2023 CatchLight Impact Report

2023 Impact Report 1

ON THE COVER Andrea Bruce CatchLight Local Senior Fellow Down in the County Pamlico County, North Carolina May 3, 2023 “I have learned that one of the reasons many people in rural USA have lost faith in journalism is because the only journalism they have available to them is not from their community, it is from bigger cities. This further exacerbates divisions. Local news is needed for each community to grow a living archive of their own place, their history, their people—even if they often disagree with each other.”

—Andrea Bruce Andrea Bruce returned to her home in Pamlico County, North Carolina, following more than a decade as a reporter in Iraq and Afghanistan for The Washington Post, The New York Times, and others. In 2019, CatchLight awarded her a Global Fellowship in support of her project, Our Democracy, which used photos to bridge political divides and bring transparency to journalism.

Bruce is now CatchLight’s inaugural Senior Local Fellow and the publisher of Down in the County, a visual bulletin bringing weekly local news to 5,000 people—40% of the county’s residents. CatchLight’s Senior Local Fellowship provides a $30K award to visual journalists who are responding to the crisis in local journalism through visuallycentered reporting practices. andreabruce.com

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Letter from the CEO Images are flooding our everyday lives as we share emotions with close ones, take in the realities of our

world, as well as document them. They make us smile, cringe, or even cry. We allow these emotions to

define the cadence of our days because, most of the time, we trust that what we are reacting to is true.

Yet, this relatively comfortable relationship with images is being transformed and challenged

fundamentally as new technologies allow for images to be manipulated at a more rapid rate than ever

before. According to the Everypixel Journal, AI generated as many images in 2023—over 15 billion—as

were created in the 150-year history of photography. As it becomes easier for consumers to actively

engage in image modification using AI, we may inevitably see an erosion of public trust in images as sources of truth.

It is against this backdrop of profound and ever faster change that CatchLight has worked for the past

seven years to ensure that images continue to serve as meaningful tools to inform and connect audiences both locally and globally. We do this by supporting the vital role of visual journalists in communities.

In 2023, this work took on an entirely new importance and scale. The CatchLight Local Visual Desk, a

new collaborative model for visual journalism, has been recognized by key funders in media such as

the Knight Foundation and Arnold Ventures as a crucial part of the infrastructure necessary to rebuild the journalism ecosystem.

In 2022, we placed eight visual journalists in local and regional newsrooms across California, from

Riverside to Fresno, and supported them with editing, social media, and engagement services.

Together, they have produced over 800 assignments reaching an audience of over 10 million.

At the Global level, over the last seven years, CatchLight has supported 20 innovators who are moving

the field forward. Among them is Aïda Muluneh, who launched Africa Foto Fair, one of the largest photo festivals on the African continent and now also an online platform connecting Western and African

audiences. César Dezfuli’s project, Passengers, which follows the journeys of 118 migrants since they

were rescued in the Mediterranean Sea in 2016, has won the World Press Photo Award and exhibited in

over 20 countries.

Behind these key metrics and accomplishments, there is something fundamental at play in the unique function of visual journalism in building trust, and that is the vital role of the visual journalist as a

trusted messenger. When practiced ethically and in a collaborative manner, the act of photographing,

at its core, is an act of building trust—asking people to be vulnerable and have faith in a stranger to accurately represent them.

With your support, our goal is to expand our reach and serve close to 90 newsrooms nationwide with visual strategies, tools, and expertise by the end of 2027. Ultimately, our aim is to make it possible for

every local and regional newsroom in the country to use the power of images and the central role of

visual journalists to inform and connect communities in meaningful ways and to continue investing in innovators who are defining the future impact and sustainability of the field.

Thank you for being a part of this community and making this work possible.

Sincerely,

Elodie Mailliet Storm

CEO, CatchLight

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PRECEDING PAGE Harika Maddala CatchLight Local Fellow Bay City News / Report for America Stockton, California A Stockton firefighter pulls over a hose to put out the five-alarm structure fire that has been burning since 3 a.m. behind St. Gertrude’s Catholic Church on Main Street in Stockton on July 19, 2023.

Born and raised in India, Harika Maddala moved to the United States with their family at age 19. They graduated from San Francisco State University majoring in photojournalism with a minor in international relations and are currently working with Bay City News wire service and the affiliated Local News Matters site, supported by the nonprofit Bay City News Foundation.

Instagram: @thethirdeyediaries

César Dezfuli CatchLight Global Fellow Amadou in Castelldefels, from Passengers Castelldefels, Spain Amadou swimming during a summer weekend on September 1, 2021. Originally from Mali, Amadou migrated to Spain by boat in 2016 with more than 100 other migrants. He currently works as a model in Spain, where he has received political asylum.

“Amadou learned to swim in the summer of 2019. He taught himself, going to the beach in Barcelona in his spare time. When he crossed the Mediterranean Sea in a rubber boat three years earlier, he didn’t know how to swim. The sea would have swallowed him if he had fallen into the water. But he survived. And photographing him in that same sea, empowered, no longer afraid, summed up Amadou’s personality very well, and the vital moment in which he was immersed,” wrote the photographer.

