Jeff Hutchens

Jeff Hutchens was born in Lansing, Michigan in 1978. The son of an American diplomat, he spent his childhood throughout the U.S. and across China, South Africa, and the Philippines. Jeff has shot professionally on six continents, where he's faced grizzly bears, lava floes, Komodo dragons, and all manner of corrupt officials.

From work on the surreality of life in China, to documenting underground epidemics in the jungles of central Africa, and photographing polar bears in the Arctic Circle, he captures images that convey transcendent moods and subtle beauty.

Jeff was recognized as one of PDN's 30 (2009) and has won multiple awards in the World Press Photo competition, National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) Best Of Photojournalism competition, Pictures Of The Year (POYi) and Communication Arts (CA). Additionally, Jeff and his filmmaker brother Peter are the subject of a six-part travel/adventure series airing on the National Geographic Channel. The show follows them as they document far-flung regions of China through their respective lenses.

Jeff is represented by Reportage by Getty Images and Orchard Represents. He lives in Washington, D.C. when not on assignment. See Jeff's portfolio at http://jeffhutchens.com.

Jamie Rose

Jamie Rose is an international award winning photojournalist based in the Washington, DC area. She has worked in over 5 continents, won awards and grants for her documentary photography and has been a contract photographer with some of the world's largest nonprofit organizations. She has been internationally recognized for her long term documentary projects on volunteer health care providers and humanitarian issues. In 2009, Jamie joined our team to head our workshop division and create the curriculum for Momenta Workshops.

Jamie received her Master's Degree in photojournalism from the Newhouse School at Syracuse University and her bachelor's degree from American University. She was awarded an Alexia Foundation grant for her photographic project on a nonprofit inner city volunteers. She completed her Master's thesis photographing volunteer health care workers in the West Bank and Israel. This project established her passion for working with nonprofits and covering humanitarian issues and earned her a place in the prestigious agency team at Aurora Photos.

Jamie began her career as a newspaper photographer covering politics at the White House and Congress for The New York Times in Washington, DC. She traveled to Africa on sabbatical to produce a story on abandoned children at Kenya's biggest hospital, the East African drought of 2006 and to cover the Ugandan Presidential elections.

Her work has been published in National Geographic Books, The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post Magazine, O Magazine, Rolling Stone, Better Homes and Gardens, Newsweek, TIME Magazine and others. Her nonprofit clients include The Global Fund (team included Magnum select photographers including Steve McCurry and Eli Reed), Doctors Without Borders, The Calvert Foundation and Physicians for Human Rights among others. Her photo editing skills were rewarded when she was asked to be the lead photo editor National Geographic's "American Heroes" book.

Jamie was honored with the White House News Photographers Association (WHNPA) Project Grant for her work with Doctors Without Borders (Medicines Sans Frontiers) in the conflict areas of Northern Uganda during the civil war. She has returned to Africa numerous times to work on health care related projects in the nonprofit sector as well as to teach our Project Uganda workshop.

Jamie lives outside of Washington, DC where she is the President of the nonprofit WPOW: Women Photojournalists of Washington and as the Chair of the Student Photographer of the Year committee for WHNPA. See Jamie's portfolio at http://jamierose.net.

John Harrington

For over two decades, Washington DC-based photographer and business guru John Harrington has photographed the world of politics, international travel and news. And all the while, he was negotiating and fighting for fair contracts along the way. As a leader in business practices, John was a natural fit for Momenta's Business Series one-day workshops.

John was the 2007 recipient of the United Nations' Leadership Award in the field of photography. His work has appeared in Time, Newsweek and Rolling Stone, and his commercial clients have included Coca-Cola, SiriusXM Satellite Radio, Lockheed Martin, and the National Geographic Society. Harrington has produced three commissioned books for the Smithsonian and the second edition of his book Best Business Practices for Photographers, remains a best-seller.

In the Fall of 2010 a retrospective of the first 20 years in the profession - Photographs from the Edge of Reality, revisited highlights of his career. John has lectured across the United States during events for the American Society of Media Photographers, Advertising Photographers of America, Professional Photographers of America, and the National Press Photographers Association. John concludes serving his second term as the President of the White House News Photographers Association in May of 2011.

