Calling all video journalists: Step up and change your life!
March 12-17, 2017 || Norman, OK || 2017 Registration opening later this fall
Our News Video Workshop builds the fundamental skills you need to tell strong, clear, and compelling video news stories. A week of intense learning and powerful critiques will change how you approach, gather, edit, write and present your work.
"If you give us a week, we will change your life."
That is a bold statement that the News Video Workshop has been delivering on for 54 years. We, the NV Workshop faculty, would not volunteer a week of our time if we did not believe we could help you change the way you work and the way you think about work.
The 2016 session is adding a 21st century perspective to newsgathering. Along with the core NV Workshop assignments and critiques will be sessions on data driven journalism, mobile reporting, and news writing for photojournalists.
The NV Workshop is perfectly suited to all journalists. You will gain a depth of knowledge whether you are a photojournalist or a reporter; whether you work primarily in a broadcast, online, or print world; whether you are a student or professional.
If you are a journalist who uses any video in your reporting, the NV Workshop is for you.
You will learn from a faculty full of award winning journalists at the local, national, and international levels. We shoot with DSLRs, HD video cameras and, in some cases, the smart phones in our pockets. Beyond shooting video, we write, we edit, we build code. Collectively, we can do it all. Individually, we come to the Workshop to help you and the journalism industry we love get better and grow stronger.
You will leave Norman, Oklahoma (home base for the Workshop) a better journalist, a stronger storyteller and with a renewed commitment to journalism.
Registration for the 2017 Workshop will open later this fall!
Early registration discounts will run through the end of January! Shoot'n Edit spots are limited, sign up today!
The three enrollment levels are: Shoot ‘n Edit, Participant, and Student Participant.
- Shoot ‘n Edit attendees bring their video cameras and their will to be challenged. Photojournalists and solo (backpack or multimedia) journalists who want a hands-on-learning experience or to take their work to the next level should register as a shoot ‘n edit. Get ready to be tested.
- The Participant level is the best option for reporters, producers, or other journalists who do not, primarily, carry a video camera around to do their job. It is also a good option for individuals who learn better through observation than by trial and fire. You will attend all the same sessions as the Shoot ‘n Edit group. What is the difference between the two? You will not be in the hot seat and critiqued by the faculty.
- College students can register at the Student Participant level. Like the professional participants, you will go through the same sessions, the same critiques. The only difference is you will not be put in the hot seat and grilled by the faculty. You will need your student ID at registration. You will gain and refine the skills and connections you need to jump-start your career.
| Before 1/31 | After 1/31 | |
|---|---|---|
| Shoot ‘n Edit | $800.00 | $900.00 |
| Participant | $700.00 | $800.00 |
| Student Participant | $325 | $425 |
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NPPA and Group Discounts
- NPPA members receive a $110 discount. NPPA student members receive a $65 discount.
- Contact Julie Jones if you have four or more people enrolling either as part of a news organization or informally among colleagues. We have group rates.
- If you are a professor or a journalism program sending four or more of your students, contact Julie as well. We want to honor your commitment with an instructor discount.
*Student rates are for the participant level only. Students are welcomed to enroll as a shoot ‘n edit, but only the NPPA membership discount applies, i.e. no student discount at this level.
Flying: Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City
Driving: Norman, Oklahoma is a 30-minute drive from Will Rogers Airport down I-35. If you are not renting a car, an airport shuttle can transport you from OKC to your hotel in Norman.
Booking your flight: The NV Workshop opens for business March 13th (Sunday) at 10 a.m. We begin our sessions at 1 p.m. sharp. The week ends on March 18th (Friday) at 1:30 p.m.
Transportation during the workshop: You do not need a car to attend the NV Workshop. Shoot ‘n Edit attendees might prefer to have a car for the week, but even then it is not required.
Where to stay: There are many hotels around the OU campus, but Sooner Legends is offering a significant discount for NV Workshop participants. They have single rooms and suites. To reserve with the NPPA discount, follow these directions:
- Go to www.soonerlegends.com
- Click “book reservations”
- Click “Group Reservation”
- Enter group code “NPPA16IC”
- Enter arrival date
- Once date is entered, the special rates will show
- Follow standard reservation instructions
Location for the Workshop sessions: Most sessions will be at Gaylord College of Journalism on the University of Oklahoma campus (395 W. Lindsey). Gaylord has state of the art projection facilities, large computer labs, and is an Apple Distinguished Program.
Getting to Gaylord: If you stay at Sooner Legends there will be a shuttle every day to and from the Workshop. For attendees with cars, Gaylord College is a 10-minute drive down Lindsey.
Julie Jones, an assistant professor at the University of Oklahoma’s Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communications, took over as chair of NPPA’s News Video Workshop with the departure of long-time chair Sharon Levy Freed. Jones has been a long-time member of the workshop faculty, having first attended in 1982
Dr. Jones is an award winning television journalist and digital media scholar. She began her photojournalism career at KIVA-TV in Farmington, New Mexico as a general news photographer in 1982. Twenty-years later, she left her job as special projects producer and photojournalist at ABC15 in Phoenix to pursue her doctorate degree at the University of Minnesota. Her work earned numerous Rocky Mountain Emmys, National Press Photographers Association, and Arizona Press Club awards. In addition, she was twice she was NPPA’s region 10 Photographer of the Year twice, earned three Emmys for Photojournalistic Enterprise and was Arizona Press Club’s Photographer of the Year. While working for ABC15 and KPNX in Phoenix, Jones was one of the first “one-man bands.” Her stories ranged from general news to investigative to documentaries.