César Dezfuli has photographed Amadou and his shipmates over the last seven years. His aim is “to build empathy towards people who find themselves needing to migrate, to dismantle stereotypes and prejudices about migration.” The project won the World Press Photo Award and has been exhibited in 20 countries thus far.

Dezfuli was born in 1991 in Madrid. Self-taught in photography, he now works as a freelance photojournalist, focusing on humanitarian crises and international affairs, with special attention to migration routes.

“Photographing him in that same sea, empowered, no longer afraid, summed up Amadou’s personality very well, and the vital moment in which he was immersed.”

cesardezfuli.com

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Isadora Kosofsky CatchLight Creative Services For Arnold Ventures Redlands, California Melissa and Scott stand side-by-side at the entrance of Empire Bowling in Redlands, California, on March 22, 2022.

The pair began dating after meeting at the Lighthouse for the Blind, a nonprofit organization serving the visually impaired.

Melissa’s story is featured in a documentary photography project that details the challenges and opportunities faced by 12.5 million American adults who receive health care coverage through both Medicare and Medicaid.

Isadora Kosofsky is a documentary photographer, writer, and filmmaker based in Los Angeles and Albuquerque. For her, the relationships formed with her sources are tantamount to the image-making process. She works from an interpersonal, humanistic stance while documenting healthcare, geriatric health, mental health, disability rights, impacts of incarceration, substance use, gender violence, childhood trauma, senior citizen issues, and experiences of grief, loss and resilience.

“Everything that I was embarrassed about growing up is actually a kind of superpower now in my ability to connect with others and create safe spaces for people as I photograph their lives. I feel like I have the ability to hold the complexity of people’s experiences.”

—Isadora Kosofsky isadorakosofsky.com

“Everything that I was embarrassed about growing up is actually a kind of superpower now.”

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Harika Maddala CatchLight Local Fellow Bay City News / Report for America Stockton, California Tank Young performs a traditional dance during the annual Stockton Community Pow Wow at University of the Pacific on September 2, 2023.

“I was at the Stockton Pow Wow, and I was trying to get a closeup of the dancers moving past me in a circle. Their regalia had beautiful details that added to their dance moves. I wanted to show the movement, the dance, and the clothing all in one photo. ... One dancer wore 365 bells around the waist, one for each day of the year.”

Instagram: @thethirdeyediaries

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“SF Pride feels like the happiest place on earth.”

Harika Maddala CatchLight Local Fellow Bay City News / Report for America Stockton, California A parade participant marches during the 53rd annual San Francisco Pride Parade and Celebration on June 25, 2023.

“SF Pride feels like the happiest place on earth.

It’s a full day of happy people walking the streets of San Francisco once a year. While I’m based out of Stockton, which is part of the Central Valley, I’m grateful to be given the occasional Bay Area assignments to cover major events. It is a completely different learning experience from my everyday work,” notes Maddala.

Instagram: @thethirdeyediaries

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Ximena Natera CatchLight Local Fellow Berkeleyside / Report for America Berkeley, California The Berkeley High School varsity girls flag football team played its first-ever game against Hayward High School on September 13, 2023.

“It is incredible to witness how seemingly small stories can also represent historic moments,” says Natera. “This was the debut game for the female varsity flag football team at Berkeley High School after it became an official sport in California in early 2023. The team had only three weeks to learn a sport from scratch; some had never played sports and ended up using the uniform from the lacrosse team. The girls left the other team in the dust, with Jamaia Harrison, a star basketball player, scoring 19 points. The girls were fierce, loud, and fun. I immediately knew I wanted to get a group photo and capture that dynamic, but after the game, they were hyped and tired, and they honestly didn’t have time for a lady with the camera. I gathered a small part of the team and made a portrait, but the best photos happened when I told them they could leave and they started hugging, laughing, and saying goodbye to each other.”

Ximena Natera is a visual journalist born and raised in Mexico City, based in the United States since 2019. Her work in Mexico was focused on human rights, stories of resilience, and collective memory. To explore complex issues, her work focuses on the individual experiences of people often overlooked, teachers, mothers, children, artists, and community leaders. Since 2013 she has been a member of the Red de Periodistas de a Pie, a network of Mexico-based journalists built to support local and independent journalism. Natera is also an International Center of Photography graduate and a Next-Generation Safety Fellow for the IWMF. ximenanatera.com

“It is incredible to witness how seemingly small stories can also represent historic moments.”

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Pablo Unzueta CatchLight Local Fellow El Tecolote / Report for America San Francisco, California Hundreds of supporters of Palestine assembled at San Francisco’s City Hall demanding a ceasefire on December 5, 2023. The demonstration was also in support of a resolution calling for an end to the Israel-Hamas war and condemning Islamophobia and antisemitism. The resolution was introduced by Supervisor Dean Preston, who is Jewish, and whose father and grandparents escaped the Holocaust.

Pablo Unzueta is a first-generation Chilean American documentary photographer from Van Nuys, California.

