Alison Morley Video Page

Alison Morley

Alison Morley talks about visual literacy in the context of Henri Cartier-Bresson's photo, "Behind Saint-Lazare station, Paris, France, 1932."

More about Henri Cartier-Bresson at henricartierbresson.org/hcb/HCB_bio00_en.htm

Alison Morley is a photo editor and educator. Alison has been the Chair of the Documentary Photography and Photojournalism Program at the International Center of Photography in New York since 2000, where she teaches and oversees an adjunct faculty of more than 60 working photographers and professionals.

As a photo editor, she has been the photography director of The New York Times Sophisticated Traveler,Audubon, Life, Civilization, Esquire, Mirabella, Elle, and The Los Angeles Times Magazine. Currently, she works as a consultant for photographers, agencies and magazines. She has edited several major monographs and has curated touring exhibitions for Blood and Honey: A Yugoslavian War Journal and The Road to Kabul, both by Ron Haviv; I Am Rich Potosi: The Mountain That Eats Men by Stephen Ferry; Soviets: Pictures From the End of The U.S.S.R. by Shepard Sherbell and The Ninth Floor by Jessica Dimmock 

Her awards for photo editing include American Photography and the Society of Publication Design and Communication Arts. She is on the nominating committee for World Press Photos Masterclass in The Netherlands and serves on The Fulbright Committee in New York. In Los Angeles, she ran her own studio doing editorial portraiture for magazines such as Shape, Redbook, Rolling Stone, Cosmopolitan, Film Comment, and Los Angeles Magazine. Her photographs have been published in several books includingBackstory: Screenwriters of The Golden Age, edited by Patrick McGilligan.

She has written on photography for magazines and books and has lectured and lead workshops in the United States as well as in Bangladesh, Bosnia, China, France, Hungary, Philippines and Uganda. She attended Simmons College, majoring in Communications and earned a B.F.A. from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California in 1978.

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Additional videos:

 Power of Photography

Alison Morley talks about the power of photography to tell stories because of their visual appeal and also shares her thoughts on how a photograph is read.

Advice for Photographers 

Alison Morley's own words of advice for emerging photographers: "Shoot, Shoot, Shoot!" She talks about the importance of finding one's own style and voice.

Working with Subjects 
Alison Morley gives emerging photographers advice on the importance of patiently familiarizing yourself to your subjects in order to get their photos, though she also identifies some different approaches to the process.