None of these accomplishments could have been achieved without the NPPA Television Video Workshop.
As a green photographer, Jones attended the 1982 Workshop as a shooting participant. This experience was invaluable to her photojournalism skills, ethics, and sensibility. She still considers Darrell Barton and Bob Brandon as pivotal mentors in her career.
Jones returned to Norman as a Workshop faculty member in 1993 and was honored to take over leadership in 2013.
Jones is an innovator in digital journalism as well. She, along with her Gaylord colleague John Schmeltzer, are developing a mobile app that allows for easy-to-use real-time, place-based, video reporting from smartphones and tablets. This technology, dubbed OU StormCrowd, was first used during the 2012 severe weather season in Oklahoma. Gaylord journalism and meteorology students used iPod Touches with Sennheiser microphones to report on weather events from the field and to post their reports as close to real time as possible. On Friday April 13th, the mojos – as the students liked to be called –were ready to cover the EF 2 tornado that touched down in numerous locations in Norman. Their reports beat all news organizations to “air.”
Dr. Jones’ academic work centers on the participatory nature of online news and visual platforms. Her work has been published in New Media & Society, ACM publications and she is an active member of AEJMC’s Communication Technology division. Along with Schmeltzer, she was awarded one of the first AEJMC/Knight Bridge grants used to develop StormCrowd and was a semi-finalist for Knight News Challenge Grant’s mobile app call. In 2012, Kappa Alpha Theta named Jones one of the 10 Outstanding Faculty Members in the nation.
Adam Vance, one of your Co-Chairs of your Workshop, is a story in his own right. Born in Saigon in the middle of the Vietnam War he was orphaned and brought to America as part of Operation Baby Lift. He was raised in New Mexico where he began his journalist career as a still photographer for the Gallup Independent.
He then embarked to Eastern New Mexico University in Portales, NM. While pursuing his Mass Communication degree. He simultaneously continued to work for the Amarillo Globe News and Scene 3 News in Portales, NM, until graduation.
Immediately following graduation he was hired by NBC affiliate, KOB-TV and later joined KOAT-TV. Years later, he and his wife, Paulette, embarked to Tampa where he continued his passion for this profession we call "story-telling".
Adam is a photographer who likes to offer a unique perspective, by putting a camera where you normally cannot. He is a logistical expert and one who likes to solve your technical needs.
Adam was a Special Projects Photojournalist/Editor and Satellite Truck Operator for 10News/WTSP.COM. He has had the opportunity to bring the Tampa Bay viewers, multiple Shuttle Launches, Super Bowls, World Series coverage, Stanley Cup Championships, BCS victories and countless Hurricanes. Having completed 13 years with 10News, he has figured out this business — it is not only about storytelling, it is about people.
He most recently joined the esteemed staff at KUSA/9News and will help continue the great traditions in the Rocky Mountain State.
He joined the NPPA Faculty to help a new generation of story-tellers, who offers a creative, logistical and technical mind.
His greatest stories are those about his wife, Paulette, and twin sons, Bryce and Connor, youth baseball phenoms.
Stan Heist is the News Talent Manager for Sinclair Broadcast Group, and a Co-Director of the NPPA News Video Workshop. This will be his seventh year on the Workshop faculty.
Stan earned his first paycheck in broadcasting while still in High School, working as a part-time board operator for WCHE-AM, in West Chester, PA. He began his television career soon after graduating from the University of Dayton, as a news photographer and editor for the local NBC affiliate, WKEF-TV (now ABC22). It was in Dayton, where Stan first learned about the NPPA, when a co-worker left behind a copy of News Photographer magazine in the photog room. He applied for membership the next day.
In 1997, Stan joined the staff at Richmond’s WTVR-TV, first as a staff photographer, and later as Chief Photographer. In 2000, he attended the Workshop as an observer, and began to apply the lessons learned during that week slowly into his daily assignments. This is where his “small victories” philosophy began to form.
Three years after the Workshop, Stan moved up the I-95 corridor to Baltimore to join WBFF-TV, where he was promoted to Chief Photographer two years later. While in Baltimore, the staff was named a finalist for the NPPA’s Station of the Year three times. During his career, Stan was awarded ten regional Emmys, two NPPA Regional Photographer of the Year awards, and was honored nationally as the 2005 NPPA Ernie Crisp Television News Photographer of the Year.
Stan left daily newsgathering in 2008 to teach television journalism and pursue a master’s degree at the University of Maryland, where he researched best practices for traditional photographers and reporters transitioning to become multimedia journalists. He has taught at more than 30 professional seminars in the United States and abroad.
In his current role at Sinclair, Stan works as an executive in their corporate offices leading major recruitment and retention efforts, and providing training for their visual storytellers in Sinclair’s local newsrooms across the country.
1980 was a good year for television, because that was the year Dave Wertheimer got his start at a TV station in Milwaukee while still in high school. He’s worked at an alphabet of station call letters, working as everything from Chief Photojournalist to News Director and been on assignment all over the world. Dave likes to say that he has been shot at, stabbed, tear gassed, punched but most of all hugged while on assignment.
Mr. Wertheimer has judged countless contests and been a consultant across the globe, teaching storytelling techniques at dozens of seminars and media organizations including the prestigious NPPA NewsVideo Workshop since 1993.
For his assignments Dave has been honored with almost 100 awards for his work from the NPPA, SPJ, NBNA, AP, WHNPA and 18 NATAS Emmys. Don’t ask this multimedia storyteller to see his awards, they are in a box somewhere. He believes that he is only as good as his next story, not his last.
