Two former students excel at photojournalism

Ana Venegas
Two former students have worked at competing newspapers in California for decades and still managed to remain married.

The two prize-winning photojournalists, Ana Venegas and Hall Wells, have distinguished records at their publications.

Venegas has been an Orange County Register staff photographer since 1987, specializing in documentary photojournalism and telling visual stories.

See her work here.  See a slide show of her work here

Hal Wells
Wells has worked at the Los Angeles Times since 1997 and currently serves as daily calendar photo editor at the Times.

"What began as a volunteer job folding, sorting and mailing the weekly newspaper, turned into a career in journalism. I will be forever grateful to the inspiring professors at San Antonio College for their guidance and inspiration," Wells wrote on his LinkedIn site.

As a SAC student from 1978-80, Wells served as managing editor and editor of The Ranger and editor of The Fourth Write.  He was a photo adviser for The Ranger from 1984-86 and he worked as staff photographer for the San Antonio Express-News before returning to earn his bachelor's degree in journalism fron the University of Missouri where he served as a teaching assistant. During this time, he won the Student RFK Human Understanding Award. Since 2008, he has worked as a photo instructor at California State University-Long Beach UCLA campus.