Photo © Sandy Carson
Hello! I am a photo editor, picture researcher, and photobook consultant based in Austin, Texas. I work with photographers to craft powerful, cohesive edits of documentary, reportage, and fine art photography for exhibition, presentation, and publication. I also advise on editorial aspects and design of photobooks, portfolios, and websites.
Currently, I am working as a senior photo editor at National Geographic and Art Editor at Oxford American magazine. Previously, I was Deputy Art Director at Harper’s Magazine and Archival Producer on the Emmy-nominated PBS NewsHour series Brief But Spectacular, for which I sourced visual accompaniment for interview segments featuring a wide variety of guests. Several artists I pitched to be guests on the show were featured in episodes.
Sometimes, I interview artists about their work; am invited to speak to undergraduate and graduate photography students; and enjoy the intensity of teaching day-long photo editing workshops.
To discuss working together, please get in touch!
alyssa [at] alyssacoppelman [dot] com
UPCOMING
Fotofest Houston, Portfolio Reviews, Feb 2025
CPAC Portfolio Reviews, March 2025
Medium Photo, Portfolio Reviews, April 2025
CLIENTS
C3 Presents
Knopf Doubleday
Foreign Affairs
Harper’s Magazine
The Intercept
Mockingbird
National Geographic
Offset
Oxford American
ProPublica
@radical.media
Second Peninsula
Undark Magazine
PHOTO EDITING & ART DIRECTION
Ben Sklar
David Johnson
Ilana Panich-Linsman
Kiliii Yüyan
Kris Graves
Lindsay Blatt
Lisa Elmaleh
Lynsey Addario
Peter Turnley
Preston Gannaway
Sandy Carson
Theo Stroomer
PHOTOBOOKS
David Johnson, It Can Be This Way Always, 2021, University of Texas Press. Photo editor, design consultant
Preston Gannaway, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea. Photo editor, designer
Sandy Carson, We Were There. Photo editor, design consultant
Alyssa Banta, The Texas Ranch Sisterhood, Arcadia Publishing. Photo editor
Lindsay Blatt and Paul Taggart, Herd in Iceland. Photo editor, designer
Justin Cook, Made in Durham and Tide and Time. Photo editor, project consultant
WRITING
Oxford American, Spring 2024: Dredging the Sea
Oxford American, Spring 2024: The Entwining of Matter: Q&A with artist Dianna Settles
Oxford American, Fall 2024: Cool Nights and Intimate Cowboys: A conversation with Texas artist RF. Alvarez
Oxford American
Adobe Create
Feature Shoot
Hatje Cantz's fotoblog
Slate's Behold blog
Vantage
WIRED Photo
PRESS
Lenscratch Mixtape interview with Aline Smithson
PDN Magazine interview with Holly Hughes
Photolucida's Advisory Council
Oxford American’s National Magazine Award for General Excellence
JUROR/CURATOR
UT Austin, Documentary Photography Student Exhibition Juror, 2024
Center Forward at C4FAP, with Christy Havranek, June 2022
Critical Mass 2014-2020
The Curated Fridge, Summer 2019
Flash Forward 2015
Lenscratch, The Ides of March: Omens and Predictions
Portraits, A Smith Gallery
Singular/Signature, Center for Fine Art Photography
Slideluck Austin VI
Ben Sklar, solo show at Lower Left Gallery, Austin, TX
PORTFOLIO REVIEWS
Atlanta Celebrates Photography
Denver Month of Photography
Filter Photo Festival
Fotofest Houston
Medium San Diego
New England Portfolio Reviews
PhotoAlliance SF
Photolucida
PhotoNOLA
Review Santa Fe
SlowExposures
SPE South Central Portfolio Throwdown
EDUCATOR/PANELIST
Visiting Lecturer, Texas State University—San Marcos, 2018 & 2024
C4FAP Online Workshop with HuffPo’s Christy Havranek, Oct. 15, 2022
Critical Business Practices for Photographers, Review Santa Fe, 2021
Visiting Lecturer, Center for Fine Art Photography, 2021
i3 Photo Lecture, School of Visual Arts, June 2021
Panelist, Mary Virginia Swanson’s Social Media Strategies for Visual Artists, March 2020
Visiting Lecturer, Brigham Young University, March 2019
Editing Workshop, PhotoNOLA 2018
Social Media Strategies for Artists, organized by Mary Virginia Swanson, PhotoNOLA 2018
Visiting Lecturer, Texas Woman's University, Department of Visual Arts, April 2018
Hixon-Lied Visiting Lecturer, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Oct 2017
Visiting Lecturer, Academy of Arts SF: Contemporary Topics in Photography, Oct 2017
Panelist, Unseen Amsterdam, Making Photography Transparent: Q&A for Graduates, Sept 2014
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