Well, I'm back home in New York City after participating as an instructor at the phenomenally successful Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Mexico City. The event was initiated by Eric Beecroft who, along with brilliant staff members, managed the Herculean task of putting together the workshop attended by over 140 emerging and established photojournalists/photographers.
The event offered the 140 photographers (and instructors) the unique opportunity to mingle, establish contacts, find peer support, discuss, debate, argue and agree on the innumerable facets of photojournalism and photography. It was enlightening to witness and appreciate the photographic depth, wisdom and generosity of Kadir van Lohuizen, Stanley Greene, Kael Alford, Hugo Infante, Michael Robinson Chavez and Adriana Zehbrauskas, to name but a few.
The absolutely stunning presentations by the talented "students" ranged from documenting the Santa Muerte cult, the dancing Aztecs, female wrestlers, gay life in Mexico City, women's prison, street clowns, to a hospice for elderly ex-prostitutes, and farmers' demonstrations. There were many more!
A fuller report will soon be posted on the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop blog, so I intentionally kept this report brief, but I have the absolute certainty that the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop will be an annual event. There's already talk of next year's venue being in India or Morocco.
The above photograph is of a commercial photographer at the steps of the Basilica at the Virgin of Guadalupe. I thought it would be an amusing addition to this post.
