Women of Influence
Storytelling is in my bones. It’s part of how I function, it’s how I move through the world,” says Caitlin Morris, one of the three co-founders of the women-in-film collective Pitch Her Productions. Launched in 2014 with two of her closest friends, Chanel Waterhouse and Gloria Munoz, this organization is not just a girls’ club, but a place where women striving to get to the top of the film industry can come to learn, network, and find support to create their next masterpiece.
“Our main goal is really to disrupt the industry in whatever small
Growing up in the small town of Brainerd, Minnesota, Elsa Garrison didn’t have an inkling that her ninth-grade photography class would become her ticket to the high-octane world of professional sports photography. “The class was an art elective, and I thought it could be kind of interesting,” she says. “After that semester, I ended up working on the yearbook, pretty much through the rest of high school. I was definitely your classic yearbook dork—but we all are, I think,” she reflects.
Photographs © Elsa Garrison unless otherwise
Polly Morgan (BSC) was born in London and worked internationally as a Camera Assistant before attending The American Film Institute, in 2010. Named an ASC Rising Star, in 2012, Morgan has since become one of the youngest members to join the British Society of Cinematographers.
In 2016, she was named as one of Variety’s Ten Cinematographers to Watch. Her feature film credits include The Intervention (Sundance Film Festival); The Truth About Emanuel (Sundance Film Festival); and The Pretty One (Tribeca Film Festival). Her TV credits
Katrin Eismann is an internationally respected artist, teacher, and author, specializing in creative digital photography and the impact of emerging technologies upon professional photographers, artists, and educators. She received a Bachelor’s degree in Photographic Illustration from the Rochester Institute of Technology, and a MFA in Design from the School of Visual Arts.
Eve M. Cohen is a cinematographer whose work ranges from independent feature films to television series, documentaries, and cinematic virtual reality. She entered the world of filmmaking through the study of fine art—specifically painting and photography—and holds a BFA in Photography and an MFA in Cinematography, both from UCLA. Her cinematography work for films and virtual reality projects has screened in festivals and theaters around the world. You can find her work on just about every digital platform available, and many TV channels.
Vivienne Gucwa is a native New Yorker, born and raised in Queens, and residing in Manhattan for the past decade. A self-taught photographer, she began making pictures in 2009, with a simple point-and-shoot camera. Choosing a direction and traveling through the city as far as her feet would take her, Gucwa’s limited equipment forced her to learn about light, composition, and color. In her images, she strives to capture the beauty of both well-known New York landscapes and less visited parts of the city, with a goal of sharing that beauty and
Sandy Puć, an internationally acclaimed photographer and businesswoman, delights in sharing her knowledge, experience, and passion for photography through a variety of speaking engagements, international tours, and her educational website, Sandy Puć University. A commitment to community inspired her to found the Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep Foundation (NILMDTS.org) in 2005, for which she received a 2012 Humanitarian of the Year award from the Framed Network, and recognition as a 2012 Woman of Worth by L’Oreal Paris.
Kirsten Johnson is a New-York based documentary director, producer, and principal cinematographer on more than 40 feature-length documentaries. Her most recent Academy short-listed film Cameraperson (2016), which premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 2016, was awarded three 2017 Cinema Eye Honors, including Outstanding Nonfiction Feature. Cameraperson was named one of the Top Ten Films of 2016 by The Washington Post and The New York Times, and was the Grand Jury Prize Winner at the San Francisco International Film Festival and Sheffield
Elsa Garrison is a New York-based staff photographer with Getty Images Sport. A graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism, Garrison began her career in 1996, with Allsport, in Los Angeles, which was acquired by Getty Images in 1998.
As a staff photographer, she has covered a wide variety of major sporting events, including the World Series, NBA Finals, Stanley Cup Finals, World Soccer, the Summer and Winter Olympic games, the Kentucky Derby, and the Belmont Stakes. Her work has been internationally published on websites and in
Brooke Shaden grew up in Lancaster, PA, and attended Temple University, graduating in 2008 with Bachelor’s degrees in film and English. Launching her photography career in Los Angeles, CA, she began creating self-portraits to have full control over her images. Instead of an autobiographical representation, Shaden places herself within environments she wishes to explore, where fantastic realities are captured, secrets are exposed, impossibilities are tested, and life is questioned in eras beyond our own.
Cristina Mittermeier is a Mexican-born marine biologist, photographer, and writer specializing in conservation issues involving fisheries and indigenous cultures to address the fragile balance between human well-being and healthy ecosystems. A Sony Artisan of Imagery since 2008, Mittermeier is also a photo editor and an engaging public speaker. She has edited and co-edited 24 coffee-table books on conservation issues, and her work has been published by a wide range of sources, from scientific journals to popular magazines