Tarha Makinson-Sanders talks about what it was like to be the director of the 1999 Women in Photojournalism Conference...

What's the purpose of a Women in Photojournalism Conference?

According to information that's been passed onto me, the idea came up about 10 years ago. The original purpose might be a little different than it is today. It was born out of people wanting to get women together in the business because not too long ago there would be only one or two women on staff at a newspaper. The conference was made to give these women the opportunity to get together and talk about issues that relate to them in the workplace and discuss the things they might see differently in the newsroom of a newspaper or magazine. They might talk about the issues of wanting children and juggling schedules... those kinds of things. It was an opportunity to spotlight women's work in the business and share perspectives toward things we encounter in the business.

You'll notice that none of the topics these days are gender-specific, and that's because we want to be more inclusive. There's no reason why a guy couldn't come to the conference and celebrate the work a woman does. And we realize that bringing people together under the umbrella of Women in Photojournalism gives women the opportunity to talk about issues that are important to them. If they have a concern they can approach one of their mentors or someone they look up to in the business and ask them how they feel about these issues.

What were the highlights of this year's conference?

One of the highlights was having Martha Rial come speak about her work and her Pulitzer Prize winning work from Rawanda, on the refugee situation there. She was very inspiring in regard to the reason she went there, which was to be with her sister. So her work was her secondary reason for being there.

Beth Reynolds, a documentary photographer based in Florida, was inspiring because people could look at her work and how it's published and think, "You know I can do that." Beth documents breast and cervical cancer survivors and was able to get health departments in Florida and California help fund her project. She then showed her work in nontraditional spaces such as shopping malls and city government buildings. So she also expanded the audience for documentary work. She reached people who wouldn't go to a gallery to see pictures of women who survived cancer.

I was pretty enthused about Kenny Irby coming to the conference to speak about diversity. If you work at a newspaper you're constantly hearing people in management saying we need to think about diversifying, we need to think about how to cover these minority communities. And as a photographer, you wonder if you are stereotyping these people when you go into a mosque to photograph someone in prayer. Is that all they're about? Do I have to show that every time I go into an Islamic space? We also got a Hispanic person from Albany to sit in on that panel. He started up his own newspaper because he felt minorities weren't being represented well enough. So I thought that was a pretty unique workshop that we hadn't seen at other conferences.

We had 25 portfolio reviewers at one time. So that everyone who wanted to, got a chance to have their portfolio reviewed.

We also tried to cross over T.V. and still photography. We really didn't want to draw a line down the middle and make everyone go to separate workshops. We really wanted to mix them, and I think listening to Linda Angelle, Pat Holloway and all the other T.V. speakers was just as inspirational for still photographers. I learned a lot about storytelling from listening to them. Technically we might be different, but I think we're all in it for the same reason.

Why did you want to be this year's director of the Women in Photojournalism Conference, and how did it come about?

It actually came to me. I had never really though about being the director. My friend Caroline Couig, who's national co-chair of the conference, wanted the conference to come to the east coast again, specifically to the New York area. Since NYC was too expensive, Caroline asked me to look into places in Albany to have it. When it was officially moved to Albany she asked me if I wouldn't mind taking on the whole thing. So I said sure ... but I didn't know what I was getting into (laughs). But I did ask last year's director about it and she was really positive. So I kind of adopted her philosophy and took the opportunity to give back to NPPA and the conference what I've gotten from them in the past. And it gave me the opportunity to be an active member. Of course there are selfish reasons as well. Anyone in that role would want to meet some really great people, get to know some of the speakers and mold a conference, having workshops that you've always been interested in. I knew it was going to be a big challenge and it definitely was, but it was cool to brainstorm these ideas and get groups together to develop the conference.

How did you feel about being appointed to this position?

You go through these phases. At first you think, "Oh, this is going to be great!" And then the next phase is, "Oh my God, there's so much to do." You just want to pull the covers over your head and not do anything. It's just a little overwhelming. Then you finally go, "Ok, this is really happening. I've got to start doing stuff." Then it just begins to consume you and you don't really think much about it in the big picture.

There are a lot of details and there's a lot of delegating because you realize that you can't do it all by yourself. There are about 12 committee heads to deal with each aspect of the conference. You're kind of the ring leader for all of this going on. You try to coordinate and see to it that everyone has what they need to do their jobs. And on top of that you're just trying to create excitement, get the word out, get the money going and get the speakers. And then the next thing you know it's the night before and it's kind of like your wedding night. You've been planning all these months and you're just not sure who's going to come and if everything's going to go smoothly. You can't sleep the night before and then it all turns out fine. Actually I have a funny story about that. ... I didn't sleep at all the night before. I tried counting sheep. I tried breathing techniques. I tried watching bad movies until I finally just gave up. So around 5:30 I just got up and got ready for the conference. I went downstairs shortly after and sat behind the registration table all dressed and ready to go. Nobody was there, it was a ghost town. So Maria Mann from AFP walks by and goes, "Oh, my God. I need a camera. You look so funny." And I said, "I'm ready. Lets do this!"