No matter what genre or venue John is shooting in, the one constant throughout his career is a meticulous attention to the business side of photography. Whether shooting newsworthy stories, editorial, rock-n-roll, or weddings, he does not hesitate when it comes to the pricing and contracts used in your business. Whether pets or Presidents, leading ladies or lead singers, John can help you drive clients to your company and keep your businesses thriving. See John's portfolio at http://johnharrington.com.

Chris Anderson

John Christopher Anderson, founder of Momenta Group, has been an active player in the photographic industry for over a decade. His most recent experience, prior to launching Momenta Group, was as a Photo and Illustrations Editor for National Geographic Society. During his time at NGS, he edited 16 books and worked on numerous other projects. Chris was honored to work in conjunction with many notable individuals and organizations such as James Cameron, Walden Media, Lucas Film, NOAA, NASA, Magnum Photos, Silvia Earl and all of the current and past National Geographic photographers.

Over a decade ago, Chris began his career as a news photographer working at distinguished New England daily newspapers and as a freelance news photographer around the world. Upon receiving a Master's Degree in photojournalism from Syracuse's Newhouse School of Communications, he was chosen by Steve McCurry to help develop his photographic studios in New York during a period of growth.

After this project, Chris took a position as a Photo Editor at AOL News at their main offices in Virginia. He would go on to work with AOL frequently over the years in both editorial and product development capacities. He was one of many lucky individuals to help shape the photographic vision of the organization in it's strongest years.

In 2008, Chris and Seth Butler founded Momenta Workshops after years of organizing and teaching photojournalism workshops together around the world for private clients. The company has grown to include creative, educational and consulting divisions which Chris oversees. Chris is the driving force behind the goals and foundations of Momenta. He believes deeply in the training of photographers on all levels to find their vision and personal narrative story to tell the world.

Seth Butler

Based in New England, Momenta Workshops Founder Seth Butler has been working as a documentarian covering national and global socioeconomic and humanitarian issues for the last eleven years. In 2001, Seth began a project entitled, "Tattered: Investigation of an American Icon" to study of the many uses and implications of the American Flag. Heralded by Harvard Anthropologist Grant McCracken, Tattered has been featured in galleries, collections and publications including BlueEyes Magazine and Der Spiegel online.

Before founding Momenta, Seth developed trips and was a lead photography instructor on over 25 workshops for National Geographic and Magnum photographers including locations in Manhattan, Tibet, India and Myanmar. He is a a licensed Wilderness First Responder and has over 3 years of international trip development training.

Seth has trained approximately 300 students in his career, many of whom have gone onto professional careers as photographers. He has worked as a photo editor and art director in the industries of publishing and advertising and his personal work is privately collected around the world.

Seth's work has been published in numerous periodicals including Snowboard Magazine, AOL's Pixcetera, BlueEyes Magazine, Vision Magazine, Trespass Magazine, The Journal of Contemporary Culture and Transworld Snowboarding Magazine. He was recently chosen as the Vermont photographer for the internationally acclaimed 50 States Project, curated by Stuart Pilkington from the UK.

Seth lives in Vermont where he has been working on a long term documentary multimedia project on sustainable living, studying farmers, architects and educators making a positive impact on the environment. When not leading workshops for Momenta and traveling on assignment, he is ever devoted to perfecting his mountain biking and snowboarding skills. See Seth's portfolio at http://sethbutler.com.

Eva Russo

Three time Pulitzer Prize nominee Eva Russo is a staff photographer for the Richmond Times-Dispatch in Virginia. She was born and raised in Italy, moved to France and then settled in the United States. A graduate in photojournalism from the prestigious Newhouse School at Syracuse University, Eva uses still photography, video and audio in her photographic storytelling on both short and long term projects. Eva received two nominations for the Pulitzer Prize for her two-year-long project documenting living and working conditions in the Richmond City Jail. Her work focused on the daily life and struggles of the inmates as well as mental health and recidivism issues.

She has covered daily assignments ranging from little league games to political campaigns to the Queen of England's visit to Virginia. However, her passion for social documentary projects are what make her tick. Her accolades and award winning coverage for the paper include coverage of the Winter Olympics, the aftermath of the Virginia Tech shootings, the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in Mississippi, the 2009 Presidential Inauguration and the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

Eva is currently exploring a long term photographic documentary on a mental health project in the city of Richmond. Her work has been published in the New York Times, the LA Times and the Dallas Morning News and she has won numerous regional and national accolades for her portfolio.