Dave currently is a Photojournalist/Editor/Storyteller for KING TV in Seattle Washington and can be found doing his second love, covering anything with a viewfinder near his head. His first love is spending time with his son, Matthew, who was born in 2002.
Tim Underhill is a Telecommunications instructor at Ball State University. He bought his first camera at a garage sale when he was in the 5th grade. From that point on he knew he was meant to have a camera in his hands.
Not long after he found a wind-up 8-millimeter movie camera and realized that photography could go beyond the still image.
Tim has worked for network television affiliates in Rockford, Illinois; Grand Rapids, Michigan; and Indianapolis, Indiana. He continues to keep up to date by freelancing for various networks. Tim’s work has appeared several national and regional networks including, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, ESPN, The Big Ten Network and FOX. He has covered the Indianapolis 500, Brickyard 400, NBA playoffs, Pan Am Games, NCAA championships, the World Basketball Championships, NFL Monday Night Football plus other college and professional sporting events.
In 1997 Tim was named to the faculty of News Video Workshop sponsored by the National Press Photographers Association. He’s worked as a room captain for the critique sessions and is in charge of the lighting and sound for the annual event in Norman, Oklahoma.
Tim has served as a judge for several contests including the Emmy Awards, NPPA, SPJ and other competitions.
Tim’s work has earned awards from many of those same organizations including NPPA, AP, and the Emmy Awards.
Tim splits his time between news and production faculty assignments emphasizing visual storytelling. Tim serves as instructor teaching courses in visual storytelling, video production, and news writing.
Underhill holds two degrees from Ball State University, a Bachelor of Science degree in Telecommunications and a Master of Arts in Digital Storytelling.
When he isn’t working he can be found spending a lot of time as Scoutmaster for Boy Scout Troop 22 in Muncie. Tim also is enjoying family life with his wife and two sons backpacking or pedaling his bicycle across Indiana.
Greg Vandegrift, who has won national, regional, state and corporate awards, spent a quarter century reporting around the Midwest before becoming a clinical professor of broadcast journalism in 2008 at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. Beyond his classroom instruction, in 2012 he became the lead adviser for the student’s Web-based, multimedia news operation. During that time, students have won numerous awards for reporting on multiple platforms. Even while teaching, Greg continues to freelance for KARE 11 (Minneapolis/St. Paul NBC affiliate) where he reported full time, beginning in the mid-90s.
Greg’s reporting has been honored with two national Edward R. Murrows.
He’s won an Iris. The National Association of Black Journalists recognized him for sports coverage. He’s also won multiple Regional Murrows and Regional Emmys. His work has continued to receive regional recognition since he began teaching full time. While at KARE, he twice won Best News Writing in the Best of Gannett contest, and he won the Minnesota Associated Press Writing award four times.
Greg's work has also appeared on the reels of three different Ernie Crisp Television News Photographer of the Year recipients (in alphabetical order - Scott Jensen, Gary Knox and Jonathan Malat). He says it was an honor to work with those and other incredibly talented photographers like Brett Akagi. Greg also says he has learned more about storytelling from photographers than anyone else.
Beyond teaching at St. Thomas, he also produces videos for the university. One of his videos – a mini-documentary - was part of an exhibit at Rome’s MAXXI Museum and later in France at Pierresvives Cultural Centre of Montpellier.
In the spirit of a modern journalist, Greg has stepped outside of TV, writing multiple stories for News Photographer magazine.
He has taught at the Workshop on a consistent basis since 2004. He says reporters must learn to think about video BEFORE copy! As Greg puts it, “It is … ALL ... about the video.”
Greg is married and has four boys, including his own set of Minnesota twins. He loves the outdoors, especially water and winter. He floats his boat in the summer and likes to think he “walks” (really skates) on water during Minnesota’s wonderful winters. Of course, as a graduate of the University of Kansas, he gets into Jayhawk basketball … just a bit.
Before joining the CBS O&O in Baltimore in 1993, Mike told stories in Cape Girardeau, MO, Louisville, and Indianapolis. Mike has worked for about a dozen general managers and news directors, all who have very different thoughts about what news should look and sound like. He has successfully adapted what he's learned here to keep his bosses happy while at the same time producing stories which keep him excited about his job. He is happy to discuss survival techniques.
A Bakers Dozen of Sensible Schuh's:
- Be a good employee.
- Don't whine.
- Pretend you are a freelancer — like you must impress the bosses every day or you won't be able to afford food.
- Surprise the producers. Give them more than they asked for in less time.
- Work hard on the little story and the boss will give you the big ones.
- Keep your mind on the story, not on the station gossip. Spend at least 5-10 minutes exchanging ideas about the story on the way to the story. Good ideas snowball.
- Communicate expectations, communicate needs, communicate wants.
- What do I have? What do I need?
- On the ride home, go through the sequences about what will work where.
- Offer solutions, not just problems.
- Stand up straight.
- Eat your vegetables.
- Wear glasses if you need them.
Les Rose is thrilled to be a photojournalist for the CBS News bureau in Los Angeles. His television career started in 1978…a good year for King Tut, The Rolling Stones’ “Miss You”, and film cameras. Prior to joining the L.A. bureau in 1997, Les worked 13 years at KCBS-TV in Los Angeles and from 1984-1986 he was with NBC News, Miami as a freelancer. He has also shot for WFLA (Tampa), KTVI (St. Louis), and WTSP (St. Petersburg).
