The Journey

Headquarters/Location:
New York, New York

Dates:
June 8-11, 2021

Cost:
Tuition: $1750

Limited Enrollment:
15 available spaces
13 spaces left

Project NYC 2021

Photographing Nonprofits

Momenta is finally coming to New York City by popular demand (and we really mean that…you folks were really adamant about asking for this workshop location!). We are so pleased to join the amazing nonprofit movement happening in this vibrant metropolis when the city will need our help the most.

New York City has more than 90,000 nonprofits and they need their stories told in order to survive. The city and surrounding areas are simply bursting with nonprofit story potential and they have been working tirelessly this year to support their fellow citizen survive this rough year.

Your photo story can help support the millions of people who rely on these nonprofit services and help them gain awareness for their incredible efforts. Your photography will document the truly amazing work being done every day in programs such as health care support, homeless outreach, drug addiction outreach and prevention, young artists programs, immigration services, animal rescue, racial equity, and much more.

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 FAQs, and trip details.

Your photography skills can change lives.

A Project Series workshop will inspire and challenge you like no other.

Work directly with local nonprofit staff and clients
1-on-1, private editing for each student, every day for an hour or more
Use exceptional gear provided by our Official Camera Sponsor Sony
Lectures on inspirational documentary photography
Our outdoor public slideshow party will end the week together

Be a Force of Change!

The Program

We invite you to join Momenta on this unique workshop in a city that needs the story of its nonprofit’s strength and resiliency told. As you volunteer your time and skills to document your nonprofit assignment’s tremendous hard work and resilience, you will become a vital part of in helping each and every nonprofit client 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.

Our workshops have increased health, PPE, and safety protocols so you can feel fully comfortable during our small group interactions. As the world begins to reopen, Momenta remains committed to supporting you as you document the nonprofits who are working day and night to recover from the latest series of global crises.

At Momenta, we believe in the power of photography as a force of change. If you’ve never been on a workshop with us before, we recommend you visit our popular 5 Questions With... series of 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 nonprofits of varying specialization and scale. You have the option to choose your own nonprofit or have Momenta find one for you. On your daily photo work, attendees are given the task of creating compelling visual or multimedia narrative packages in collaboration with their assigned nonprofit. Our editing instructors and coaches will have daily 1-hour, private sessions with you to guide you as you create your story package. You will find a supportive and inspiring team waiting to help you get to your next skill level on this workshop.

One of the most exciting features of a Momenta Project workshop is the ability to use a loaner camera system from our Official Camera Sponsor, Sony. You will have the opportunity to take out a range of cameras and lens kits for your photo story on this workshop. If you have a Sony already, we likely will have some additional exciting gear you’ve never tried before to use with your own equipment. It’s a great chance to experience documentary photography and multimedia production in a whole new way.

Join us for this once in a lifetime experience and be the force of change that proves the city is indeed #NYCStrong.

What To Expect

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
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
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 Apple!

Register Here

Meet Your NYC Faculty

Keep watching as more coaches and guest speakers are added!

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….

Learn More about Lauren Steel

…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.

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

Are You Looking for the Fine Print?

Click through the tabs below for more info.

FAQs

1. I’m worried about the COVID-19 coronavirus. Should I wait to register? What if I don’t feel comfortable traveling by then?

We totally understand! The safety of our students and staff on the ground is paramount to us and we take your decision to travel and learn with us very seriously. With the situation on the ground changing so quickly, we want to ensure, when we all gather in person to support the nonprofits that desperately need us, it is the best environment for learning and creativity as well as safety.

As we prepare for all our workshops in 2021, we will continue to follow city, state, and federal guidelines for safety protocols and working with our advisors to ensure every precaution possible is made. In addition the usual safety preparations and PPE we use on our programs, we will also be implementing stringent personal and group hygiene protocols during all 2021 workshops.

Since our programs are limited to small groups and are first come-first serve, we recommend putting your deposit in for the workshop program to hold your place. If you decide you’d like to transfer to another workshop in the future, we are waiving all transfer fees through January 2022 to allow for you to feel most comfortable with your decision to travel with us.

2. When should I arrive/depart? What’s the general schedule?
The workshop begins at 10 am EST 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 or more early to get their bearings and possibly try to meet with their nonprofits to begin photographing before the workshop.

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?
On this workshop, it is likely not necessary since there are cabs, ride shares, and the Subway. If you want to have a car and if you feel comfortable driving, that’s totally fine but it is not required. If you won’t be driving and are only using public transport, we ask you to let us know on the questionnaire because we need to take that into consideration when we do the nonprofit assignments.

6. Do you recommend hotels or have a group rate somewhere?

We offer suggestions as we get closer to the workshop. 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 hotels and hostel offerings in the pre-workshop mailings which will help you plan.

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: airfare, hotels, early arrival or late departure accommodations, visa fees (if applicable), trip, medivac, or gear insurance, 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, RegOnline.com.

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.