Our mission is to provide resources and support for young photographers of diverse backgrounds to tell the stories of underrepresented people and communities with dignity.
We believe it is imperative that news organizations -- and the journalists who represent them -- are credible, diligent, and reflect our communities accurately and faithfully.
Michelle Agins
Legendary photographer Michelle V. Agins joined The New York Times as a photographer in June 1989. Before that, she worked at The Charlotte Observer, The Chicago Daily News, the South Shore Sentinel Newspaper, the City of Chicago's Department of Human Services, and the Chicago mayor's press office. She received Pulitzer Prize nominations in 1990 for her coverage of the Bensonhurst protests and then again in 1995 for her work on the Times series “Another America: Life on 129th Street.” In 2001, she and her colleagues won the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for their series “How Race is Lived in America.”
PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING NEW YORK TIMES PHOTOJOURNALIST
Clarissa Bonet
VISUAL ARTIST AND PHOTOGRAPHER
Clarissa Bonet is an artist based in Chicago whose work explores issues of the urban space in both a physical and psychological context. She holds an MFA in Photography from Columbia College Chicago and a BS in Photography from the University of Central Florida.
Bonet’s work has been exhibited at the Bauhaus Archive in Berlin, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, Aperture Foundation, Magenta Foundation, and Catherine Edelman Gallery.
Bonet’s photographs are in the permanent collections of the Museum of Contemporary Photography, University of Michigan Museum of Art, Southeast Museum of Photography, Haggerty Museum of Art, University Club Chicago, and the JPMorgan Chase Art Collection
Joshua Lott
INDEPENDENT PHOTOGRAPHER
Joshua Lott is a freelance photographer based in Chicago and originally from the Rogers Park neighborhood on the North Side. Bouncing around the country over the past 12 years covering politics, social justice issues, urban life and breaking news has sculptured Lott's profession as a visual storyteller. Getty Images, The Washington Post, Reuters, Agence France-Pressse, Bloomberg, Northwestern University, Trust for Public Land, National Audubon Society and The New York Times are some of the clients that help put food on the table and pay the bills.
Raquel Zaldivar
CHICAGO TRIBUNE STAFF VISUAL JOURNALIST
Raquel Zaldivar is a visual journalist at the Chicago Tribune. Her work has been published with NPR, the Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post and The Atlantic, among other outlets. She is passionate about photo, audio and video-documentary storytelling, and has reported throughout the United States and Puerto Rico, as well as internationally in Cuba, Germany and South Africa.
Raquel received her Master of Science from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, where she focused on video and audio documentary reporting. Before that, she attended the University of Miami School of Communication and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Journalism with concentrations in visual journalism and Spanish.
Michael Zajakowski
CHICAGO MAGAZINE DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Michael Zajakowski is the Director of Photography at Chicago magazine.
Michael has been a photo editor, director of photography, photojournalist and photography educator for more than 30 years. For 20 years, he was a photo and video editor at the Chicago Tribune.
Michael also taught visual communication in the graduate journalism program at DePaul University and digital storytelling at Columbia College Chicago.
He is a portfolio reviewer at photojournalism workshops and mentors young photojournalists.
Sebastián Hidalgo
INDEPENDENT PHOTOGRAPHER
Sebastian Hidalgo is an award-winning photojournalist and digital producer who uses photography to engage and explore many social and humanitarian issues affecting communities of color.
He is also an educator and host of a bi-weekly editorial support group for freelance visual journalists. Hidalgo believes in the power of growing in conjunction with the people who are in front of the camera, as a witness, a bridge and, in some cases, as a collaborator.
His work has been seen in publications such as The Washington Post, The New Republic, NBCUniversal, The Better Government Association, City Bureau, and more; and is considered among 12 emerging Photojournalist You Should Know by The New York Times.
Michelle Kanaar
INDEPENDENT PHOTOGRAPHER
Michelle Kanaar is a Chicago-based documentary photojournalist who focuses on immigration, labor, and education. She is thoroughly committed to social justice issues and is the proud daughter of immigrants.
Kanaar has been teaching photojournalism for the last 8 years and is also the creative director for Borderless magazine, a nonprofit news outlet reimagining immigration journalism for a more just and equitable future.
Alyssa Schukar
INDEPENDENT PHOTOGRAPHER
Alyssa Schukar is a DC-based photographer, writer and teacher as well as a frequent contributor to The New York Times. In her personal work, she focuses on how public policies -- especially those related to the environment -- affect communities.
Schukar spent the first five years of her career on staff at a newspaper in the Great Plains where she developed as a documentary and portrait photographer. She also spent two months reporting daily during a military embed in Afghanistan.
SUBJECT TO CHANGE
9 a.m. Doors Open
Registration, vendor visits & social hour with coffee and breakfast snacks
9:30 Joshua Lott
Seeing an assignment through from start to finish
10:15 Michelle Kanaar & Alyssa Schukar
Contracts, bookkeeping & funding, oh my!
11:00 Break
11:10 Alex Garcia
Career opportunities for photographers
12:15 p.m. Lunch with Raquel Zaldivar
Visual journalism at the Chicago Tribune
1:35 Ben Manlove
A word from major sponsor Sony Images
1:45 Michael Zajakowski
Ethics in the field & in the digital lab
2:30 Tonika Johnson
Seeing Deeply: Getting to know a community
3:15 Break
3:30 Sebastián Hidalgo
What it takes to photograph a personal project
4:15 Ask Me Anything panel
with Joshua Lott, Tonika Johnson, Sebastián Hidalgo & Raquel Zaldivar
1:15 Break
We SO appreciate our sponsors
WITH MAJOR SUPPORT FROM
PARTNERS
FRIENDS OF THE WORKSHOP
Stage 2, Columbia College Chicago
618 S Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL
