PHOTOJOURNALIST, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

As a photojournalist with The Associated Press, I've been a witness to our times for over forty years. Much of my four decades in Washington, I was assigned to the White House, presidential travel, and political campaigns. Many of my highlight assignments took me far from politics and presidents: war in the Middle East and the Balkans, the invasion of Panama, terror in Haiti, and the anguish of Africa. For the last ten years, I have focused on the divided and divisive political atmosphere in Congress.

PHOTO EDITOR, SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE

I am a photo editor with Smithsonian magazine, collaborating with photographers in many genres, including fine art, documentary, and reportage. Projects with photographers have been recognized by the American Society of Magazine Editors, NPPA Best of Photojournalism, Communication Arts, The Society of Publication Designers, Graphis Institute, and American Photography.

PHOTOJOURNALIST

Susan Biddle is a former Washington Post staff photographer. She began her career photographing for the Peace Corps and later worked as a staff photographer for the Topeka Capital-Journal and the Denver Post. Biddle left the Denver Post to become a White House photographer documenting the Presidency during the end of the Reagan administration and the entire George H. W. Bush administration. She has also freelanced and her work has appeared in Time, Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report, Life, National Geographic and other publications worldwide. She has participated in various book projects including Day in the Life of America, Day in the Life of Thailand, Hong Kong - Here Be Dragons, Day in the Life of the American Woman and America at Home. Biddle has won awards with the White House News Photographers Association and National Press Photographers Association. She has been a judge for various contests as well as a teacher on various workshops and study-abroad programs.

SENIOR VISUALS EDITOR, NPR

Bogle is a Senior Visual Editor at NPR where she frequently collaborates with audio and digital reporters on stories across the country and around the world. She loves working with photographers and illustrators on projects that highlight and investigate the world we inhabit. Emily works with NPR's investigations team and the long form podcast unit. She works on special projects and edits her colleague, photographer Claire Harbage, as she covers international stories in Ukraine, Turkey and beyond. Emily also manages NPR's Instagram strategy.

SENIOR PHOTO EDITOR, SCIENCE MAGAZINE

Now the senior photo editor at Science magazine, Charlie has worked as a photographer, photo editor, and director of photography at big city and small town newspapers, major magazines, commercial photo agencies and the world’s largest news gathering organization. Along this journey, he’s seen the Twin Towers collapse, bounced on Bill Gates’ trampoline, watched SCUD missiles fall on Saudi Arabia, journeyed to five Olympic Games, and experienced weightless flight with a plane full of queasy schoolteachers.

EDITOR IN CHARGE OF WASHINGTON, REUTERS PHOTOS

Jim Bourg has been a Reuters photojournalist since 1988. Early in his career he also worked as a regular freelance photographer for UPI, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time, Newsweek and many other magazines. He spent 16 years as Reuters contract photographer based in Boston, traveling to every U.S. state and more than 30 countries to shoot and/or edit for Reuters. Jim has covered every presidential candidate and U.S. presidential election since 1984. Since 2004 he has been Editor In Charge of Washington for Reuters News Pictures, managing all Reuters photo coverage of The White House, Capitol Hill, the Pentagon and the State Department, while also continuing to shoot pictures for the Reuters wire. As a photographer he has won awards from POY, The White House News Photographers Association and others. His personal favorite is The Photographer’s Giving Back Global Award for “Most Humouristic Photo of the Year”.

FEATURES PHOTO EDITOR, THE WASHINGTON POST

Lauren Bulbin is an award-winning photo editor and photographer based in Washington, DC. Her background in fine art gives her a unique perspective on set as a creative producer and collaborator, as well as, behind the camera. She is currently working at The Washington Post. As a photographic editor at The Post, she assigns projects with a focus on Arts, Style, Fashion, Celebrity Portraiture and Travel. She is also the photographic editor for long form journalism that analyzes issues of gender, sexuality, and identity. Before coming to The Post, Lauren won a National Magazine Award for her work at Fast Company Magazine. She has had extensive experience in digital and print media, including the translation of features to social media.

