The Foundation Workshop 6 ~ Dallas, Texas

Photojournalism has become a great influence on wedding photography in the past few years, and is being sought out more and more by brides and grooms alike. Many people categorize photojournalism simply as ' candid photos,' which is partly true about the style, but photojournalism is really so much more. Imagine trying to tell an entire story in as few pictures as possible, and those pictures also need to be artful. It is much more difficult than many people would think!

The Foundation Workshop, started six years ago by Huy Nguyen, a former Dallas Morning News photographer and current member of F8 Studio, was formed in order to teach photographers more about the photojournalism experience.

My assignment was to show up at the McKinney, Texas community center two days in a row and find the story. Without knowing ahead of time what may or may not be going on there, I slowly got to know the regulars, and found many willing and unwilling subjects to take pictures of! It was invigorating! :)

I ( Andrew) especially want to thank my team: Huy Nguyen (team leader), Mark Adams (mentor), Sergio (mentor), Becca Spears (assistant), and then also my fellow students, Erwin Darmali, Joe G., Leigh Miller, and Jesseca Hattey, for sharing their artistic vision, constructive criticism, words of edification, and friendship. I won't forget any of you! Also, thanks to Ben Chrisman, who came to my assignment location on the first day and shared some of his vision with me. :)

Here's a link to the final slideshow that my team leaders put together for the work I shot during those two days. It's a Quicktime movie, and should load pretty quickly.

The Class of 2008 ~ Foundation Workshop Group Photo


'Arrive early, stay late...' ~ Some of Andrew's work from the shoot...


























Becca said on her blog: " Andrew Mejia covered the daily happenings at a rec center in McKinney. Andrew has a natural eye for composition. I could see him layering and anticipating moments where all of the elements of the graphic image and peak action come together (see the first picture below). Andrew's biggest hurdle after his first day of shooting was feeling comfortable getting close to his subject. He was hindered by the common fear of not wanting to invade a subject's personal space. We basically said, "you've got to get over that." The thing is, there couldn't be anyone nicer than Andrew. I'm sure the general public would be absolutely fine with him invading their personal space. Take a look at these two wonderful images. Just love them. When the first picture came up onto the screen at our final presentations, there was a sweeping cheer. A bunch of photographers in a room know how hard it is to get a complex layered image like this."







...and a few miscellaneous photos of Andrew on the job




Thanks again to my team for making the experience so amazing!

For testimonials and shout-outs regarding this workshop, see the Foundation Workshop 6 Blog, and to see work from each individual student check out the Foundation Workshop 6 Website.

All images copyright 2000-2008, Sedona Bride | Katrina + Andrew Fine Art Photojournalism
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