His assignments are for The CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley (and Dan Rather, Bob Schieffer, and Katie Couric as well), CBS Sunday Morning, 60 Minutes, 48 Hours, and CBS This Morning. For almost 7 years he was the photojournalist for the “Everybody Has a Story” series with Steve Hartman, and together they produced more than 125 stories…all at the whim of a dart and a random pick from the phonebook. Honest! Then they had a year with 60 Minutes 2, and several years with the “Assignment America” series whenever Steve was west of the Rockies. Currently, Les works with Steve on the On The Road with Steve Hartman series whenever geographically feasible. Les’ awards include a Murrow and a DuPont with Steve Hartman, nine local Emmys, and a bunch of others that made for a nice evening out (and a tuxedo to return the next morning). His greatest awards are the friends he has made and things he…and his viewers…have learned along the way. He simply cannot believe they pay him to do exactly what he wants to do!
But Les will be quick to say that he is far more proud of his family and friends’ accomplishments. He is especially proud of his two young sons, the greatest joy in his life. Most of all, he’ll tell you that in the end, it is all about real moments in a story and someone saying, “That was a good story” and not “that was a cool shot.” Les believes “It’s about accuracy, story, subjects and viewers, not the storyteller. It’s also about being a human being in the process.” He also firmly believes we are here on earth to make it a better place. Really, he does. That’s why he went into journalism. Major stories that Les has been involved with include, 9/11 in Shankesville, Pennsylvania and then NYC, the Cerritos Air disaster, the Civil Wars of Nicaragua and El Salvador for NBC News, the Northridge Earthquake, the Nagano Olympics, a hostage release in Wiesbaden, West Germany, the Malibu Fires, political conventions, multiple hurricanes, Oscars, Emmys, major sports events and countless celebrity interviews (and trials), including O.J. Simpson (with Las Vegas!). And Michael Jackson’s trial…and death. Les has a profound love for teaching and is a frequent lecturer. A partial list of his key notes and workshops include: The Poynter Institute, the University of Florida, the N.P.P.A., the Hawaii Association of Broadcasters, Global Television in Calgary and Edmonton, Icelandic State Television, the University of South Florida, F.S.P.A., WTSP-TV, WPBF-TV, the IRE, the RTNDA with Al Tompkins, the Student Television Network, the Broward Teen Network, and the Missouri, New Mexico, West Virginia, and NATOA Broadcasters. Les is also the NPPA TV Critique Chair so send him a link anytime!
Finally, a word of caution: if he opens his wallet…it’s not to give you money. He’s got everything in his wallet…but money. It will be to show you pictures of those sons of his, which he could NOT be more proud of. He is juggling those boys as well as his “day job” at CBS News and the seminars he leads and makes it work. He managed to squeeze in a Master’s degree from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln (Class of 2010). In his spare time, he sits in traffic in an office called a 2011 Chevrolet Suburban, and hits LEGOLAND as often as possible, His wife Michele has been accepted into Sainthood. He wants world peace, better Journalism, and another Rolling Stones tour.
Matt Mrozinski is currently the chief photojournalist at WTHR-TV in Indianapolis, IN. He was rewarded with his first job as chief after a highly successful run at KING TV in Seattle. Matt is a nine-time Emmy award winning photojournalist with two wins in his craft (photography) on the east and west coast. He has entered the contest five times with over 22 nominations. Mrozinski was named a top six finalist three straight years for photojournalism’s highest individual honor, the NPPA Ernie Crisp Photographer of the Year. Mrozinski was runner-up for the award in 2010. Also in 2010, Matt was named the best photojournalist in the nation by his peers as b-roll.net’s Photographer of the Year. In the last five years of his career, Matt has been a member of four NPPA Station of the Year awards and helped KING to runner-up 2014. He played a large role in jump starting WAVY-TV's 5 straight Station of the Year Awards. He recently won back-to-back National Headliner awards for feature. In 2013, Matt won the coveted SPJ Sigma Delta Chi award with NBC News Correspondent, Joe Fryer, and was the NPPA West Coast Photographer of the Year 2013.
Mrozinski’s accomplishments are not only behind the lens – he is the architect of the popular “Storytellers” website and community. Over 6,500 journalists and students frequent the site for advice and critique and “Storytellers” is used in university classrooms across the nation. It has become one of the premier resources for professional development and education. “I just wanted to start the conversation”, said Mrozinski, “It was dumb luck”. In 2012, Matt and two of his colleagues used its success to inspire the Northwest Video News Workshop (NWVW). He is a returning faculty member for the NPPA News Video Workshop in Norman, OK, and has been a speaker at KNPA, Seattle University, CUNY in New York, NY, and a contributor at the Ignite Your Passion Workshop in St. Paul, MN. “I’ll do everything I can to help shape the future of journalism”, Mrozinski adds.
Mrozinski demonstrates a very strong belief in team storytelling, “shooting for the viewer”, ethics, telling the lead “story”, and having a great attitude. Matt is a proud Pittsburgh, Pa., native.
Joshua Maranhas is the 2014 National Press Photographers Association Best of Photojournalism Editor of the Year.
He’s a four time regional Emmy Award winning editor, producer and storyteller with eighteen years of journalism experience, from Columbine to the Aurora Theater with plenty of good times in between, Josh Maranhas tells the stories of Coloradans. Now the Chief Editor at KDVR/KWGN he leads a staff of fifteen highly talented and diverse award winning editors.
One of his greatest rewards is teaching, from AVID, Adobe, to Apple FCP, there’s nothing about editing or television production he doesn’t want to discuss or pass on. Why you should stop using dissolves and start cutting sequences, the difference between jump cuts and match cuts, these are topics he’s spent a career sharing with others.
