Never stop learning!
It does not matter how much you already know or what makes you feel safe or confident: it's always about finding new knowledge, experiences, developing new skills and being better every day. That’s why besides being a mentor and educator in the world of photography, I will always be an eternal student. You might think that there is nothing more to learn about something you already consider yourself to be good at, but I remember clearly a sentence from my father that he told me once: “Non c'è mai limite al meglio” which means
“There is never a limit to the best”
And he is right, there is never a limit to improve, you can always be better on what you do, always. That is why, periodically when my mind and heart drive me to want to go further I know that I just need to learn more. When I feel that I’m little stocked on what I do, or just when I eager for new motivations, new skills to learn, or simply see the same thing but in different way… There is when I study a lot.
I am daily looking for great content around the web, I read books, I often go out and shoot some genuine street photography, or just trying to do something very different with my cameras. But sometimes this is not enough and I want more.
That’s why about a year ago I joined:
The Foundry Photojournalism Workshop
It is an annual photo workshop held in various international locations where well known photojournalists are bring together to teach visual storytelling. I had heard about it before, but it never caught my attention until some things happened: 1) I was mentally prepared for it, 2) It was the right time for my photographic vision, 3) They were organizing a special edition for its tenth anniversary, 4) It was not expensive, as I thought, and 5) Best of all, it took place in Mexico City :-) Only two hours away from Cabo San Lucas, which was much more practical than traveling to the other side of the world! ...
I remember someday I was snooping on the web when I found this:
“Join us for the 10th Annual Foundry Photojournalism Workshop. After 9 workshops held all over the world, from Bali to Buenos Aires, Foundry is returning to the place where it all started: Mexico City.
A Foundry workshop is like no other. Over one hundred photojournalists from all over the world come together for a week of intense learning. Students choose to take one class with one or two instructors that lead the week's work of shooting, editing and producing a final project.
Our instructors are among the world's finest visual journalists, working for top publications like The New York Times, National Geographic, The Guardian, Le Monde, Der Spiegel and services like the Associated Press and Getty Images.”
Humm! Very close to my home town? Half price for locals? Oh Yeah! I want to do that! So, I registered myself. I remember I had to pick an instructor between all of them, and I chose Michael Robinson Chavez, a staff photographer at The Washington Post. I guess he was the one with whom I best identified my photography and my vision, for his excellent black and white photos, so I got going to live the Foundry experience!