He is a self-taught photographer who uses digital and film photography to document inequality in the United States. pablounzueta.com

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Roopa Gogineni CatchLight Global Fellow Burao, Somaliland Axmed Xasan Noor left his home in Duruqsi, Somalia, when after three seasons of drought and famine, 91 of his camels and 346 of his goats died in a single month. Shown here on September 11, 2023 at the internally displaced person camp in Burao, Somaliland, there is access to water, but residents must pay. For Noor, the closest tap is a six minute walk from the camp which charges ten cents to fill a jerry can. The further tap, fifteen minutes away, charges five cents.

Gogineni has been photographing how cash transfers, a new paradigm of humanitarian aid, has been helping displaced people in Somaliland meet some of their most urgent needs.

Originally from West Virginia, Gogineni is now based between Paris and Atlanta. For a decade she lived in Nairobi where she developed a practice rooted in cocreation, working alongside communities of resistance across the region. She directed reality television in Somalia, documented revolutionary theater in Sudan, and chronicled the journey of Mau Mau veterans suing the UK government for colonial-era abuses in Kenya. Her latest short, Suddenly TV, earned the 2023 SXSW Special Jury Award and the 2023 IndieLisboa Short Film Grand Prize.

She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Oxford. roopagogineni.com

“I wanted to visualize how cash transfers are revolutionizing the humanitarian aid industry and allowing people to spend according to specific needs.”

–Roopa Gogineni

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Bayeté Ross Smith CatchLight Global Fellow New York, New York Our Kind of People, 2023, is an ongoing project about identity.

Ross Smith explains, “All of the people who posed for this project were students, faculty or staff at Columbia Law School when I was an artist-in-residence there. I exhibited the work at the school and gave posters to some of the contributors.

“People told me they were excited to take part in the project because, while they share parts of themselves at school, this gave them a chance to show more aspects of identities to their peers and colleagues. It forced other members of the law school community to question some of their pre-existing beliefs about how someone they know in one context might present themselves differently in other parts of their life—and how those biases can impact their work in the legal and public policy fields.”

Bayeté Ross Smith is a photographer, artist, and education worker who lives in Harlem, New York. He is a Presidential Leadership Scholar, a TED Resident, a Creative Capital Awardee, an Art For Justice Fund Grantee, a CatchLight Fellow, a BPMPlus Grantee and an AmDOC/POV New York Times embedded mediamaker. His work is in the collections of The Smithsonian Institution, the Oakland Museum of California, the Birmingham Museum of Art, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and The Brooklyn Museum. He has exhibited internationally with the Goethe Institute (Ghana), Foto Museum (Belgium), the Lianzhou Foto Festival (China), and America House in (Ukraine), among others. bayeterosssmith.com

“It forced other members of the law school community to question some of their pre-existing beliefs about how someone they know in one context might present themselves differently in other parts of their life.”

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Sree Sripathy CatchLight Local Fellow India Currents Foster City, California Natasha Kehimkar (center right) stands in front of her home with daughter Sela, husband Derek, son Zev and their dog Roti on May 29, 2023. Natasha comes from a family of Indian Bene Israel Jews. Her husband Derek converted to Judaism and they’ve raised both their children, originally from South Korea, in the Indian Jewish tradition.

“How Natasha weaves Indian culture and Jewish religion, and how the family honors their Chinese and South Korean heritage, are examples of the complex identities and cultures many of us carry,” explains Sree.

Sree Sripathy is a writer, photographer, artist and disability advocate based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her work focuses on the seen and unseen and their relationship to isolation, ability/disability, immigrant identity, language and culture. Sree is the co-founder of the Women’s Parkinson’s Project, an ambassador and YOPD council member for the Davis Phinney Foundation and a board member for Poetry Center San José. studiosree.com

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Larry Valenzuela CatchLight Local Fellow CalMatters Morro Bay, California Morro Bay on July 18, 2023. The town of 10,000 people on California’s central coast is at the heart of the state’s push to triple its power capacity and reach 100% renewable energy by 2045. Morro Bay’s now defunct power plant is slated to become the world’s largest lithium battery storage facility. Just offshore, the United States government has auctioned off 376 square miles of leases for the Pacific Coast’s first floating wind farms.

“The area is expected to go through many changes as the state works on an upcoming offshore wind turbine project, with much of the construction scheduled to go through the area. Many residents and local officials are concerned that the project will affect the area’s wildlife and the daily lives of local residents,” wrote the photographer.

Valenzuela always wanted to tell stories through his camera. He joined the school newspaper at Fresno City College and became a student writer for the Fresno Bee. In 2022, Valenzuela became a CatchLight Local Fellow working in partnership with CalMatters, providing in-depth coverage of issues facing Fresno and central California residents.

“Many residents and local officials are concerned that the project will affect the area’s wildlife and the daily lives of local residents.”

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Ximena Natera CatchLight Local Fellow Berkeleyside / Report for America Berkeley, California Ben Stern, 101, photographed at his home on December 18, 2022, shows the serial number tattooed onto his left arm while at a concentration camp in Poland. Originally born in Poland, Stern lost most of his family during the Holocaust and moved to the United States after the war, where family friends helped them build a new life. Stern, alongside his daughter, Charlene Stern, co-authored a memoir retelling his battle against antisemitism that extended beyond the war and followed him throughout his life as a refugee in America.

