Dennis Dimick
Executive Editor (Environment)
National Geographic

Dennis has participated in 14 MPWs as faculty and one as a student.

He is the executive editor for environment at National Geographic Magazine and believes that environmental issues are an underlying aspect of almost every photo story.

He likes MPW because it allows photographers to find their own voice instead of simply completing assignments generated by others. While in France, he ran into three of his former MPW students. About MPW, they admitted to Dimick, "That was the worst week of my life at that time, but I had no idea how it would change my life."

Melissa Farlow
Freelance Photographer
National Geographic

Melissa has participated in about 18 MPW workshops.

She is a freelance photographer for National Geographic. Melissa spent 18 years on assignment work for National Geographic. She is currently working on a website, www.olsonfarlow.com, with her partner and husband Randy Olson.

"I do this workshop because I believe in everything about it: connecting with subjects and building community-even with other photographers... I also learn things every year, and I think it is important to pass on to others what I have learned. I feel responsible to keep it alive."

MaryAnne Golon
Freelance Consultant
AARP

MaryAnne has participated in nine MPW workshops.

She is a freelance consultant for AARP and is the former picture editor of Time magazine.

Although she considers every workshop to be memorable, the ones that stick out to her most are Louisiana in 2003 and West Plains in 1999. "I believe in the workshop," she said. "I believe in what it teaches."

Kim Komenich
Assistant Professor (New Media Journalism)
San Jose State University

Kim started MPW in 1992 as a student and returned the following year as a faculty member. He has only missed one workshop since then.

He is currently an assistant professor at San Jose State University. He received the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the Philippine revolution, the 1983 World Press award for news picture stories, and the 1987 SPJ National Distinguished Service award.

One of his favorite aspects of the workshop is the camaraderie among the faculty. "You feel like you're starting up a conversation you left off a day ago. If you do this long enough, you end up spending a fraction of your life here," he said.

Randy Olson
Freelance Photographer
National Geographic

Randy has participated in so many MPWs he can't keep track.

He is a freelance photographer for National Geographic and was POYi's Magazine Photographer of the Year for 2003 and Newspaper Photographer of the year for 1992. He is one of only two photographers to win the title in both media.

He was also awarded an Alicia Patterson Fellowship to support a seven-year project documenting a family with AIDS.

Peggy Peattie
Staff Photographer
San Diego Union Tribune

This is Peggy's second MPW.

She has won a long list of awards from the National Press Photographer's Association and the Picture of the Year International competitions, including the Region 10 Photographer of the Year.

"What I get out of my five days here - the enthusiasm and the inspiration - I am able to tap into the other 360 days of the year."

Rhonda Prast
Assistant Professor (Magazine Journalism)
University of Missouri

This is Rhonda's fourth MPW.

The workshop is slightly different now than it was udring her last time as faculty in '99. She says that she notices the effects of the flailing newspaper industry and the booming multimedia and website industry on this workshop.

"I love everything about this workshop... especially seeing stories develop from nothing."

Lois Raimondo
Assistant Professor
West Virginia Univertsity

Lois started at MPW as a photographer in 1987 at Caruthersville. Two years later she came back as a faculty member and has since only missed five or six workshops.

Lois is an assistant professor at West Virginia University and spent four years as chief photographer for the Associated Press Bureau in Hanoi, Vietnam.

She values the workshop because photographers get to work on self-generated assignments. The stories that have stood out to her the most are the ones where the "photographers changed the most."

Craig Walker
Staff Photographer
Denver Post

This is Craig's first MPW workshop. On Monday he said, "there's a little edginess that'll go away pretty quickly, then the energy level is just turned up to 11."

Craig is a staff photographer at the Denver Post and won the Pulitzer Prize last year for his story "Ian Fisher: American Soldier." What he thought would take him a year to shoot turned into more than two years, including the month he spent embedded in Iraq. "It really turned into a story about growing up, it was less about [Ian] being a soldier."

Christopher Wilkins
Assistant Director of Photography
Dallas Morning News

This is Chris's 14th MPW workshop, but his first one in 14 years.

He is the assistant director of photography at Dallas Morning News.

He remembers sitting up at night with Cliff Edom talking about photojournalism until 4 in the morning. "Those were probably some of the best memories of my entire life," he said. "I think David and Jim and Duane, and most of the faculty are all disciples of his."

Chris said that the beauty of the workshop is that "everything has changed so much, but the mission of the workshop hasn't changed one bit.