THE WHITE HOUSE

Oliver Contreras is a staff Photographer and Photo Editor at the White House Photo Office in Washington, D.C. Originally from Chile, previously he worked as a freelance photojournalist for The Washington Post, The New York Times, AFP, Bloomberg, Getty Images, and also had collaborated with National Geographic, Time Magazine, among others.

Oliver has a M.A. in New Media/Photojournalism at the George Washington University-Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, in Washington D.C.

LEAD PRODUCER, SideXSide STUDIOS

Deanna is an award-winning producer, writer and journalist. Her short QUEENS IN TRAINING played festivals across the country. At SideXSide, Deanna develops stories both for clients and for SideXSide original productions. She also writes scripts, manages projects, and keeps everyone on task. Previously, she produced videos for Education Week, where her work was featured on PBS NewsHour, HuffPost Education, and A&E.

LITTLE BLACK DOG PRODUCTIONS LLC

Douthitt was Photography Managing Editor for Science magazine from 2014 to 2022. He directed a staff of three photography editors, providing images for Science’s print and digital publications, working with the organization’s senior editors to create engaging visualization of complex science and environmental topics. Before joining Science, Douthitt was National Geographic Magazine’s Managing Editor for Special Editions. During his National Geographic career, he was a designer, writer, photographer, picture editor, digital media developer and department manager. While at Geographic, Douthitt managed major initiatives including a special issue on water, a series of issues on key 21st century issues including population, biodiversity and climate. He created EarthPulse, an organization-wide environmental campaign. He wrote for National Geographic’s magazine and website, including authoring the December 2006 cover story on the Cassini Saturn mission. He taught science journalism and photojournalism at the Corcoran School of Art, George Washington University.

STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER, THE NEW YORK TIMES

James Estrin is a senior staff photographer for the New York Times. He was also a founder and co-editor of Lens, the Times's photography column. Mr. Estrin has been a staff photograph at the Times since 1992 and was part of a Pulitzer Prize winning team in 2001. He is the co-executive producer of the documentary film "Underfire: The Untold Story of Pfc. Tony Vaccaro" which appeared on HBO in 2016.

THE EXPOSURE GROUP

Sharon Farmer has been a photojurnalist since student days at The Ohio State University as 0ur Choking Times photographer/managing editor. 13 years freelance at Washington Post, adjunct photo instructor @American & Howard Universities, Official White House Photographer/Director of White House Photography, exhibitor, lecturer. Photography work is my full time business.

DEPUTY PHOTO EDITOR, THE NEW YORK TIMES

Beth Flynn is the deputy photo editor for news at The New York Times. She is a page one editor and handles investigative pod projects as well.

INDEPENDENT PHOTO EDITOR

Jill Foley is an Independent Photo Editor based in the DC area. Previously, she was a Senior Photo Editor for National Geographic Books. She has also edited for National Geographic Newsstand Special Editions, The New York Times, 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).

PHOTO EDITOR, THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

Jasmine Goldband joined The Philadelphia Inquirer as a photo editor in Aug. 2022. She previously worked for five years as projects photo editor for the Houston Chronicle. She has been recognized by numerous organizations for her photo editing, photography and videography, including a breaking news Pulitzer-prize finalist for the team coverage and aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. A native of Pennsylvania, she previously worked as a photojournalist and visual producer in Pittsburgh. She is a member of the National Press Photographers Association and Online News Association.

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY, THE WASHINGTON POST

Golon is director of photography for the Washington Post. She is a key member of the senior management team overseeing all aspects of photography for the international news organization.

Shweta Gulati 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 Nat Geo 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.

Prior to joining National Geographic, she did her graduate program in photography at Syracuse University.

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT

Gupta is a versatile photo editor, artist and educator. As director of photography for U.S. News and World Report he has over 10 years of experience working with visual journalists to cover current events around the globe. as an artist, his photographic works have been exhibited widely and held in the permanent collections of the Sainsbury Center for Visual Art, the Library of Congress, and the Smithsonian’s Asia Pacific Center. As an educator, he lectures on creative approaches to photojournalism and fine art photography and teaches multimedia storytelling at Georgetown University.