Josh is a winner of over 30 NPPA quarterly and annual editing awards. He is twice runner up in Best of Photojournalism Editor of the Year. Josh served as chair of the NPPA Quarterly Editing Contest. He’s nominated for numerous regional Emmys and regional Emmy Award winning in both Program and Sports editing.
Josh is a still photographer and a former darkroom rat. These days he’s more of an Adobe Lightroom rat. His favorite subjects range from family portraits, travel, to classic cars and automotive.
In addition to television storytelling, Josh is passionate about loud music, road trips in his Ford and anything that can be “hot rodded”. He can be found traveling the Interstates and bi-ways of America making memories, photographs and lasting stories on the way.
Joe Mahoney is a photojournalist with I-News at Rocky Mountain PBS in Denver, a not-for-profit corporation developing as a very small team of highly-skilled, highly-efficient reporters with proven investigative skills. Our focus is high-impact, investigative journalism with an emphasis on data analysis, statistical analysis, data visualization and public records research. These are skills most newsrooms currently lack. However, these are skills that are urgently needed to produce policy-changing, public-interest journalism.(2010-Present)
Previously, he worked for ten years as photojournalist at the Rocky Mountain News and, later, as the assistant director of multimedia until the paper closed in 2009. Mahoney was part of the teams that won Pulitzer Prizes for Breaking News in 2000 and again in 2003. In 2009, he was an associate producer and photographer for "Final Edition" that won a regional Emmy for Topical Documentary.
Mahoney has coached at the NewsVideo workshop since 2010 and at the NPPA's Multimedia Immersion since 2009. He is an adjunct faculty at Metro State University in Denver teaching photojournalism and is in graduate school at the University of Colorado studying Political Science.
He is married with two children and "Sam the Wonder Dog."
Multiple Emmy Award-winning Joe Little is a television news reporter with 10News, the ABC affiliate in San Diego, CA. He’s a proud Multimedia Journalist and often travels the country with his Garden Gnome to teach professionals and students his MMJ strategy and how to maximize their time “on camera”.
Joe's mantra: "If your ship doesn't come in, swim out to it."
It has served him well since 1999 as he zigzagged across the country as a television news reporter and anchor with stops in Hagerstown, Maryland; Johnstown, Pennsylvania; San Diego and Carlsbad, California. Joe is often called upon to speak about the transitioning industry for universities and professional groups. He has also advised international journalists on ways to streamline their news gathering operations. Joe joined the NPPA faculty at the News Video Workshop in Norman, Oklahoma in 2013.
His coverage of the 9/11 attacks is among Joe's greatest accomplishments. He was four miles away from Shanksville, Pennsylvania when United Flight 93 crashed. Joe was one of the first reporters on the scene. His accounts are included in a book called Covering Catastrophe: Broadcast Journalists Report on 9/11.
Joe received his Masters from Syracuse University in 1999. But he credits George Mason University with building a strong foundation for his career. In 1998, he earned his BA in Speech Communication. While at Mason, Joe was a proud member of the Men's Basketball Team (Career Totals: 2 points, 3 rebounds). In 2010, the Department of Communication and the College of Humanities & Social Sciences named Joe the Alumnus of the Year.
As a correspondent for PBS and NBC News, John Larson’s work is among the most awarded in the broadcast news industry. In 2012, his investigations of the US Border Patrol resulted in 2 Federal Grand Jury investigations of the Patrol, and protests in a dozen US cities. Of Larson’s 2012 series on “Main Street America”, Bill Moyer said, “such focused journalism puts the networks to shame.” In 2010, John Larson won a George Foster Peabody Award, and a DuPont Columbia Silver Baton for his work on “Cannabis Cowboys,” an investigation of Mexican drug cartels and pot farming in California.
As West Coast Correspondent for Dateline NBC beginning in 1994, Larson excelled in investigative, breaking and feature news reporting for Dateline NBC, NBC Nightly News and The Today Show. His investigation of the insurance industry for Dateline NBC, "The Paper Chase", remains one of the most honored broadcasts in broadcast journalism history. Larson has received extensive national recognition — 4 DuPont Columbia Silver Batons, 2 George Foster Peabody Awards, and 2 National Emmy Awards for reporting on Racial Profiling, the Insurance Industry, Hurricane Katrina, and corrupt police in Lousiana.
Larson is also a much sought after speaker, teacher and motivator. He consults for the E.W Scripps Company -- motivating more than 400 working journalists. He also was selected as the 2011 Distinguished Ottaway Professor of Journalism for the State University of New York. He speaks regularly at the National Writer's Workshops, the Poynter Institute, and the National Press Photographers' National Workshop. He has participated in the Committee of Concerned Journalists, sponsored by the Nieman Foundation of Harvard University.
In 2009, Larson left NBC to work as an international correspondent for PBS — contributing to “World Focus,” “Need to Know” and “Southern California Connected”. He also launched his own production company, began training in digital journalism, and began consulting with media companies.
In 2008, Larson co-authored "Television Field Production and Reporting" - one of the most widely distributed college broadcast journalism textbooks in the country.
Larson's career has taken him to the corners of the world: to investigate the sinking of a passenger ferry in Indonesia, and to tell the story of a 5-year-old Buddhist Monk in Nepal. He examined corrupt police in Mexico City. He revisited a bloody terrorist attack in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in Central Africa. He reported on the Aids epidemic in Zambia, and micro-loans in Kenya. Recently, he has reported on renewable energy in Denmark.
