Dudley Brooks
Former Deputy Director of Photography for The Washington Post

Originally from Baltimore, Maryland, Dudley M. Brooks was the Deputy Director of Photography for The Washington Post, where he managed the creative strategy and production of photo-oriented content for the Features, Local and Sports departments. He was also the Photo Editor for The Washington Post Magazine before it was discontinued in 2022. From 2007-2014 he was the Director of Photography and Senior Photo Editor for the monthly magazine Ebony and its weekly sister periodical Jet. These iconic publications chronicled the African American experience for nearly eight decades and Brooks was a key member of the senior staff responsible for redefining the visual prominence and editorial relevance to their international readerships. Brooks was also the Assistant Managing Editor of Photography at The Baltimore Sun newspaper (2005-2007) and the co-creator/director of the landmark 1990 photography book and exhibition Songs of My People: African Americans – A Self-Portrait. This was an international project sponsored by Time-Warner and the Smithsonian Institute Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES). In 2003 he created and co-directed Imagenes Havana. This event was a five-day exhibition in Havana, Cuba that displayed the work of twenty-five international storytelling photographers. It was supplemented by three days of roundtable forums that addressed the difficulties of documenting the international community, opportunities in photo book publishing, and ethical issues facing the working photographer from a global perspective. Brooks retired from The Washington Post in late 2024.

 

Greig Cranna
Photographer, Gallery Owner, BRIDGE Gallery

Greig Cranna is a professional photographer and the founder and director of BRIDGE, a photography gallery opened in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 2018. Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Greig eventually settled in New York City where he began his photography career in 1976. In NY, his diverse clientele included The Council on Foreign Relations, The Japan Society, ABC Television, The International Typeface Corporation, and the U.S. Dept. of Energy. For over 40 years he’s worked in the Canadian Maritimes photographing seabird research, Atlantic Salmon research, aquaculture, environmental issues and ecotourism. After relocating to Boston in 1982, his work expanded into housing, architecture and commercial agriculture. For the past seven years he has been traveling extensively, documenting the new generation of architect-designed bridges and their physical and cultural impact on the landscape.

 

Cathaleen Curtiss
Director of Photography, Buffalo News

Cathaleen is an award-winning photojournalist, editor, and the former Director of Photography at The Buffalo News. She has broad experience in online media as well as traditional print publications. Cathaleen is an active member of the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) and a board member of the National Press Photographers Foundation (NPPF). For over ten years she has been recording an iPhone photo a day, the inspiration for the very popular #EveryDayAPhoto feature for The Buffalo News. She has had solo photography exhibits in NYC and Buffalo as well as juried work at the Corcoran Art Gallery, Library of Congress, the Building Museum, and National Geographic. As the director of photography at The Buffalo News she advocated for and created their first-ever drone photography team. As a photojournalist, she has documented events from Super Bowls to superpower summits and covered three presidential administrations. In 1990, she was named, Photographer of the Year by the White House News Photographers Association. As Vice President of Global Photography at AOL, she built and managed a staff of visual content editors based in Virginia, New York, and Bangalore. 

 

Sima Diab
Photographer and a Managing Editor at EPA Images

Sima Diab's photographic work spans over a decade in the Middle East focusing on post-conflict, social and environmental challenges working for major publications around the world, and has worked with INGOs and UN agencies alike producing effective visual communications. In Diab’s current role as a Managing Editor,  she plans, assigns and leads coverage for EPA Images of breaking news events, features, and visual stories from around the globe and believes creative thinking and collaborative teamwork produce the most compelling visual stories. Diab received the 2023 Edward R Murrow Award, the 2016 James Foley Award for Conflict reporting. She is an alumnus of The Kalish class of 2019 and recipient of the John Ahnhauser and Bob GIlka Memorial Scholarship. 

