The Gathering is an annual photography conference designed to inspire photographers to think deeper about their work, learn about the creative process, and develop more empathy for others.
The Gathering is not about business, marketing, technique, popularity, or following trends.
The Gathering will push you to be a better photographer and a more kind human being.
2022 GATHERING SPEAKERS
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ENDIA BEAL
Endia Beal is a North Carolina based artist, curator, and author. Beal’s work merges her love of fine arts with social justice. She uses photography and video to reveal the often overlooked and unappreciated experiences unique to people of color. Beal's recent work, Performance Review, highlights the harsh reality for women of color working in a corporate world.
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RUDDY ROYE
Radcliffe Roye is a documentary photographer based in Brooklyn who specializes in editorial and environmental portraits and photojournalism. Radcliffe is influenced by the raw and gritty lives the people of his homeland of Jamaica. By bringing their voices to matte fibre paper, Radcliffe hopes to tell the stories of their triumphs and tragedies.
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DEANNA DIKEMAN
Deanna Dikeman was born in Sioux City, Iowa, USA, and currently resides in Kansas City. Since leaving a corporate job in 1985, she has photographed her midwestern family and surroundings. Her photographs have been public art projects in Kansas City, Missouri; St. Louis Missouri; and Albany, New York. Dikeman's portrait series and family album “Leaving and Waving,” paints a picture of love and time flowing through the window of a departing car.
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SHURAN HUANG
Shuran Huang 黃舒然 (she/her) is a Cantonese photojournalist based in Washington, D.C. Through moments of intimacy, her work focuses on politics, immigration, human rights, diaspora experiences, and interactions in between. Shuran has lived in mostly diverse yet disadvantaged communities in eight countries. She often confronts the reality of assimilating and adapting to new communities, which develops her dedication to elevate and empower communities through visual storytelling.
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JEREMY DENNIS
Jeremy Dennis is a Shinnecock Indian Nation tribal member and a contemporary fine art photographer based in Southampton, New York. He investigates indigenous identity, culture, and assimilation in his work. Dennis began working on his series, Stories—Indigenous Oral Stories, Dreams, and Myths series in 2013. Inspired by indigenous stories from North America, the artist has created supernatural images that reshape myths and legends into photographic depictions of real-life experiences. Dennis is more determined than ever to provide a multifaceted and compelling representation of indigenous people as racial divisions and tensions reach a national tipping point.
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BARBARA PEACOCK
Barbara studied Fine Arts at Boston University and Photography and filmmaking at The School of the Museum of Fine Arts/Tufts. She is a 2017 Getty Editorial Grant Winner for her project 'American Bedroom.' She published her first book 'Hometown' in 2015 - a 30-year photographic project of her small New England hometown. She has been traveling across the United States working in American Bedrooms for five years.
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LYNSEY WEATHERSPOON
The #blackqueergirl is an award winning photographer, portraitist and director based in Atlanta and Birmingham. Using both photography and filmmaking as tools to tell stories, Weatherspoon’s work has been featured in The New York Times, USA Today, NPR, Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Time, ESPN, and ESPN-owned The Undefeated.
Lynsey Weatherspoon’s work has been exhibited at The African American Museum in Philadelphia and Photoville NYC. She is an awardee, The Lit List, 2018. Her affiliations include Diversify Photo, Authority Collective, and Women Photograph, as well as National Press Photographers Association (NPPA), Professional Photographers Association (PPA), American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP), and American Photographic Artists (APA). She was also named a Canon Explorer of Light in 2020.
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CINTHYA SANTOS-BRIONES
Cinthya Santos Briones is a Mexican participatory artist, anthropologist, ethnohistorian and community organizer based in New York. Her multimedia work uses collaborative and community narratives of self-representation to tell stories about homeland, immigration, memory, and (indigenous) identity through an interdisciplinary process that uses photography, ethnography, history, textiles, herbalism and audiovisual and written narratives.