In the United States Larson has covered everything from snake handlers in Appalachia and diets that relieve epilepsy in children, to ecstasy dealers and the 2008 Presidential Campaign. John lives with his wife and children in San Diego, CA.
Steve Hooker, Chief Photojournalist at WIS-TV, Columbia, South Carolina, is a regular faculty member of the National Press Photographers Association’s Annual Television News Workshop. He gained his reputation by delivering production quality lighting at the speed of news. In addition to lighting workshops, he conducts seminars on storytelling techniques in this age of "run and gun" television newsgathering to photojournalists around the world.
Steve joined WIS-TV as the Chief Photojournalist three years ago. He had previously worked as a chief photographer in New Orleans and was there during Hurricane Katrina. Before that, he worked in the Carolinas as chief photographer, and earlier in Great Britain with the BBC for eight years.
Steve had not settled upon a career until well after graduating from the University of Miami and serving in the army including a year in Vietnam as a combat commander. That experience focused his life and he knew what he wanted to do. Upon leaving active duty he moved to England. Two years later he graduated from The London Film School and entered the motion picture industry. Occasionally he freelanced in news. He quickly learned that news photography allowed him more control over his work than he ever had in the movies. That is when he joined the television industry. Ten years later, he returned to the states for a vacation and stayed.
Today, Steve approaches a news story as if it were a motion picture; striving for the best storytelling techniques he can muster. The time constraint of news work however, is a severe obstacle in achieving that quality. Over the years, he has developed a number of tricks and techniques to keep the quality high with little or no loss of time.
Steve became involved in the NPPA, first as a frequent award winning photojournalist and later as a faculty member of the workshop. He was elected by NPPA’s 10,000 members to three terms on the NPPA Board of Directors. He enjoys sharing his ideas and learning new ones from other photographers.
Throughout his professional life Steve continued his military service through the army reserves. He has served several tours in the Middle East during the Gulf War and the current operations there.
His civilian achievements include several Emmys, three Associated Press Photojournalist of the Year awards from Louisiana, North Carolina and South Carolina and awards of Radio Television News Directors Association Photographer of the Year. Steve has published numerous articles and is a frequent speaker at television industry functions and universities. Continuing in his civilian capacity, he has been an honoree speaker at the Defense Information School.
Steve divides his time among his family, WIS-TV, NPPA, and seminars at other television stations and universities.
It was nearly 3 decades ago that I first walked into a television station as an employee. It was a time just after film cameras, and a time of new video cameras and video tape. That was in Pueblo Colorado. I remember my first camera, it was a TK 76, and a 3/4 inch over the shoulder tape player/recorder. Those were the good ole days, tape editing, one live shot a day, and local news meant, news down the street. Now it's a new time, digital tape, HD cameras, and tape less cameras.
I currently work at KCNC TV, where I have worked for the past 28 years. I started out on the over night shift, later moved to a night shift. I thought I would be there forever. So I changed my way of thinking. I started to think more 'out da box', I started to look at video differently, I started to look at my role as more than just a photographer. So what happen? I made my way to become Director of Photography for a nationally syndicated kids program called “News for Kids.” While there I introduced a 'MTV' style of shooting and editing. The shows won an Emmy for Best Kids Program. I later moved to sports where I became a producer. I shot and produced collage coaches shows. I was all ways a restless photog. I returned to the news department where I worked general assignment, and special projects. I earned a Murrow for “Use of Video” for a photo piece that I shot and produced. This was a time before photogs were ever receiving Murrows. I also have produced 1/2 and 1 hour news and sport programs. I am a 3 time Photographer of the Year, given to me by the Colorado chapter of the National Association of Black Journalist.
I now work in the investigative unit at KCNC TV in Denver. In 2005 we received the prestiges Peabody award for a series of stories on Army recruiting. I learned a great deal about undercover cameras and working undercover. I have even built a few undercover camera rigs. Stop me and we'll talk about undercover gear.
My words of wisdom to you is to do your job to the best of you ability, and continue in this industry because you love to be a story teller. Take a step back and think “out the box”. And lastly, Life is about opportunity and challenges, you look for opportunities that challenge you, if you not challenged, look for new opportunities.
Have a great week!! Show me you tape!! Buy me a beer!!
Charles Hadlock is a producer and reporter for NBC News.
Hadlock is a contributor to NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, the Today Show, MSNBC, CNBC and The Weather Channel. He has covered a variety of domestic and international stories, including hurricanes along the Gulf Coast, the Israeli-Hezbollah war, the bird flu epidemic in Southeast Asia, and the North Korean nuclear talks in Beijing. He provided live coverage during the terrorist shootings at Fort Hood, Texas and during the BP Gulf oil spill.
His distinguished career spans more than 30 years of broadcast reporting in Texas. As Senior Reporter and weekend anchor at KHOU TV in Houston, Hadlock was named Austin Bureau Chief and covered assignments throughout Texas, Mexico and Central America.
Hadlock is as a reporter with an abiding concern for telling visual stories through ordinary people.
Hadlock has also been a main anchor in Shreveport, Louisiana. He was the first television journalist to report live by satellite from the Shuttle Columbia disaster in East Texas. His assignments included reporting live from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba on local soldiers guarding Taliban and al Qaeda prisoners. Hadlock reported live from Canada on Pope John Paul II’s pilgrimage to North America. He also produced and moderated a nationally-televised debate between the U-S Senate candidates in Louisiana.
United Press International and the Associated Press have both honored Hadlock as the Best Reporter in Texas. UPI twice named him one of the top six reporters in the country. His work appeared in almost every NPPA (National Press Photographer’s Association) Quarterly Contest in Region Eight.
