Romanians at MPW

My friends Bogdan and Calin did a great job with their stories at MPW. Here are the links to their stories:

http://www.mophotoworkshop.org/60/teamc/baraghin_bogdan/index.html
http://www.mophotoworkshop.org/60/teamb/ilea_calin/index.html

Worriers

Bogdan and Calin, stressing out when they thought they wouldn't find a story in St. James that their faculty would approve. They both did.

Laforet's Canon 5D Mark II

I'm not a big gear head, but this impressed me. It's a short movie directed and shot by Vincent Laforet with the new Canon 5D Mark II. You can check his blog for the making of.

Missouri Photo Workshop 60

I have the privilege to be part of the organizing crew at the 60th edition of the MPW, also called the Missouri Photo Thinkshop. There's four of us in this one. Four Romanians, left to right: Catalin Abagiu (crew member), Bogdan Baraghin (participant), myself and Calin Ilea (participant). I am one of the printers. It'll be a crazy week. I'll probably post behind-the-scenes pictures and a ton of quotes. Photo by Jakob Berr.

New Website

I have finally managed to get my new website up and running. Please drop by and let me know what you think at www.andreipungovschi.com

MPA 2008 Awards

Once I got here, I found out that I have been awarded First Place, in the Best News Photo category, at the Missouri Press Association's annual awards, with this picture that I took at a Nazi rally last year in Columbia. It has the WPN logo, because I don't have it with me and just grabbed it from their website.

Back Home - Columbia, Missouri

"Some people have a home with their family. Others have a professional home, where they find others just like them, who share the same enthusiasm, passion and ideals." Rita Reed, photojournalism professor and CPOY director at the University of Missouri.

This came up in a conversation I had with her yesterday and it is probably the best description of what I feel about being back here in Columbia. There's no other place where I feel more at home than here.

Pigeons

Here's a really interesting project on pigeons, by Casey Templeton.

Sickman Festival

This past weekend I went to the town of Petrila, about 7h north-west of Bucharest, to get some pictures of Mr. Ion Barbu (below) for Esquire magazine. Mr. Barbu is an artist who has constantly been trying, over the years, to revive or, better said, ignite, the artistic spirit in this little mining town. He has organized festival after festival, inviting artists to come and share some of their fun and passion with the people of Petrila.

Pictured below Mr. Barbu:
* Luiza
* Bogdana
* Mihai

Wedding Photography

While browsing sites with a similar platform to the one I'll soon be using, I came across Ben Chrisman, the best wedding photographer I've ever seen. Apparently, he is ranked top wedding photographer in the world by the Wedding Photojournalist Association.

I was blown away. I'm still in awe.