I am a photojournalist and professor of visual journalism based in Los Angeles, CA, with an MFA in Photography, a PhD in Communication and over a decade of experience as a photographer for news and editorial organizations. Though I shoot a multitude of subjects for my clients and commissions, my personal photographic and scholarly work focuses on rethinking visual representations of gender, race and sexuality in documentary image-making.
My documentary film work has screened internationally, my writing on media has been published in magazines, academic journals and news media trade journals. I was a 2016 Visiting Fellow at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism of Harvard University, researching and writing about how to improve inequities behind the documentary camera. My Nieman Reports cover story on visual journalism's lack of diverse perspectives was awarded the 2017 FOLIO Ozzie for Best B2B Single Article.
I'm also a co-Founder and Board Member of Authority Collective.
Tara Pixley
Associate Professor of Journalism | English and Journalism
Los Angeles, CA, UNITED STATES, University Hall, 3814
Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts
Biography
Education
University of California San Diego
Ph.D., Communications
2018
Savannah College of Art and Design
M.F.A., Photography
2011
Florida A&M University
B.S., Philosophy and Journalism
2005
Media Appearances
If You’re Tired of Diversity Talk in Photography, You Haven’t Been Listening Hard Enough.
Vision Slightly Blurred online
2019-08-01
“No one is advocating putting mediocre photographers forward just because they’re diverse,” Tara Pixley told us at a recent interview at Photoville 2019 in Brooklyn. Pixley and Mengwen Cao – two board members of Authority Collective – stopped by to talk about their mission to help support, educate and promote women and non-binary photographers in what has historically been a white male-dominated profession. In this wide-ranging episode of Vision Slightly Blurred, Sarah and Allen (mostly Allen) learn some of the ridiculous and challenging situations that minorities contend with on a daily basis while simply trying to do their job of taking photos, and why diversity matters when telling a story through mass media.
view moreA New Wave of Social Networks Make Diverse Photographers More Visible.
Rangefinder Magazine. online
2019-05-17
Unlike Diversify Photo and Women Photograph, Authority Collective doesn’t have a database yet. A newer resource, it is a community of women, femmes, trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming people of color working in photography, film, and VR. Pixley is a cofounder and speaks about the platform's efforts to diversify photojournalism.
view moreWomen of Color Organize for Access and Accountability in Photojournalism
The New York Times print
2019-02-05
An account of how the Authority Collective was created and how it is now bringing exposure to photographers of color and from immigrant backgrounds.
view moreTaking charge: Women journalists build a more inclusive industry
Medium online
2018-05-09
From websites and newsrooms to databases and collectives, women are working to overcome sexism and discrimination as they shape a new frontier in media.
view moreField of View: Reclaim Photo Co-Founder on Why Photojournalism Needs More Diversity.
Canon Europe online
2019-03-01
In our new article series, Field of View, we ask leading industry figures to share their opinion about a hot topic. Here, Tara Pixley, a San Diego-based editorial and reportage photographer – and co-founder of Reclaim Photo, an alliance of organisations working to promote diversity in photojournalism – comments on why the industry needs photographers from more backgrounds.
view moreWhy Photography Can’t Get Woke
Bloomberg Businessweek online
2017-10-06
The profession is pushing to bring in new voices, but it has a long way to go.
view more