We first worked with Eva as a student on our Project Uganda workshop where she documented AIDS clinics and communities in the war ravaged Northern territories. Her passion for documentary humanitarian nonprofit stories lead us to offer her a mentorship position on our Project New Orleans workshop the next year where her editing and coaching skills shone through. We are elated to have Eva join our team of instructors for Momenta Workshops as she was one of our most popular past faculty members. See Eva's work at http://evarussophotography.com.

Chris Usher

Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, Chris Usher graduated from Indiana University at Bloomington with a degree in Journalism. Usher spent several years as a newspaper photographer before going freelance and moving to Washington, DC in 1990. Since then Usher's images have appeared in numerous domestic and international publications including TIME, LIFE, Newsweek, US News & World Report, Sports Illustrated, People, Fortune, Forbes, BusinessWeek, L'Express, Der Spiegel, Stern, VSD, and Globus.

Throughout his career, Usher has received numerous awards for his photography: Indiana College Photographer of the Year, the William Randolph Hearst Photojournalism Championship, POY, WHNPA, CHIPP, and an Eisenstaedt Award for his unique and controversial depiction of Clinton's post-acquittal speech. His award-winning photos have most recently been exhibited at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.

Both of his last two personal projects, One of Us, a three-year photo-documentary project begun on the day Hurricane Katrina made landfall in the Gulf Coast, and Behind the Velvet Rope, Usher's documentation of behind-the-scenes moments at the White House, are now traveling exhibitions and books.

Currently, Usher is immersed in wet plate and other alternative photographic processes. When he isn't working on assignments or projects, Chris would rather be fly-fishing in Montana. See Chris' portfolio at http://chrisusher.com.

Justin Maxon

Justin Maxon was born in the woods of Northern California in the same hometown as our company founder Chris Anderson. However, they didn't meet until years later in professional circles.

We are so thrilled to have Justin on our team. He is, without a doubt, one of the biggest rising stars in photojournalism today. His award count rivals those who have been in the industry for decades. His accolades include awards from World Press Photo, UNICEF Images of the Year, POYi, and NPPA's Best of Photojournalism. He won the Deeper Perspective Photographer of the Year at the 2008 Lucie Awards. In the same year he was named one of PDN's 30 Emerging Photographers to Watch.

In 2010, he was selected from an international group of applicants to participate in the 2010 Joop Swart Masterclass. Likewise, he received the 2010 FotoVisura Photography Grant and was awarded the prestigious Cliff Edom "New America Award" from the National Press Photographers Association for his work on a violent, misunderstood community in urban Philadelphia.

Justin's initial interest in photography blossomed when he worked as a wilderness trail crew leader for a youth corps in the deeps woods of Idaho, Washington and Oregon.Today his work explores the complex link between human struggle and perseverance.

Justin's feature assignments have graced the pages of TIME, Newsweek, Mother Jones Magazine, Fader Magazine, AARP Bulletin, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and NPR. He spends his time criss-crossing the country on assignments but still goes back to California to gain perspective, breath the fresh air and find inspiration. See Justin's work at http://justinmaxon.com.

Whitney Shefte

Pulitzer Prize Finalist, award-winning video and multimedia journalist Whitney Shefte works on staff at The Washington Post. As an expert in Final Cut Pro and multimedia production, Whitney joined the Momenta team in 2010 as a video and multimedia instructor and coach. Whitney's documentary storytelling work covers a wide range of breaking and feature news from the AIDS crisis in Washington, D.C. to traumatic brain injury in the military to documenting daily life in India. Her award winning pieces, including Sacred Ground, A Guide to Nationals Park, and A House for Healing, have won recognition from the National Press Photographer Association (NPPA) and White House News Photographers Association (WHNPA). Her work as a multimedia journalist for The Healing Fields was nominated for an Emmy award in 2009.

Using multiple aspects of her journalism training, Whitney pitches, researches, shoots, reports, edits and produces multimedia stories for the Washington Post's digital and print outlets. Whitney also experiments with motion graphics and digital music composition in her multimedia production in addition to using multiple storytelling platforms of video, photography, audio and writing.

Whitney is active in the professional community locally and nationally. She serves on the Video and New Media committees for WHNPA, she volunteers for VisionWorkshops teaching photography to children and she is actively involved with the non-profit organization WPOW: Women Photojournalists of Washington.

