About the Toolkit

Prism Photo Workshop co-directors Michelle Kanaar and Alyssa Schukar produced this project with support from the 2024-2025 Reynolds Journalism Institute Fellowship. Read more about our project, including monthly articles produced as part of the fellowship, on RJI.


Prism Photo Workshop supports diverse photojournalists to tell the stories of underrepresented people and communities with dignity. We also collaborate with local newsrooms to create sustainable working conditions for freelance visual journalists.

If you are interested in collaborating with us, reach out to info@prismphotoworkshop.org.

Meet the Team

  • Michelle Kanaar

    Michelle Kanaar has 15 years of experience as a visual journalist, editor and newsroom leader. She is committed to social justice reporting and equity within the journalism industry.

    Michelle is a co-founder and co-director of the Prism Photo Workshop, whose mission is to provide resources and support for young photographers from diverse backgrounds to tell the stories of underrepresented people and communities with dignity.

    She also co-founded Borderless Magazine, an award-winning nonprofit news outlet that is reimagining immigration journalism for a more just and equitable future.

    She is interested in reviewing photojournalism or documentary work.

    Email

  • Alyssa Schukar

    Alyssa Schukar has a decade of experience navigating freelance photojournalism, including as a consistent contributor to The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. She understands the needs of freelance visual storytellers as well as the financial and personal difficulties that drive people out of the industry.

    A co-founder and co-director of the Prism Photo Workshop, Alyssa is committed to making the industry more inclusive and equitable, particularly by helping others establish sustainable freelance careers. She does this work through Prism and organizations like the International Women’s Media Foundation and the National Press Photographers Association.

    Email

Our History

Michelle Kanaar, Alyssa Schukar and Michael Zajakowski founded Prism in 2019. Since then, the free workshop and portfolio reviews have engaged with nearly a thousand visual reporters and editors who reflect the diversity of our communities through four workshops. Our now yearly workshop mixes inspiration with practical advice, including essential business guidance on providing quotes, navigating contracts and invoices, applying for grants and delivering imagery on deadline. We offer this programming to ensure that emerging visual reporters from marginalized communities can remain in the industry. These peer support systems – which encourage collaboration on edits, equipment, assisting and more – are an important part of freelance sustainability. 

The workshop also offers emerging and established photographers paid opportunities to engage with new audiences and develop their teaching and speaking abilities, cultivating diverse visual journalism leaders of the future. Currently, only 18.8% of newsroom leaders in the U.S. identify as people of color, according to the most recent ASNE survey. Past speakers include Kayla Bickham, Alex Garcia, Gonzalo Guzman, Sebastian Hidalgo, David Johnson, Tonika Johnson, Oriana Koren, Joshua Lott, Paul Octavious, Danielle Scruggs, Tonal Simmons, Diana Solís and Adrian Octavius Walker. 

In 2024, Prism workshop co-directors Michelle Kanaar and Alyssa Schukar were awarded a Reynolds Journalism Institute fellowship to create a free online toolkit for local newsrooms without visual staff to better work with freelance visual journalists with an emphasis on diversity and equity and to utilize visuals for increased engagement and revenue. This is the other half of Prism’s effort to promote equity in the relationships between newsrooms and freelancers. 

Prism has received funding from individuals, foundations and corporations, such as the Chris Hondros Fund, the Field Foundation and Sony Cameras. The workshop has partnered with various institutions to foster a more equitable industry for underrepresented visual reporters by promoting fair working conditions and prioritizing the hiring and inclusion of visual reporters who better reflect the communities they cover. Some of our partners include individuals from The Authority Collective, TrueChicago, Columbia College, DePaul University, the American Society of Media Photographers and The National Press Photographers Foundation. 

We also collaborate with editors at local and national news outlets from both traditional and emerging news backgrounds to make equity-minded structural changes at those institutions as well as connect editors with more diverse visual reporters. Outlets we have worked with include The Chicago Tribune, The Chicago-Sun Times, Borderless Magazine, Cicero Independiente, South Side Weekly, The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.

Our work at Prism Photo Workshop is rooted in training visual reporters and creating field sustainability for journalists from marginalized communities. We recognize that the visual journalism industry can only become more equitable, inclusive and diverse once we build systems that address the financial pressures and hardships inherent to freelance careers. 

Donate

Your tax-deductible donation will help the Workshop offer resources to visual journalists from traditionally underrepresented communities through grants, scholarships, mentoring and our annual live workshop. Contributions at any level are welcome.