July’s PhotoShelter Stimulus Plan Recipients

We’re proud to announce 2 recipients for July’s Photoshelter Stimulus Plan Photography Grants. Congrats to the Bellingham Visual Journalism Conference and the Belarus Center of Photography’s Summer Photopracticum in documentary photography. Both events are happening in July, and both advance photography in special ways that we’re excited to help support.

Photo by Bill Crandall

The Bellingham Visual Journalism Conference will be held July 17 & 18, 2009 at Western Washington University. The annual event brings together many of the Pacific Northwest’s leaders and students in the field of visual journalism, including video and still photographers, multimedia producers, agents, and online editors, to share their expertise in a comfortable setting that fosters professional growth.

This year, the BVJC event organizers have offered to waive the admission fee for any visual journalists who have been laid off in the past year. PhotoShelter’s Stimulus Plan funding is helping make this possible.  PhotoShelter member and Sporting News photographer Jay Drowns applied for the grant to make this worthwhile event possible.

This year’s guest speakers include Michel du Cille, three-time Pulitzer Prize winner and assistant managing editor for photography at The Washington Post, Seattle Times photojournalist Alan Berner, Getty Images photojournalist John Moore; Meredith Birkett, senior multimedia editor for special projects at MSNBC.com; Scott McKiernan, CEO/founder of ZUMA Press and publisher of DOUBLEtruck Magazine and zReportage.com; multimedia photojournalist Wes Pope, most recently at The Rocky Mountain News; Heidi de Laubenfels, deputy managing editor for strategy and product development at The Seattle Times; and Jim Seida, senior multimedia producer at msnbc.com.
 
Half way across the globe in Minsk, Belarus, the “Visual Documents” Photopracticum is happening July 1 – 8. The workshop will gather a team of outstanding documentary photographers for an exhaustive workshop designed to teach documentary technique.  According to PhotoShelter member Bill Crandall, who will serve as one of the event instructors, this is the first documentary workshop to be held at this new photo school, and much needed as documentary style has not yet taken hold among photographers in this region.  The Belarus Center of Photography will use the the PhotoShelter Stimulus Plan Grant to offset expenses associated with bringing in the team of internationally recognized instructors. We’re really excited to see international participation in support of photography.