About Valérie Berta   (she/they)     Born...
About Valérie Berta (she/they)

Born and raised on the Riviera, in the South of France, Valérie studied English in Paris and photojournalism at the University of Missouri­-Columbia.

For years they worked as a photojournalist, traveling worldwide on assignments for numerous media outlets including the Agence France-Presse in Paris and Hong Kong. In 2000, she met their husband, an acrobat from Peru, and joined him on the road with the circus, where they raised their two boys. During those years, Valerie started a personal documentary project titled, The Mudshow Diaries, about their life and family in the circus, and the extraordinary life of circus families.

Now based in Columbia, Missouri, Valérie works on social documentary photography and social justice activism. Her/their editorial work is represented by The Story Institute (New York, London.)




Photo Copyrights Monique C. Woo (2017.)




CV

Owner, Valérie Berta Photography
Photographer
Member, The Story Institute (New York, London)

Photographer and writer, Kelly Miller Circus  ­ 2008 to 2012

Photographer, Circus Chimera ­ 2006 to 2008

Visiting lecturer in photojournalism, Institut Universitaire de Technologie (Sophia Antipolis, France) 2006

The Press-­Enterprise (Riverside, CA) ­ 2002/2004

Jacksonville Journal­-Courier (Jacksonville, IL) ­ 2000/2002

The Herald-Journal (Logan, UT) ­ 1994

The News-­Journal (Wilmington, DE) 1993

Columbia Missourian (Columbia, MO) ­ 1992


Free­lancer

Agence France-­Presse (AFP) wire 1999/2000

The Washington Post, The Houston Chronicle various local organizations and publications 1995


Photo editing and other

AFP: web sites (Paris, France) 1996/1997

AFP: international picture desk (Paris, France; Hong Kong, China) ­ 1997/1999

Assistant coordinator for Pictures of the Year

University of Missouri­-Columbia (Columbia, MO) ­ 1994

Founder and director of the Voices Photography Workshop

for minority children 1992/94


Education

Master's degree

Photojournalism, University of Missouri­Columbia (Columbia, MO) ­ 1991 to 1994

English, Charles V Institute at the Université Paris VII (Paris, France) ­ 1984


Languages

French, Spanish, English

References

Joel Beeson Professor of Visual Communications,
Reed College of Media, West Virginia University (Morgantown, WV) ­ (304) 293­3505

Steve Warmowski Warmowski Photography and Photo Editor (retired) at
The Jacksonville Journal­Courier (Jacksonville, IL) (217) 473­5517

Nikki Smith Smith/Skolnik Literary Agency (Plainfield, NJ) ­ (908) 822­1870

Valerie Berta Photography

Valerie Berta Photography lifestyle portraiture animal photography
Website via Visura

Valerie Berta Photography is integrated to:
Visura site builder, a tool to grow your photography business
Visura's network for visual storytellers and journalists
A photography & film archive by Visura
Photography grants, open calls, and contests
A newsfeed for visual storytellers