PHOTOJOURNALIST, FOUR-TIME PULITZER PRIZE WINNER

Carol Guzy was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and lived there until 1978 when she completed her studies at Northampton County Area Community College, graduating with an Associate's degree in Registered Nursing. A change of heart led her to the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale in Florida to study photography. She graduated in 1980 with an Associate in Applied Science degree in Photography.

She interned at The Miami Herald and upon graduation was hired as a staff photographer. She spent eight years there before moving to Washington, DC in 1988 where she became a staff photographer at The Washington Post through 2014. She is currently freelance.

She is the first journalist to receive a fourth Pulitzer Prize. She has been named Photographer of the Year for NPPA three times and nine times for WHNPA and has earned many other prestigious awards in her chosen profession. She specializes in long-form documentary projects and news stories, both domestic and international.

NORTH AMERICAN DEPUTY PHOTO DIRECTOR FOR AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Eva Hambach, currently based in Washington, DC, is the North American Deputy Photo Director for Agence France-Presse (AFP), an international news agency headquartered in Paris, France. Over the past 20 years in this position, she has been the lead photo coordinator and assignment editor for breaking news, daily politics, and major entertainment & sports events occurring in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean.

Eva works with a dedicated group of staff editors and photographers in Washington, DC, New York and Los Angeles and helps generate stills, B-roll, drone images, bylines and datelines for the omnipresent global news deadlines. Over the years, she has built a reliable network of freelancers throughout her assigned region and has given many photographers the opportunity to showcase their coverage throughout the worldwide print & online distribution system of AFP Photos. She is always on the lookout for new talent and opportunities to expand the network.

Eva holds a BA from La Sorbonne in French/German & English linguistics and a MA from AU in Broadcast Journalism. She also is a jazz aficionado, jazz musician portraitist and supporter of the arts.

SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER, BLOOMBERG NEWS

Andrew Harrer is a senior photo assignment editor and photographer at Bloomberg News, based in Washington, DC. Andrew began his career at Bloomberg in New York City after graduating from Rochester Institute of Technology in 2005.

Andrew has covered politics since 2008 with his first assignment of traveling in the pool with then Senator John McCain on the presidential campaign trail.

Andrew is the assignment editor for politics in Washington that includes the US Capitol and the White House, as well as national politics including elections and campaigns. Primarily an assignment editor and photo editor now, Andrew has been a photographer on political assignments such as the 2012 & 2016 Democratic and Republican National Conventions, 2013 & 2017 presidential inaugurations, and nationwide primary and midterm elections.

Prior to moving to Washington, Andrew was a photo assignment editor and photographer covering arts & entertainment, sports, national feature stories and Latin America.

PHOTO EDITOR, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

Julie Hau is a photo editor at National Geographic magazine, where she commissions and curates the departments pages of the magazine and works with photographers and creatives to create visual content for print, the website and social platforms.

SENIOR PICTURE EDITOR, THE WASHINGTON POST

Natalia is a senior picture editor on the National desk at The Washington Post, where she covered the Trump presidency, 2020 election, and January 6th insurrection. Before joining the Post, she managed the photography team at NBC News where she also art directed and commissioned illustrations. She has served as a juror for photography awards for the Overseas Press Club, American Photography 37, and NPPA’s Best of Photojournalism. Natalia was faculty on the first Women Photograph workshop held in Latin America in 2019 and was a mentor in their 2021 program.

PHOTO COACH/PHOTO EDITOR

Tom Kennedy is an internationally known visual journalist with 35 years of print and online journalism experience, including positions as Managing Editor/Digital News for PBS NewsHour, Managing Editor for Multimedia at The Washington Post, and Director of Photography at the National Geographic Society. He has created, directed, and edited visual journalism projects that have earned Pulitzer Prizes, as well as EMMY, Peabody, and Edward R. Murrow awards.

