The New York Times — Senior Video Correspondent
AUGUST 2019 — PRESENT Report, produce and direct (occasionally also film or edit) short video documentaries about important news topics around the world for The Times' video series The Dispatch. Currently reside in Mexico City and cover Latin America, focusing on topics of politics, violence, environment and human rights. FAA-certified drone pilot. Trained in hostile environs reporting.
The Weekly and Left/Right — Producer and Director DECEMBER 2018 — AUGUST 2019 Produced and directed a half-hour investigation for FX and Hulu into a criminal gold supply chain moving illegal gold from Colombia to major U.S. corporations, including Apple. We traveled inside illegal gold mines, spoke with armed groups profiting from the gold, and revealed one Colombian trader accused of laundering over $700 million worth of blood gold—tainted gold that could have ended up in your iPhone.
The New York Times — Senior Video Journalist
OCTOBER 2012 – JULY 2019 Report, shoot, script, and edit short documentary films on the news, often in collaboration with other cinematographers and editors. Based in Chicago, but cover the world. In 2014, voted Multimedia Photographer of the Year by Pictures of the Year International (POYi).
Columbia College Chicago — Adjunct Instructor FEBRUARY 2019 — MAY 2019 Co-taught a documentary video capstone course in which students learned the basics of short documentary filmmaking and guided their productions from concept to completion.
The New York Times — Video Journalist
NOVEMBER 2005 – OCTOBER 2012
As a founding member of The Times’s video unit, produced a range of web video, from breaking news to short vérité films. Worked closely with the investigative, metro, national, and foreign desks, on domestic and international stories. Twice nominated for a National Emmy.
CUNY Graduate School of Journalism — Adjunct Instructor
FALL 2012 – SPRING 2013
Taught “Video Journalism: Beyond the Basics,” in which students learned step by step how to create character-driven, visually engaging news videos.
The New York Times Student Journalism Institute — Lead Instructor and Editor
JANUARY 2008 AND JANUARY 2010
Coached students through the process of reporting, shooting, and editing web video, with a focus on visual storytelling over spot news coverage, as part of intensive two-week institutes offering aspiring reporters and photographers the opportunity to work side by side with Times editors.
Independent Video Producer and Cinematographer
APRIL 2004 – NOVEMBER 2005
Filmed for PBS FRONTLINE/World, NOVA, and Times/Discovery Channel, and produced short documentaries for a variety of independent productions.
PBS FRONTLINE/World — Associate Producer
FEBRUARY 2003 – MAY 2004
Helped produce regular episodes for this award-winning TV magazine program and stylistic precursor to Vice, and produced one of the show’s first web-exclusive video journalism pieces.
KCAW 90.1FM Sitka, Alaska — Radio Reporter
MAY 2003 – AUGUST 2003
Reported daily local news and produced feature stories for the statewide network Alaska News Nightly. Hosted and engineered the local "Morning Edition" program and conducted on-air interviews.
Northern Short Course (NPPA) MARCH 2015 Led an hour-long workshop on video journalism at this popular national conference. Also participated in a panel discussion about covering police protests in Ferguson, Missouri.
Guest Lecturer, Panelist, News Source 2010 — PRESENT Presented for journalism classes at Columbia University, Northwestern University, UC Berkeley, University of Illinois, Baruch College, Chicago Photography Center, and University of Miami and Columbia College Chicago. Was a panelist at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and the Society of Professional Journalists Conference. Have been interviewed on live broadcasts for U.S. and Australia news channels.
University of California, Berkeley
M.J., Journalism, emphasis in Documentary Film
2002 – 2004
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
B.F.A. (2), Photography, History of Art
Highest Honors
1996 – 2001
Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador
Spanish, Art, Communications
2000 – 2000
My work has won awards from World Press Photo, POYi, the Society of Professional Journalists, RTDNA, NPPA and the Society of American Business Editors and Writers. Videos were twice nominated for a national Emmy. I’ve also contributed to projects that won the Online Journalism Award, the IRE Medal, the Overseas Press Club Award, and the Pulitzer Prize.
For specifics, see Awards.