Take Momenta Workshops in Myanmar, India, Vietnam, New Orleans, South Africa

Momenta Workshops takes documentary photographers all over the world to teach them how to create powerful visual stories.

"We see photography as a communicator of ideas and emotions across a wide human audience. We seek to promulgate visual journalism and the arts as a mechanism of social change and a profitable venture into the future."

Momenta's upcoming slate of workshops includes trips to Myanmar (Burma), India, New Orleans, Vietnam and South Africa:

MYANMAR 2010: THE ART OF THE PHOTO STORY

This year, we'll be traveling to Myanmar during the period of October 17 - October 30, 2010. This period coincides with two major Buddhist holidays. First it is the close of Buddhist Lent. After three months of reflection and low-movement, the country "wakes-up" and takes on a air of celebration, both local and national. This is immediately followed by the Buddhist Festival of Lights.

This festive period marks a time when everyone celebrates after having restrained themselves for months. It's truly a unique time in which to travel the country and something we've literally been waiting over two years to schedule at this particular time.

Level One / Two
Dates: Oct. 17th - Oct. 30th, 2010
Cost: $4895

# One-on-one narrative instruction by our professionally trained award-winning instructors
# Daily mentoring and story development editing
# Regular slideshows and group critiques
# Portfolio reviews with instructors and Momenta staff
# Lectures on narrative storytelling, elements of photography, and history of documentary photography
# Instruction on Photo Mechanic and photo asset archiving and printing
# Final night slideshow & party hosted by Momenta for attendees

*****
 INDIA 2011: WORKING WITH NONPROFITS

This trip takes us again back to Dehradun to photograph the work of nonprofits in Northern India. Nestled in the foothills of the Himalayas, the bustling town of Dehradun offers us a unique location to find Tibetan refugee services, medical and health related nonprofits as well as children and women's programs and so much more.

The workshop will begin January 30 in Dehli with our group orientation and celebration dinner and then we will travel by train through the countryside up North to the Dehradun to start photographing. Daily editing and mentoring with instructors while working hand in hand with your nonprofits will combine with a weekend excursions to a resort town on the River Ganges. Students will work on photo stories relating to their nonprofit partner and have the opportunity to work with more than one nonprofit if they choose. The student photo stories are presented during a group slideshow party hosted by Momenta for the nonprofit staff, volunteers, students and the public.

Level Three
Dates: January 30 - February 12, 2011
Cost: $4550

# Momenta provides all the pre-workshop logistics for nonprofit assignments based each student's interest and goals
# Student work benefits nonprofits in their need to publicize and project their activities to new audiences
# Instruction on Photo Mechanic and photo asset archiving
# Hotels, in-country transportation, guides and meals included with tuition
# Personal portfolio reviews with lead instructor and Momenta staff
# Regular slideshows, lectures and group critiques
# Daily mentoring and story development editing
# Voluntary multimedia instruction for interested attendees
# Lectures on narrative storytelling, elements of a photography and history of documentary photography
# Final slideshow and party hosted by Momenta for all students, NGO staff, general public and members of the photographic community

Other 2011 Momenta trips include "Vietnam 2011: Exploring the Travel Essay," "New Orleans 2011: Working with Nonprofits" and "Project South Africa."

SnagFilms Presents Free Memorial Day Documentaries

SnagFilms is a site where you can watch and share hundreds of free feature-length documentaries online. This weekend it is showcasing a slate of films devoted to Memorial Day themes.

As SnagFilms CEO Rick Allen wrote for Huffington Post:

Featured films include Return To Tarawa, the story of a veteran of one of the bloodiest battles ever fought by U.S. Marines, who returns to that Pacific atoll only to discover that what should be hallowed ground has become a garbage dump—and that the bones of warriors remain in place, unidentified and apparently ignored, at least by our government. Leon Cooper won’t forget, and the film outlines his last battle: to clean up “Bloody Tarawa” and venerate the dead.

Nanking is the highly-honored documentary that picked up its Peabody Award this week—now online for the first time. It brilliantly depicts the heroism of civilians just prior to World War II who tried to prevent a Holocaust from occurring when Japanese troops marched into the then-capital of China in 1937. Nanking reminds us that bravery is not the sole province of the soldier, and that moral and physical courage can come from unlikely sources.

In Vietnam, Long Time Coming, U.S. and Vietnamese soldiers embark on a 1600-mile bicycle tour throughout Vietnam, reflecting with their former enemies on our long war. A similar approach to post-war understanding, On Common Ground, tells the story of American and German World War II veterans meeting 55 years later on the very battlefield where once they’d fought.

Other Memorial Day films featuring World War II themes include Battle of the Midway, and Pearl Harbor: Day of Infamy. East LA Marine tells the story of US Marine PFC Guy Gabaldon, who captured over 1500 Japanese soldiers and civilians—single-handedly. For those who wish to reflect on Memorial Day along the contours of its original creation, SnagFilms is showing Arlington Field of Honor, which offers a tour of America’s most sacred warrior graveyard. Other films in the special offering include Devil Dog Diaries (National Geographic’s inside look at a unit in action during Desert Storm), and So Very Far from Home, the true stories that were the basis of Steven Spielberg’s Empire of the Sun.

We tried our hand at creating our own SnagFilms Memorial Day movie-theater widget, and found that it is easy to do. This one contains 3 films -- Pearl Harbor: Day of Infamy, Return to Tarawa, So Very Far From Home -- but there are plenty more on SnagFilms that are worthy of your attention.

Watch more free documentaries

See SnagFilms' free Memorial Day documentaries here.

Have Vidcam, Will Travel ... Need $$$ ?

You want to travel to exotic lands where you can create videojournalism projects ... but you don't have the dough.

SalaamGarage, which leads small groups of visual journalists on worthwhile expeditions around the globe, is an expert at figuring out how to finance them.

SalaamGarage is a citizen journalist organization that partners with International NGOs and local non-profits. Participants (photographers, writers, videographers, etc.) create and share independent media projects that raise awareness and cause positive change in their online and offline social communities.

Now they've published a guide to funding your project, via social media -- including Facebook and WordPress.

The two methods for raising awareness and money documented here each have their advantages. Facebook is quicker, easier and does not require any technical background. Hosting your own site and blogging with WordPress is more technical, but it provides more customization options.

SalaamGarage's upcoming India trip is full, but they still have a few spaces left for their 2010 excursions to Vietnam and Guatemala.

Sign up now -- and start searching for your financial underwriting.

We Have a Winner!

When we reached 1,234 members* of the KobreGuide Facebook Group, we had a drawing for a free Prof. Kobre Lightscoop (retail value $35), which dramatically improves SLR flash photography.

And our winner is.... Amanda Koster (right), whose SalaamGarage leads groups of visual journalists to Third World countries, where they work with NGOs to help raise funds and awareness for worthy projects.

Congratulations, Amanda! We hope you'll take your new Lightscoop on your upcoming excursions to India, Guatemala, and Vietnam, and let us know how you like it. (Better yet, show us!)

Thanks to all who've signed up for our KobreGuide Facebook Group. It's the best way to stay abreast of KobreGuide.com stories and developments. (And you can follow us on Twitter, too!)

And please keep an eye on all the great work Amanda is doing over at SalaamGarage.com.

* Our Facebook Group is now up to 1,252 members. If you haven't joined yet, please do -- and invite your friends.