Sarah Leen

Emeritus Director of Photography of National Geographic Magazine

National Geographic magazine’s first female director of photography, Sarah Leen is an internationally renowned photo editor, educator, and curator who has shaped major visual stories from assignment to publication.

She is known for rigorous editorial thinking and for collaborating with photographers and publishers on long-term projects and photobooks. She brings to PhotoDocumentarians mentees a clear view of what it takes to work with publications like National Geographic, how editors evaluate projects, what makes an edit hold together, and how to strengthen your sequencing and presentation to a professional standard.

Cristina de Middel

Magnum Photos President

President of Magnum Photos, Cristina de Middel is an award-winning documentary photographer and author of more than fourteen photobooks. After a decade in photojournalism, she developed a distinctive approach that blends documentary with conceptual storytelling and staged elements.

Her work is exhibited internationally, with invitations to festivals and curatorial programs including LagosPhoto and PhotoEspaña, and includes acclaimed projects such as The Afronauts. She brings to PhotoDocumentarians mentees practical guidance on building a bold point of view, shaping projects from idea to edit, and presenting work with clarity, originality, and intention.

Robin Hammond

National Geographic Explorer & Human rights photographer

Robin Hammond is a human rights photographer and National Geographic Explorer whose work has received major international recognition, including World Press Photo and the W. Eugene Smith Grant.

He is the founder of Witness Change, a nonprofit advancing human rights through visual storytelling. His project Where Love Is Illegal, published as a photobook in 2022, features 80 large-format Polaroid portraits with handwritten testimonies, created through a collaborative approach centered on subject control and safety. In PhotoDocumentarians, he shares how to build ethical access, earn trust, and shape projects into narratives with real reach and impact.

Magdalena Herrera

GEO France Director of Photography

Magdalena Herrera is director of photography at GEO France and a former art director and head of photography at National Geographic France. Trained in fine arts and art history at the Sorbonne, she is known for a sharp editorial eye and for shaping photo-driven stories across magazines and books.

She is regularly invited to jury major international photography competitions, including serving as chair of the World Press Photo contest jury. In PhotoDocumentarians, she shares how editors select, commission, and refine projects for publication, and how to pitch your work with clarity, focus, and the right editorial angle.

John Stanmeyer

VII & National Geographic photographer

John Stanmeyer is a National Geographic Explorer, Emmy-nominated filmmaker, and co-founder of VII Photo Agency. Over the past two decades, he has produced major work for National Geographic, including stories and covers, and contributed to Paul Salopek’s Out of Eden Walk. He also worked as a contract photographer for Time magazine, documenting defining global events.

His work has been recognized with top honors including the Robert Capa Award, Pictures of the Year International Magazine Photographer of the Year, and World Press Photo of the Year. In PhotoDocumentarians, he shares how to build visually conscious, long-term narratives with editorial rigor. 

Newsha Tavakolian

Magnum Photos

Newsha Tavakolian is a Magnum Photos member and an Iranian photographer, visual artist, and educator whose work captures the human condition with rare emotional precision.

She is known for intimate, human-centered storytelling, often focused on women’s lives and the emotional cost of conflict. Her project The Day I Became a Woman reflects her ability to translate everyday realities into images that feel both personal and political. Her honors include the Carmignac Gestion Award and the Prince Claus Award. Her work is held in collections including the Victoria and Albert Museum, the British Museum, the Smithsonian, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Jim Estrin

Founder The New York Times Portfolio Review

Jim Estrin is a New York Times staff photographer and journalist known for visually driven reporting on culture, faith, health, race, and disability. He co-founded Lens, the Times photography platform, and created the New York Portfolio Review, where photographers meet editors, curators, and publishers for direct feedback.

He was part of the New York Times team that won the Pulitzer Prize in 2001 and served as co-executive producer of the HBO documentary Underfire: The Untold Story of Pfc. Tony Vaccaro. For PhotoDocumentarians mentees, he focuses on building stronger photo stories, approaching editors, and developing projects with clarity and integrity.

Rena Effendi

Documentary Photographer

Rena Effendi is an award-winning documentary photographer whose early work explored the oil industry’s impact on people’s lives. Over six years, she followed a 1,700-kilometer oil pipeline through Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey, resulting in her first monograph, Pipe Dreams: A Chronicle of Lives along the Pipeline. Her second book, Liquid Land, reflects on fragility and environmental change. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at Istanbul Modern, the Venice Biennial, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and has received honors including World Press Photo and the Prince Claus Fund Award. For PhotoDocumentarians, her contribution centers on building a sustainable career through long-term personal projects rooted in subjects close to your heart.

Mads Nissen

Photojournalist, 3 times World Press Photo winner

Mads Nissen is a Danish documentary photographer and three-time World Press Photo of the Year winner, known for empathetic, intimate storytelling on inequality, human rights, and our relationship with nature. After graduating from the Danish School of Journalism in 2007, he moved to Shanghai to document the social consequences of China’s economic rise and has since combined newsroom work at Politiken with long-term projects.

