Sallie Dean Shatz
Salt Lake City, Utah
For seven years (on and off) I worked in Beirut, Lebanon as a photojournalist. As a writer and/or photographer, I have been published by Amnesty International, BBC, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Index on Censorship, AAA, Outside, RootsRated, Columbia Journalism Review, High Country News, Harper’s and other magazines and NGOs in Lebanon, Australia, USA, England, Germany and Israel/Palestine.
In 2012 I was the Director of Photography for the 2012 Doha UN Climate Change Conference in Doha, Qatar. I was responsible for up to 19 image stories a day, photographing all negotiations, side events and protests with 1 one other photographer and 5 part time interns.
As an extreme sports photographer I have worked for Sports illustrated, Patagonia, Marmot, Black Diamond, Trailrunner magazine, Rock and Ice and Climbing magazine and other companies within the outdoor industry.
In 2006 following the October earthquake of 2005 that killed 80,000 people and left million homeless (to this day) I spent two months in Pakistan as a representative of the American Alpine Club working with the Alpine Club of Pakistan distributing the first of two shipments which totaled 21 tons. We also helped donations from mountaineering communities around the world to be distributed into the earthquake zone. It was, to this day, one of the most humbling, moving experiences of my life. Images from that project are on http://www.salliedeanshatz.com under Pakistan.
I had the honor of being the photographer for and one of the organizers of the Pakistani Women's Climbing Camp-—a partnership project between the American Alpine Club and the Alpine Club of Pakistan to start a tradition of climbing for women in Pakistan. We were to have one hundred female Pakistani climbing students in an all female camp in the mountains. We were cancelled two years in a row; it was still an amazing dream to be a part of. We gave our blood, sweat and tears to make this happen. At the end of the day, after the second time we cancelled, the women we were to teach, with the approval of their families created a socially acceptable situation where Pakistanis taught Pakistanis, a success in my mind.
My images have been exhibited on Capitol Hill, Washington, DC, in Beirut, Lebanon sponsored by UNESCO and Amnesty International, in Jerusalem and in an exhibit that toured Spain through AL-LIQUINDOI for over a year.
Since 1992 I have served as a volunteer for Mountain Rescue-Aspen, one of the most respected rescue teams in the country. I was off the roster from 2008-2015, but had remained a STR- Special Technical Resource. I, at the time, was one of two female rescue leaders, served on the board of directors five times and am the only woman to have served as training officer.I am an ambitious trail runner competing in the hardest ultra-marathon in the world—Speedgoat, 50km 12,000 vertical feet up and down, as well as a backcountry skier, mountaineer and rock and ice climber.
photo by Aron Ralston
