Author Archives: Adam Perez

“less about raising money and more about marketing the film”

Filmmakers today have to be their own production companies, PR agencies, and distributors. Columbia Journalism School alum  Salima Amina Koroma, class of 2013, exemplifies the way young filmmakers have taken control of all aspects of producing a documentary. (more…)

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Covering Sensitive populations: the LGBTQ community

For the past seven years, Samantha Box has delved into the lives of LGBT homeless youth in NYC, creating images the challenged the stereotype of what it means to be of that demographic.

Covering Sensitive Populations: Working with Undocumented Immigrants

This post on working with undocumented immigrants is part one of our Covering Sensitive Populations series, where we help dissect the intricacies of working with subjects that may be made vulnerable to media attention.

“I felt like the last thing the world needed was another photographer chasing headlines”

Part two of a discussion with Matt Black on forging your own path as a photographer

“photographers can get in the way of themselves, and lose sight of what’s essential”

This is part 1 of a conversation with photographer Matt Black, discussing his NPPA proposal and his Black Okies project.

Challenges of working with nonprofits and NGOs

In 2008, photojournalist Christopher Tyree left his full-time job at The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Virginia, to launch a media and design company that worked with nonprofits. The idea stemmed from his frustration with journalism, which Tyree felt was becoming more about giving consumers information they craved, rather than stories that served the public. (more…)

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Beyond the frame: from stills to motion

Check out Jessica Dimmock and Stephanie Sinclair’s Too Young to Wed: Destaye, a short film that examines a young girl’s journey as a child bride in Ethiopia. Dimmock is an example of how a photographer can  successfully transition into video. 

The reality for most photojournalists is that a majority of their work is video or multimedia. If you’re a still photographer just moving to video, we have a list of tips from pros Ed Kashi, Ron Haviv and Jessica Dimmock, to help ease the transition. (more…)

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“I had almost no experience shooting, editing or producing video”

The process of creating a documentary often follows its own narrative arc: a filmmaker sets out to create a film, faces a set of successes and failures, and eventually triumphs.  For Mayeta Clark, her journey began with a walk on a December day.

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Instagram for journalists

Can using a pop culture medium like Instagram to publish photos be considered photojournalism? If you look at most news publications, the answer seems to be a resounding yes. Despite the uncharted territory, many photojournalists have adapted the tool as part of their arsenal. Columbia Visuals chatted with Ivan Kashinsky  and Michael Christopher Brown, photojournalists […]

“The most important thing is to make a picture story that you love”

Photographer Antonio Bolfo shares advice with CV: how he went from photographing the NYPD to climbing the ranks as a photojournalist.