His book We Are Indestructible grew from an assignment in Colombia into a deeper portrait of a country shaped by conflict and fragile peace. For PhotoDocumentarians, his contribution centers on building long-term stories that connect with audiences and carry real-world relevance.

Erika Larsen

National Geographic Photographer

Erika Larsen is a photographer and multidisciplinary storyteller known for long-form visual essays about cultures with deep ties to the natural world. She has produced multiple stories for National Geographic, from following Sámi reindeer herders across the Scandinavian Arctic to exploring the cultural significance of the horse in Native American communities. She contributed to National Geographic’s book Yellowstone: A Journey Through America’s Wild Heart. A Fulbright Fellow, she studied the North Sámi language, leading to her monograph Sámi, Walking With Reindeer. Inside PhotoDocumentarians, her session highlights how to earn access to communities, photograph with cultural sensitivity, and build a narrative where people, place, and purpose stay inseparable.

Yael Martinez

Magnum Photos

Yael Martínez is a Mexican documentary photographer and Magnum Photos member known for poetic, symbolic work on loss, resilience, and the social fabric of communities affected by violence in Mexico. His honors include the W. Eugene Smith Grant and World Press Photo recognition, as well as the National Geographic Society Wayfinder Award. His projects have been published widely, including by National Geographic, Aperture, and The New York Times, and exhibited internationally. Inside PhotoDocumentarians, he focuses on building a personal visual language, working with symbolism without losing documentary weight, and shaping long-term projects with emotional precision.

Sanne De Wilde

NOOR Images

Sanne De Wilde is a Belgian photographer and NOOR member whose work explores how genetics, identity, and perception shape vulnerability. She is known for projects that expand documentary form through research, collaboration, and a precise visual language. Key works include her photobook The Island of the Colorblind and the World Press Photo-winning Land of Ibeji. Her work has been published internationally, including by The Guardian, The New Yorker, National Geographic, Le Monde, and CNN, and exhibited at major festivals and institutions. In her PhotoDocumentarians session, the focus is on building concept-led projects, blending documentary and experimentation, and translating complex themes into images that feel both rigorous and emotionally resonant.

Michael Christopher Brown

Acclaimed Documentary Photographer and Filmmaker

Michael Christopher Brown is an American documentary photographer and filmmaker known for his coverage of the Libyan revolution and the acclaimed book Libyan Sugar, which received the Paris Photo First Photobook Award and an International Center of Photography Infinity Award. A contributing photographer at National Geographic since 2005 and a former Magnum Photos associate, he became widely recognized for using smartphones in conflict zones to work with speed, proximity, and discretion. His long-term reporting spans Libya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Cuba, Israel, and the West Bank, combining conflict, culture, and personal immersion. Within PhotoDocumentarians, the focus is on authorship, ethics, and how to expand documentary form while keeping the story grounded.

Dominique Hildebrand

Climate and environment photo assignment editor, The Washington Post

Dominique Hildebrand is a visual editor shaping climate and environment coverage at The Washington Post. Previously, she edited at National Geographic, leading multiplatform stories including the September 2022 cover feature on America’s land conservation strategy. Her work spans long-form assignments, fast-moving events, and photo-led reporting on extreme weather.

In PhotoDocumentarians, her session offers an editor’s view of what makes a pitch land, how assignments get commissioned, and how to tighten an edit and caption package so a project reads clearly and publishes strongly.

Andreas Trampe

Stern Magazine Director of Photography

Andreas Trampe is Senior Picture Editor at Stern Magazine in Germagy. He started as a photo trainee, then worked as a freelance photojournalist for German newspapers and magazines before joining Stern in 1996. He rose from deputy on the picture desk to director of photography for nineteen years, helping shape one of Europe’s most influential magazine photo departments. He is a co-founder of the Hamburg Portfolio Review and the Stern Young Photography program, which awards one graduating student a one-year staff photographer position at Stern. A World Press Photo contest jury member, he brings a clear editor’s perspective on what makes work stand out, how strong edits get built, and how photographers position projects for publication.

Kiana Hayeri

The New York Times photographer

Kiana Hayeri is an Iranian-Canadian photojournalist, known for long-term reporting in Afghanistan. Her work explores migration, adolescence, identity, and women’s lives in conflict settings. She has received the Leica Oskar Barnack Award, the Robert Capa Gold Medal for her project Where Prison Is a Kind of Freedom, and the Carmignac Photojournalism Award for No Woman’s Land. Her photobook When Cages Fly was published in 2024. A Senior TED Fellow and National Geographic Explorer grantee, she contributes to The New York Times and National Geographic. In PhotoDocumentarians, her session focuses on access, safety, collaboration, and building a sustainable career working in photo stories that matter.

