Your Instructors

Instructor and Co-Founder

Dotan Saguy was born in a small kibbutz near Israel’s Lebanese border. Dotan grew-up in a diverse working class Parisian suburb, lived in Lower Manhattan during 9/11 and moved to Los Angeles in 2003. In 2015 Dotan decided to focus on his lifelong passion for photography after a successful career as a high-tech entrepreneur. Since then Dotan attended the prestigious Eddie Adams Workshop, Missouri Photo Workshop and studied photojournalism at Santa Monica College. Dotan's award winning photographs have been published by National Geographic, The Guardian, The Los Angeles Times and many others. Dotan teaches street photography and documentary workshops for the Leica Akademie and Momenta Workshops. Dotan has published three monographs with the famed German publisher Kehrer Verlag:  

• “Venice Beach, the Last Days of a Bohemian Paradise” (2018) was awarded Bronze by the prestigious Deutscher Fotobuchpreis. 

• "Nowhere to Go but Everywhere" (2020) documented the everyday life of a family of vehicle dwellers with their three young children on the streets of Los Angeles. 

• "DOGTOWN, the Pups of Venice Beach and their Humans" (2024) is a book about the dog culture of the historical Dogtown

Dotan lives in both Los Angeles and Mammoth Lakes in the Sierra Nevada. When in L.A. Dotan and his Leica are never far from Venice Beach. :-)

Instructor and Co-Founder

From the Los Angeles Times to National Geographic Magazine to Brooks Institute, Gail Fisher's main focus as a photo editor, photojournalist, digital journalist, producer & teacher has been in-depth storytelling. In 2015, Fisher started her own business, Gail Fisher Media, photographing projects for editorial, educational, documentary travel and editing book projects. Among her clients; ESPN, she produced several in-depth stories, behind the scenes of athletes. After an illustrious career as a photojournalist and photo editor, Fisher joined Brooks Institute as Department Chair, School of Film and Communication in 2011. Fisher was a senior photo editor for National Geographic Magazine and senior photo editor of special projects for the Los Angeles Times. Fisher has traveled extensively throughout Southeast Asia, Middle East, Eastern Europe, Africa, Latin America covering social issues & documenting human conditions. Fisher’s editing skills and photographs have been recognized internationally with invitations to judge contests, teach, lecture, edit books, numerous awards; including prestigious JFK award & twice Photo Editor of the Year, both for newspapers & magazines.  A native of Akron, Ohio, Fisher earned a Bachelor of Science, Miami U of Ohio and an MA in Visual Communication from Ohio University. She has two grown children and lives in Santa Barbara.