Josh Meltzer has been involved with Truth With A Camera Workshops since 2009 when he helped organize its first international workshop in Guadalajara, México where he was living and working as a Fulbright Scholar at the time. He has been an instructor at the Quito workshop in 2010 and will be coming as an instructor to Bosnia in May 2011.

After spending 15 years working as a staff photographer and multimedia storyteller, Josh Meltzer began teaching in 2009 as a Photojournalist-in-Residence at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, KY where he currently teaches photojournalism and multimedia storytelling.

While working at The Roanoke Times in Virginia, he was named Photojournalist of the Year by the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) Best of Photojournalism competition in 2006 for papers under a circulation of 115,000 for his portfolio. More recently his portfolios, stories, audio slideshows and videos have received recognition from the Northern Short Course, Southern Short Course, Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar, Best of Photojournalism contests, and Society of Newspaper Design. In 2009, a long-term project on aging and caregivers, Age of Uncertainty, was awarded the first place documentary prize by the Pictures of the Year International.

In 2008 Josh received a Fulbright Grant from the U.S. State Department to live and work in Guadalajara, México. There he collaborated with several NGOs to produce stories documenting the migration of indigenous families from rural to urban regions within México. In addition, he led a year-long program, Listen to My Pictures, which taught photography to 19 street children, culminating in a large gallery exhibition of 50 of their images. His work from his documentary project won the 2010 Professional Grand Prize from PhotoPhilanthropy, a San Francisco-based organization which helps photojournalists partner with NGOs.

Josh has lectured on the traveling faculty of the NPPA’s Flying Short Course, judged and spoke at the state photojournalism associations of Kentucky, South Carolina, North Carolina, Indiana and Minnesota, lectured to the Associated Press Managing Editors Association, and spoke at his alma mater, Carleton College. Josh was on the faculty of the NPPA Multimedia Immersion Workshop and Western Kentucky University’s Mountain Workshops.

Josh lives in Bowling Green with his wife Missy Warp and son Gus.  His work can be found online at www.joshmeltzer.com.

Contact Josh at josh.meltzer@truthwithacamera.org

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Feel, think, react. All essential steps for creating intimate images to which anyone can relate. For Christopher Tyree, these insights are his daily guiding approach to visual storytelling. The result: moving projects that have promoted political and social change for the mentally ill, transformed blighted neighborhoods and refocused national attention on poverty issues in America. He has been involved with Truth With A Camera Workshops in many capacities since 1999 and as one of the directors since 2008.

Christopher is the owner of Re:Act Media and an award-winning documentary photographer, filmmaker and writer with more than 18 years of experience covering assignments on nearly every continent for a variety of publications and agencies. Integrity, perseverance, wit and curiosity have been the building blocks for his success.

He graduated with honors from James Madison University with a bachelor’s degree in communication and a minor in anthropology. He earned a master’s degree in visual communication from Ohio University. He has also worked as a designer and editor for a trade magazine.

His photography and editing have been recognized nationally and internationally, earning him numerous awards from esteemed competitions, including Pictures of the Year international, National Press Photographers Association, The Society for News Design, and The Associated Press. Christopher’s photographs have been displayed in exhibitions across the country and are held in several private collections. His work has also been published in many of the nation’s major newspapers and magazines, including Time, Newsweek, and Mother Jones.

His passion, inspiration and hope have culminated over the years with work for several nonprofits, including Physicians for Peace, Flashes of Hope, The Virginia Poverty Law Center and Global Impact.

Contact Christopher at chris.tyree@truthwithacamera.org

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Dave Ellis’ career path has focused primarily in the fields of picture editing and photography staff management. His mission in his professional life has always been to champion the art of visual reporting. Currently, he is the director of photography for the mid-sized daily newspaper The Free Lance-Star which covers the city of Fredericksburg, VA and seven surrounding counties.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Dave co-founded Operation Photo Rescue (OPR) with then FLS staff photographer Rebecca Sell. OPR is a global volunteer network of professional photojournalists and amateur digital photographers, graphic designers, image restoration artists and others. The organization’s mission is to repair photographs damaged by unforeseen circumstances such as house fires and natural disasters at no cost to the people who own them. OPR is still going strong five years later and its volunteers have restored thousands of damaged images from victims of disaster nationwide. In 2006, the NPPA awarded Dave and Rebecca the prestigious Morris Berman Citation for their efforts through OPR.

Prior to embarking on a career as a photojournalist, Dave served in the US Army as a helicopter crewchief. For his efforts during the Gulf War, he was awarded several medals and citations including the Bronze Star.

Contact Dave at dave.ellis@truthwithacamera.org

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