Most recently, he was Executive Director of ASMP (American Society of Media Photographers), this country’s leading trade association representing independent photographers working across commercial and editorial genres.

Previously, he has also worked as an independent consultant coach.

CANON EXPLORER OF LIGHT PHOTOGRAPHER

Keyssar is a documentary photographer whose work focuses on inequality, youth culture, and the personal effects of political turmoil and conflict. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting and illustration from The Pratt Institute, has taught New Media at the International Center of Photography in New York and has instructed at various workshops across the US and Latin America. Her work has been supported by grants from the Pulitzer Center, the IWMF, and the Magnum Foundation, was the winner of the 2018 ICP Infinity Emerging Photographer Award, and the 2019 PH Museum Women Photographer's Grant among many other awards. She's a regular contributor to National Geographic and The New York Times among many other publications. She is currently based in Brooklyn, New York.

SENIOR PRODUCER, THE WASHINGTON POST

Jessica Koscielniak is an award-winning visual journalist based in Washington, DC. Currently, she is a Senior Producer for Breaking News and Enterprise Video at the Washington Post.

Prior to that, she worked as a senior staff photographer and videographer at USA TODAY. Before that, she was on the National High-Impact Video Team at McClatchy where she pitched, developed, produced and edited in-depth documentary-style packages and series. In 2012, she worked as a multimedia journalist at Chicago Sun-Times, where her work focused on documenting the gun violence epidemic in Chicago’s toughest neighborhoods.

Koscielniak originates from Northwest Indiana and has always had a passion for covering news and issue-related stories.

Most recently her work has been recognized by Photography of the Year International, Lone Star Regional EMMYs, RTDNA’s Edward R. Murrow, Best of Photojournalism, Online Journalism, Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi, The Webbys, and the White House News Photographer's Association.

In 2023, her team was part of The Washington Post team recognized as a Pulitzer finalist for Public Service for the Cartel RX series. Cartel RX was an exhaustive investigation of the fentanyl crisis ravaging families across the country that tracked the import and distribution of the drug and the government's failure to address the epidemic of addiction. Koscielniak served as the Senior Producer and video editor on the project.

When not working, she can be found traveling with her husband and fellow photographer, Tasos Katopodis, or rehabbing their home in Washington.

DEPUTY DIRECTOR, PHOTOGRAPHY/SPECIAL PROJECTS, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Larma is a photojournalist and editor with The Associated Press, based in Philadelphia. After freelancing for the Sipa and Black Star photo agencies and working as a photo assistant for Agence France-Presse, she became an Associated Press staff photographer in Jerusalem in 1991. Larma transferred to AP’s London bureau in 1994 and worked extensively in Europe before returning to Jerusalem in 1997. In 2000, she was promoted to chief photographer and photo editor for Israel and the Palestinian territories. In 2003, Larma returned to the United States, She was awarded the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography as part of a four-person AP team for coverage of the Rwandan genocide and its aftermath.

PHOTO EDITOR, THE NEW YORK TIMES

Brent Lewis is a Photo Editor based out of New York City, co-founder of Diversify Photo and from the greatest city in the world Chicago. South Side to be exact.

Brent is a photo editor at The New York Times working on the Home Page and breaking news desk.

Brent was a Photo Editor at The Washington Post. Formerly, he was the Senior Photo Editor of ESPN’s The Undefeated, where he drove the visual language of the website that is based around the intersection of sports, race, and culture. Before joining the turning his life over to photo editing, he was a staff photojournalist with stints at The Denver Post, The Rockford Register Star and the Chillicothe Gazette. Through the years his photos have been used by the Chicago Tribune, L.A. Times, Associated Press, Forbes, and Yahoo! News.