“I fear no one will care or seek the truth of what happened.”

—Ben Stern Based in the U.S. since 2019, Ximena Natera is a visual journalist born and raised in Mexico City. Her experience working in Mexico has shaped her practice and understanding of storytelling, focusing her work on human rights violations, stories of resilience and collective memory.

She is a 2022 CatchLight Local Fellow. ximenanatera.com

“I fear no one will care or seek the truth of what happened.”

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Pablo Unzueta CatchLight Loca Fellow El Tecolote / Report for America San Francisco, California A person sleeps on one of the beds provided by the nonprofit, The Gubbio Project, inside The Episcopal Church of Saint John the Evangelist in the Mission District on November 13, 2023. The city conducted mass encampment sweeps as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit prepared to host CEOs, foreign leaders, dignitaries and thousands of attendees. The APEC summit highlighted some of the city’s long-term issues surrounding the drug crisis and homelessness.

Unzueta notes, “The purpose for this photo project was to create a counter-narrative about the unhoused population in San Francisco, which was one of the focal topics during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. I wanted to document humanity and peel away the stigmatization of the unhoused. The Gubbio Project’s mission is to provide folks with sacred sleep in partnership with St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church, a local institution with a deep philanthropic history. During the 1980s, the church welcomed Central American refugees who fled civil war, even when the U.S. government denied them; it also offered beds for gay men who were dying from HIV to pass peacefully. Today, it welcomes the unhoused community to rest unbothered.

“At the time of this image, the light felt surreal entering through these large windows, creating a spotlight on a gentleman who was resting. I also think that the shoes symbolize this notion of rest and resilience in a world where we are forced to survive and step outside. The response to this photo essay was overwhelmingly positive. The Gubbio Project’s executive director, Lydia Bransten, texted me, ‘It made me cry. These wonderful people have worked so hard for so little. We need to do better as a city.’” pablounzueta.com

“I wanted to document humanity and peel away the stigmatization of the unhoused.”

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Daro Sulakauri CatchLight Global Fellow House Divided, 2017 Abkhazia, Georgia

A child takes a swim in the Enguri River, at the border of the Russian-supported separatist territory of Abkhazia.

The river was previously known as a good location for safely crossing into Abkhazia, but recent installation of barbed wire fencing and surveillance equipment has slowed those crossings.

“I took my grandkids out for a swim on a hot summer day. When the kids were already in the water, one of the Russian militants from the watchtower addressed me to keep the distance. I asked why. He said in Russian that half of the river belongs to Russia and half to Georgia,” a local woman explained.

The 14-year-old boy pictured here was separated from his grandmother by the newly drawn border. In 2023, Daro Salakauri provided the boy with a camera to selfdocument his comings and goings across the border to visit his grandmother.

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An attendee takes a closer examination during Daro Sulakauri’s exhibition in Tbilisi, Georgia, on May 9, 2023.

Sulakauri is a photojournalist who uses mixed media to chronicle social and political issues in the Caucasus, including her home country, Georgia. She is a graduate of the International Center of Photography in New York.

Her work on the hidden narrative of the Chechen conflict won her a Young Photographers in Caucasus Award from Magnum Photos in 2009. Her work on early marriages in Georgia was awarded first prize by LensCulture and the EU prize for journalism. She was a participant in World Press Photo’s 2017 Joop Swart Masterclass and a Reuters Photojournalism grantee. Her work frequently appears in The New York Times, National Geographic, Forbes, Der Spiegel, Times, The Economist, Bloomberg, Die Zeit, among others. darosulakauri.com

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“This is an incredibly underserved, but deserving, population with limited access to health care.”

Larry Valenzuela CatchLight Local Fellow CalMatters Bakersfield, California Doctor Matt Beare treats patients along the Kern River on February 16, 2023. Beare is part of a street medical team, bringing health care to unhoused residents in an effort to better serve a high-need population with little access. In October 2023, following a change in national health care policies, street medics can now submit claims for these services.

“This photo is important because it shows solutions for the unhoused to get the medical care they need but may not have access to. Dr. Beare and his team are living up to their motto of ‘Go to the people,’ says Valenzuela.

“Their mission is to provide the local unhoused with the high-quality health care they might not usually get. ‘This is an incredibly underserved but deserving population with limited access to health care,’ Beare said. He explained that many unhoused patients have prior encounters with health care that left very negative impressions. They don’t actively seek treatment because they expect to be ostracized or treated ‘less than.’”

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Amir Aziz CatchLight Local Fellow Oaklandside Oakland, California Dozens gathered for a vigil at Lake Merritt on Tuesday, February 14, 2023. Organized by two mental health care workers, Kholoud Nasser and Nermin Soyalp, the gathering aimed to make a space for collective grief and healing, and to honor victims of the February 6, 2023 earthquakes that shook Syria and Turkey and claimed an estimated 40,000 lives.

