Resources for How Trauma Affects Photographers

We just got word of an upcoming Northern Short Course in Photojournalism from the National Press Photographers Association, including a program geared specifically at photojournalism educators: "From Newsroom to Classroom."

Of particular note is the workshop "Talking About Trauma to our Students," run by Dart Center Ochberg Fellows Jim MacMillan and Mike Walter. They'll be covering topics including...

A sprawling investigation of domestic violence and criminal justice; a first-person narrative trying to understand the writer's rapist; a carefully orchestrated radio series on brutal sexual assault as a weapon of war. The stories honored yesterday as winners of the 2009 Dart Awards for Excellence in Coverage of Trauma appear at first glance to share little in the way of practical approach.

Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington insist they didn't want to make an activist movie. They wanted to make a documentary that showed what military deployment was like, politics aside. They wanted to show why men keep going back to war even after the trauma and the bloodshed, why they keep seeking that sense of brotherhood. In the film "Restrepo," they've succeeded.

Six journalism grad students working with ABC’s 20/20 spent the summer investigating the stories of soldiers who abuse drugs. In their TV report, soldiers speak to the students of going into war drug-free, but turning to cocaine, amphetamines, and prescription drugs to deal with their traumatic experiences.