About

About us

Carlyn Saltman, Video Documentarian

Video Documentarian Carlyn Saltman

Carlyn was a founder of EarthThives with Rich Roth in 2007.

Carlyn has a Master's degree in Documentary Filmmaking from the highly selective National Film and Television School in London, England, and a B.A. in history from Mount Holyoke College. While on staff at Johns Hopkins University's School of Public Health, she produced videos with health messages for African audiences in collaboration with local specialists.

Over the years since she filmed her first cultural documentaries in Africa in 1982, Carlyn has refined the art and skills required for working closely with video technology, language, and that place in the heart where memories, feelings, and personal values intersect. In addition to other honors, two of her films are included in the Smithsonian Institution's collection.

Photograph taken on location in Burkina Faso, West Africa, 1995

"My greatest satisfaction comes from joining clients on their journey to greater awareness of what is most important to them about their family history and their own relationship to it. I've seen surprising changes happen through personal documentaries I have made."

— Carlyn Saltm

Carlyn confers closely with each client to clarify the stories and values they want to express through their personal history projects.
Her training as a psychosynthesis counselor, hospice volunteer, and as a member of the Association of Personal Historians, gives her a skill set that allows her to effectively support and guide people through the challenges that may emerge in life story work. In circumstances where there is a strong mix of emotions, she manages to perceive the complexity and capture such moments gracefully while offering support to the people concerned.

Carlyn also brings to the screen the vision of clients from non-profit and educational institutions such as:

--Mt. Holyoke College --Franklin Regional Council of Governments --Class Action --Healthy Families --Women's Fund of Western Mass --Conscious Communication Institute
--Greenfield Center School

Carlyn's style is marked by an unobtrusive photojournalistic approach that brings together the cinematic storytelling of an artful eye, an open heart, and a curious mind with state-of-the-art technical standards.

Awards

Outstanding Social Documentary
New England Film and Video Festival
Awards for Excellence, two-time recipient Society for Visual Anthropology
National Endowment for the Arts & Humanities Fellowship, two-time recipient

Tel: 413-863-4480

www.YourStoryMatters.com

Keith Shannon, Web Journalist

Keith Shannon never fully appreciated the power and potential of the Pioneer Valley until he returned to it after nearly ten years of living in the concrete jungle that is Manhattan. The lakes, the forests, the streams and farmlands are sacred and must be preserved. He now strives to wield his pen (or MacBook) as a sword to preserve what is left of the natural beauty that surrounds us all.

Consciousness is key and only education will breed awareness.

Suzanne Bowles, Development Specialist

Development Specialist Suzanne Bowles, Northampton

Suzanne Bowles is a Mount Holyoke College alumna with degree in Politics and International Relations and a penchant for international human rights. As a resource development consultant with ten years organizing experience in social justice and green and sustainable organizing, as well as marketing and grant writing.

Suzanne has joined Earth Thrives to help locate needed resources to the effort to take local activism to the next level of online visibility and efficiency.

Daniel Brown, photographer

You may have noticed this site's beautiful photographs of the Pioneer Valley. These include one or more of the following by photographer Daniel Brown who lives in Leyden: