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"From Street to the Pulitzer"
by Essdras Suarez-Washington, DC
Monday, March 8, 7:30 PM


Our speaker is well known to the club having presented live at the club on several occasions before moving to Virginia. He was recently at the Capital riots and will have some of those images in his presentation .

Come on a journey of discovery with well-known raconteur and Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Essdras M Suarez as he shows us some of his better-known images to some of his more obscure ones. Learn the stories behind these as well as the techniques used in making these visual gems.

From the streets of Central America to the streets of Washington- you will get a behind the scenes on how a professional approaches storytelling, news coverage, and the documenting of daily life. You’ll also learn a bit about the psychology the viewer uses when it comes to deciding what makes a great photo.

Essdras M Suarez is a educator, mentor, speaker and a two-time Pulitzer Prizewinner, who worked as a photojournalist for newspapers for 20 years, and who’s been a photographer for over a quarter of a century.

During a recent interview where he was asked if he had a specialty he said, ‘As newspaper photographer you were expected to wear many hats. In addition to being a photojournalist, you were expected to be a travel photographer, documentary photographer, food and product photographer, and a portrait photographer among other things.’

Throughout his career, he’s worked in over 60 countries while covering a myriad of assignments including the war in Iraq and the Columbia Shuttle disaster in 2003; a U.S. backed military coup against Haitian president Jean Bertrand Aristide and the Indonesia Tsunami in 2004. He also covered the Gaza Strip Evacuation in 2006, the Newtown Elementary school shooting in 2012, and the Boston Marathon Bombing in 2013 to name a few. After moving to the Alexandria, VA he’s continued to freelance for the Washington Post and for ZUMA Press Agency. In 2017 he was the only photographer to get images of congressman Steve Scalise after he was shot during a charity baseball game practice in Alexandria. He more recently covered the Civil Rights leader John Lewis passing among other national news, the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the 2020 presidential election’s aftermath in DC.

He now applies and shares his knowledge and experience as a speaker, educator, and as the founder of EMS Photo Adventures LLC where he is focused on creating and leading educationally geared, on-site and virtual custom photo programs including tours, workshops, educational webinars, and short- and long-term mentorship programs.

He has been a guest speaker and taught workshops nationally and internationally in 15 different countries and his images and articles have been published in many newspapers, magazines and photo journals nationwide and internationally.

To see more of his work or find out information about his tours and workshops please visit his website at www.essdras.com
Follow him on Twitter: @essdrasmsuarez
Visit him on Instagram at @essdras_001