The Dallas Press Club awarded Hadlock the Texas Katie Award for General News and UPI awarded him Best Feature. He is also the winner of the prestigious Texas Headliners Award. Hadlock was nationally honored with the Leukemia Society of America’s Service to Mankind Award.
He also worked at Houston’s KPRC TV as a general assignment reporter, where he won state and national awards for spot news.
Hadlock was a reporter and morning news anchor at WFAA TV in Dallas. His coverage of the Paris, Texas tornado won him the Texas Katie Award for Spot News and helped WFAA win NPPA Station of the Year.
Hadlock is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin. He has been on the faculty of the National Press Photographers Association TV News Video Workshop since 1987.
Evelio Contreras is a video producer for CNN Digital’s Original Video team. He is based in New York. Previously, he worked as a video journalist at The Washington Post, Las Vegas Sun and The Roanoke Times.
His work has been recognized by The National Press Photographers Association, Society of News Design and the Capital Emmys. He has coached students and taught multimedia at workshops including NPPA’s Multimedia Immersion in Syracuse, NY.
He grew up in Eagle Pass, a small border town on the Texas and Mexico border. It was there working at El Gram, a bilingual newspaper, where he learned about his interests in telling stories about ordinary people doing extraordinary things. He likes meeting new people and finding new ways to tell their stories.
Lisa Berglund is an award winning videographer, editor, producer and storyteller. For over 50 years, the National Press Photographers Association has awarded its Photographer of the Year to the finest in the nation. Lisa was the first and only woman videographer to receive this honor.
Lisa is the owner of Gold Dog Media, a video production company based in Washington State. Her work with corporations, international news and non-profit organizations has given her powerful professional experience – including shooting, producing, and editing news, marketing and promotional videos, documentaries, PSA’s and music videos.
Lisa specializes in working in some of the most remote corners of the world, because she feels strongly about giving voice to people who are rarely heard. She has worked in over 25 countries, including Rwanda, India, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, and Ethiopia.
Lisa also works as a consultant and teacher, training thousands of photojournalists and reporters around the world in Visual Storytelling and Multimedia Journalism.
Lisa is featured in a book highlighting news photography: Roll - Shooting TV News - Views From behind The Lens.
John Sharify lives and breathes storytelling and is grateful to those willing to share their stories. He is currently a Special Projects reporter for KING 5 News. One of the most honored broadcast journalists in the country, Sharify is a 59 time Emmy award winner. He has also been honored with eight National Edward R. Murrow awards, including three National Murrows for Writing.
In 2015, Sharify was selected as the 2015 National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) Reporter of the Year for his work at KING 5 News. He was runner up in 2013.
In addition to his work at KING, John helps run two cable television stations in Seattle. He is the General Manager of Seattle Community Colleges Television (SCCTV) and Seattle Community Media, the city’s public access station. Sharify’s passion for storytelling has taken him around the world as he presents workshops in newsrooms on the craft of video storytelling. His 2010 documentary about the holocaust, “The Boys of Terezin,” has been shown in film festivals in Sydney, Melbourne, Toronto, West Palm, Miami, New Jersey and Seattle.
Sharify is a proud graduate of Princeton University. He has a Master of Fine Arts degree in film directing from Columbia University. Sharify is honored to have presented a Ted Talk in 2012 about his National Murrow award winning documentary called “Climb of a Lifetime.”
Brett Akagi can be described in three words. Hard worker. Focused. Passionate. These have guided him on an adventurous career that spans nearly 30 years. In that time he considers himself lucky to have won 21 Emmys in three newsrooms, contributed to national and regional Edward R. Murrow awards at KARE-TV and the Minneapolis Star Tribune, 4 NPPA Regional POY awards, national NPPA Runner-Up POY, worked with teammates Boyd Huppert, Greg Vandegrift, Scott Jensen and Jonathan Malat, and led the KARE-TV staff to 4 NPPA Station of the Year awards as the Director of Photography.
Akagi has a wide range of experience and worn many hats. He’s been a photojournalist, MMJ, video producer for a newspaper, assistant news director, university adviser and instructor for print and broadcast, professional and college mentor, consultant, Poynter Institute Ethics Fellow, and is currently the Chief Photographer at KCTV5 in Kansas City.
Akagi learned about the value of a great work ethic as a farm kid in Southwestern Kansas and found there are no shortcuts to success. He developed a laser like mental focus over the years, which helps in the field as a journalist, the newsroom as a manager and the classroom as a teacher. While he loves many things, like his family and cooking, the passion that drives him is storytelling. And if there is something he loves more than storytelling, it is teaching what he knows about the craft.
And that finally leads you to the NPPA News Video Workshop. If you want to be a better photojournalist, reporter, editor, teacher, leader or storyteller, Akagi and the entire instructional staff are ready to help push you to become better than you ever imagined – a hardworking, focused and passionate storyteller!
Lots of people say they're from Colorado but most are imports… from places like Oklahoma, California, or Texas. Not Sharon Levy Freed. She is one of the few, the proud, the Col¬orado natives.
After spending her formative years in Denver, Levy Freed embarked on a col¬lege career at the University of Colorado in Boulder. Without a major in mind, Levy signed up for a generic business course. It required she find an internship anywhere she wanted for 15 hours a week. Thinking that news crews see just about everything, Sharon signed up for an internship at a TV station. Surely one of those news stories would lead her towards an interesting career. Ten months later, TV hadn't led her to a career, rather it turned out to BE the career for her.