Amir Aziz, a documentary and news photographer based in Oakland, California, is dedicated to the intersection of social impact and community-driven storytelling. He utilizes photography and documentary filmmaking as tools for truth-telling, seeking to raise awareness within and beyond his Oakland home. amirazizphotos.com

“I wanted to use photography to convey the emotion of the moment, so I kneeled down with the people who were engaging in the vigil.”

—Amir Aziz

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Precious Ezeogu Educate the girl child too #2, 2023 Lagos, Nigeria Workshop led by Adama Delphine Fawundu, CatchLight Global Fellow Ezeogu is a visual artist based in Lagos, Nigeria, who is interested in experimental storytelling and using photography to center the perspectives of individuals through their daily lived experiences. She created this work as a participant in a workshop facilitated by Adama Delphine Fawundu, a CatchLight Global Fellow, in collaboration with the Nlele Institute in Lagos, Nigeria.

Adama Delphine Fawundu has led three workshops over the past year as part of her Fellowship project, with the aim of providing professional development opportunities to emerging photographers.

“Working with emerging photographers through my collaboration with the Nlele Institute, introduced me to a new community of artists who are passionate about a myriad of social issues and very interested in elevating their voices on a global scale. CatchLight has been helpful in my process by providing the resources necessary for me to make the time and space to share in an impactful way. I look forward to continuing my relationship with this community of creatives in Lagos, Nigeria, and beyond.”

—Adama Delphine Fawundu Fawundu is a Sierra Leonean American multidisciplinary photographer and visual artist promoting African culture and heritage and a co-founder and author of MFON: Women Photographers of the African Diaspora – a journal and book representing female photographers of African descent. delphinefawundu.com

“Working with emerging photographers introduced me to a new community of artists who are passionate about a myriad of social issues.”

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“I am determined to continue to tell the stories of the Chilean people.”

Pablo Unzueta CatchLight Local Fellow El Tecolote / Report for America Oakland, California Aldo Cabello, 73, stands for a portrait in his daughter’s backyard on August 16, 2023. Cabello and his family fled Chile as political refugees during the United States-funded coup d’etat in 1973, leaving behind his job as an engineering professor.

“The dictatorship in Chile changed the lives of so many Chileans. The memories and scars are still visible. I am determined to continue to tell the stories of the Chilean people because there is a necessity for the public to become more informed about the long-term impacts of U.S.sponsored coups have had all across the globe,” says the photographer.

“In the second image, Cabello holds an image of his brother, Winston Cabello, a young economist who worked for the overthrown President and whose remains were found in an unmarked mass grave in 1990. As Chile nears its 50th anniversary of the coup, Chileans still grapple with the deaths of their loved ones, including those who remain missing. There are about 3,065 Chileans who were disappeared during Pinochet’s time in power, and some say there are thousands more that are missing.”

This image is part of El Tecolte’s series, Ojos, a bi-weekly photo letter that pays tribute to everyday people in the Bay Area, “connecting the human experience to community.” El Tecolote is the longest-running Spanish-English newspaper in California. pablounzueta.com

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“We talk about the appalling statistics of Black maternal health, but it is also important to uplift the unique solutions that the community creates and utilizes.”

—Aryana Noroozi

Aryana Noroozi CatchLight Local Fellow Black Voice News / Report for America Chino, California Karen Sykes guides her client, Nalah Morrow, through a neck stretch to release tension during a home visit on June 26, 2022. Sykes is a doula who supports her clients physically, mentally and spiritually by using each session to discuss their envisioned births, complete breathwork and stretching exercises and utilize wellness tools such as essential oils and massage balls.

Aryana Noroozi is a documentary photographer, multimedia journalist, and digital artist. She graduated from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 2020 and was a 2020 GroundTruth Project Migration Fellow and a 2020 Pulitzer Crisis Reporting Fellow. aryananoorozi.com

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Sree Sripathy CatchLight Local Fellow India Currents San Francisco, California “My goal in life is to help others find their own courage and the best way I’ve found to do that is to shine as brightly as I can. This project allowed me a stupendous platform to shine brightly.

For me and for you. I would do it again and again if I could.”

—Sarang Bhatt Sarang Bhatt sits in his home on March 5, 2023. Sarang came out as gay as an older adult and over the years settled more into his identity. Sarang maintains a connection to his Indian and Gujarati heritage by attending dandiya events and kathas and through his faith as a Krishna devotee. The portrait of Lord Krishna is normally displayed in his family home in San Jose. “Queer and gay South Asians and Indians have little representation in media,” says the photographer. “I was so inspired by Sarang’s story that I wanted to share it, to document that such a life is possible.

Seeing his portrait hanging in a gallery, watching someone take in the beauty and strength that they are, was a powerful moment.” studiosree.com

“My goal in life is to help others find their own courage.”

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Larry Valenzuela CatchLight Local Fellow CalMatters Hansen Ranches, California

“It was essential to cover how these floods affected the farmworkers in these areas.”

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California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks to the media in a press conference at Hansen Ranches, outside of Corcoran on April 25, 2023. Newsom addressed the area’s flooded farmlands following heavy winter storms in Kings County.

