Staff
PAUL MYERS, Founder/Executive Director - website
Paul Myers teaches across the Visual Journalism curriculum at Brooks Institute including truthful visual storytelling with multimedia. Myers also leads the International Documentary Class that produces professional products including a documentary film, a website, a dvd and print gallery exhibits.
Prior to his arrival at Brooks, Myers worked for a variety of publications including newspapers in Freeport, Il and Marysville, CA. He also worked with El Andar, a bilingual magazine that covered cultural events and news issues concerning the Latino Community in the United States and Latin America.
His photographic work focuses on daily life and religious expression. The latter is complimented by his studies at UC Santa Barbara where he received an MA in Religious Studies. He is the 2009 Photojournalism Fellow at the Mercury News in San Jose, CA
GREG A COOPER, Associate Director - website
MS, Photography - Brooks Institute of Photography; BA, Photojournalism & Anthropology - Western Kentucky University; AA, Liberal Arts - Certificate in Photography - Ventura College. Formerly Cooper was a staff photographer for the Ojai Valley News, staff photographer and assistant picture editor at the Ventura County Star; former picture editor at the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch. In spring 1993, Cooper participated in the Semester at Sea study-abroad program.
Every year since 2000, Cooper returns to Kentucky to coach picture editing for the Mountain Workshops, a boot-camp style photojournalism workshop held in a different rural Kentucky town every year.
SUSAN BLOOM, Associate Director
Susan Bloom is the Chair of the Visual Journalism Program at Brooks Institute. She received her MFA in Film Production from the University of Texas, Austin. She holds a BA in Classical Languages from Hampshire College in Amherst, MA. Bloom has worked as an editor and line producer on theatrically released documentaries for the BBC and HBO, as well as on network dramas for CBS and NBC as an assistant editor, post production coordinator and directing intern. Her freelance work includes underwater camera operator for NAUI Instructional videos and many editing and producing gigs. Her own work has been broadcast on PBS and played in many festivals, including the Toronto Short Film Festival, USA Festival, and Orlando Film Festival. She has worked at Brooks Institute since 2003.
DARYL PEVETO, Story Idea Producer - website
Daryl Peveto is a freelance photographer and videographer with a passion for social documentary storytelling. Over the last few years he has worked issues ranging from American nomads to the black market economies of Peru to energy issues in the 21st Century.
From these images he was accepted to the prestigious Eddie Adams Workshop in 2006 and has since been recognized by Photo District News, College Photographer of the Year, the Missouri Photo Workshop, the National Press Photographers Association and Sportsshooter.com. In 2008 he graduated Summa Cum Laude from the Visual Journalism Program at Brooks Institute.
Clients include The New York Times, The FADER, San Diego Union-Tribune, ABC television, and MSNBC.
Daryl is currently based in Southern California and is accepting freelance work anywhere in the world.
JOE GOSEN, Communications Director - website
Joe Gosen joined the Visual Journalism faculty at Brooks Institute in November 2001 after more than a decade of working at newspapers and for wire services in California, Florida and Nevada. At Brooks, Joe primarily teaches Photojournalism, Picture Editing and Portfolio & Ethics. In addition, he led three overseas documentary classes - Argentina 2005, China 2006 and Ireland 2007.
Joe holds BA in photojournalism from San Jose State and a MA in journalism the University of Nevada, Reno and is one of the founding partners of “SportsShooter.Com” - an online resource for sports photographers and photojournalists.
JIM McNAY, Guest Speaker Liason/Moderator
Jim McNay teaches and writes about photography and photojournalism while based in California’s Central Coast.McNay was the first Visual Journalism program director at Brooks Institute. For twelve years he was the coordinator of the photojournalism sequence in the San Jose State University School of Journalism.
While he was a working photographer McNay was a staff photographer and assistant director of photography at the Houston Post newspaper. Previously he worked as a reporter and photographer for the Daily Iberian in New Iberia, Louisiana. McNay is a past president of the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA).
The National Geographic Society photography department selected McNay for its first ever summer fellowship awarded to a college instructor. In addition, he is a former Peace Corps Volunteer with three years service in Sierra Leone, West Africa where he taught high school history and after-school classes in government.Since 1993 McNay has served on the Black Team (logistics team) at the Eddie Adams Workshop. He is also a frequent contributor to the Sports Shooter website.
AMARA AGUILAR - website
Amara Aguilar teaches multimedia and journalism classes at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, Calif. She has written for the Los Angeles Times and was previously a sports reporter and designer for the Daily Pilot in Costa Mesa. She has also worked in online journalism, Web design, graphic design, advertising and public relations.
Amara has her master’s degree in communications from Cal State Fullerton, where her graduate research focused on blogging and journalism. In addition, Amara is a member of the Online News Association, Society for News Design, and Society of Professional Journalists. She has taught multimedia reporting, blogging, podcasting, media design, webcasting and broadcasting, as well as video and audio editing.
JILL CONNELLY - website
Jill Connelly is chair of the Media Arts Department at Pierce College where she teaches photojournalism and advises the student newspaper and magazine. She has taught at various other colleges including Brooks Institute and UCLA Student Media.
Jill is a photojournalist who has done freelance work for many media organizations including the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Associated Press and Reuters.