Photojournalist of the Year John Moore to Speak at Fourth-Annual Bellingham Visual Journalism Conference July 17-18

DATE: June 17, 2009 09:53:20 PST

Contacts: John Harris, Bellingham Visual Journalism Conference director, (360) 650-6140, john.harris@wwu.edu; Marissa Doiron, event coordinator, (360) 650-4436, marissa.doiron@wwu.edu; Carol Brach, journalism department manager, (360) 650-3252, cbrach@hope.journ.wwu.edu

BELLINGHAM - John Moore of Getty Images, whose gripping photographs of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in late 2007 earned him two first-place World Press Photo awards, will be among the presenters at this year's Bellingham Visual Journalism Conference.

Moore was the sole American journalist present when Bhutto was assassinated on Dec. 27, 2007, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

Earlier this year Moore was named 2008 "Magazine Photographer of the Year" from Pictures of the Year International (POYi) and was awarded "Photojournalist of the Year" from the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA).

The conference will take place at Western Washington University on Friday and Saturday, July 17-18.

Leaders in the field of visual journalism, including video and still photographers, multimedia producers, agents and online editors, will share their expertise. Attendees will have the opportunity to explore new avenues for visual storytelling, upgrade their skills and have their portfolios critiqued by professional visual journalists.

Among the presenters will be Michel du Cille, three-time Pulitzer Prize winner and assistant managing editor for photography at The Washington Post; Seattle Times photojournalist Alan Berner, National Press Photographers Association Region 11 2008 Photographer of the Year; Meredith Birkett, senior multimedia editor for special projects at MSNBC.com; and Scott Mc Kiernan, founding member of ZUMA Press.

Also presenting will be 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.

Two concurrent and intensive multimedia workshops, one on producing audio slideshows and the other on shooting video, will be offered Friday, July 17. The cost of each workshop is $100, and space is limited; registration is first-come, first-served.

The conference is offering free registration on Saturday for visual journalists who have been laid off from their jobs in the past year. Proceeds from a silent auction of photographic prints will help offset those costs.

Registration fees:

Both days (workshop and presentations): $150.
Professionals for Saturday's presentations only (includes lunch): $75.
Students for Saturday's presentations only: $50.

For more information about the Bellingham Visual Journalism Conference, visit http://www.wwu.edu/visualjournalism/.

printer friendly