“Many residents had grown frustrated with the state’s slow response. It was essential to cover how these floods affected the farmworkers in these areas and what this devastation meant for their wellbeing,” notes Valenzuela.

Harika Maddala CatchLight Local Fellow Bay City News / Report for America Stockton, California

An upside down image shows a water reflection of brothers Steve Flening and Jayden Flening playing basketball at Heroes Park on March 10, 2023. The park was flooded from the winter storm.

Instagram: @thethirdeyediaries

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“I’m always taken aback by people who agree to share their stories through difficult moments.”

Hiram Durán CatchLight Local Fellow El Tímpano / Report for America Oakland, California Alan, 2, and Aaron Arana, 5, get energy out by jumping on their bed the day before moving to San Leandro on July 31, 2023. The Arana family’s landlord gave them 30 days to vacate their Oakland apartment, but finding affordable housing in the area left them few options. Rent in the area has skyrocketed in recent years; for the Aranas rent costs five times more than it did in 2015.

Durán is a Chicano visual journalist from El Paso-Ciudad Juárez. He is a fourth-generation Mexican American and the first person in his family to be raised and educated in the U.S. He began a career in photojournalism at the height of the pandemic when a friend lent him a camera.

“I’m always taken aback by people who agree to share their stories through difficult moments. I get the sense that their willingness to open their doors to me and other reporters stems from a sense of personal duty to strangers who may find themselves in similar situations,“ notes Durán. hiramduran.com

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PRECEDING PAGE Pablo Unzueta CatchLight Local Fellow El Tecolote / Report for America Half Moon Bay, California A community member with Ayudando Latinos A Soñar (ALAS) holds two buckets of marigold flowers next to the ALAS yellow house on October 27, 2023. The marigold flowers adorned an altar in honor of the farmworkers who were killed in a mass shooting on a mushroom farm on January 23, 2023. The ALAS-sponsored Día de Los Muertos celebration was the community’s first opportunity to honor the victims since the shootings. pablounzueta.com

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We extend heartfelt appreciation to the participating artists and all those who shared their time, likeness, and experiences in these stories and projects.

Our mission is to leverage the power of visual communication to inform, connect and transform communities. We believe visual storytellers

have a vital role in keeping people informed, promoting community

awareness, encouraging civic engagement, and leading change as

visionaries. Our fellowship programs help visual storytellers at all levels amplify stories that have social impact through financial assistance, mentorship, training, and collaborative opportunities. Through our

education and public programs, we are pushing the field forward and educating its next generation of visual leaders.

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Program Highlights

Photo: Emma Marie Chiang for CatchLight

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“This has had a huge impact on our future and sustainability.”

CatchLight Global Fellowship Innovating the Field and Redefining Impact

The CatchLight Global Fellowship addresses a pressing need in the visual storytelling industry by supporting innovative leaders who are redefining impact and audience

engagement. Providing $30,000 grants to individual visual storytellers, the program fosters personal growth and builds valuable networks.

Since 2017, our Global Fellowship program has recognized 20 globally-acclaimed

innovators in visual storytelling with awards totalling $600,000. In 2023, these Fellows

shared their work through countless publications and 34 exhibitions around the globe; they mentored emerging artists through 12 workshops; and they were recognized for

excellence in visual storytelling with 16 awards.

“The executive coaching CatchLight provided has been an incredible tool for

me and something I would have never done if not for the fellowship. It lent me

so much autonomy and confidence especially when saying no to freelance

jobs while working on my long-form project. In the past, I always felt like I was

burning bridges. The coaching helped teach me to say no and still leave doors

open for future collaboration.”

Rafael Vilela, CatchLight Global Fellow

“CatchLight gave me the support and breathing room needed to focus on higher level strategizing I never had capacity for since founding Woman

Photograph. This has had a huge impact on our future and sustainability.”

Daniella Zalcman, CatchLight Global Fellow

Thank you to our presenting partner, MPB, for generously supporting the Global Fellowship in 2023.

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CatchLight Local

Informing Communities Visually

While visuals are critical tools for journalism, doubling the engagement rates of

media content, they are also the most underinvested part of newsrooms: Visual

staff in newsrooms have decreased by 53% outpacing cuts to other departments

by 14% (ASNE survey 1999-2015). The CatchLight Local Visual Desk aims to make this

powerful storytelling and engagement tool accessible to local newsrooms across the

United States.

• In 2023, CatchLight subsidized the full-time staff positions of nine visual journalists, CatchLight Local Fellows, who produced more than 800 stories about key issues in underserved communities.

• More than 154 participants, including CatchLight Local Fellows and other

newsroom staff, attended seven trainings, including quarterly works-in-process

critiques, editorial sessions, a caption-writing workshop, and a two-part workshop on how to use images on social media and in fundraising.

• One attendee reflected, “It’s not often that photographers have a chance to

hear about the photo editor’s perspective and process when it comes to making

decisions. It was very insightful to learn more about that and made me reflect on the way I choose to create an edit.”