PICTURE EDITOR, STAT

Crystal Milner is the picture editor for STAT. The California native graduated with a master’s degree in journalism from Boston University, where she received the Christopher John Weigl Memorial Award for excellence in visual journalism. While at Boston University, Crystal interned for the WGBH show “Basic Black.” Prior to joining the STAT team in 2020, she worked as a freelance photographer for Blavity and the Los Angeles Wave Newspapers. Crystal enjoys giving back to her community, volunteering and mentoring in her free time.

TED SENIOR FELLOW, INDEPENDENT PHOTOJOURNALIST

Eman Mohammed is an award-winning photojournalist and Senior TED fellow currently based in Washington, DC.

Eman's passion for photography is grounded in her Palestinian heritage. She began her photojournalism career at 19 in the Gaza Strip, Palestine. She focused on documenting the war in Gaza for the first decade of her work. Yet, she found refuge in focusing on long-term photo essays that tackle human rights issues and challenge stereotypical narratives.

Over the years, Eman has honed her craft by exploring various photography styles, from lifestyle photoshoots to capturing social events and delving into portraiture. Her recent work is centered on women in culturally sensitive communities and investigative stories about race relations in the United States from an outsider's perspective.

Eman's recent work is centered on women in culturally sensitive communities and investigative stories about race relations in the United States from an outsider's perspective.

Her photographs have been featured in renowned publications such as The Guardian, CNN, Le Monde, VICE, The Washington Post, Geo International, Mother Jones, NPR, Marie Claire, and The Atlantic. Moreover, her work has been recognized by various international organizations and has been acquired by the British Museum in London and The Harn Museum of Art at the University of Florida.

Eman has been a TED fellow since 2014 and was chosen as a Senior TED Fellow in 2019. Her photographic memoir ""The Cracks In My Lens"" was released as a limited edition in 2022 in Vancouver."

FEATURES ASSIGNMENT PHOTO EDITOR, BLOOMBERG

Monteleone is the Features Assignment Photo Editor for Bloomberg News, producing multimedia original stories for the global audience. Previously, Ms. Monteleone was the North American Deputy Photo Editor for Bloomberg News, overseeing photo and video news assignments. While at Bloomberg News, she has lead the expansion and diversification of the roster of freelance photographers in North, South and Central America. Prior to Bloomberg, she worked for ABC News, T: The New York Times Style Magazine, The New York Post, and W Magazine. Ms. Monteleone has been a guest speaker at The International Center of Photography, Parsons School of Design, The Women Photograph Workshop, The Eddie Adams Workshop and Zoom Photo Festival Saguenay. She has served on the nominating committees of World Press Photo 2023 (North and Central America Juror), World Press Photo 6x6 Global Talent Program, Diversify Photo, The Women Photograph X Getty Grant, Photoville - The Fence, and The Eddie Adams Workshop student selections. Ms . Monteleone serves on the Documentary Advisory Committee for the Social Documentary Network (SDN). Marie Monteleone studied photography at Parsons School of Design in New York. She lives and works in New York, United States.

FREELANCE PHOTOJOURNALIST

Rosem Morton, is a documentary photographer, registered nurse and safety consultant based in Baltimore, Maryland. She is a National Geographic Explorer and an International Women’s Media Foundation Next Gen Fellow whose work focuses on daily life amidst gender, health, and racial adversity. Rosem is the recipient of the Leica Women Photo Award and the Visa d'or Daily Press Award and has been recognized by the Pictures of the Year International, the World Press Photo 6x6 Talent, The 30: New and Emerging Photographers to Watch and Baltimore Sun’s 25 Women to Watch. Rosem has written and photographed stories for National Geographic, the Washington Post, NPR and CNN, among others.

PHOTO EDITOR, THE NEW YORK TIMES

Jacob Moscovitch (he/him) is a queer first-generation Israeli-American Photo Editor at The New York Times. Previously, he was a Photo Editor at the Los Angeles Times. Before transitioning to editing, Jacob was a documentary and portrait photographer — exploring themes of identity, youth, family and the LGBTQ+ community.