So what were the first things you needed to take care of in this role?

The first really important thing was to get the date set with the hotel and the gallery space. We wanted to make sure that the hotel could give us the kinds of prices that we wanted, to keep the rooms around $80 or in that range, which is difficult these days. They're usually $100 or more. Once you've got that finalized you've got to start hitting the road to make money, by getting donations and sponsorships. That happens from the moment you realize you're in this until ... well I'm still gathering money from people who have pledged. So those pretty much are the most important things because you need enough money to pay for the conference, and you want to try to make a little bit of profit to put back into the pot for next year's conference.

And when looking for sponsors, companies like Nikon and Fugi are not the only ones willing to donate for events like this. You've got to be creative in your fundraising, look at foundations and grants. You have to keep knocking on doors. They may say no to you once and yes the next time you ask. The Gannett Foundation originally said no. National Graphic Supply originally said no, or that they'd give us a coffee table book for a door prize. And those were the companies that ended up being our largest sponsors.

Then you start getting your committees together. You start calling your friends and saying, "I need your help," and "Please...." I thank all my friends who I appointed committee heads because they were great. I'm really grateful to them.

Drop Tahra a line at maksan@aol.com

Did everything go as planned? In your opinion, how successful was this year's conference?

Now that I've had some time to look back at everything, we've done some pretty amazing things this year. We had the most turnout ever from the television side of photojournalism. We had about 50 people from T.V. attend. We had the biggest trade show ever. And our attendance was really good. I think it was about the same as Baltimore (where last year's conference was held), which surprised me because it was in Albany. I wasn't sure anyone would want to go to Albany in April. So I feel really good about it, and I got some positive feedback on the workshops. We did some interesting things with them, covering everything from stress management to diversity.

What were the pros and cons of doing this job?

The pros were seeing all these people come to the conference and actually seeing the registrations start coming in. It was also cool meeting the speakers and getting to talk to them personally. Some of them are people I look up to. Getting to meet Kenny Irby was really neat.

And I guess the low part was having to worry about money, worrying about spending too much money here and not enough there. You worry that you're not getting enough sponsorship. You worry the day of the event when the hotel staff comes up to you and tells you that you don't have enough of something and that it's going to cost another thousand dollars. And especially with the troubles that NPPA has had in the past year, you are under some pressure to really try and produce decent figures in the end. But we did really well. We did very well.

NPPA asks people to provide their time. Except for the main speakers, all the workshop people came on their own expenses, of their own time from work. We're so appreciative of that. It's hard to imagine that people would fly themselves there, pay for their hotel rooms and their meals to volunteer. So you really want them to know how appreciative you are.

Did you get any feedback from the conference Web site?

I didn't hear much about the Web site except from the NPPA Executive Committee, and they all really liked it. And actually my husband, John, did the site. They liked it so much that John's upstairs right now working on the Web site for the national convention. I think next year we'll add some kind of bulletin board because I kept getting e-mails from people wanting to share rooms or (wanting) general driving directions ... things that I may not need to provide myself but that is still useful for participants. Maybe some sort of message board would be really helpful for next year, like the NPPA list. I don't usually add anything to it, but I enjoy reading it.

So how do people get involved in helping out with the conference?

If they'd like to volunteer, they should call Caroline Couig at the Detroit Free Press at (800) 674-6400, x6474. It's going to be in San Francisco next year at the NPPA National Convention. Every conference is going to spend one year at the national convention. It's a good thing because it will give some exposure to the Women's Conference. One of the unique things we do is the gallery show, so that should be neat. Let Caroline know what skills you have that might be useful. People who can do design and artwork are needed. People might want to get involved with the portfolio reviews. It would give you the chance to call someone up at the New York Times and introduce yourself. And you have a reason to talk to them and meet them. It's actually opened some doors for me.

Final thoughts?

I'm still thinking about this. It's almost like when you complete your first huge hike. At first you think you'll never be able to finish it. But then when you do it, there's an intense amount of confidence-building in that. I'm amazed that I've learned how to organize an event with 23 speakers, 350 people and raise quite a bit of money. And it's satisfying to know that people like myself can give an opportunity to students. Students are a big part of this conference. You feel like you've given students a place to find mentors, find friends and get excited about what we do.