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Visual Journalism Advisory Board
Gail Fisher Senior Photo Editor of Projects for the National Geographic, Gail Fisher has covered social issues over the past twenty years of her career throughout the world. She has traveled extensively throughout Asia, the Middle East, Africa, South and Central America. Some of her accomplishments as a photojournalist include the Rosalynn Carter Fellowship for Mental Health Journalism 2003; the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for outstanding coverage of the problems of the disadvantage, the Harry Chapin World Hunger Award and twice won the Community Awareness Award in 1996 and 2002 from the National Press Photographers Pictures of the Year. Her photographs and editing skills have been recognized internationally with numerous awards, judging, teaching and speaking engagements. In 2004, the Los Angeles Times was awarded the Angus McDougall Excellence in Picture Editing and Best Use of Photography. In 2003-2004, the photography department produced four Pulitzer finalists, was awarded two Pulitzer Prizes in Feature Photography, honored the Robert F. Kennedy for photojournalism, Overseas Press Robert Capa Award, and several other international and national awards. In 2000, as a photojournalist, Fisher began documenting the causes and effects of foster kids after they turn 18 and emancipate out of the system. With the advances of digital technology, Fisher seized the opportunity to shoot both still photography and video on "Unadoptable" which was broadcast on ABC Nightline Up Close as a two-part series. By integrating these two media, the story was published on a much broader scale; stand alone pieces for print publication, web streaming and television broadcast. A native of Akron, Ohio, Gail Fisher earned her B.A. in Liberal Arts from Miami University of Ohio, and an M.F.A. in Photojournalism from Ohio University. She has two children, Whitney and Zachary. Dirck Halstead Dirck Halstead is the editor and publisher of The Digital Journalist, the monthly online magazine for photojournalism. He is also a freelance magazine and advertising photographer and documentary photographer and producer, based in Austin, Texas. Halstead is the director of the Platypus Workshop that has trained more than 250 photojournalists in the language of television news in order become more competitive in today's rich multimedia environment. Starting his career as a photographer with United Press International, he has worked in Dallas, Philadelphia, New York, Washington, and became UPI's first photo bureau chief in Saigon covering the Vietnam War in 1965. Returning to the United States in 1966, he was appointed as UPI's first roving staff photographer, and covered stories on a world-wide basis, culminating with being selected as one of six US photographers to be allowed to accompany President Nixon on his historic trip to China in 1972. Several months later, he accepted a contract with TIME magazine, and eventually became their Senior White House Photographer, covering the Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton administration. He has contributed a record 51 covers to Time over a period of 29 years. In 1975, he won the Robert Capa Gold Medal awarded by the Overseas Press Club for his coverage of the fall of Saigon. Other major awards include eight-time winner of the White House News Photographers Association contest, NPPA pictures of the year first place in documentary, the Front Page Award of the American Newspaper Guild. In 2004 he was presented the Sprague Award, the highest honor of the National Press Photographers Association. Halstead also developed a reputation as a "special still photographer" in Hollywood. His photographs of such films as GOODFELLAS, MEMPHIS BELLE, DRAGON, BLACK RAIN, STREET SMART FIRESTARTER, CITY OF JOY and CLIFFHANGER, and SHAFT became the advertising images used for posters. In 1994, he helped to found Video News International (VNI) which was recently acquired by the New York Times Company, and which was predicated on the concept of training photo journalists in the new High 8 and digital technologies to revolutionize television news gathering. Out of this experience, he created the Platypus Workshops. In 1997, with the help of Hewlett Packard he created The Digital Journalist. Since then, the monthly online publication has grown to an audience of more than 15,000,000 world-wide, and has won top awards in online journalism. Tom Kennedy Tom Kennedy is the managing editor for multimedia at Washington Post-Newsweek Interactive where he directs the photography and multimedia departments. For washingtonpost.com, he oversees the creation of all still photography, video and audio on the web site. He has also been director of photography at the National Geographic Society and was deputy graphics director of the Philadelphia Inquirer. While at the Geographic he directed the Photographic Division that produced all still photography for the Society, with the primary focus on National Geographic Magazine. Under his direction, National Geographic Magazine was nominated eight times as a finalist in the ASME National Magazine Awards for excellence in photography, winning five times. While at the Philadelphia Inquirer, he directed two projects that earned Pulitzer Prizes for feature photography. Early in his career, he also worked at The Gainesville (FL) Sun and The Orlando (FL) Sentinel Star. An article he wrote about new media “Reinventing Photojournalism” is available on The Digital Journalist website. Kennedy is also on the board of directors and a team leader at the Eddie Adams Photo Workshops, and has twice be a faculty member of the Missouri Workshop, sponsored by University of Missouri's School of Journalism. Tom was graduated cum laude with a degree in journalism and minor in history from the University of Florida. Kent Kobersteen Kent Kobersteen is the former director of photography at National Geographic magazine. He is now a photography teacher and consultant. He joined the National Geographic in 1983 as an illustrations editor. Mr. Kobersteen became the director of photography in February, 1998. As director of photography his responsibilities involved assigning photography for the National Geographic magazine, handling the photographers administratively, as well as participating in the editorial management of the photographic coverage for the magazine. Before joining the National Geographic, Mr. Kobersteen spent eighteen years at the Minneapolis ( Minnesota ) Tribune; sixteen years as a staff photographer and two years as editor of the Tribune's Sunday magazine. As a photographer for the Minneapolis Tribune, Mr. Kobersteen's assignments took him throughout the United States and Canada, and to over 25 foreign countries, primarily in the Middle East and Africa. Although his duties at the National Geographic were administrative, they took him throughout Europe and Africa and to the Arctic, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. While at the Minneapolis Tribune, Mr. Kobersteen won numerous awards for his photography. A series on the drought in Africa's Sahel, another on Cuba under Castro, a third on the major oil producing nations, and a fourth series on global poverty each received recognition from groups such as the Overseas Press Club and the National Press Photographers Association. Work from domestic assignments also received recognition from professional groups. He has participated, as a photographer and an editor, on various “Day in the Life” book projects, including those on Australia, Hawaii, Japan, Canada and the Soviet Union. He also was an editor, and involved in production and marketing for Descubriendo Ecuador, a photographic book on Ecuador. Mr. Kobersteen has lectured and participated in workshops and seminars on photography, journalism ethics, editing and newspaper production throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe and in South America, Asia and Africa. He was a co-director of photography workshops in Bulgaria and Hungary, and of an editing and production workshop in Bulgaria. He has participated in several seminars for professional journalists in Bulgaria and Poland, and for students at the American University in Bulgaria. Mr. Kobersteen attended the University of Minnesota. He and his wife live in Northern Virginia. Brian Storm Brian Storm is president of MediaStorm (http://mediastorm.org), a multimedia production studio whose principal aim is to usher in the next generation of multimedia storytelling by publishing social documentary projects incorporating photojournalism and audio reporting across multiple media. |
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