Dudley M. Brooks
Visual Consultant, Former Deputy Director of Photography for The Washington Post

Dudley M. Brooks is the former Deputy Director of Photography for The Washington Post, where he forged the creative strategy and production of photography for the Features, Local and Sports departments. Before its discontinuance in December of 2022, he was also the Photo Editor of The Washington Post Magazine. Prior to this, he was the Director of Photography for the monthly magazine Ebony and Senior Photo Editor for its weekly sister periodical Jet — both formerly published by Johnson Publishing Company in Chicago. 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 their brand (2007-2014). His photojournalism career began in 1981 as a staff photographer for the Rockford Register Star newspaper in northern Illinois. Two years later, he joined the photography staff at The Washington Post, where he received numerous honors for his comprehensive and international work as a photographer. In 2005 he became the Assistant Managing Editor of Photography at The Baltimore Sun newspaper. Brooks was also the co-creator/director of the landmark international photo exhibition and best-selling book Songs of My People: African Americans – A Self-Portrait (sponsored by Time-Warner and published by Little-Brown, 1992). 

 

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.

 

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. 

 

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.

 

James Estrin
Staff Photographer/Writer, New York Times

James Estrin is a New York Times staff photographer and writer. He was  a founder and co-editor of Lens, The New York Times photography blog. Estrin was part of a team that won a 2001 Pulitzer Prize for “How Race Is Lived In America."He is also the co-executive producer of the documentary film "Underfire: The Untold Story of Pfc. Tony Vaccaro" which appeared on HBO in November 2016.  He is an adjunct professor at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York. 

 

Anne Farrar
Senior Photo Editor, National Geographic

Anne Farrar, senior photo editor at National Geographic magazine, oversees visual storytelling for environment and adventure stories. She was previously director of photography for National Geographic Traveler, senior photo editor at The Washington Post and photo editor with The Dallas Morning News among. She has shaped stories, with hundreds of photojournalists, which have been recognized by POYi, NPPA, SND to name a few.

Her current work is guided by the National Geographic mission to explore the planet, protect and preserve our natural and cultural heritage, and tell powerful stories across all platforms that reveal the world around us.

 

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).

 

Maura Friedman  
Senior Photo Editor, New York Magazine

Maura Friedman is a senior photo editor at New York Magazine. Previously, she worked as a senior photo editor at National Geographic and as a visual journalist producing photo and video stories across the Southeast United States.

 

 

 

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.

 

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.

 

Natalia Jiménez 
Senior Photo Editor, The Washington Post

Natalia is a senior photo editor at The Washington Post, where she leads International coverage and a new Futures desk at the intersection of Climate, Business/Technology and Health & Science. She is drawn to intimate storytelling across a range of issues, including migration, women’s rights and the political landscape. Natalia looks to create holistic visual storytelling experiences that integrate photography, video or illustration. She has served as a photography juror for Pictures of the Year, Overseas Press Club, and the Leica Oskar Barnack Award. She is fluent in English, Spanish, French and speaks some Italian.

 

David Lee 
Senior Program Officer, Storytelling, National Geographic Society

David Y. Lee is a Senior Program Officer at National Geographic Society where he advances their storytelling grant-making program, initiatives and strategies, and supports a global community of Explorers and their Society-funded projects. Previously, David covered the White House for Time and Newsweek as a photojournalist, served as an official photographer for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, led National Geographic Partners’ global photo community of more than 1 million registered users, and elevated Advancement Project’s legacy in the racial justice movement as their Social Impact Storyteller. David also started The Waiting List, a non-profit humanizing the statistics of organ donation with the mission of increasing awareness and organ donor registration.

 

Sarah Leen
Former Director of Photography, National Geographic

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. 

 

Adriana Teresa Letorney
CEO, Visura

Adriana Teresa Letorney is a journalist and entrepreneur. She is the co-founder of Visura.co, a leading platform for authentic visual storytellers. In 2024, she directed and produced the award-winning short documentary Disrupt(ed). She holds a Master’s in Journalism from NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute (2021), a BFA in Photography from the School of Visual Arts in NYC (2007), and a BA in Anthropology from the University of Puerto Rico (2001). Adriana is an alumna of Techstars (’22), the Comcast NBCUniversal Lift Labs Accelerator (’22), American Public Media’s Next Challenge (2021), NYU’s Accelerator Series (2021), and the AAJA Catalyst Program for Founders of Color (2020). Her honors include serving as the inaugural Alexia Fellow at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School (2023), NYU Mark & Debra Leslie Fellow (2022), Founder in Residence at the NYU Entrepreneurial Institute (2021–2023), and NYU Female Founder Fellow (2021). Her work has been featured in outlets including Comcast NBCUniversal, The San Francisco Chronicle, The New York Times, Seven Days, NY Daily News, Overseas Club of America, amongst others.