 

Crista Dix
Executive Director, Griffin Museum of Photography

Crista Dix has spent the last two decades as part of and surrounded by the creative community of photography, serving currently as the Executive Director of the Griffin Museum of Photography and previously as the owner of her gallery, wall space creative. With a passion for visual storytelling, Dix has dedicated her career to promoting and curating photography and lens based art. wall space creative, first opened in Seattle in 2005 and moving to Santa Barbara in 2010, showcased emerging and established photographers, fostering dialogue and appreciation for the medium. As the Executive Director of the Griffin Museum of Photography, located in Winchester, Massachusetts, Dix continues to elevate photographic narratives, offering a platform for diverse voices and perspectives. With a keen eye for innovation and a commitment to fostering community engagement, Dix's leadership continues to shape the landscape of contemporary photography, inspiring established artists and enthusiasts alike. Ms. Dix has written essays about photography, introducing creative artists work to a broader community. She has been a member of numerous panels and discussions on the craft of photography, juried creative competitions and has participated in major portfolio reviews across the country in cities like Houston, Portland, Los Angeles, Santa Fe and New Orleans.

 

Lisa DuBois
Photo Editor and Diversity Advisory, Social Documentary Network

Lisa DuBois is an ethnographic photojournalist and curator. Her photography explores subcultures within mainstream society, expressing the search for meaning through environments, belief systems, and traditions. Sutton Gallery in New Orleans has presented Lisa's series on Black subculture, showcasing her strong respect for history and tradition. Her work has been exhibited both globally and domestically, with exhibitions at the Wallach Art Triennial, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the Gordon Parks Museum, and Photoville. She has appeared on interviews with Bronx Net, NOLA TV, The New York Times, and the Guardian magazine. Lisa received a B.F.A. from the School of Visual Arts, as well as a degree in Metaphysical Science from the University of Metaphysics. Her honors include a BRIO grant for photography, the Harlem Arts Fellowship, the En Foco Fellowship, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Community Works N.Y.C. Lisa curated for Save Art Space and Art on the Avenue, both large-scale public art spaces. Her work has appeared in Zeke magazine, Routes, and Edge of Humanity, including Getty Images and Loupe Art TV. She is a photo editor and diversity advisor for the Social Documentary Network.
 

Sandra Eisert
Editor, Curator, Catalyst

Sandra Eisert has helped create two of the largest websites on the internet, moved three major newspapers and their design forward as well as doing magazine editing and design. Her resume is littered with “firsts” as well as awards and audience accolades. She has edited, designed and/or created strategy for over 100 books. She’s done wire service editing and oversight. But she’s edited for history too, working as White House picture editor for three sitting U.S. presidents as well as project work for a fourth. Over a decade of consulting has emphasized business strategies, media options, content strategy, and design. She is a strong believer in diversity and in pushing the front edge.

 

Celina Fang
Senior Multimedia Editor, The Marshall Project

Celina Fang is the Senior Multimedia Editor for The Marshall Project, a criminal justice non-profit reporting organization. She was a staff photo editor for nearly seven years at The New York Times, working on the Metro section, the National section, the Science section, the Arts and Leisure section and the home page. Her work on teams has been recognized by the Pulitzer Prizes, The Edward R. Murrow Awards, Pictures of the Year International, NPPA's Best of Photojournalism, the Society for News Design, the Online News Association, and the Loeb Awards.

 

Gail Fletcher
Photo Editor, The Guardian

Gail Fletcher is a Photo Editor at The Guardian US where she develops and produces visual stories. She is also on faculty at the International Center of Photography. She was previously an Associate Photo Editor at National Geographic. Several of the projects she produced alongside editors and photographers received recognition from organizations including Pictures of the Year, ASME, and World Press Photo.

 

 

Jill Foley
Independent Photo Editor

Jill Foley is an independent photo editor based in the Washington, DC area. Currently, she edits for The New York Times. She has also edited for National Geographic Books and Newsstand Special Editions, AARP, Discovery Communications, Smithsonian Magazine, and Education Week. She is a graduate of Boston University's Masters in Photojournalism program, an alum of The Kalish Visual Editing Workshop, and is a member of Women Photojournalists of Washington (WPOW).