CatchLight Local is a visual journalism initiative made possible thanks to the

generous support of individuals, foundations, and corporations including Arnold

Ventures, Emerson Collective and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, Enlight Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight

Foundation, Kresge Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Report for America, and our

education partner, PhotoWings.

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Photo: Emma Marie Chiang for CatchLight

“…one of the most inspiring opportunities in photojournalism.”

Hiram Durán, CatchLight Local Fellow at El Tímpano, makes Polaroid portraits for vendors and patrons as part of a community outreach initiative at the Coliseum Swap Meet (aka “La Pulga”) in Oakland, California.

With this simple setup, Durán created an intimate bond with each participant, one of representation and giving back, which can translate into long-term trust in the media organization. This is of critical importance to El Tímpano, as some of the residents their work serves may have privacy concerns related to their immigration status or those of their loved ones.

“I’m excited to work in a newsroom that places community outreach and engagement at the center of their reporting. The prospect of teaming up with reporters on long-term projects, and the freedom to form visuals led by the interests of Latino and Mayan communities, makes the CatchLight/Report for America fellowship at El Tímpano stand out as one of the most inspiring opportunities in photojournalism.”

—Hiram Durán Photo: Katherine Nagasawa / El Tímpano

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Acclaimed documentary photographer and 2018 CatchLight Global Fellow, Andrea Bruce, presents best practices for visual newsletters during a CatchLight Local works-in-process event in San Francisco on January 25, 2024. In 2023, Bruce was awarded the first CatchLight Local Senior Fellowship to help her build Down in the County, a weekly visual newsletter serving the rural working-class residents of Pamlico County, North Carolina.

Photo: Mabel Jiménez / CatchLight

CatchLight Local staff and Fellows participate in a photo editing workshop led by longtime editor, producer and curator, Elizabeth Krist (center right), at Minnesota Street Project in San Francisco on March 14, 2023.

Photo: Mabel Jiménez / CatchLight

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Education Initiatives CatchLight’s education initiatives advance media literacy through unique partnerships to engage youth as visual storytellers throughout the United States.

In 2023, The Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE)

released its social studies curriculum featuring visuals by Tomas van Houtryve, a 2017

CatchLight Global Fellow, from his Lines and Lineage project about the history of the

U.S.-Mexico border. The curriculum’s teachers guide and video were viewed more than

250 times in the first 10 weeks of its release.

In early 2023, YR Media and CatchLight partnered to tell the stories of young climate

justice leaders working in New Orleans, Oakland, and Chicago. Three YR Media youth

reporters were paired with a CatchLight Mentor, a professional photojournalist

who guided them in portrait photography and editing. The series was published in

collaboration with Grist and Next City as part of its Equitable Cities Reporting Hub for Environmental Justice.

“It was good to have group workshops and one-on-one time with my mentor.

I’m happy with the outcomes and feel proud of the progress I made.”

Nina Thompson, youth reporter at YR Media

“Understanding and witnessing young people’s relationship with information and visual language was eye-opening.”

Ximena Natera, CatchLight Local Fellow and mentor to YR Media reporter Nina Thompson

“It’s been thrilling to see how YR Media’s collaboration with CatchLight gave our reporters the opportunity to take their journalism to another level, combining their reporting with powerful photography. The reporters learned so much

about the craft of photojournalism with CatchLight mentors and editors guiding the way.”

Rebecca Martin, director of partnerships and podcasts at YR Media

These activities were made possible by our education partner, PhotoWings.

“Understanding and witnessing young people’s relationship with information and visual language was eye-opening.”

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Public Programs CatchLight’s Visual Storytelling Summit connects San Francisco creatives and a

global community of visual storytellers, bringing leaders in photography, journalism, art, and media together for free and high-quality educational programming.

Through in-person and digital engagement, Summit content reaches over 5,000 people annually. More than 225 people attended the 2023 Summit, held at the

Minnesota Street Project atrium in late April. The theme, The Change We Want to See, reflects the unique power of photography, visual journalism, and creative practices to drive social impact.

“The Summit is a place where a global community of visual storytellers and leaders in media and technology can gather, share ideas, and push the

field forward through partnership and innovation.”

Elodie Mailliet Storm, CEO of CatchLight

“This was a wonderfully curated, well-run portfolio review event with top notch reviewers hosted in a beautiful and comfortable venue in San

Francisco! So grateful for the opportunity to participate free of charge.

I wish more opportunities like this existed!”

Stella Kalinina, 2023 West Coast Review Sessions participant The 2023 Summit was made possible with the support of our presenting partner, MPB, education partner PhotoWings, portfolio review sponsor Camera Obscura.io, and Summit sponsor John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

CatchLight collaborated with the Fondation Carmignac and Dysturb to present

the Night of Photojournalism in Paris on November 11, 2023. More than 850 people

attended the 2 pm to 2 am program, encompassing four conversations, five lightning talks, and immersive visual projections of works by more than 100 photographers,

with a live DJ set. CatchLight announced the opening call for Global Fellowship

applications, with an Ask-the-Fellows happy hour. CatchLight also partnered with Dysturb to bring the work to the streets of Paris, wheatpasting 1,200 posters and a large mural along many of the city’s thoroughfares.