 

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. 

 

 

Cameron Peters
Photo Editor, National Geographic

Cameron Peters (she/her) is a visual curator, editor, and documentary storyteller based in Washington, D.C. Currently, she is a photo editor at National Geographic with a focus on History and Culture stories. Previously, she worked as Head Curator and Program Manager at Visura. In 2021, she was awarded the Director’s Fellowship to study Documentary and Visual Journalism at the International Center of Photography. Prior to ICP, Cameron worked as a Multimedia Producer for the Coastal Resilience Lab at FAU’s Center for Environmental Studies. She is the founder of New Climate Narratives, a documentary podcast and storytelling project that investigates our changing climate through experts and leaders engaging, imagining, and creating new ways forward. Cameron graduated from Kenyon College in 2020 with a BA in English and a minor in studio arts.

 

Molly Roberts
Documentary Photographer, Visual Editor, Curator

Molly Roberts' 35+ year career includes creating visuals and managing contributing photographers at The Washington Post Magazine, USA Weekend, Smithsonian Magazine and National Geographic Magazine and books. She is the recipient of multiple awards for her magazine work including, the NPPA award for Best Use of Photography in a Magazine, finalist for National Magazine Award, special recognition for photography features by Communication Art, American Photography, and Society of Publication Design. 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. Roberts co-hosts the weekly photojournalism podcast, 10fps.net, hosted by Loyola University in Baltimore.

 

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

Glenn Ruga 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. Ruga was the Executive Director of the Photographic Resource Center (PRC) at Boston University. From 1993 through 2009, he 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. 

 

J. Sybylla Smith
Independent Curator, Consultant, and Podcaster

J. Sybylla Smith is an independent curator, podcaster, and consultant specializing in concept development for artists. The Concept Aware® podcast hosts international photographers, curators and academics to discuss creative practice and the photobook-making process. It engages a global audience from 79 countries to share resources, ideas and inspiration. Smith's creative framework, Concept Aware®, equips visual artists with tools to bring their abstract ideas to life in image, text, book, exhibition and installation. She is on a mission to amplify the work of women and female-identifying photographers and to highlight underrepresented narratives with an intersectional lens.  She has curated 40+ solo and group exhibitions featuring over 125 international photographers in venues within the U.S., Mexico, Colombia and Japan. A published author she writes for publications on contemporary photography, visual culture and creativity. Her book, Concept Aware®: A Creative Framework for Artists is pending publication.

 

Alex Snyder
Senior Photo Editor/Communications Director, The Nature Conservancy

Alex Snyder is an award-winning photo editor and photojournalist. As Senior Photo Editor for Nature Conservancy he has produced over 30 feature stories for their flagship publication Nature Conservancy Magazine. In this role he has also produced award-winning short film documentaries. Alex also serves as Communications Director for The Photo Society — a collective of over 200 National Geographic photographers who are dedicated to supporting our member’s work and upholding the high ethical standards of documentary photography and photojournalism. Alex manages the groups online community of over five million and hosts the monthly talk “The Photo Society Presents — which is free and open to the public.

Prior to his current roles, Alex was the photographer at Peace Corps where he traveled to 15 countries documenting the volunteer experience. His images were also lead in First Lady Michelle Obama’s ‘Let Girls Learn’ initiative. Alex’s work has been recognized by The Society of Publication Designers (SPD), Folio Awards (Eddie & Ozzies), Pictures of the Year International (POYi), Best of Photojournalism (BOP), and the Lucie Awards to name a few. In 2022 he was nominated for Photo Editor of the Year by the Lucie Awards. In 2025 he was named Photo Editor of the Year National, and Second Place International by the National Press Photographer’s Association’s BOP awards. He is a graduate of Ohio University's Scripps School of Visual Communication.

