University and her bachelor’s degree from American University. She completed her Master’s thesis photographing volunteer health care workers in the West Bank and Israel. This project established her passion for working with nonprofits and covering humanitarian issues, while earning her a place in the prestigious agency team at Aurora Novus.

Her work has been published in National Geographic Books, The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post Magazine, O Magazine, Rolling Stone, Better Homes and Gardens, Newsweek, TIME Magazine and others. Her nonprofit clients include The Global Fund, Doctors Without Borders, The Calvert Foundation and Physicians for Human Rights among many other local and domestic organizations. Her photo editing skills were rewarded when she was asked to be the lead photo editor National Geographic’s “American Heroes” book.

Jamie is considered an expert in nonprofit photography business development. She has been interviewed twice by Photo District News (PDN), News Photographer Magazine, as well as online publications and podcasts about the importance of nonprofit documentary photography. She has been a guest lecturer at Georgetown University, American University, Hiram College, Syracuse University, and Columbia University’s Journalism schools about her work with international nonprofits.

Jamie lives in the heart of the mountain in ski country with her husband and their awesome pound puppy, Cody, in Redmond, Oregon. Her personal work can be seen at http://www.jamierose.net

Annie Flanagan

Annie Flanagan is one of the most popular mentors 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…

Learn More about Annie Flanagan

… 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.

Marianne Hawkins Sabrier

Marianne is a born and bred New Orleans native, enjoying photography as a second career. Together 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 has made her one of our favorite editors on a workshop.

While studying and researching for her documentary style, Marianne attended Momenta Workshops Project New Orleans…

Learn More about Marianne Hawkins Sabrier

…and fell in love with the Momenta family. She has returned as a professional mentor and coach for the past three years with rave reviews from our students. We are delighted to have another alum on our Momenta team! Visit Marianne’s website at http://www.theredmstudio.com/

Are You Looking for the Fine Print?

Click through the tabs below for more info.

FAQs

1. Do you recommend hotels or have a group rate somewhere?
Our workshop headquarters is at 1111 St. Mary Street in the Garden District. We offer suggestions on local Garden District inns, hotels, and hostels. However, we allow each person to find their own accommodations based on their budget. We send registered attendees a list so you can see some of the local options.

2. When should I arrive/depart? What’s the general schedule?
The workshop begins at 10 am CST on Tuesday and concludes at 9 p.m. on Friday night after the final slideshow party. A number of attendees choose to arrive a day early to get their bearings and possibly try to meet with their nonprofits. The French Quarter Festival is that weekend as well so many people will be staying through Sunday or Monday to enjoy the festivities.

3. How do you pick a nonprofit for me? What if I want a very specific nonprofit?
Each attendee fills out a questionnaire to help our staff learn their interests, experience, and goals. The questionnaire is a very important part of our process at Momenta. Your answers will allow us to get to know you and your goals as well as help find the good match with a nonprofit to help you build your skills.

If you want to find your own nonprofit:
We applaud any photographer who wants to try this process out on their own! We love when photographers choose this option because it helps you find the perfect NPO for you. Plus, you learn even more about working with nonprofits as a client when you are able to research and work with them on being your workshop assignment. We still ask you to fill out the questionnaire anyway and indicate this choice on your form.

If you want to search for your own nonprofit, we are happy to work with you to help you find a nonprofit that suits your goals. This is the best way to ensure you are 100% satisfied with your nonprofit assignment for the week and get a little extra learning out of the process.

We have a template email we give you to send to the nonprofits you are interested in joining for the workshop and we also do a phone meeting to help you get started.

If you want Momenta to assign you to a nonprofit:
That’s cool too! We are totally willing to do this for you. You start by filling out the questionnaire we send you approximately 45 days prior to the workshop.

Once we get all the forms in from the attendees and the nonprofits, we will make the assignments and introductions approximately 1-2 weeks prior to the workshop.

4. Who keeps the copyright to the images?
You do. You made them = you own the copyright. A Photo Release Agreement is sent to all parties to sign via DocuSign confirming you are the copyright holder of the images, you give Momenta and the nonprofit permission to use your images for outreach or educational purposes, etc. More details will come on the pre-workshop emails about this process.

5. Do I need a car?
We do recommend having a car if you feel comfortable driving but it is not required. If you won’t be driving yourself, we ask you to let us know on the questionnaire because we need to take that into consideration when we do the nonprofit assignments.

What’s Included

Workshop Fees Include: daily one-on-one private editing sessions with our instructors and personalized portfolio reviews, workshop learning materials, slideshows and lectures, an opening night dinner, and final night celebration party.

Workshop Fees Do Not Include: international airfare, hotels (available for an additional fee), early arrival or late departure accommodations, visa fees (if applicable), medivac insurance (required), medical or vaccination costs, meals, items such as personal excursions, alcohol, phone calls, laundry, alcoholic beverages, etc.

It’s Easy to Sign Up!

Each workshop requires a minimum deposit to reserve your place in the workshop. To register and hold your place on the workshop, you must put down a $1000 deposit. After you have registered for a workshop, final payments will be due within 120 days of the start of the workshop. Once registered, you will receive a confirmation email from us via our secure registration company. Within 90 days of the start of the workshop, full payments are due.

As we near the start of the workshop, you will receive informational documents from our staff including a reading and research list, your final workshop itinerary, and travel guides. We work very hard to insure you are prepared in every way for this learning adventure. Our staff stands ready to answer any of your questions and to help facilitate the smoothest travel experience possible. Please reach out to us with any questions via our Contact page.

Equipment

We require all attending photographers to bring their own cameras, laptop and support gear like external hard drives. Our staff and instructors can offer gear recommendations and help you understand the nuances of your equipment. You will also be able check out a loaner camera and lenses during the workshop thanks to our official camera sponsor!

We ask all photographers bring at least a digital SLR or rangefinder camera with 1-2 lenses. We encourage you to bring a lightweight tripod. Should you choose to participate in a multimedia project, you must come with a working knowledge of the required software programs and your equipment.

Please see our Resources tab at the top of the website for our gear and traveling tips suggestions.

Notes

This course is designed for people who are good natured, flexible, have a working knowledge of photography and are interested in a unique documentary photography workshop experience. We will work with each photographer to improve their photography on any level, and we will find the right theme for your vision. We will provide support every step of the way, but you need to have a positive attitude and work well with a group!

This experience is more of a photo practicum than it is a tourism trip. The educational journey will be amazing and eye opening but it is not easy. You will work long hours. Your instructors will give you daily challenges and push you to new heights with your photography. We will encourage you to stretch and think creatively.

You may encounter people or organizations that are challenging to photograph. You may have to photograph in dark rooms or outside at high noon. You may have stressful days of difficult logistics. While we will be there to help you, support you and give you insight on the best way to handle the situation as a professional, you will need to take as much responsibility for your progress as we do.

Register with security and confidence.

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