Saturday, May 17th, 10 am – 3:30 pm PDT (Darren Ching only) + Saturday, May 31st, 10 am – 3:30 pm PDT. AM sessions will run 10 am – 12 PDT / PM sessions will run 1:30 pm – 3:30 pm PDT
Sherrie Berger, Photography Consultant
Sherrie Berger is a creative consultant whose career revolves around photography. She has extensive experience in entertainment, high-end celebrity portraiture, fine art, documentary photography, all phases of production, editing, art direction, PR, marketing, communications, and media relations.
While at ABC Television, directing and coordinating publicists, photographers, producers, and editors, Sherrie and her team were responsible for the advertising and publicity photography of series, movies, and specials on the network, including high-profile content such as the Oscars, the Emmys, and the Olympics. Subsequently, at the international syndication agency Corbis (now Getty Images), she again worked with the industry’s most sought-after and talented photographers. Today Sherrie heads up her own photography consulting practice, teaches workshops, works one-on-one with all levels of photographers, produces television and motion picture shoots, and produces and promotes events such as The Lucie Awards, The Pop Art Photo Show, and MOPLA. She co-founded the nonprofit, Designed Giving, is an officer and a board member of the Los Angeles Center of Photography (LACP), and is a member of the ICG Publicists Guild of America.
Jonathan Blaustein, Artist, Freelance Journalist and Writer, Sunshine and Olly
Jonathan Blaustein is an artist, writer, editor, and freelance journalist based in Taos, New Mexico. His work has been exhibited in numerous galleries and museums, and is held in prominent collections, including the Library of Congress, the Brooklyn Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the State of New Mexico. He wrote for the New York Times Lens Blog for six years, and was a weekly columnist at A Photo Editor from 2011-23. Previous online bylines include The New Yorker, Vice, Hyperallergic, The Washington Post, and HuffPost. As an educator, Jonathan taught at UNM-Taos for 12 years, including as Interim Chair of the Fine Arts Department in 2015-16. Along with his wife, Jessie Kaufman, he ran the Antidote Photo Retreat from 2017-22. Jonathan’s first monograph, “Extinction Party,” was published in 2020, and chosen as one of the books of the year by BuzzFeed News. He currently edits photography books for private clients, and publishes Sunshine and Olly, a lifestyle and culture blog based in Taos.
Angela Bryant, Managing Director, Rose Gallery and Founder, Abryant Gallery
In 2009, Angela Bryant founded Abryant Gallery, an art consultation service and rotating contemporary art gallery for young/new and emerging artists. She has since curated several exhibitions, participated as both a juror and panelist, exhibited over 100 artists and installed 40 exhibits.
Although she was featured in Chicago magazine as one of “Six Young Art Curators You Should Know” Angela is a practicing artist. She is the recipient of several awards and honors and holds an MFA from The School of The Art Institute of Chicago. Angela has completed several murals over the years ranging from children’s room motifs to large scale outdoor murals. Her latest on-going project is for a public art commission with Western Illinois University. Bryant won the RFQ to design the terrazzo floor of the new Performing Arts Center.
Angela Bryant has served as an adjunct professor, an independent curator, guest lecturer at multiple institutions, and is the co-founder of MOUNT Curatorial Residency. She has also written contemporary art essays and has been published twice. For three years, Angela was the Director of Exhibitions for O’Connor Art Gallery at Dominican University where her programming highlighted the work of both emerging and established artists in two-person and group exhibitions. She is currently the managing director of ROSEGALLERY in Santa Monica, California.
Darren Ching, Co-Owner, Klompching Gallery, New York (available May 17th only)
Darren Ching is the Co-Owner of the Klompching Gallery, New York. Established in 2007, the gallery specializes in the exhibition and sale of innovative, contemporary, photo-based artworks. In 2024, the gallery transitioned to an online business model, underpinned by bespoke collector/institutional art placement, sales and events.
His expertise in photography spans 25+ years, including judging photo competitions, curating exhibits, and contributing to publications and panel discussions on the subject. He has been an Adjunct Faculty member at SVA, an External Examiner for MICA’s BFA Photography program, and Guest Critic at RISD, and Parsons School of Design. Formerly, he was the Creative Director of Photo District News. He is also the Co-Founder of the Fresh Annual Photo Awards (est. 2011) and the Rhonda Wilson Award (est. 2017).
Darren Ching is a sought-after portfolio reviewer—having reviewed at events in the UK, Sweden and the US—and is adept at providing informed advice and direction. His reviews are suitable for photographers at all stages of their career, and are tailored to the needs of the photographer.
Paris Chong, Gallery Director, Leica Gallery
Paris Chong is the Gallery Director of the prestigious Leica Gallery Los Angeles. With over two decades of experience as a Curator she has represented galleries and artists in events including Photo LA, Photo SF, Paris Photo, Paris Photo LA, The Palm Springs Photo Festival in addition to promoting Leica Gallery Los Angeles at international shows such as Art Basel and Photo Paris. Ms. Chong has also served as a respected and sought-after portfolio reviewer for The IPA Photo Awards, Fresh Look, Photoville, The Palm Springs Photo Festival and the ongoing Meet the Curator portfolio reviews for Leica Akademie USA.
