The Journey

Location:
Sony Digital Media Production Center
2706 Media Center Drive
Los Angeles, CA

Dates:
March 8-11, 2022

Cost:
$1750

Limited Enrollment:
9/15 spaces remaining

Project Los Angeles 2022

Nonprofit Storytelling

Join Momenta for our longest-running West Coast workshop at the beautiful Sony Digital Media Center. During this workshop program, we research and find each student a different nonprofit or you can choose to find your own. Our nonprofit partners cover a range of issues from human rights, animal rescue, racial equity, job training, immigration, and homeless outreach. Today, the city is battling the impact of COVID-19, as is the rest of the world. Our nonprofit partners are working tirelessly to support their city and, next year, they will need us more than ever to help tell their story and get back on track for their fundraising and outreach needs.

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. The nonprofits benefit from your brilliant photos by using them to tell their story to the world and you will learn real-world skills on documenting humanitarian issues.

Our small group programs are personal and individualized. 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 end our week together with a huge public slideshow party on Friday night to celebrate you and the amazing nonprofits from your projects!

Scroll down this page to learn about your instructors, the program, and read all the workshop details including our FAQs.

Use your Photography to Help Deserving Nonprofits

Our workshop HQ is the incredible Sony Digital Media Center
Use exceptional gear provided by our Official Camera Sponsor Sony
Lectures on portfolio building, business skills, workflow, marketing, & much more
1-on-1 personalized editing for each student, every day

COVID-19 NOTICE: The safety of our students and staff on the ground is paramount to us and we take it very seriously. With the situation changing so quickly, we want to ensure, when we all gather in person to support the nonprofits who desperately need us, it is the best environment for your learning and creativity as well as safety.

As we prepare for all our workshops in 2021-2022, 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 to the usual safety preparations and PPE we use on our programs, we will also be implementing stringent personal and group hygiene protocols during all 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 you to feel most comfortable with your decision to travel with us.

Be a Force of Change!

The Destination

Our nonprofit workshop in Los Angeles has become one of our most popular programs. The city is alive with nonprofit activity and has a diversity of cultures like no other place in America. Last year’s workshop created outstanding imagery and multimedia products for the local nonprofits and we are elated for the workshop when we can finally all be together again!

When you register for this workshop, Momenta will assign you or help you find a nonprofit organizations to work with in L.A. based on pre-workshop questionnaires. If you want to find your own nonprofit partner for the week, we think that’s a great learning experience. But don’t worry! If you choose this route, our staff will guide you every step of the way if you choose to find your own assignment.

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 fun photo, audio or video 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.

Every day of the workshop, Momenta instructors will help you develop a photo story close to your personal vision. We do this through daily 1-on-1 editing with you and an instructor for about one hour. Lectures, portfolio presentations, and pre-recorded seminars will help round out the experience.

Our workshop experience ends with a final slideshow on Friday night where we invite the nonprofit staff, friends and family, the Sony team members on site as well as our students and staff. It’s a celebratory event that will live in your memory and your heart for years to come!

What To Expect

You will receive your own nonprofit to work with, based on feedback from our pre-workshop student questionnaire
Momenta handles all pre-workshop logistics for nonprofit assignments including introductions to your nonprofit assignment (appx 1-2 weeks before the workshop)
Your work benefits small, local nonprofits in their need to publicize & project their activities to new audiences
Momenta presents an intensive instruction on workflow, Photo Mechanic, & photo asset archiving
You can reserve a 1-on-1 private editing session for an hour with an instructor each day
Presentations including topics of narrative storytelling, elements of a photo story, & business skills

Meet Your LA Faculty & Guest Speakers

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.

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.

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.

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What’s Included

Workshop Fees Include: daily one-on-one editing with instructors, personal portfolio reviews, student handbook, all handouts and workshop materials, daily slideshows and lectures, software and equipment training, opening night dinner and a final celebration and slideshow provided by Momenta for the public at our headquarters at the Leica Store.

Workshop Fees Do Not Include: meals, transportation, hotel accommodations. Momenta does offer suggestions for housing and transportation deals in Los Angeles.

FAQs

1. 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 hostels in the pre-workshop mailings to help you plan.

2. When should I arrive/depart? What’s the general schedule?
The workshop begins at 10 am PST 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 a 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 not necessary but a good idea. There are cabs, rideshares, and buses. If you want to have a car and if you feel comfortable driving, that’s totally fine too. 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. 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 it 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 who desperately need us, it is the best environment for learning and creativity as well as safety.

It’s Easy to Sign Up!

Each workshop requires a minimum deposit to reserve your place in the workshop. After you have registered for a workshop, final payments are due within 120 days of the start of the workshop. Once registered, you will receive a confirmation email from our registration partners.

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.

Gear

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 Sony 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.

Have a question about Project Los Angeles?

Email our staff and we will get back to you within 48 hours or less.
You can also give us a call at 202-688-1448.
Our offices are open M-F from 9-5 Pacific Time.

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The Journey

Project Los Angeles 2022

Nonprofit Storytelling

Use your Photography to Help Deserving Nonprofits

The Destination

What To Expect

You will receive your own nonprofit to work with, based on feedback from our pre-workshop student questionnaire

Momenta handles all pre-workshop logistics for nonprofit assignments including introductions to your nonprofit assignment (appx 1-2 weeks before the workshop)

Your work benefits small, local nonprofits in their need to publicize & project their activities to new audiences

Momenta presents an intensive instruction on workflow, Photo Mechanic, & photo asset archiving

You can reserve a 1-on-1 private editing session for an hour with an instructor each day

Presentations including topics of narrative storytelling, elements of a photo story, & business skills