PHOTOGRAPHER/FILMMAKER

Lucian Perkins, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, worked as a staff photographer for The Washington Post for twenty-seven years. While at the Post, Perkins covered many of the major events of the time here in the U.S. and abroad, including Russia and the former Soviet Union since 1988, the first Palestinian uprising, and the wars in the former Yugoslavia, Iraq, and Afghanistan. He co-founded “InterFoto,” an international photography festival in Moscow, Russia, that ran from 1995 to 2005 and published two books: Hard Art, DC, and Runway Madness. He has also filmed and edited numerous short documentaries, including his first full-length one, The Messengers, which follows two young volunteers who are transformed by the residents of Joseph’s House, a local hospice for homeless HIV/AIDs patients. Currently, Perkins is an independent photographer and filmmaker concentrating on multimedia projects and documentaries while continuing to pursue his love for the still image.

PHOTOGRAPHIC MANAGING EDITOR, SCIENCE MAGAZINE

Petersen is the managing photography editor at Science Magazine in Washington, DC. She has been at Science for eight years and leads the three-person photo team. She transforms complex research into compelling photographs for the magazine’s covers, news features, online news, and social media. She hires freelance photographers for single and multi-day assignments around the world. She regularly writes for the Science Visuals blog, telling behind-the-scenes stories and discussing photo-relevant challenges. She loves connecting with other science geeks, outdoor lovers, and self-proclaimed nerds. She is a suffering extroverted, introvert and is probably having a hard time socializing in person again, so please come say, “Hello!” She lives in DC with her partner, where they drink copious amounts of hot tea, are always working on a jigsaw puzzle and indulge in all things hygge.

PHOTO EDITOR

Molly Roberts is a visuals editor and curator residing in Baltimore, Maryland. She has worked in the DC metro area as a photographer, photography editor and director of photography at The Washington Post, USA Weekend, 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.

She has curated exhibits for PhotoWorks, Art Works Projects, University of Texas; Corpus Christi, Women Photojournalists of Washington, SXSE Gallery and Gallery 1448. She works on book projects for independent photographers and National Geographic Books.

Roberts is a regular reviewer and mentor at La Luz Workshops, Palm Springs Photo Festival, Social Documentary Network, and Review Santa Fe 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.

SPORTS PHOTO EDITOR, THE WASHINGTON POST

Toni Sandys is the sports photo editor at The Washington Post, overseeing visual storytelling in the world of athletics. Transitioning to the role after covering the Tokyo Olympic “Covid Games” in August 2021, Toni has maintained her passion for visual story telling from the other side of the desk. A 1994 graduate from western Kentucky University, Toni worked at the Macon Telegraph and the St. Petersburg Times before joining The Washington Post in 2004 as a dedicated sports shooter, capturing moments from high school games to the Olympics. Her work has earned accolades from various organizations and was also a part of The Washington Post’s 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.

INDEPENDENT PHOTOGRAPHER

Alyssa Schukar (she/her) is a Washington, D.C.-based visual journalist, writer, and educator. She's a co-director of the 75-year-old Missouri Photo Workshop and a co-founder of Chicago’s Prism Photo Workshop. During nearly a decade of assignment work, she has met deadlines on helicopters and in blizzards, in the middle of Black Lives Matter marches and from the belly of the U.S. Capitol. She’s documented communities surrounded by heavy industry in Indiana, hurricane devastation worsened by climate change in Texas, the Standing Rock challenge to the Dakota Access Pipeline and the children of the opioid crisis in Ohio. The people she has met through her work influence her understanding of the world, and they motivate her to study and name the larger forces that affect communities’ everyday lives. Alyssa is a native of the Great Plains, an avid reader and a fan of big open spaces. She’s also a very proud auntie.

SENIOR PRODUCER FOR NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC’S IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCES, including video, XR, mobile and interactive storytelling.

She has worked in a myriad of roles as a visual storyteller, video journalist and producer, for The New York Times and teams on National Geographic. Shastri has 12 years of experience and a passion for innovative and engaging visual storytelling. Since 2016, she has been producing immersive storytelling, including 360 video, VR, AR and interactive stories for the NYTimes and National Geographic. From 2019 - 2022, she worked as an independent producer, editor and director on video, immersive storytelling for multiple organizations.