In August of 1980, Levy Freed took her first full-time TV position as a vid¬eotape editor for KUSA-TV, in Denver. In January of '82, it was off to the University of Missouri to finish a broadcasting degree. In May of '83, three weeks before graduation,, she attended the National Photographers Association News Video Workshop. Life hasn't been boring since. Sharon graduated college and accepted a position as a photojournalist at KAKE TV in Wichita. For 13 months Sharon worked under the wonderful guidance of Larry Hatteberg, and icon in the television industry. After that, it was time to go home...as a photojournalist for KCNC TV in Denver.
KCNC meant 4 years of shooting news and followed by more than 6 years of writing, shooting, producing and editing in Community Affairs. Freed earned 2 regional EMMY’s and numerous first place awards from the Colorado Broadcasting Association. But she's one who likes change, and it was time again.
From May of 1995 until November 1999, Sharon worked as "Senior Instructor" in the Broadcast Support Division of Avid Technology. She traveled to TV stations ‘round the world teaching Avid NewsCutter. While computers have never been her thing, TV always has. Being able to talk TV has allowed Sharon to be successful and really enjoy her new career (not to mention the bizillion frequent flyer miles she received.)
A layoff of 200 people in 1999 didn’t stop Sharon’s training career. She continues to freelance train teaching the aesthetics of shooting and editing as well as the mechanics of Adobe Premiere Pro, Avid and Final Cut Pro to broadcast professionals, American soldiers, newspaper photojournalists and anyone interested anywhere on the planet. Levy also teaches DSLR video photography and consults corporations in developing media for websites and blogs.
On a personal note, Sharon has produced MANY MANY things over her years but her best productions by far are her children. Fourteen year old Samuel and Twelve year old Anna, along with Dad Jay and dogs Rosie and Charlie, make up the family she’s always dreamed of.
Katie Schoolov is a video journalist for KPBS, the PBS and NPR affiliate in San Diego, California. She shoots and edits in-depth features for television, radio, and the web, reporting stories on her own when time allows. She is a San Diego native and returned to cover her hometown after working as a video journalist for the Pulitzer Prize-winning Las Vegas Sun.
Katie previously worked as a print and video journalist for a daily newspaper in Johannesburg, South Africa, where she primarily covered ongoing election violence in Zimbabwe and the resulting emigration. She also interned for the Associated Press, producing internationally circulated videos and writing articles, including one from the White House press room.
Katie won a Golden Mike Award in 2015, has been nominated for three Emmy awards, and was a finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists. She also has multiple first place photography awards from the San Diego chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and the San Diego Press Club. She is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, where she also rowed for the Northwestern Crew Team.
She is passionate about public media, and about NPPA - which has shaped her career in incredibly helpful ways. When she's not behind a camera (or sometimes she still is), she loves to snowboard, scuba dive, go on long runs with her dog, and travel the world. She's seen 34 countries so far, but her best stories still come from her own hometown, and from just across the border in Mexico.
It was a love skateboarding that lead me to my passion of photojournalism.
On a fluke, an anchor from a station in Sacramento saw my skating videos and helped me get a job. After learning the art of editing, I was promoted to photographer - a career I've had the honor to work in for six years now.
I joined the National Press Photographers Association in 2014 and helped transform my station, KTVU, into the NPPA Station of the Year.
Personally, I made the move from KTVU to KING5 in Seattle and took with me two Emmy awards, along with the honor of being the runner-up photographer of the year in the West General region.
For me, this job isn't just about hitting record and pointing the camera toward the "news" - it's about finding a visual way to help the viewer connect and better understand what's happening in their world.
Jed is Baltimore born and bred! He's the Chief Photojournalist at WBFF-TV Fox 45 in Baltimore. There, he has covered everything from a Baltimore Ravens Super Bowl XLVII victory to the riots of April 2015.
Before becoming the "Chief", Jed spent time on the other side of the camera as a sports anchor/reporter in Charlottesville, VA. He still fills in on the sports desk every now and then on Fox 45.
Storytelling is the foundation of WBFF - a tradition Jed carries on. He's been part of a NPPA National Station of the Year award in 2012 and multiple East Top Station of the Year awards. He's won Emmy's, AP's and a Murrow.
Much of what Jed learned at the workshop formed the storyteller he is today. The belief that you can turn the ordinary into extraordinary on a daily basis is the motivation to turn the best story on every assignment.
Do I need to bring gear? Shoot ‘n Edits need to bring: a video or DSLR camera that shoots video, batteries, tripod, and any other support gear (steady bags, SD cards, chargers, etc.). It is helpful to have a laptop and editing software, but not necessary. If you shoot on any standard format, we can accommodate. Please email Julie Jones or Adam Vance with if you are wondering about other formats.
What's the schedule? Daily sessions run from 8:30 in the morning until 8, 9, or 10 p.m. at night. Be prepared to have your days and nights full!
I am thinking about registering as a Shoot ‘n Edit. What should I expect? Shoot ‘n Edits are given three assignments during the week. Your raw and edited work will be critiqued by some of the best journalists in the business. We are here to help you become stronger in your storytelling and video skills. So, check your ego and open your mind. You will be tested but it will be worth the challenge!
I am thinking about registering as a Participant. What will I miss by not being a Shoot ‘n Edit? Participants live through the same week as the Shoot ‘n Edits. You will be doing the assignments side by side the Shoot ‘n Edits and you will learn from the critiques as well. Only difference? You are not sitting in the hot seat.
Who should I contact if I have more questions? Contact Julie Jones at [email protected]