For ten years Cinthya worked as a researcher at the National Institute of Anthropology and History focused on issues on indigenous migration, codex, textiles and traditional medicine. She is the recipient of fellowships and grants from the Magnum Foundation (2016/2018/2020), En Foco (2017), National Geographic Research and Exploration (2018), We Woman (2019) and the National Fund for Culture and the Arts of México (2009/2011).
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JUSTIN COOK
Justin Cook is based in Durham, North Carolina but works everywhere. His long-term photographic essays tell stories about resiliency in communities living along the edges in America, often by focusing on environmental issues and climate change. He believes storytelling that not only shines light on these issues, but also investigates solutions is crucial to social change.
Justin is a 2006 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Journalism and Mass Communication. His work has been funded by The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting Connected Coastlines Initiative, The North Carolina Arts Council, The Puffin Foundation, and honored by The Magenta Foundation, Photolucida, POYi, The Society of Professional Journalists, and American Photography.
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EMILIE WHITE
Emilie White is a portrait and wedding photographer who has been professionally photographing weddings for over ten years. Emilie, originally from France, previously worked as an intellectual property counsel in the entertainment and copyright industries before switching careers. Her wedding photography combines timeless artistic portraits with reportage-style images with an editorial bent. White's goal is to imbue her work with a sense of timeless beauty and understated elegance.
What people are saying.
“The MUSEA Gathering surpassed all expectations of what I had hoped to get out of it. The Speakers were phenomenal!”
Kim Belverud
“Attending the MUSEA Gathering inspired me to follow my intuition to document stories in sync with my sensibility instead of following a shot-list. The Gathering was more than I expected.”
Darien Mejia Chandler
“I can’t say enough good things about the MUSEA Gathering… I’ve really never seen a workshop like it.”
Meg Messina
“In an industry that feels like a hamster wheel of everyone trying to look as awesome as possible and selling you the next greatest idea, it was like breathing fresh mountain air to just sit (virtually) with normal people encouraging us all to be better artists, better humans, and more uniquely creative with our own voice instead of copying someone else's.”
Ryan Price
Sponsors
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Pic-Time
An online image and sales platform for professional photographers and their clients.
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Hahnemühle
Since 1584, Hahnemühle has been making some of the best papers in the world. Their Digital Fine Art Papers are unmatched in quality.
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Instaproofs
An online image and sales solution for booking, hosting client galleries, marketing and selling your images.
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Indie Film Lab
Indie is a lab that loves the art of film photography. Indie Film Lab processes and scans film for photographers.
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Canson
Canson® is the global market leader of Fine Arts papers, a major actor of conservation products, technical and digital printing papers.
RESERVE YOUR SEAT TODAY!
FREE
Day One Ticket
• Participate in Day One of the 2022 Gathering
$150
Gathering Ticket
Full Access to Day Two & Day Three of the 2022 Gathering
Includes access to the recordings after the Gathering (Endia Beal will not be recorded, you’ll need to attend live to see her presentation.)
Access to Recordings will cost $300 after the Gathering.
$300
Portfolio Review Ticket
Full Access to Day Two & Day Three of the 2022 Gathering
Private one-on-one Portfolio Review from one of the Gathering Speakers
Includes access to the recordings after the Gathering (Endia Beal will not be recorded, you’ll need to attend live to see her presentation.)