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DJ Pablo Saavedra de Decker spins a custom mix as images flash before the audience at The Night of Photojournalism in Paris on November 11, 2023.

Photo: Michael Bunel / Dysturb Photo: Emma Marie Chiang for CatchLight

“I wish more opportunities like this existed!”

Photo: Emma Marie Chiang for CatchLight

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Thank you BOARD OF DIRECTORS Nancy Farese Founder and Board Chair

CatchLight is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. We would not exist without

the generosity of foundations, corporations, and individuals, who invest in our mission and whose gifts make our work possible.

Umbreen Bhatti Jim Bildner Lisa Kleiner Chanoff Deirdre Atkin Hockett Stacy-Marie Ishmael Christopher Michel Shazna Nessa Michael Ramsay Robert J. Rosenthal

Thank you to our CatchLight Local partners including Bay City News, Black

Voice News, Berkeleyside, CalMatters, El Tecolote, El Tímpano, India Currents, Oaklandside, and Report for America.

We’re also grateful to our community of partners who provide camera gear

for our fellows, print photos, offer gathering spaces, and collaborate on public

programs, including Digital Silver Imaging, Dysturb, Fondation Carmignac,

FotoFest, FujiFilm, Minnesota Street Project, PhotoShelter, Stanford University’s

SPICE Center and YR Media.

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2023 DONORS CatchLight Circle

Organizations

Founders Circle ($25,000+)

Visionary Circle ($10,000 - $24,999)

Luminary Circle ($5,000 - $9,999)

The Blodgett Family Fund

Wayee Chu and Ethan Beard

Black Dog Private Foundation

Cameron Schrier Foundation

Coxe Family Fund

Lisa Kleiner Chanoff

Nancy and Bob Farese

Deirdre and Christopher Hockett

Xin Liu

Alan Marks

Jon McCormack

Mike and Carol Ramsay

Amanda M. Minami

Arnold Ventures

Knight Foundation

Camera Obscura.io

Kresge Foundation

Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation

Local Independent Online News (LION)

Patrick and Raquel McGovern

Emerson Collective and Silicon Valley Community Foundation

MacArthur Foundation

Elizabeth Needham and Peter Mark

F3 Foundation

Tom and Liz Hale

Rory C. Quintana

Enlight Foundation

MPB PhotoWings Viva Entertainment

Silver Giving Foundation Jim and Linda Waterbury

Leadership Circle ($1,000-$4,999)

Sustaining Members (monthly)

Allison/Shipley Fund

Amanda Kelso

LSP Family Foundation

Chelcey Adami

Kevin Painchaud

Anonymous

Chuck Kissner and Cary Orr-Kissner

Lori Quinn and Jeffrey Lowenthal

D.A. Bullock

Susanne Pruitt

Fran and David Meckler

Abair Trust in Memory of Ben and David Rosenthal

Scott Gamble

Theo Schear

Jessica Goss

Joseph Silva

Samantha Laurey

Mark Silverberg

Julie Makinen

Ngan Vu

Homayoon Noroozi

Sandra Weinstein

Tim Albright and Sarah Baker Charitable Gift Fund Gerald and Jane Baldwin Bobby and Jennifer Chen Joan Dea and Lionel Conacher Stacy-Marie Ishmael

Christopher Michel Wesley N. and Kate D. Mitchell Diana Nelson and John Atwater The North Ridge Foundation

Susan G. Stone and Prescott Stone Darian Swig Sally Ward Robert Usdan and Amy Yenkin

Supporters Maz Ali

Cameron Davidson

Xenia Apena

John De Groot

Stephanie Alston Umbreen Bhatti and Kaizar Campwala

Kathleen and Dan Bomze Adrienne Bousian Benjamin Brody Janis Burger

Susanne Hendy Dayton

Pei Ketron and Mike Smith

Adama Delphine Fawundu

Stephen Koch and Kathy Nyrop

Erica Garber

Elizabeth Krist

Randi and Bob Fisher Adriana Garcia

Kelly Butler

Luis Guillermo González Imbert

Neil Chase

John and Kim Kieckhefer Isadora Kosofsky Adriana Lacy Consulting LLC

Virat Madia

Ray Saint Germain

Stephen Mayes

Sree Sripathy

David Madson Shazna Nessa

Aryana Noroozi

Caroline Kim Oh Tammy Oler

Su-Moon Paik

Lila LaHood

Mital Patel

Bethany James

Trudy Laltoo

Yesica Prado

Lynn Johnson

David Lee

Julie Ruskin and Jim Schurz

Julia Caldwell

Lucas Jackson

Anne Lai

Allison Pennell

Mike Chen

Mabel Jiménez

Whitney Johnson Latorre

Jonah Reenders

Tom Corwin

Harika Maddala

Daro Sulakauri

Hannah Stonebraker Elodie Mailliet Storm

Terra Art Foundation for American Art Jon Tigar and Carrie Avery

Megan Topping and Mark Horton Barbara Vaughn Eric Weiss

Arthur Wolf

Andrea Zocchi

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