July 30 – August 2, 2009

Brooks Institute
Ventura, Calif.

Below are the workshop teams and their projects that were shown in our “Work in Progress” final show at the workshop.
All photos, audio and video were shot on Friday July 31, 2009 in Ventura County, Calif.

Each team project’s running time is approximately 15 minutes.

Group 1   fountain of youth

view team project

Team Leader Tom Kennedy
Producer John Waskey, Lindsay Hutchens
TA Sybill Jecker, Jeff Johns

Participants

1. Andrew Innerarity
2. Janine Stengel
3. Austin Bockelman
4. Hannah Engelson
5. Andy Jacobsohn
6. Brad Horn
7. Paul Desmarais

Group 2   H2O

view team project

Team Leader Jim Merithew
Producer Grant Morris,  Gwyneth Roberts
TA Mike Ruocco, Serena Wells

Participants

1. Jared Iorio
2. Matt McClain
3. Lianne Milton
4. Adam Lau
5. Ann Arbor Miller
6. David Kasnic
7. Caleb Cheong

Group 3   dwell

view team project

Team Leader Pauline Lubens
Producer Lucas Deming, Hannah Foslien
TA Dennis Provost, Brett Ziegler

Participants

1. Jeff Ball
2. Noel West
3. Anacleto Rapping
4. Sabrina Wong
5. Ariel Zambelich
6. Kat Nyberg
7. Julia Robinson

Group 4   in between

view team project

Team Leader Leo Kim
Producer Jason Bean, Beth Edwards
TA Mark Turner, Matt McLoone

Participants

1. Marina Dominguez
2. Jason Redmond
3. Adrian Gonzalez
4. Heidi Schumann
5. Terra Muro
6. Kelvin Ma

Group 5   green

view team project

Team Leader Myung Chun
Producer Jon Austria, Brett Millar
TA Adam Herrera, Tiffany Israel

Participants

1. Neal Menschel
2. Maggie Starbard
3. Tibrina Hobson
4. Gerard Burkhart
5. Emma Fernelius
6. Diego James Robles
7. Karly Domb-Sadof

Group 6   touch the sound

view team project

Team Leader Christopher Johnson
Producer Genevieve Alvarez
TA Mia Shimabuku, Ellen Webber

Participants

1. Erin Labelle
2. Shaun Kelley
3. Crissy Pascual
4. Caitlin Fitch
5. Nathan Weyland
6. Meryl Schenker
7. Gillian Bolsover

Group 7   locals only

view team project

Team Leader Alex Manning
Producer Mike Eckelkamp, Brenda Manookin
TA, Gerard Walsh, Hannah Singleton, Amanda Reyes

Participants

1. Andrea Adelman
2. David Zentz
3. Judy Griesedieck
4. Simara Sousa
5. Ryan Pelham
6. Patrick Fallon
7. Kaitlyn McCleary

48 students with 35 team leaders, alumni producers and Brooks student TAs, combined to tell stories July 30 - August 2, 2009 at the Ventura Campus of Brooks Institute.

Over the weekend, every one of the participants shot and produced a multimedia piece as they learned to explore a philosophy of practice for multimedia and all of our stories were displayed in our final show titled “Work in Progress.”

More importantly, we created an environment where we were allowed to experiment, encouraged to fail, and guided to understanding through our experiences, so that these concepts of multimedia storytelling become part of our daily lives.

Yes, we worked together on creating an approach to multimedia.

We were inspired by the 12 incredible guest speakers who spoke from their hearts, giving all they had.

We volunteered to make this event happen, including the participants who took a chance on a no-name workshop, and through the process defined our community.

Our community rejoiced.
Our love for storytelling reaffirmed.

This is our story.
And we told it, together.

- Paul Myers

Our latest sponsor, the Ventura Beach Marriott, has agreed to host our late-night portfolio reviews and to provide discounted rooms for attendees of the workshop.

“Building bridges in our community is a wonderful outcome of being a visual journalist. The support we are receiving from the City of Ventura and the Ventura Beach Marriott is immense and will enable the workshop participants to tell stories about the Ventura community. This generosity is not lost on us as we go forward in preparation for this exciting endeavor, together,” said Paul Myers, founder and executive director of the VJ Workshops.

To become a sponsor of the VJ Multimedia Workshop please contact: info@vjworkshops.org

For more information and to apply for the VJ Multimedia Workshop, please visit: Apply Now

Application deadline is June 21, 2009.

–Greg A. Cooper
Associate Director

“Now we have two more sponsors who believe in our cause and we are happy to have them on board. Their show of support for our community of visual journalists is wonderful and will enable us to create an outstanding workshop experience,” said Paul Myers, VJ Workshop founder and executive director.

PhotoShelter is the leader in portfolio websites, photo sales and archiving tools for photographers. Over 40,000 photographers worldwide use PhotoShelter to power their success online, with customizable website templates, searchable galleries, e-commerce capabilities, and bulletproof image storage. Photographers can create a professional PhotoShelter website in under five minutes, or customize PhotoShelter to power their existing website. A true solution designed to make the business of photography easier to manage - PhotoShelter offers security, global accessibility, and advanced marketing tools so photographers can make their images work harder for them.

Think Tank Photo is a professional photography equipment manufacturer, creating innovative camera bags, camera cases, photo backpacks and beltpacks for Professional Photographers that use digital SLR cameras. By designing camera bags for speed and accessibility, we prepare a photographer to Be Ready “Before The Moment.”
 

To become a sponsor of the VJ Multimedia Workshop please contact info@vjworkshops.org

For more information and to apply for the VJ Multimedia Workshop, please use the Info tab above.

Application deadline is June 21, 2009.

–Greg A. Cooper
Associate Director

The outpouring of support for the workshop has been tremendous, this week alone we’ve booked several notables to our lineup of Team Leaders and Guest Speakers.

Tom Kennedy is an internationally known visual journalist with 35 years of print and online journalism experience, including positions as Managing Editor for Multimedia at The Washington Post and Director of Photography for the National Geographic Magazine.  He has created, directed, and edited visual journalism projects that have earned Pulitzer Prizes, as well as EMMY, Peabody, and Edward R. Murrow awards. 

Scott Anger is the director of video for The Los Angeles Times where he oversees a staff of five videojournalists. Before joining the organization, he worked as an independent videojournalist, radio journalist, photographer and documentary film producer. His blog highlights what he finds to be good storytelling and journalism. The topics span his interests and passions, which include foreign relations, documentary photography and videojournalism. 

Pauline Lubens has been a staff photographer for the San Jose Mercury News since 2000. She spent the previous 17 years at the Detroit Free Press. Pauline has covered the war in Iraq twice for Knight Ridder, focusing on the impact of the war on Iraqi civilians. Lubens has been a Pulitzer Prize finalist twice — in 1991 for a team entry documenting the U.S. visit of South African leader Nelson Mandela and in 2004 for a team entry covering the California Recall election.

Jim Merithew is a photo editor for Wired.com. Formally with the San Francisco Chronicle, he is based out of the Bay Area. Jim frequently writes for Sportsshooter.com in a regular column Gray Matters. 

For the current roster of Team Leaders, Producers, and Guest Speakers, see Info - Featured Guests. We will be adding to this over the coming month. 

If you are interested in applying for one of the spots, application instructions can be found on this site: Info – Apply Now

–Greg Cooper
Associate Director

This workshop provides a tuition-free multimedia shooting and production workshop for visual storytellers based in the traditions of journalism. Our goal is to give back to the visual journalism community by educating a new generation of visual journalists in current practices and strategies.  This year, university students and Visual Journalists who were laid off in the past two years will receive a tuition-free workshop.