 

 

Emmanuel Guillen Lozano  
Photo Editor and Photographer

Emmanuel Guillén Lozano is a Mexican photographer and photo editor currently based in New York City. His work focuses on social issues, human rights, and the effects of violence, and has been published in The New York Times, Vice, and The Washington Post, among others. He has received grants from Open Society Foundations and Art Works Projects, and has served as a photography judge for the Premio Gabo Journalism Award. His projects have been featured by organizations including Aperture Foundation, the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Bronx Documentary Center, Reporters Without Borders, and Photoville. He worked as a senior photo editor on projects for Google at Blink Media for the past six years, and has taught photojournalism at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism seasonally.

 

Shweta Gulati 
Video Producer and Editor, National Geographic

Shweta Gulati (she/her) is a video producer and editor on the immersive experiences team at National Geographic. In her role, she has spent time working across platforms including Instagram, TikTok, and the National Geographic website to create video-led editorial stories. Her work has been recognized by Pictures of the Year International, The Society of Publication Designers, and NPPA Best of Photojournalism awards. With a Master of Science in Multimedia, Photography, and Design from Syracuse University, and a Master of Computer Science from the University of Texas, Austin, Shweta brings a unique blend of technical and creative skills to her work.

 

Angelika Hala
Photo Editor, stern Magazine Corp.

Angelika Hala is the U.S. photo editor and producer for stern, stern CRIME, and stern special editions in the United States, Canada and Central and South America. She has participated in multiple portfolio reviews across the United States and internationally. She was on the jury for The Fence/Photo ill, ZEKE Awards, Canon Student Development Programme and the Red Bull Illume Image Quest, mentored at the Eddie Adams Workshops, and developed lectures for FOTOFusion.

 

Tarisse "Tee" Iriarte
Curator-at-Large, EnFoco

Tarisse Iriarte is an international art curator, art advisor and activist from Brooklyn, New York with Afro Caribbean Roots in Cuba and Puerto Rico. She is a proud Afro Puerto Rican working diligently on the global liberation of her people across the diaspora through socially-engaged art. Tee curates exhibitions that contextualize the intersections of diasporan arts across a socio-political landscape and works tirelessly to sow seeds rooted in liberatory praxis alongside a global community of artists, movement workers and radical thinkers. Tee is founder of Curated Concepts LLC. She serves on the advisory board for ARTE (Art Resistance Through Education) and is a member of NALAC (National Association of Latino Arts & Culture) AAMC (Association of Art Museum Curators) the Katal Center for Health Equity and Justice and the NY/NJ Cuba Si Coalition. 

Michael Itkoff
Cofounder, Daylight Books

Michael Itkoff is a publisher, creative consultant and former Chief Content Officer at Britelite Immersive. Michael Cofounded the internationally-celebrated art book publishing house, Daylight, as well as content experience platform, Fabl. For nearly twenty years, Michael has been a leader in publishing both digital and print media. Along the way, Michael has written for the NYTimes Lens blog, Art Asia Pacific, Nueva Luz, Conscientious blog and the Forward. Michael’s photographic and video work is in public and private collections in the United States and his work has appeared on the covers of Orion, Katalog, Next City and Philadelphia Weekly. Michael was the recipient of the Howard Chapnick Grant for the Advancement of Photojournalism (2006), a Creative Artists Fellowship from the Pennsylvania Arts Council (2007), and a Puffin Foundation Grant (2008). Michael’s monograph Street Portraits was published by Charta Editions in 2009.

 

Frances Jakubek 
Independent Curator and Consultant, Frances Jakubek Images and Consulting

Frances Jakubek is an image-maker, curator, and consultant for artists. She is the co-founder of A Yellow Rose Project, past Director of the Bruce Silverstein Gallery, and past Associate Curator of the Griffin Museum of Photography. Jakubek has been a panelist for the Colorado Photographic Arts Center and Massachusetts Cultural Council and a speaker for SPE National, School of Visual Arts, Boston University, and the University of New Mexico. She has juried for Critical Mass, the British Journal of Photography, Les Rencontres d’Arles, and Photo District News. Currently, she teaches workshops for The Southeast Center for Photography, Maine Media, Filter Photo, and the Santa Fe Workshops.