Shana Nys Dambrot, Art Critic, Curator, and Author
Shana Nys Dambrot is an art critic, curator, and author based in Downtown LA. Formerly the Arts Editor at the L.A. Weekly, she is the writer and co-founder of 13ThingsLA—a weekly Substack of curated exhibition reviews and recommendations in Los Angeles. Her work appears in the Village Voice, Flaunt, WhiteHot, Alta Journal, Palm Springs Life, and other culture publications. She studied Art History at Vassar College, curates and juries exhibitions, writes prolifically for catalogs and monographic publications, and speaks at galleries, schools, and cultural institutions nationally. She is the recipient of the Rabkin Prize for Art Criticism, the Mozaik Art Writers Prize, and the LA Press Club National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Critic of the Year award. Her oneiric novella Zen Psychosis (Griffith Moon) was published in 2020.
Patricia Lanza, Independent Curator and Consultant
Patricia Lanza is currently working as an independent curator and consultant for art, inclusive of touring exhibitions and their development. She is overseeing the traveling exhibitions: Hugh Mangum a historical portrait photographer from the early 1900’s, presented at the Nasher Museum, the DeLand Museum and the Museo of Culture in Anaheim, Days of Punk by Michael Grecco and Homage; A Tribute to African Tribal Art by Greg Gorman and Gary John currently in Dubai, UAE.
Lanza is a regular contributor (byline Close UP) to the Eye of the Photograph (www.oeildelaphotographie), the French and English online magazine. She was the Director of Talent and Content for the Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles from 2009 to 2017. During her tenure there the Annenberg Space for Photography garnered many awards. In 2011, the exhibition, Beauty Culture won exhibition of the year, in a field which included major international museum photography shows, and the film directed by Lauren Greenfield. The Cuba IS exhibition in 2017 was rated number four in the world by ARTNET of all museum shows that year.
She began her career at the National Geographic Society in Washington DC, where she was a contract photographer for eight years. She participated in a two–person photography show with Lynn Johnson on Vincent van Gogh which opened at the Leica Gallery in Beverly Hills in 2019 and traveled to venues, including the Kennedy Museum in Ohio.
Rebecca Morse, Curator of Photography, LA County Museum of Art
Rebecca Morse is Curator in the Wallis Annenberg Photography Department at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Recent projects include Ed Ruscha: Now Then, Objects of Desire: Photography and the Language of Advertising, Barbara Kruger: Thinking of You I Mean Me I Mean You, Thomas Joshua Cooper: The World’s Edge, Sarah Charlesworth: Doubleworld, and Larry Sultan: Here and Home. She was previously Associate Curator at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) where she organized Amanda Ross Ho: Teeny Tiny Woman, Cai Guo-Qiang: Ladder to the Sky, Rodarte: States of Matter, The Artist’s Museum, and Florian Maier-Aichen. Upcoming projects include Laura Gilpin: Photographer of the West.
Ibarionex Perello, Host, The Candid Frame Photography Podcast
Ibarionex Perello is a photographer, writer, educator and host of The Candid Frame Photography podcast. He has over 25 years of experience in the photographic industry. In his role as host and producer of The Candid Frame, he provides frank, insightful interviews with some of the industry’s top established and emerging photographers. The popular show has featured guests including Jay Maisel, Mary Ellen Mark, Joel Meyerowitz, Pete Turner, Lynn Goldsmith and Gerd Ludwig and enjoys a following among photo enthusiasts from all over the world. The weekly program is consistently ranked among the top programs of its type. Ibarionex is also the author of 5 books including: Chasing the Light: Improving Your Photography Using Available Light, 5D Mark III From Snapshot to Great Shots, and Adobe Master Class: Photoshop. He is also the co-author of Visual Stories: Behind the Len with Vincent Laforet and Portraits of Strangers. His photographs and articles have appeared in numerous publications and websites including Digital Photo Pro, Outdoor Photographer, Rangefinder, Shutterbug, Popular Photography, DP Review and Scott Kelby’s Light It magazines. He has also served as an adjunct professor at the Art Center College of Design and he is currently a production fellow at Maximum Fun which produces several program including NPR’s Bullseye with Jesse Thorn. He currently lives in the Los Angeles area with his wife and their two dogs, Spenser and Zooey.
Rotem Rozental, Executive Director and Curator, LACP (Available May 31st PM ONLY)
Rotem Rozental, Ph.D., is the Executive Director of the Los Angeles Center of Photography. Between 2016-2022, she served as Chief Curator at American Jewish University, where she was also Assistant Dean of the Whizin Center for Continuing Education and Senior Director of Arts and Creative Programming. Her upcoming book, Pre-State Photographic Archives and the Zionist Movement will be released by Routledge Publishers in March 2023, and was named recipient of the Jordan Schnitzer First Book Award by the Association for Jewish Studies.
Rotem is a lecturer at USC Roski School of Art and Design Critical Studies Department. She mentors artists worldwide and contributes regularly to magazines, journals and exhibition catalogues. Her writings about contemporary art and image-based media, as well as Jewish and Israeli art, were published in Artforum.com, Photographies, Jewish Currents, Tablet and Forward, among other outlets.
Aline Smithson, Founder/Editor Lenscratch, Photographer, and Educator
Aline Smithson has given exposure to thousands of photographers over the years, curated and juried exhibitions, and has been a reviewer at photo festivals across the country. Her own work has been exhibited and published world wide and she has an understanding of the reviewing experience from both sides of the table. Aline is open to all types of fine art photography, but is looking for projects created with intention and deep consideration.