Johnny Bivera

Founder / Executive Director

Johnny Bivera is the principal of Visual Media One LLC and executive director and founder of Shoot Off Visual Media Workshops.  He is a freelance photojournalist with over 35+ years experience in visual communication and has captured images worldwide from everyday life to the hostilities of war. 

He was an official videographer to the President of the United States Bill Clinton and executive photographer to Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Vern Clark and Admiral Mike Mullen.  He's covered combat and humanitarian missions to maritime operations like the Bosnia/Herzegovina conflict, the Israeli-Jordan Peace Treaty, Turkey's tragic 1999 earthquake and the war in Afghanistan. 

He retired from the U.S. Navy in 2006 and has since traveled extensively around the globe to unique places in Antarctica, Galapagos and Papua New Guinea. 

He currently documents news and media events for a variety of clients where his work has appeared in major newspapers, magazines and video documentaries.  He was personally profiled on PBS's Jim Lehrer NewsHour, C-SPAN's Washington Journal and NFL Films 'American Postcards'.  He's been published in numerous books and has worked on projects for publishers Harper Collins and the National Geographic Society. 

He was an education committee member of the White House News Photographers Association, is the National Press Photographers Association’s Department of Defense Liaison, a member of the American Society of Media Photographers, past president of the National Association of Naval Photography, a current advisory committee member of the D.C. Public Library Arts Council, and a founding faculty member of the Red Badge Project, a storytelling workshop for veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury. 

He is a 2024 Defense Information School Hall of Fame recipient.