Hailing from Boston, MA, she has a BA from Tufts University in Anthropology and an MA from New York University in Journalism and Documentary Film.

http://vedashastri.com

SENIOR VIDEO JOURNALIST, THE WASHINGTON POST

Shefte is an award-winning senior video journalist at The Washington Post, where she has worked since 2006.

SENIOR PHOTO EDITOR, THE NATURE CONSERVANCY

Alex Snyder is Director and lead judge for the annual Global Photo Contest. He is Senior Photo Editor for The Nature Conservancy, producing over 20 features for Nature Conservancy Magazine including recent pieces on Northwest India agriculture and California’s disappearing kelp forests—the latter publishing in tandem with a short documentary film he helped produce titled, “A Disappearing Forest.” Prior to his work at TNC he served as the photographer for Peace Corps documenting volunteer stories in 15 countries. He also serves as the Communications Director for The Photo Society–a group of over 200 National Geographic photographers where he is the host of their monthly virtual talk "The Photo Society Presents."

DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY, THE WASHINGTON POST.

Sandra M. Stevenson is an award-winning writer, visual editor and curator in the photography department at The Washington Post. As deputy director of photography, she manages a portfolio that includes international, climate, and health and science issues. Prior to joining The Post, Stevenson was at CNN, where she managed a team of picture editors who curated the home screen, edited stories and newsletters, as well as special projects. Before CNN, she was at the New York Times, where she oversaw digital photo editors on the news desk, and worked on visual content for Race/Related and the Gender, in addition to exclusive projects such as "Overlooked" and “This Is 18.” After receiving a BA in English from Syracuse University, Stevenson spent four years working at NBC – first as a page and then working on various news programs. From there, she became the program coordinator for the Black Filmmaker Foundation. During her time there, she held a deep commitment to helping people of color enter the film industry at various levels. Stevenson then returned to the news industry, by taking on a position at the Associated Press, where she spent eight years moving up from photo assistant to overseeing photo news coverage for Latin America and the Caribbean. She also took time to work on and an advanced degree in multimedia from University of Toulouse in France. Stevenson was a contributing writer in the book "Unseen: Unpublished Black History from The New York Times Photo Archives." She was the picture editor and co-curator on the book "This Is 18."

PHOTO EDITOR, THE WASHINGTON POST

Maya Valentine is a photo editor at The Washington Post working on the Features, Well+Being and Health/Science teams.

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY, AARP

Wichita has been with AARP since 2005, and works with AARP's print publications, websites, newsletters, and social presence. Wichita previously worked as a professional photographer, his collaborations with photographers for AARP has been recognized by SPD, The Webby's and American Photography amongst others. Michael is a frequent speaker and portfolio reviewer at industry events. He graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design.

SENIOR EDITOR, WIDER IMAGE AND SPECIAL PROJECTS, REUTERS

For the past two decades at the Associated Press (AP), Maye-E was one of the agency’s go-to photographers for a remarkable range of assignments across the world, including more than 35 trips to North Korea. Her career highlights include stories such as Rohingya women fleeing Myanmar, political unrest in Thailand and Hong Kong, the devastation of typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, Bangladesh’s garment factory collapse, and Black Lives Matter protests on the streets of New York.
Her own work has won an Overseas Press Club Hal Boyle Award and the 2018 Ancil Payne Ethics in Journalism Award, as well as a Picture of the Year award from the Reynolds Journalism Institute for her portraits of victims of abuse by Catholic clergy.
More recently, she’s become known as a fierce advocate of visual journalism, an innovator in digital storytelling and, occasionally, an assignment photographer. Recently, she traveled across large swaths of the United States documenting life as Americans navigated the uncertainty of both COVID and politics.
In April this year, Maye-E takes on the leadership of Wider Image at Reuters.