 

Lou Jones
Independent Photographer

Lou Jones maintains a studio in Boston, MA, where has photographed for Fortune 500 corporations, advertising agencies, national and international companies. He has completed assignments for magazines and publishers such as Time/Life, National Geographic, Fortune and Paris Match and covered thirteen Olympic Games. Currently Lou Jones has been documenting the entire continent of Africa with his ambitious panAFRICA project. Jones has received awards from organizations such as Communication Arts Magazine, Art Directors Club of Boston, Travel Photographer of the Year, and International Photographic Council (United Nations). Nikon recognizes Jones as a "Legend Behind the Lens" and Lowepro has honored him as a "Champion". He has lectured and taught workshops all over the world including at the PhotoPlus Expo in New York City, the Ford Hall Forum at Suffolk University, and Estúdio Brasil in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The first book Jones published, Final Exposure: Portraits from Death Row, earned him the Ehrmann Award from Massachusetts Citizens Against the Death Penalty.

 

Sarah Leen
Photo Editor

For nearly 20 years Sarah Leen worked as an independent photographer for National Geographic magazine until 2004 when she joined the staff as a Senior Photo Editor. In 2013, Leen became the first female Director of Photography for National Geographic Magazine and Partners. As a photographer she published 16 National Geographic magazine stories, one book and produced five covers. She has won numerous awards for both her photography and photo editing from the Pictures of the Year, the World Press Photo Awards, and the International Photography Awards. Leen teaches visual storytelling and photo editing at the Eddie Adams and Missouri Photo workshops and her own Female Perspectives in Visual Storytelling. She has edited ten photobooks since 2020 including Ukraine: A War Crime, the POY Photobook of the Year in 2023, Ukraine Love + War, HABIBI by Antonio Facciolongo, We Cry in Silence by Smita Sharma, the 2022 Lucie Book Award for Independent Book, The Phoenician Collapse by Diego Ibarra Sanchez and A Troubled Home by Anush Babajanyan. Leen is the Co-Chairperson of the Board of the International League of Conservation Photographers, is a member of the Lucie Awards Board of Advisors and in 2024 she received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from her alma mater the University of Missouri School of Journalism. She is an Oskar Barnack Award nominator and participates on many juries and portfolio reviews. 

 

 

Mary Beth Meehan
Independent Photographer, Visual Artist, Educator

Mary Beth Meehan is a photographer, writer, and educator who uses images, text, exhibitions, and public installations to bring people together in the search for common ground. Her portraiture and community collaborations have challenged dominant narratives across racial, cultural, and social boundaries, addressing often fraught public dialogue with powerful imagery, personal backstories and tender archival material that lend an essential layer of humanity, insight, and care. Trained as a photojournalist, Meehan reckons with the limits of photography and yet continually sees the potential of visual art to help us uncover our social conditioning and unlock a path to greater understanding. Meehan has held artist residencies at Stanford University, Brown University, the University of West Georgia, and the University of Missouri School of Journalism, and has lectured at the School of Visual Arts, the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, and the Missouri Photo Workshop. Meehan’s work has been featured and reviewed in publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Los Angeles Review of Books and Le Monde. A native of Brockton, Massachusetts, Mary Beth received a Master of Arts Degree in photojournalism at the University of Missouri, Columbia. She lives in Providence, Rhode Island.

 

Mark Murrmann
Photo Editor, Mother Jones

Mark Murrmann is Photo Editor at Mother Jones magazine, where he oversees and assigns all photography for the magazine and website. He came to Mother Jones in 2007, having previously been a freelance photojournalist and music writer. Murrmann also teaches documentary photography at the Art Academy University in San Francisco. He remains an active photographer who regularly self-publishes photozines. 

