National Press Photographers Association

Women In Photojournalism Conference: New & Traditional

 

DURHAM, NC, (August 5, 2008) – Online registration is now closed but walk-in registration will still be available at the site of this year's Women In Photojournalism Conference, coming up later this week from August 8 through 10 at the Astor Crowne Plaza hotel in New Orleans, LA.

This year’s Women in Photojournalism Conference is a unique blend of traditional photojournalism offerings and new multimedia and video ideas, 2008 television conference chair Pat Holloway says.


"We have talented speakers who will inspire and rekindle your own commitment to the craft. We provide workshops to give you real tools for success. Boundaries will be broken between students and seasoned professional and new friendships made," Holloway said.

The event is sponsored by Nikon, Canon, Avid, and the National Press Photographers Association.

Complete conference information and a full line-up of the speakers, workshops, programs, and photography contest are available online at http://womeninphotojournalism.org.

Mona Reeder of The Dallas Morning News will talk about her do-it-yourself approach to her Pulitzer-nominated project that put a human face on serious social issues in Texas. Reeder has covered the war in Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, presidential elections in Mexico, and traveled to southeastern Turkey to document the Kurdish situation for “Hidden Wars,” a team project.  

Documentary filmmaker Melody Gilbert will discuss some of her hard-won knowledge about piecing together compelling documentary video projects with few resources. Gilbert is an award-winning independent documentary filmmaker who has worked in film and television for 20 years. She has made four independent feature-length documentaries in the past five years: Urban Explorers; Into The Darkness; A Life Without Pain; and Married At The Mall. Her documentaries have screened in major film festivals, in theaters, and on television stations worldwide, including The Sundance Channel. She produces, directs, shoots and edits most of her films.

Lindsay McCullough will talk about trading her multimedia newspaper world for a chance to connect with children through photography worldwide in her role at Vision Workshops. Before taking on her job at Vision Workshop, McCullough spent four years working as a multimedia producer and content developer for Washingtonpost.com.

Ron Tarver will give insight into the inner workings of the fine art world and how to break into the business. Aside from establishing a successful career in photojournalism, Tarver has built a distinguished career in fine art and he's a 2001 Pew Fellow in the Arts. Tarver has also received grants form the National Endowment for the Arts, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and - most recently - a 2007 Independence Foundation Fellowship.

Kelly Jordan will offer a Soundslide production course on Saturday and Sunday. This hands-on workshop will go through the entire process of creating an interesting, watchable audio slideshow. This Florida Times Union multimedia editor, Jordan's workshop will be on the entire process from editing sound in Audacity, creating the audio slide show in Soundslides, and uploading the finished product to the Web.

There will also be courses to help print photojournalists move into shooting and editing video with convergence courses.

Brent Hoffman, an award-winning editor and instructor from Brooks Institute of Photography, will be teaching a full day of Final Cut Pro editing classes for the beginner as well and an advanced course in FCP techniques. Hoffman's work ranges from documentaries made for Frontline/World on PBS, to Sundance Film Festival award winners, to television series made for The Discovery Channel and The National Geographic Channel, to educational films made for the China Exploration and Research Society. Huffman has been making social issue documentaries and environmental films for over ten years in Ohio, California, Afghanistan, China, Haiti, and Puerto Rico. These films have gone on to win numerous festival awards including a Primetime Emmy, two Cine Golden Eagle Awards, a College Emmy, a Student Academy Award, and a Grand Jury Award at AFI's Silverdocs 2004 in Washington, DC.

Also offered at the “convergence” portion of the conference will be a three hour hands-on video workshop (two on Saturday, two on Sunday). The four instructors will take out groups of 5 photojournalist out to the streets of New Orleans to get tips on finding stories, shooting the stories, and offer tools to step up your skill level in the field.

Top notch photojournalists from across the country will be at the conference to teach a special hands-on program on Saturday and Sunday. The course will be a special three-hour workshop on gathering natural sound, interviewing, and basic photography skills that will give you the tools for a better story when you get back in the office for the editing process.

"We are very lucky that we will have some very talented award winners as instructors for the workshops," Holloway said.

"Lending his talents to this workshop is John Goheen, a freelance photojournalist from Denver Colorado. He is a multiple winner of NPPA’s Ernie Crisp Television News Photographer of the Year award."

Holloway also listed other top photojournalists who will be teaching and speaking:

Scott Rensberger, a freelance reporter/photojournalist based in Washington, DC, is also sharing his time and talent to this workshop. He is also a winner of NPPA’s Ernie Crisp Television News Photographer of the Year award.

Andrea Korff is a photojournalist from Philadelphia who works at the city's CBS affiliate. She's won numerous Emmy awards and Associated Press awards and an Edward R. Murrow National Headliner Award. Korff is also an accomplished still photojournalist.

Gail McCabe will also leading one of the workshops. She's been a one-woman show for the US Army for 22 years. McCabe is responsible for shooting, reporting, and producing her own stories for the Army and her work takes her all over the world.

Holloway says that each workshop leader will take a group of 5 photojournalist on Saturday or Sunday afternoon. This will be a time to ask any questions of their workshop leader about any aspect of shooting and gathering video and sound for stories. Holloway says to please bring your equipment you use to shoot your stories with you for this workshop (camera, microphones, tripod, and lights).

Many of the television workshops planned will be very useful for both the print and television photojournalists.

Pelin Sidki is one of the featured speakers. Sidki will talk about the way we gather the news has changed in such a short period of time. She has extensive experience covering international and national news stories, including major conflict zones, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Middle East, Northern Ireland and Kosovo, as well as Hurricane Katrina, the Sago Mine collapse, and the Virginia Tech shootings.

Television presentations and workshops topics include:

"The Women in Photojournalism Conference has evolved into a gathering of women and men to explore photojournalism as a career or to expand our experiences and skills as visual storytellers," Holloway says.

"This not-to-be-missed lineup shows off the best in visual journalism today and gives an inkling to the possibilities we can all take advantage of in the future."

For more information about hotel, schedule go online to www.womeninphotojournalism.org.

 

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