Inside The Eddie Adams Workshop XXVIII

My observations from, and experience at, the famed photography gathering

Published in

Vantage

4 min readOct 20, 2015

I have seen my version of paradise: fresh air, passionate storytellers, uplifting community, autumn light, helpful critique, great food, bonfires and even a couple of wonderful dogs.

Much has been written about the Eddie Adams Workshop (EAW)— a long weekend where professional storytellers from all over the world gather on a farm in Jeffersonville, NY to share their vision with one hundred eager young photographers, and the experience holds true to the hype.

What Was Felt

Mine is only one of 2,800 of experiences at the Farm stretching back over the decades, but I’d like to pass on the positivity and optimism about photojournalism that I encountered.

The Eddie Adams Workshop a truly inspiring, magical (and yes, tiring!) few days where you could be crawling through mud at 8am and sharing dinner with your photographic idols at 6pm.

It can also be a point of stress with students of visual journalism. The admission is famously selective, but not meant to be exclusionary. To that end, I would like to point out that I applied multiple times before receiving word that I would be a student, and I encourage my peers to keep applying! It may not make or break your career, but you may meet a best friend or a future colleague and return home refreshed, inspired and ready to get to work.

The community surrounding this event is what makes it so special. I found myself surprised at the lack of competitiveness between the students and surprised at how willing the seasoned journalists were to talk to us newbies.

There was no ill will, only the desire to lift up young storytellers and encourage open and honest mentorship and friendship. It is a family. Especially as we face new and complicated challenges in this industry, I’m so thankful for this spirit in the photojournalism community. I look forward to passing it on to another generation some day.

What Was Produced

And now to share some photographs I made at the farm. Below is the story I was assigned for the workshop.

Our Green Team was fearlessly led by Carolyn Cole, produced by Alicia Hansen and edited by Nancy Andrews. Tech support provided by Gabriel Biderman.

The Green’s theme was Change. My assignment was to document Shannon and Andy’s wedding day and how this ritual would or wouldn’t affect change in their life. Our collaborative edit is below.