Originally from North Carolina, she is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's School of Journalism and Mass Communication. When she's not traveling on assignment, Whitney lives in Washington, DC. See Whitney's website blog at http://whitneyshefte.blogspot.com.

Chip Maury

Maury began his photography career in 1956 as a U.S. Navy Photographer's Mate. During his illustrious military career, he was a Navy diver and underwater photographer. He served in Underwater Demolition Team Eleven. With the team he served in three combat tours in Vietnam. He was also a Naval parachutist specializing in free-fall photography and made more than 1,500 jumps. His last assignment before retiring from the Navy was as the Photo Chief at Pacific Stars and Stripes, Tokyo. While there, he and his staff took first place, runner-up and almost one-half the individual awards in Military Photographer of the Year competition for three years in a row.

Maury retired as a Chief Petty Officer in 1975 and worked as a staff photographer with the Associated Press in Boston. After spending four years with AP he became the Director of Photography for The Providence Journal in Rhode Island. After nearly eight years at the Journal he moved to Indianapolis, IN. There he worked as the Director of Photography at The Indianapolis Star for 15 years.

Chip has been a visiting photojournalism professor at Syracuse University, working with both military and civilian photojournalists for more than 30 years. Maury now resides in the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York with his lovely wife Judy and continues to mentor, edit and coach young photographers through Momenta, NPPA, Military Picture of the Year competition, Eddie Adams' Barnstorm, the Shoot Out workshops and Syracuse University's The Fall Workshop.

Barbara L. Salisbury

Barbara L. Salisbury is the Chief Photographer at the Washington Times, based in our nation's capital. With over a decade of political and daily news coverage, Barbara's work covers a wide range of both national and international topics. She regularly covers stories at the White House, on political campaigns and recently, she has begun working with nonprofits and NGOs in both the US and abroad. In late 2010, she will travel to the Middle East to complete a nonprofit multimedia documentary project. 

Barbara was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 2009 for a child labor story she produced during Momenta's Myanmar Workshop. Barbara has won several National Press Photographers Association and Maryland Delaware DC Press Association awards for her still photography, multimedia and video pieces. She holds degrees from Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Journalism and Wake Forest University.

In 2007, Barbara joined Momenta Workshops as a mentor and instructor. She excels at teaching photographers how to collect and produce multimedia storytelling pieces. She has traveled extensively throughout Europe, Asia and United States exploring cultural, socioeconomic and children's issues. 

She regularly lectures at universities and professional organizations about her documentary work and was selected as featured participant of the Eddie Adams Workshop. Barbara currently resides in Northern Virginia with her husband, their baby girl and their beloved daschund, Taylor. See Barbara's portfolio at http://barbaralsalisbury.com.

Mary Calvert

Before starting her freelance career, photojournalist Mary F. Calvert worked as a staff photographer at The Washington Times for eleven years. Mary's freelance career currently has her covering the Washington, DC political arena while focusing on international, long-term photo stories related to women's issues.

In 2008, Mary received the coveted honor of the 2008 Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award in International Photography for her project, Lost Daughters: Sex Selection in India. 

A two time Pulitzer Prize finalist, Mary's photo story on fistula in Africa was a finalist for the 2007 Feature Photography category and her coverage of Rape In The Congo was a finalist in 2010. The judges commentary reflected great praise for her haunting depiction of sub-Sahara African women afflicted with fistula after childbirth: " …her courageous work…that vividly documents how rapes, by the tens of thousands, have become a weapon of war in Congo."

In 2008, she was awarded the White House News Photographers Association 2008 Project Grant for her photographic coverage of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo. She has also been awarded the Photojournalist of the Year by NPPA (Smaller Markets), First Place Portfolio Award in the White House News Photographers Association's Eyes of History Competition, as well as accumulating many POYi, WPOW and NPPA awards.

Mary's teaching experience includes being a featured faculty member for Western Kentucky University, The Mountain Workshops, The DC Shoot Off and NPPA's Flying Short Course. For the last 13 years, she has been a member of the faculty for the Department of Defense Worldwide Military Photographers Workshop in Ft. Meade where she has mentored hundreds of the best of photojournalists in the armed forces.

Mary is a graduate of San Francisco State University. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Journalism and an Associate of Arts degree in Fine Art Photography. She makes her home in Annapolis, Maryland, with her husband, photojournalist Joseph M. Eddins, Jr. and 19-year-old daughter, Mary Stone Eddins.