 

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 is a long-time faculty member at The International Center of Photography and also teaches at the Los Angeles Center of Photography. He has conducted travel photo workshops to Europe, Mexico, South America, Vietnam, India, Japan and China for more then two decades. He has had 92 solo exhibitions, has participated in over 170 group shows and has work in 60 permanent collections. Stein’s tenth book, Coney Island People 50 Years, was published in 2022. He has reviewed portfolios for dozens of photo festivals including Photo Fest, Social Documentary Network and Critical Mass. He was the Director of Photography at Umbrella Arts, a gallery in the East Village (2009-2019) and has curated 75 exhibits since 2007. Stein’s photography is represented by Sous Les Etoiles Gallery in New York City. View some of his work at www.harveysteinphoto.com, and on Instagram @stein.harvey

 

Miriam Stein Battles
Editorial Director, Wild Eyes Magazine

As a photo editor specializing in nature and conservation, Miriam has worked on magazines, books and websites. She is currently the Editorial Director for Wild Eye magazine. Combining her conservation background with her photo professional skills, she’s worked for nonprofits such as National Geographic Society, Ocean Geographic and The Nature Conservancy and freelanced for over a dozen clients including Frans Lanting, David Doubilet, Apple, AARP and National Geographic Society.

Miriam photo edits nature, travel, culture and educational projects, both researching photos that best illustrate text and ensuring selected photos create the most visually dynamic product. Her photo editing has garnered numerous awards. She enjoys contributing her time to a variety of initiatives and her photography has been published nationally and is held in both museum and private collections. She was a founding affiliate to the International League of Conservation Photographers and concurrently serves as a board advisor to Sea Save, Girls Who Click and is a fellow of the Explorers Club.

Reviewer preference: nature, conservation, underwater, travel photography.

 

Mary Virginia Swanson
Author, Advisor to Artists

Mary Virginia Swanson is an author, educator, and advisor who has spent her career helping lens-based artists find the strengths in their work, identify audiences, and present their work in a timely, professional manner. Swanson’s broad experience includes exhibiting, collecting, commissioning, licensing, marketing, and publishing photographs; previous positions include heading Special Projects at Magnum Photos NYC, later founding Swanstock, a unique agency established to manage licensing rights for fine art photographers. She is an active member of the contemporary photobook community, having recently engaged with bookmaking and publishing communities in India, Korea, and Japan.

 

Jovelle Tamayo
Multimedia Editor, The Marshall Project

As a multimedia editor at The Marshall Project, Jovelle Tamayo collaborate swith reporters, photojournalists, illustrators and other creatives to visualize complex stories about the U.S. criminal justice system. 

 

 

 

Bernadette Tuazon
Director of Photographer, CNN Digital

Bernadette Tuazon is the director of photography for CNN Digital, where she oversees photo coverage of breaking news, features, and special projects domestically and internationally. Tuazon manages a team of photo editors across the globe, and as a team work with all newsgathering and programming teams across platforms. Among her responsibilities is setting photography standards across CNN, including work on AI and protecting the newsroom and assisting on developing AI consumer-facing products for CNN.

Her photo team has won the 2019 Webby Awards for Best Use of Photography for Website Features and Design, along with awards in several photo categories for the 2019 POYi. In 2020, her team won the Visa d’or Daily Press award. In 2023, the team took top honors for Feature photography at the Deadline Club. And in 2022 and 2024, the photo team was awarded POYi's Angus McDougall in Editing Award. 

Before joining CNN, Tuazon was a senior photo editor for the Associated Press for more than two decades. There, she covered breaking news, sports and features, and worked with photographers on a variety of multimedia projects. While at the AP, Tuazon was part of the team who was awarded the 2010 Edward R. Murrow Award for video news documentary, Killer Blue: Baptized by Fire. 

Tuazon has also served as a juror for AAJA, Visa Pour I’Image, International Women's Media Foundation, a reviewer for the New York Portfolio Review, Vogue International Portfolio Review, and was a mentor for Women Photograph. Tuazon studied General and International Studies at Columbia University in New York and graduated from the University of the Philippines, with a B.A. in Communication, Major in Journalism. 

She currently lives in New York with her husband, two daughters, and their excitable 100-pound Golden Doodle.

 

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.

 

Ariel Zambelich
Visuals Director, Baltimore Banner

Ariel Zambelich is the Visuals Director at The Baltimore Banner, where she leads a team to collaborate on telling stories through photojournalism, video, illustration and design. She previously worked at The Wall Street Journal, The Intercept, NPR Visuals, and WIRED, and was a freelance photojournalist for 15 years. She spent six years on the board of the Authority Collective, an organization that amplifies the voices of female-identifying and nonbinary lens-based creators of color through community action. She was also an organizer with the Freelance Solidarity Project, a union for freelance media workers.