Alixandra Fazzina

NOOR Images

Alixandra Fazzina (UK and Ireland) is a NOOR photographer known for compassionate, quietly powerful work on under-reported conflicts and the human consequences of war. She documented the migration route from Somalia to the Arabian Peninsula in her book A Million Shillings: Escape from Somalia, shortlisted for the Pictures of the Year International Best Photography Book of the Year. Her long-term project The Flowers of Afghanistan follows Afghan children seeking refuge in Europe. She also works as a researcher and producer for broadcast media and collaborates internationally with organizations including World Press Photo and Reporters Without Borders. In PhotoDocumentarians, her session focuses on access, ethics, and long-term storytelling in fragile environments.

Guy Martin

PANOS Pictures

Guy Martin is a documentary photographer and Panos Pictures member. After graduating from the University of Wales, Newport, he photographed the Arab revolutions and Libya, then based himself in Istanbul to develop The Parallel State, his GOST photobook on Turkish soft power and new identities, named one of Time magazine’s best photobooks of the year.

His work explores how screens and digital life collide with politics and violence, and has appeared in The New York Times, TIME, National Geographic, and Le Monde. He lectures at the University of Falmouth and serves on the Rory Peck Trust advisory board.

Adriana Teresa Letorney

Visura Founder

Adriana Teresa Letorney is the founder and chief executive officer of Visura, a global marketplace connecting publishers with freelance visual storytellers. She is also the co-founder of Scout Film Festival, supporting filmmakers aged 24 and under. A journalist and entrepreneur, her writing has appeared in The New York Times and HuffPost, and she serves as a juror, nominator, or reviewer for major organizations including Prix Pictet, World Press Photo, the Alexia Grant, and the New York Times Portfolio Review. Her contribution to PhotoDocumentarians focuses on pitching, editor relationships, and building visibility through smart distribution.

Santiago Lyon

Adobe Content Authenticity Initiative Director

Santiago Lyon is Head of Advocacy and Education for the Content Authenticity Initiative, an Adobe-led coalition advancing digital content provenance to fight misinformation. A former conflict photographer and senior leader at the Associated Press, he directed its global photography coverage from 2003 to 2016, a period when the organization earned three Pulitzer Prizes for photography. A Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, he has chaired World Press Photo Awards.

In PhotoDocumentarians, he focuses on authenticity, ethics, and practical ways to protect your work and reputation in the age of generative imagery.

Laura El-Tantawy

Visual artist and bookmaker

Laura El-Tantawy is a British Egyptian documentary photographer and bookmaker, whose work explores home, belonging, and the human condition through poetic, socially engaged visual narratives. Shaped by living between Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United States, and the United Kingdom, she blends photography with personal storytelling and, at times, sound and moving image. Her acclaimed project and book In the Shadow of the Pyramids reframed the Egyptian revolution through memory, emotion, and lived experience. She is the first Egyptian recipient of the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund Award and a nominee for the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize. In PhotoDocumentarians, she focuses on author-driven storytelling, sequencing, and building a career through personal projects.

Mike Davis

Former Director Alexia Grant

Mike Davis is a veteran photo editor, educator, and consultant whose mission has been helping visual storytellers create images that last beyond the day across institutions including National Geographic Magazine, The White House, and leading American newspapers. He recently completed eight years as director of the Alexia grants competition while serving as an endowed faculty member at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School. Twice named Newspaper Picture Editor of the Year, he has edited more than 40 books and received the National Press Photographers Association’s Sprague Award, its highest honor. His edited teams and photographers have earned top recognitions across PoYI, and many other competitions, and he has served as a juror for major awards and grants worldwide.

Bertan Selim

Founder VID Foundation & Former Prince Claus Fund

Bertan Selim is an arts manager and photography advocate working in international grant-making and cultural development. He is the founder and executive director of the VID Foundation for Photography, supporting emerging visual storytellers from the Balkans through grants and mentorship. At the Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development, he has helped shape programs that back socially engaged storytelling, including co-establishing the Arab Documentary Photography Programme in 2014 with the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture and the Magnum Foundation. He curates exhibitions, lectures across Europe, and serves on multiple arts boards. His session explores funding strategy, positioning, and building long-term support for personal projects.

Marcel Saba

Founder Redux Pictures

Marcel Saba is the founder of Redux Pictures, a New York based photo agency representing photographers worldwide. Redux works across editorial, commercial, travel, lifestyle, and documentary storytelling, and represents the photo collection of The New York Times Archives alongside many leading collections. He has served as president of the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund.

Inside PhotoDocumentarians, he demystifies the agency world: how to position your work, pitch with clarity, build trust with clients, and think strategically about assignments, licensing, and sustainable growth.

Sim Chi Yin

Magnum Photos 

Sim Chi Yin is a Singaporean visual artist and Magnum Photos nominee whose research-driven practice spans photography, moving image, archival work, bookmaking, and performance. Her work explores history, conflict, memory, and extraction through layered narratives of place and identity, including projects such as The Rat Tribe and Dying to Breathe. Based in New York, she is completing a doctorate at King’s College London focused on British Malaya, and her work is held in major collections including Harvard Art Museum, the J. Paul Getty Museum, M plus Hong Kong, and Singapore Art Museum. Inside PhotoDocumentarians, she teaches how to turn deep research and archives into emotionally precise, concept-led visual stories.