 

 

Molly Roberts
Independent Visuals Editor, Curator, Photographer, Educator

Molly Roberts is a visuals editor, curator and photographer in Baltimore, Maryland. For the majority of her career, Roberts has worked in the DC metro area as a photographer, photography editor and director of photography at The Washington Post, Smithsonian Magazine and National Geographic Magazine. In 2019 she was awarded a John S. and James L. Knight Foundation fellowship to study and teach photography and multimedia at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. She received a masters degree in Visual Communication in 2021. Roberts has led workshops in photo editing for long term visual projects and photo books and taught photography, photojournalism and photo-editing at Ohio University and Loyola University. Roberts is a regular reviewer at La Luz Workshops, Palm Springs Photo Festival, Social Documentary Network, and Review Santa Fe, and Photo Lucida as well as the annual Women Photojournalists of Washington portfolio review, of which she is a co-director and member of the Board of Directors. She has curated exhibits for PhotoWorks, ArtWorks Projects, Women Photojournalists of Washington, Gallery 1448, and SXSE Gallery, among others.  A new venture is as co-host of a radio show about photojournalism called 10fps on WLOY at Loyola University.
 

Glenn Ruga
Founder & Director, Social Documentary Network. Executive Editor, ZEKE magazine

Glenn Ruga is the founder of the Social Documentary Network (SDN) and Executive Editor of ZEKE magazine. In addition, he is a photographer, graphic designer, curator, and  has created traveling and online documentary exhibits on the struggle for a multicultural future in Bosnia, the war and aftermath in Kosovo, and on an immigrant community in Holyoke, Mass.  In 2012, Ruga was one of three curators of the New York Photo Festival where he curated three exhibitions including work by Bruce Davidson, Platon, and Eugene Richards, Reza, and Lori Grinker. From 2010-2013, Ruga was the Executive Director of the Photographic Resource Center (PRC) at Boston University. From 1993 through 2009, Ruga was the founder and president of the Center for Balkan Development, a non-profit organization established to help stop the genocide in Bosnia and create a just and sustainable future in the former Yugoslavia.  Ruga has a B.A. in Social Theory from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, and a MFA in Graphic and Advertising Design from Syracuse University. 

 

Sybylla Smith
Independent Curator/Educator/Consultant, Concept Aware

J. Sybylla Smith brings a concept development lens to her work as an independent curator, podcaster and consultant. Her mission is to amplify the work of women photographers and highlight underrepresented narratives with an intersectional lens.  In 30+ solo and group exhibitions, Smith has featured 115+ photographers in worldwide venues including the U.S., Mexico, Colombia and Japan. Her Concept Aware® podcast engages a global audience in over 80 interviews with international photographers, curators and visual culture writers. 
Her creative framework, Concept Aware®: How You See & Why It Matters, provides specific tools to visual artists to bring their abstract ideas to fruition in image, text, exhibition and book form. She consults with emerging and seasoned professionals to refine ideas and contextualize their work. Collaboratively she develops portfolios, writes content, produces projects, creates exhibitions, and completes book proposals.  Smith guest lectures and teaches workshops at educational institutions and arts organizations. She writes for publications on contemporary photography, visual culture, and creativity. She is an avid portfolio reviewer and enjoys jurying photo exhibitions and awards. 

 

Maggie Soladay 
Senior Photography Editor, Open Society Foundations

Maggie Soladay is Senior Photography Editor at the Open Society Foundations in New York. Her work with OSF involves addressing racial, economic, and political justice issues around the world through photography. Soladay is always looking to work with photographers who explore human rights issues. She has been working in the photography industry for over 25 years.

