BIO
I am a visual journalist, strategic storytelling consultant and professor based in Los Angeles, with an MFA in Photography, a PhD in Communication and nearly two decades of experience as a media producer and editor for editorial, nonprofit and commercial organizations. Though I photograph a multitude of subjects for my clients and commissions, my personal photographic and scholarly work focuses on rethinking visual representations of gender, race and sexuality in image-making.
My documentary film work has screened internationally and my award-winning writing on media has been published in magazines, academic journals and news media trade journals. I was a 2016 Visiting Fellow at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism of Harvard University, researching and writing about how to improve inequities behind the documentary camera.
I'm on the National Press Photographers Foundation Board and am a co-Founder and Board Member of Authority Collective, an organization dedicated to building community and opportunity for womyn/nonbinary photographers of color.
I am an alum of the Mountain Workshops; Women Photograph Workshop; New York Times Institute; Chips Quinn Fellowship and the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund Institute.
For more information on my work, assignment inquiries and other opportunities, or to just say hello, feel free to get in touch. While I can work on any topic in any environment, I especially love to tell visual stories about people of color, LGBTQIA+ community, dance/movement and to make portraits of all kinds for your news outlet, organization, non-profit or NGO.
For information on my consulting services to help your organization, film set or newsroom tell compelling visual stories for diverse audiences equitably and inclusively, click here.
tara@tarapixley.com | 770-331-9107
SELECT CLIENTS
Wall Street Journal, NPR, Newsweek, ESPN Magazine, HuffPost, New York Times, CNN.com, Los Angeles Magazine, Photoshelter, ProPublica, Sunday Mirror, Institutional Investor Magazine, Ghettoblaster, Talking Points Memo, International Herald Tribune, Creative Loafing, GA Tech Magazine, USC Magazine, Scholastic, Wells Fargo, US Bank, Nike, Cushman & Wakefield, MilkLife, Scoutmob, Foot Locker, Bloomsbury Publishing
SELECT WRITINGS
2020 Nieman Reports: "Protest Photography can be a Powerful Tool For and Against Black Lives Matter"
2020 Photoshelter: A Guide to Inclusive Photography
2019 Solutions Journalism Network: “Thinking Inclusion + Equity in Solutions Photojournalism.”
2019 Nieman Reports: “PhotographingDomestic Violence: Showing Uncomfortable Truths.”
2017 Photovoice: The Western Gaze
2017 Newsweek: “Inequities Among Photojournalists Produce a Familiar Image.”
2017 Nieman Reports: "Why We Need More Visual Journalists + Photo Editors of Color"
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
2020: NPPA/ASMP Panelist: "The Movement: Photographs of the Racial Justice Protests for Black Lives"
2020: Reynolds Journalism Institute Panelist: Photographing Vulnerable Populations in Public Spaces
2020: Intl. Center of Photography Panelist: Documenting History: Protest Ethics & the Photograph
2020 NPR Topic Expert: Larger Conversation: If And When To Share Videos Of Violence
2020 DigitalPhotoPro: How Photojournalists Are Documenting The George Floyd Protests
2020 Photoshelter Topic Expert: No, Photojournalist’s aren’t arguing for blurring photos
2020 Poynter Institute Topic Expert: Photographing Protestors Faces
2020 SXSW Panelist: "The Future of Visual Journalism is Decolonized"
2019 Photoville Panel Moderator: “ReVisioning Queer and Trans People of Color in Photography.”
2018 CanonPro Topic Expert: Field of View On Why Photojournalism Needs More Diversity
2019 Critical Race + Digital Studies Panel Moderator:“(Re)Defining Technologies: A Roundtable on Interventions & Resistance.”
2018 Photo+ Expo Panelist:“Decolonizing American Photography,”
2018 Bloomberg Businessweek Topic Expert: "Why Photography Can't Get Woke"
2018 Month of Photography LA Panel Moderator: “Inclusivity Now”
2017 Photoville Panelist: “Reclaiming Photography,”
2016 San Diego City College Panelist:“Through the Lens: Women & Representation.”
2015 Studio for Ethnographic Design Guest Speaker: “Visual Ethnographies & Documentary Practices.”
2013 Cross Cultural Art Center Guest Speaker:“Art + Feminism.”
MEDIA COVERAGE
Vision Slightly Blurred Podcast, Photoshelter, 2019
Rangefinder Magazine, 2019
Photoshelter Blog, April 2019
New York Times LENS Blog, 2019
Art of Doing Podcast, Hatchtribe, 2018
Re-Picture, 2018
Canon Pro Europe, 2018
New York Times LENS Blog, 2017
PDNPulse, 2017
AWARDS + ACCOLADES
2019 World Press Photo Solutions Visual Journalism Initiative Grant
2018 UC Presidents Dissertation Fellowship
2017 FOLIO Ozzie Award, Best B2B Single Article, NYC
2017 Fellow, Center for Humanities, UC San Diego
2017 UCSD Interdisciplinary Collaboratories Grant
2017 UCSD Frontiers of Innovation Scholars Program
2017 UCSD Campus Climate Enhancement Grant
2016 Knight Visiting Fellow, Nieman Journalism Foundation, Harvard University
2016 Best Film Prize: Porn Star Quotidian, Thinking Gender Conference
2015 Excellence in Diversity Advocacy Award, UC San Diego
2015 Challenge America Grant, National Endowment for the Arts
2011 Off the Edge|Public Festival Artist Grant
2011 Best Photo Dept, Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, Creative Loafing Atlanta
2007 Chips Quinn Scholar
2005 National Association of Black Journalists Scholar
EXHIBITIONS
Parallax, Photoville NYC, Joint, Sept. 2019
Parallax, Instagram Headquarters, Joint, NYC, July- Dec. 2019
LGBTQ+ Heroes, San Diego History Center, San Diego, Joint, June 2018
Women in Light, LUXE Gallery, SanDiego, Joint, Feb. 2016
Dames, Liberty Station Art Walk, San Diego, Solo, Nov. 2013
CreativesRising, SEE Gallery, NewYork City, Joint, Oct. 2013
Dames, Atlantic Station, Atlanta, Solo, June 2011
Edge/Public, Rialto Center for the Arts, Solo, Atlanta, Jan. 2011
Dream of a Common Language, Arnall Golden Gregory Gallery, Atlanta, Joint, Jan. 2011
Facets, Gallery 221, Atlanta, Joint, Oct-Dec. 2010
A Life Beyond Your Own, RAW Space, Atlanta, Joint, May 2010
CURATION
2019 “Parallax” Photoville NYC, New York City
2019 “Parallax” Annenberg Space for Photography’s Photoville LA, Los Angeles
2019 “Sweetgrass & Sunlight” (Guest Photo Editor) Confluence Magazine
2018 Lit List Exhibit, Photoville NYC, New York City
2013 On All the Time, Outside The Lens, San Diego
JUDGING + REVIEWING
2020 Intl. Women’s Media Fund AnjaNiedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism Awards
2020 National Press Photographers Foundation, KitKing Scholarship
2020 University Film & Video Association
2019 Intl. Women’s Media Fund AnjaNiedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism Awards
2019 The Fence
2018 Nikon+ Women Photograph Grant
2016 Adobe Creative Jam, San Diego
EDUCATION
Ph.D. Communication, University of California San Diego, 2018
M.A. Arts Administration, Savannah College of Art and Design, 2013
M.F.A. Photography, Savannah College of Art and Design, 2011
B.S. Philosophy and Journalism, Florida A&M University, 2005