Mallory Benedict speaking about a project she worked on with Hannah Reyes Morales about the role lullabies play in bedtime routines around the world, during MPW.75 in Sedalia, Mo. Photo by Clayton Steward/MPW.75

Women Photograph

Women Photograph started as a database of photographers that editors could use to get connected with experienced female photojournalists. Now, Women Photograph has grown into a non-profit with over 1,400 women from over 100 countries in the database.

In 2017, Danielle Zalcman founded the organization to solve a problem. Of all front page images at leading publications published that year, less than 25 percent were made by women, according to data collected by the organization. In 2022, that number remained under 25 percent.

According to Mallory Benedict, a faculty member at MPW.75 and board member for Women Photograph, the organization hoped to combat common barriers women face in the industry — such as implicit gatekeeping and inappropriate behavior when entering and staying in the field.

“It’s dangerous for the stories we tell to be from a singular perspective, or a very homogenous perspective,” Benedict said. “Having women and non-binary perspectives on all sorts of issues provides you insight that you wouldn’t have otherwise if it was from this more myopic, historically white male perspective.”

Leaders at Women Photograph hope to elevate diverse storytelling across the world, counteracting Western centric influence.

Benedict created and developed the organization’s mentorship program, which pairs photographers with photo editors and industry leaders. The photographers must have less than five years of professional experience in the field and at the end of the mentorship program are added into the Women Photograph database.

More information can be found at www.womenphotograph.com.

Authority Collective

Ariel Zambelich remembers the challenges women like her faced when she was first establishing herself in the industry.

“It was really hard to do this work if you did not come from a specific socio-economic background and specific experience,” she said.

Zambelich now serves as a board member for Authority Collective, an organization for women and gender queer people of color. The goal of the Collective is to spark conversation and collaboration, and hopefully develop a framework for people within specific communities to tell their own stories. She hopes the Collective can “bring attention to, and hopefully elicit some change in a way that helps make photojournalism and journalism more equitable for people who historically have been marginalized and kept out of this space.”

As treasurer, Zambelich is currently working on turning Authority Collective into a non-profit, which will allow the organization to work under a fundraising structure. With financial support, the organization’s hope is to compensate members of this community who bring valuable perspectives to visually-driven stories.

Authority Collective recently started publishing Veer, a digital platform that highlights the work of members and provides a space for conversations about where they see themselves in the industry.

More information about the organization can be found at www.authoritycollective.org.

Bill Marr speaks with participants about photo editing on Tuesday at MPW.75 headquarters in Sedalia. Marr shared photographs from MPW.74 and walked students through the editing process. Photo by Clayton Steward/MPW.75