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Contact Information
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Carmen K. Sisson
Journalist/Photojournalist |
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Summary
Work History
Northport, AL, United States
Jul 2002 - Present
Journalist/Photojournalist
- Full-time freelance since company's inception in 2002.
- Provide photo/text packages for regional, national, and international publications.
- Offer multimedia services including audio, video, and still photo slideshows.
- Photograph products in-studio for commercial clients.
- Maintain a daily photoblog created in 2004 which includes nearly 1,000 entries and generates 88,000 unique visitors per year.
- Designed and coded main portfolio site using Dreamweaver and Flash.
- Frequent contributor to the Tuscaloosa News online community since 2006.
- Active participant in social media, including Facebook and Twitter.
Boston, MA, United States
Mar 2006 - Present
Correspondent
- Identify and spotlight cultural, educational, and religious trends across the southeastern U.S.
- Profile people making a difference, fighting injustice, or inspiring others.
- Produce 1,200-word photo/text packages for deadline.
- Shoot and transmit digital images via FTP.
- Record audio/video supplements using Audacity and iMovie.
- Embedded with Selma, Ala. fourth and fifth-graders, producing a three-part multimedia series of their experiences as they traveled to the 2009 inauguration.
- Covered the desk for vacationing Backstory editors July 2006 to August 2006.
Tuscaloosa, AL, United States
Jul 2002 - Jul 2006
Photo stringer
- On-call 24/7 to assist the three-photographer staff.
- Provide news, features, and sports images on deadline.
- Photograph events for the News' in-house publication,Tuscaloosa Magazine.
- Shoot, edit, caption and transmit digital images via FTP.
Northport, AL, United States
Dec 1998 - Jul 2002
Editor
- Assisted with founding paper, helping develop ethical standards, corporate policy, branding, design, and community relations.
- Doubled circulation, receiving the 2002 Most Improved award from the Alabama Press Association.
- Coordinated a five-person staff, covering a 2,751-square mile area.
- Recruited and taught stringers, several of whom now hold staff jobs at daily newspapers.
- Wrote 8-10 news stories, one editorial, and one personal column each week. Beats included city council, county commission, education (encompassing more than 20 public and private schools), sports, and the local arts community.
- Photographed, edited, and captioned 90 percent of the paper's photo content.
- Transitioned paper from 75 percent paste-up to 75 percent pagination.
- Assisted with the pagination, layout, and design of full-page and double-trucked features as well as special tabloid editions, including home and garden, fall football, and graduation.
- Developed and maintained website.
- Fostered community relations through active involvement with the West Alabama Chamber of Commerce, Northport Merchants' Association, and other civic groups.
Bay Area News Network
Mobile, AL, United States
Dec 1988 - May 1991
Reporter/Photographer
- Covered news, sports, and feature stories as a paid contributor for The Tillman's Corner News and Mobile County News during my sophomore through senior year in high school.
- Provided two to three articles per week while working part-time as a veterinarian's assistant and maintaining a 4.16 GPA.
Education
Tuscaloosa, AL, United States
Aug 1991 - May 1995
Journalism/Photojournalism
- Received a full-time Presidential Scholarship, National Alumni Leadership Scholarship, and was a National Merit Semi-Finalist.
- Double-majored in Journalism and English, double-minored in Psychology and French.
- Concurrently held a full-time job at Books-A-Million and part-time work study in UA's photo lab from 1992-1995.
- Worked as a stringer for The Crimson White in 1992.
- Completed 114/120 hours towards a bachelor's degree in journalism.
Skills
OS X
(Expert)7-9 Years Experience, (Currently in use)
Usage and troubleshooting experience with all systems from OS 9 to 10.5.8.
Adobe Photoshop CS
(Advanced)5-6 Years Experience, (Currently in use)
Adobe Dreamweaver
(Intermediate)5-6 Years Experience, (Currently in use)
Built my website, www.cloudybright.com, using Dreamweaver.
Quark XPress
(Intermediate)3-4 Years Experience, (Last Used 3-4 years ago)
FTP and field transmission of stories and photos
(Expert)5-6 Years Experience, (Currently in use)
Familiarity with Transmit and similar programs.
Adobe Lightroom 2
(Intermediate)1-2 Years Experience, (Currently in use)
Affiliations
This VisualCV is available as a printable .pdf file