James Estrin is a Senior Staff Photographer for the New York Times and a co- editor of the Times' photography blog, Humanitarian Photojournalism: Working with Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)
Workshop Date: Friday, March 09, 2012 - 1:30 PM
Workshop Speaker: Jamie Rose and Benjamin Rusnak
In order to work with nonprofits you need to be a for-profit, sustainable business yourself. So how do you deal with the inevitable, “We can’t pay for photos because we’re a nonprofit” argument from clients? This workshop will cover how to develop paying clients in the humanitarian non-profit industry and keep them coming back as well as the role of a staff photographer for a non-profit. The workshop will discuss building a quality nonprofit portfolio and how to pitch your work to NGOs.
Drawing on eleven years of experience at Food For The Poor, Ben Rusnak will talk about how you document reality for an NGO. Rose and Rusnak will delve into what an NGO’s needs are and how photography for fundraising is organized, edited and produced for the mail and on the web. They will also talk about the different communication styles of NGOs and how you can tailor your work to those styles.
Working for a charity comes with the implication that you actually intend to do something to help the people you photograph. While working with NGO’s is not as stressful and dangerous as conflict photography, the exposure to crushing poverty on a long-term basis and the responsibility of telling those stories is a heavy burden that needs to be managed and this will also be discussed.
Jamie Rose is an international award winning photojournalist based in the Washington, DC area. She has worked in over 5 continents, won awards and grants for her documentary photography and has been a contract photographer with some of the world's largest nonprofit organizations. She has been internationally recognized for her long term documentary projects on volunteer health care providers and humanitarian issues. In 2009, Jamie joined our team to head our workshop division and create the curriculum for Momenta Workshops.
Jamie received her Master's Degree in photojournalism from the Newhouse School at Syracuse University and her bachelor's degree from American University. She was awarded an Alexia Foundation grant for her photographic project on a nonprofit inner city volunteers. She completed her Master's thesis photographing volunteer health care workers in the West Bank and Israel. This project established her passion for working with nonprofits and covering humanitarian issues and earned her a place in the prestigious agency team at Aurora Photos.
Jamie began her career as a newspaper photographer covering politics at the White House and Congress for The New York Times in Washington, DC. She traveled to Africa on sabbatical to produce a story on abandoned children at Kenya's biggest hospital, the East African drought of 2006 and to cover the Ugandan Presidential elections.
Her work has been published in National Geographic Books, The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post Magazine, O Magazine, Rolling Stone, Better Homes and Gardens, Newsweek, TIME Magazine and others. Her nonprofit clients include The Global Fund (team included Magnum select photographers including Steve McCurry and Eli Reed), Doctors Without Borders, The Calvert Foundation and Physicians for Human Rights among others. Her photo editing skills were rewarded when she was asked to be the lead photo editor National Geographic's "American Heroes" book.
Jamie was honored with the White House News Photographers Association (WHNPA) Project Grant for her work with Doctors Without Borders (Medicines Sans Frontiers) in the conflict areas of Northern Uganda during the civil war. She has returned to Africa numerous times to work on health care related projects in the nonprofit sector as well as to teach our Project Uganda workshop.
Jamie lives outside of Washington, DC where she is the President of the nonprofit WPOW: Women Photojournalists of Washington and as the Chair of the Student Photographer of the Year committee for WHNPA. See Jamie's portfolio at jamierose.net.
Benjamin Rusnak is a humanitarian photojournalist. He has documented poverty in the Caribbean and Latin America since 2000 as staff photographer for Food For The Poor, one of the largest international relief agencies in the United States, based in Coconut Creek, FL. He brought a decade of newspaper experience to telling the stories of those in need in the developing world.
His work has been recognized by Pictures of the Year International, the Best of Photojournalism, the International Photography Awards, the New York Photo Awards, Photo District News, the Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar, the Alexia Foundation and the China International Press Photo Contest. In 2008, Rusnak won the prestigious Gordon Parks Award. In 2009, his exhibition of Dreams & Tempests premiered as part of the citywide festival, Atlanta Celebrates Photography and has traveled to California (The KONA Gallery), Washington, D.C., and Florida. ZUMA Press represents his editorial work, and zReportage.com and DOUBLEtruck Magazine often feature his essays. He was awarded InterAction’s Effective Assistance Humanitarian Photography Award in 2010.
Rusnak grew up in suburban Washington, D.C., where he developed an interest in topics beyond American borders and a passion for the plight of those less fortunate. He lives in Boca Raton, FL, with his wife and fellow newspaper refugee, Susan Bryant.
See work: www.benjaminrusnak.com
Learn how to help: www.foodforthepoor.org
