Instructors

Chandler Griffin (Founder)

Chandler Griffin is a New York City based filmmaker with more than nine years of experience instructing workshops under the umbrella of Barefoot Workshops and such prestigious institutes as the International Film & Television Workshops in Maine. His work has taken him to Latin America, North America, the UK, Africa, India & The Middle East. He has developed and produced educational media programs in Northern Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, South Africa, Honduras, India, Kuwait, Jordan and various locations in the USA. He is a Founding Member of Video Volunteers and is on Jackson Hole Film Festival's Global Insight Advisory Committee. Among others, he has worked with UNESCO, UNDP, UNAIDS, PBS, The American Cancer Society, The Ford Foundation, RFK Center for Human Rights, Good Magazine, The Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation, PlanUSA, FilmAid International, Global Media Adventures, Mississippi Film Commission, Louisiana Film Commission, The Middle East Partnership Initiative, the State Department's Digital Freedom Initiative, as well as several universities. His camera work has helped films earn a CINE Golden Eagle Award, ITVS funding and an Oscar Nomination. Chandler started The Arnold & Friends Fund (www.TAAFF.org) and Registered Redneck (www.registeredredneck.com) to fundraise for AIDS orphans in Zimbabwe. In 2006 Chandler founded A River Blue, an arts empowerment project for 100 displaced children in Northern Uganda. A River Blue currently offers art therapy, English, business, tailoring and secondary school to 51 students. Chandler holds a BFA in Photography and a BFA in Film & Television from the Savannah College of Art and Design.

Chandler and wife, Alison Fast, are constantly working to develop new programs for Barefoot Workshops.

Alison Fast (Program Director)

Alison Fast is a Peabody Award-winning television producer for networks such as Telemundo, NBC/Universal, MTV and PBS. In 2003, she co-founded the youth program, One Global Tribe (www.oneglobaltribe.org). She has produced and documented international events including, World AIDS Orphans Day in Los Angeles and South Africa, and the World Water Forum in Mexico City. She spent six months documenting the power of grassroots media in Brazil, and speaks Spanish and Portuguese fluently. Her goal is to use media and new technologies to bridge diverse communities around the world and to support the exchange of best practices to meet development goals. Her focus is on: youth empowerment, indigenous communities, HIV/AIDS, and global strategies for peace and a sustainable future. She is a member of Africa Sustainability Coalition (www.csafrica.org), and is Barefoot's Program Director for Africa and The Middle East.

Visit her website at (www.fastontherun.com)

Contact: alisonfast@mac.com

Ron Blaylock (Photo Instructor)

Ron Blaylock is a professional photographer, educator, and journalist based out of Jackson, Mississippi. His professional education includes time at the prestigious Rocky Mountain School of Photography and a degree in Journalism and Advertising from the University of Mississippi.

Ron is a regular contributor to several regional and national publications. His editorial photography has been featured in The Washington Post, The Times-Picayune, The Clarion Ledger, Real Simple Magazine, Living Blues Magazine, and Mississippi Magazine. Ron is the owner of Blaylock Fine Art Photography and his fine art pieces have been exhibited in the New Orleans Museum of Art and hang in private collections around the country.

As an educator, Ron has taught photography at the University of Mississippi and through private lessons and workshops throughout the country. He currently teaches photography through Millsaps College and Barefoot Workshops, as well as continuing private workshops. He is developing ongoing educational programs in Mississippi to bridge the deep economic gap in youth education using media as a common ground.

Ron is exploring the use of new-media techniques, blending the use of traditional still photography, captured audio, and video editing software, for several upcoming documentary projects. These projects range from a study of the culture of rural grave digging to the impact of a major processing-plant closing on a small southern community. These projects deal with the complexities of humanity and our changing world.

Contact: info@blaylockphoto.com

Damien Blaylock (Content Producer)

Damien Blaylock is a writer, director, cinematographer and editor of documentary films. Since studying filmmaking at the International Film and Video Workshops in Rockport, Maine, he has gone on to work on a number of commercials, promotional pieces, informative videos and feature-length documentaries including his most recent critically-acclaimed project, Hard Times, a documentary about the life and music of blues musician, Big George Brock, which Damien directed, co-wrote, shot, and edited.

As a cinematographer, Damien has worked on several documentary projects including Messenger's, a human interest piece about a Mississippi business owner, George Messenger and his relationship with his home town, the blues, and the old south; Super Chikan: A Child Of The Delta, a documentary that delves into the colorful world of Mississippi musician and folk artist, James Super Chikan Johnson; and untitled documentary about actor, musician, and blues advocate, Steven Seagal and his exploration into the world of blues with the help of some the worlds most legendary blues artists; Blind Faith, a feature-length documentary about Sharon McConnell, an artist who, as a tribute to blues music, has set out to cast the faces of blues artists throughout the country, all the while dealing with the inevitable approach of total blindness; as well as many other independent non-fiction projects.

Currently, Damien is co-directing and producing several multi-media documentaries dealing with cultural and political issues through out the state of Mississippi under his newly formed production company, Atavistik Pictures (www.atavistik.com). Damien is also editing Barefoot's documentary on the A River Blue project.