(Only 36 26 tickets left)
2022 Gathering Schedule
all times are CST
Day One • Feb 21st • Free to Attend
8:00 am - Doors Open
8:45 am - Pic-Time Presentation
9 am - 9:30 am - Interview with Lynsey Weatherspoon
9:30 am - 10 am - Interview with Justin Cook
10 am - 10:30 am - Interview with Emilie White
10:30 am - 10:45 am - Break
10:45 am - 11:15 pm - Interview with Endia Beal
11:15 pm - 11:45 pm - Interview with Shuran Huang
11:45 pm - 12:15 pm - Interview with Jeremy Dennis
12:15 pm - 1 pm - Lunch and Visit Sponsor Booths
1 pm - 1:30 pm - Interview with Ruddy Roye
1:30 pm - 2:00 pm - Interview with Deanna Dikeman
2:00 pm - 2:30 pm - Interview with Amy Lynn Powell
2:30 pm - 2:45 pm - Break
2:45 pm - 3:15 pm - Interview with Daniel Kim
3:15 pm - 3:45 pm - Interview with Barbara Peacock
3:45 pm - 4:15 pm - Interview with Cinthya Santos-Briones
4:15 pm - 6 pm - Online Hangout / Social Time / Visit Sponsor Booths
Day Two • Feb 22nd • Paid Ticket Required
7:00 am - Doors Open
7:45 am - Instaproofs Presentation
8:00 am - 9:30 am - Lynsey Weatherspoon presenting “Black Folx with Cameras: A Perpetual Movement”
9:35 am - 11:05 am - Justin Cook presenting “Photography for Connection in the Age of Climate Change” with Q&A
11:10 am - 12:40 pm - Keynote Presentation “Am I What You're Looking For? | A Conversation with Endia Beal” with Q&A
12:40 pm - 1:10 pm - Lunch and Visit Sponsor Booths
1:10 pm - 2:40 pm - Deanna Dikeman presenting “Photographing the Familiar” with Q&A
2:45 pm - 4:15 pm - Daniel Kim presenting “With Open Arms” with Q&A
4:20 pm - 5:50 pm - Cinthya Santos-Briones presenting “Community Narratives and Plural Authorship” with Q&A
5:50 pm - 7:30 pm - Online Hangout / Social Time / Visit Sponsor Booths
6:00 pm - 7:30 pm - Private Portfolio Reviews
Day Three • Feb 23rd • Paid Ticket Required
7:00 am - Doors Open
7:45 am - Hahnemühle Presentation
8:00 am - 9:30 am - Emilie White presenting “Style & Authenticity” with Q&A
9:35 am - 11:05 am - Ruddy Roye presenting “Carrying the Burden: The Weight of the Flag” with Q&A
11:10 am - 12:40 pm - Barbara Peacock presenting “Creating and Financing the Long Term Photography Project” with Q&A
12:40 pm - 1:10 pm - Lunch and Visit Sponsor Booths
1:10 pm - 2:40 pm - Shuran Huang presenting “Revealing Humanity and Intimacy through Empathic Storytelling” with Q&A
2:45 pm - 4:15 pm - Amy Lynn Powell presenting “Photographing People: Intention and Exploitation” with Q&A
4:20 pm - 5:50 pm - Jeremy Dennis presenting “Connections to Indigenous Homelands” with Q&A
5:50 pm - 7:30 pm - Online Hangout / Social Time / Visit Sponsor Booths
6:00 pm - 7:30 pm - Private Portfolio Reviews
FAQ
Where is the Gathering held online?
We use Hopin to host the Gathering. It’s more robust than Zoom with more features that create a more intimate setting for all attendees.
Will there be recordings of the Gathering?
We are recording the 2022 Gathering. It’s best to experience it as a live event if possible, but we understand not everyone can commit 3 full days or lives in another part of the world. The recordings will be available on this site on March 1st, but they will not include the presentation of Endia Beal. The cost of the recordings will be $300 if you do not purchase a ticket ahead of time, so you will get access to all the recordings for $150 if you purchase a ticket now.
Do you need any special software to attend?
No. You don’t need to download anything. Hopin is browser-based, so you just need a good internet connection. You can participate in the Gathering on a phone, tablet, laptop, or desktop computer.
Will I be able to interact with the Speakers?
Yes. There will be time to ask questions via chat and even ask questions via your webcam.
Can I teach at the 2023 Gathering?
Maybe. We hand-select the Speakers each year. We find the Speakers through research, referrals, and leading industry publications. We currently don’t have an application process, but feel free to reach out to us via email.