 

 

Harvey Stein
Photographer, Author, Educator, Curator

Harvey Stein is a professional photographer, teacher, lecturer, author and curator based in New York City.  He currently teaches at the International Center of Photography and the Los Angeles Center of Photography. Stein is a frequent lecturer on photography both in the United States and abroad. He was the Director of Photography at Umbrella Arts Gallery in New York from 2009 until 2019. He has also been a member of the faculty of the School of Visual Arts, New School University, Drew University, Rochester Institute of Technology and the University of Bridgeport.  A recipient of a Creative Arts Public Service (CAPS) fellowship and numerous artist in residency grants, Stein’s tenth and latest book Coney Island People 50 Years was published by Schiffer Publishing in September 2022. Other books of Stein’s photographs include Parallels: A Look at Twins, E.P. Dutton (1978); Artists Observed (1986); Coney Island, (1998); Movimento: Glimpses of Italian Street Life (2006); Coney Island 40 Years (2011); Harlem Street Portraits  (2013); Briefly Seen New York Street Life (2015); Mexico Between Life and Death (2018), and Then and There: Mardi Gras 1979 (2020). Stein’s photographs and portfolios have been published in such periodicals as The New Yorker, Time, Life, Esquire, American Heritage, Smithsonian, The New York Times, Glamour, GQ Magazine (Mexico), Forbes, Psychology Today, Playboy, Harpers, Art News, American Artist, New York, People, Der Spiegel, Die Zeit, and all the major photo magazines, including Camera Arts, Black & White Magazine (cover), Shutterbug, Popular Photography, American Photo, Camera, Afterimage, PDN, Zoom, Rangefinder, Photo Metro, fotoMagazine (Germany), Zeke and View Camera Magazine. Stein’s photographs have been widely exhibited in the United States and Europe—91 one-person and over 170 group shows to date.  He has curated 67 exhibits since 2007 and his photographs are in 60 permanent collections. Stein’s work is represented by Sous Les Etoiles Gallery, New York City.  

 

Maya Valentine
Photo Assignment Editor, The Washington Post

Maya Valentine is a Features Photo Assignment Editor at The Washington Post, where she generates visuals for The Home You Own, Business and Well+Being sections. Before joining The Post, she worked as a photo coordinator for National Geographic Magazine. There, she produced visual stories on digital and print platforms while collaborating with video production and social media teams. In 2020, she completed a mentorship program with Visura.co, a curated marketplace and site builder that connects image buyers, media publications and organizations with professional, diverse visual storytellers and journalists worldwide. She is also a graduate of the University of Missouri-School of Journalism, where she studied multimedia production.

 

Julie Winokur
Executive Director, Talking Eyes Media

Julie Winokur, Executive Director of Talking Eyes Media, has been a storyteller for over two decades, first as a magazine writer and then as a documentary filmmaker. She launched Talking Eyes Media in 2002 as a way to create visual media that catalyzes positive social change. Her work has appeared on PBS, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time, and National Geographic. Beyond broadcast and publication, Winokur works extensively with nonprofit organizations to develop their messages and put Talking Eyes' films to work at the grassroots level. She is the co-founder of Newest Americans, a storytelling project about immigration and identity based in Newark, New Jersey, that was named Best Online Storytelling Project in 2020 by Pictures of the Year International. She is also the producer/director of The Sacrifice Zone and Bring It to The Table, both documentary films with extensive impact campaigns. Winokur is a National Geographic Explorer and has been on the faculty of Rutgers University-Newark and the International Center of Photography in New York.

 

Maye-E Wong
Senior Editor for Wider Image and Special Projects, Reuters

Maye-E Wong is Senior Editor for Wider Image and Special Projects. She runs the agency’s long-form storytelling team that takes on visually-led projects from the ideation stage all the way through to publication, and also represents the agency at photo festivals where she shares her storytelling skills and experience with the new generations of photographers. Prior to Reuters, Maye-E spent two decades at The Associated Press, initially based in her native Singapore and then New York City, as one of their go-to photographers for a remarkable range of assignments, including the Rohingya refugee crisis in Cox’s Bazaar, political unrest in Thailand and Hong Kong, natural disasters, Black Lives Matters in the US, and more than 35 trips to North Korea. Her own photography has won multiple awards and she was a recipient of grants from the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting and the IWMF. She served as juror in the 2017 and 2018 World Press Photo contests and sits on the Advisory Board of POY Asia. She also serves as a team leader and is an active member on the board of directors at the Eddie Adams Workshop.