Nina Berman

Nina Berman is an American photographer who has covered the conflict in Bosnia and Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. She now focuses attention on the aftermath of war and contemporary political, and social landscapes in the U.S. Her photographs and videos have been exhibited at over one hundred venues worldwide, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Zachęta National Gallery of Art in Poland, and Dublin Contemporary (IMMA).

She has received awards from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Open Society Foundations, World Press Photo, and Hasselblad, among others. She is an associate professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, and she is a member of NOOR photo agency.

Meg Handler

Meg Handler is Editor at Large for BagNews. The former photo editor of The Village Voice, Meg has also worked at U.S. News & World Report, Blender, New York Magazine, COLORS and Polaris Images. She has edited a number of books, including the monograph, Phil Stern: A Life’s Work, PAPARAZZI by Peter Howe, and POT CULTURE by Shirley Halperin and Steve Bloom. After 20 years in the photography business, she worked as the principle photographer for The Grant Park Music Festival at Millennium Park, and BIGArt at Navy Pier. Meg received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography from Rochester Institute of Technology.

Stephen Mayes

Stephen Mayes is a strategist working with institutions and individuals to develop effective visual communications in a fast changing media environment. With broad experience at top levels of the photographic industry my practice embraces all aspects of creative management including project design, execution, distribution strategies and business structures. My perspective is informed by a rich mix of experience in the fields of photojournalism, fashion, commercial and art photography.

Spencer Platt

Spencer Platt, a photojournalist on staff with the Getty Images wire service, has covered the Iraq War, the plight of displaced Congolese, the minority Kurds in Turkey, the conflict in the Central African Republic, continued fighting in Gaza, Syrians displaced by the country’s ongoing civil war, the Peshmerga and refugees in Iraqi Kurdistan, and the recent war in Ukraine, among other places and people in crisis.

Platt has won numerous honors for his work, including multiple awards from the Pictures of the Year International competition, and the NPPA Year in Pictures. In 2007, Platt received the World Press Photo of the Year award for an image taken in Beirut, Lebanon.

Michael Shaw

Michael Shaw is a clinical psychologist and publisher of Reading the Pictures, the visual and media literacy nonprofit dedicated to the daily analysis of news images. He also writes and lectures on visual politics and photojournalism. He is a regular contributor to the Columbia Journalism Review, and his work has been featured in publications such as The New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, Salon, Quartz, and American Photo.

James Wellford

BagNewsNotes

BagNewsNotes is the only site dedicated 100% to visual politics and the analysis of news images. Launched in 2004, BNN is closely followed by the political and visual media, the political blogosphere, the photo community and university communications and journalism programs. The site consists of three sections, each taking a unique approach to the still image:

• The Notes section addresses the framing of images in the news media and social media, as well as key issues in the practice of photojournalism.
• The BagNewsSalon is an on-line, real-time discussion between photojournalists, visual academics and other visual or subject experts. Each salon examines a set of images relevant to the major visual stories of the times often focusing on how the media and social media has framed the event.
• BagNewsOriginals publishes original photojournalism addressing long-term social and documentary stories as well as the photographer’s working process.

BagNewsNotes was a Webby Awards finalist for Best Political Blog in 2006 and an honoree in 2014. In 2011, BagNews was included in LIFE.com’s list of “20 Best Photo Blogs” and also won a Picture of the Year, International award for Multimedia. ”