the slide show for At Home workshop 2008 should be up now (under Movies
..my home page) and loads in about 15 secs on my computer..we had it
down for awhile trying to get out the flicker, but it is such a big
file , i am not sure we can do better..but still trying..
anyway, i do hope you enjoy the show…these students did the impossible to get this work done in just a few days…
most of you know, but not everyone, that this is all ORIGINAL WORK shot last week..could the final show be better?? of course… but this show is being produced right up until a half hour before show time…so, it is RAW, but reflects the sensitivity, timing, aesthetic and dedication of these emerging photographers..
some may not understand the workshop "ritual", so i will give you a little "brief"..
the whole point of this workshop is to allow emerging photographers a chance to totally develop artistically and realistically….i push each student in her/his personal direction based on THEM , not me…..or maybe "stretch" is better than "push"..in any case, i study
the portfolios even before they are accepted into the class….class
limit 12…as soon as possible, i spend an hour with each student
one on one to get "into their head" and figure out what they really
want to "say"….as you will see most are quite conceptual while still bearing witness…
my daily critiques of the previous day’s shooting often leave
blood and tears on the floor…while this is definitely a philosophy
class perhaps more than a photography class, we do have REAL PRODUCTION in
mind…we knew at the beginning of last week we would be following the
shows of Gene Richards and Bruce Gilden and with a live audience of New York photo world…
do you think there is any pressure??
but, i find that by throwing people in water over their heads, they swim like hell….
do the photographers have to be strong.. affirmative.. do they have to be tough??
absolutely… do they have to be more sensitive and open up their
hearts more than they have ever done in their lives?? necessarily…
i put just as much effort into the teaching of these workshops and into the final production as anything i do …period….my class knows i am asking them to work no harder than i am working myself….
nobody actually shoots for all of the 6 shooting days
allowed…theoretically they can, but they stumble..re-think…start
over…mucho time is spent researching, re-working ideas, tapping the
subconscious, and reaching out into new visual territory by just
"letting go" of all that "binds" ..i show my work, sometimes contact sheets, to help the photographers think about approach etc etc..
besides the obvious gratitude to Gene and Bruce who headlined the final show, i had "hands on" guests throughout the week…i want to thank Alex and Rebecca Webb for jamming with us
one morning and showing us their new book on Cuba…many many thanks to Melissa
Harris who gave us a personal tour through the Koudelka show, Invasion Prague 68, currently at
Aperture Gallery, Melissa gathered the students around her on the floor of the gallery and told us of weeks of work to hang this
show….Melissa is the editor of Aperture Magazine and has been the editor of so many books…Song from Magnum advertising department told us about
the realities of shooting for ad agencies and selling stock..many
thanks Song…suffering a serious thug induced brain injury while a photographer for
the Sacramento Bee, and now a NY freelancer, John Trotter came by and
showed us his amazing new book on a treatment center for major head
trauma..he did it while being inside as a patient…silent room…gracias amigo..
my biggest thank you goes to Michael Courvoisier who
really ran this workshop and will run the upcoming one in Mexico…. Oaxaca:Day of the Dead (see story under "student work/workshops")…Mike stays calm in a storm…handles both students and me with equal aplomb…we lost Marie temporarily right before this workshop nor did we have an intern, so
Mike and i had to do everything ourselves…from inner working organizing to making coffee and
getting the morning bagels to mopping the floor…i love to mop…
intense week?? more than intense…. day and night and night and day we were shooting, editing, listening to
music , discussing directions to move and just flat out busting it… and when we weren’t doing that, we were seeing a
presentation from one of the above or showing my works.
party??? not until the last night my friends, not until the last
night..and by that time, all of the suffering over, and the room quiet
and the lights down and a buzz in the crowd from the Gilden/Richards
show comes, yes, my student show….so proud ..and can’t believe we
actually did it again "against all odds" from where we were even the
night before..
show over….credit slides…applause long and sweet….i introduce
each photographer to the crowd telling about their story..more
applause…warm tears this time…this time blood pumping warm and
flushing the faces…hugs, kisses, and ok one more hug….
now, finally, finally..time to PARTY DOWN……(and we did!!)
reading this all… now I’VE got the biggest smile
:-D
go get ‘em gramma…
anton
Hi… It was a great pleasure to meet some of you, including David, at Look 3 & The Festival of the Photograph.
It was recommended by David that I start to look at what other photographers are doing so I decided to start here. I have looked at all portfolios posted in student work and many links posted in the day to day. I am inspired by MANY great images I have seen in your portfolios, the words of encouragement and the camaraderie that flows back and forth. Through the blog smog, what I find here is a generous group of individuals coming together for the common good of all to see. Something truly special is here bringing peeps from around the world together to discuss photography, their work, hopes, fears and even dreams…. a joy to find in the vast regions of cyberspace …. something I just don’t have living in the mountains of Oregon……what I find here is truly, a community…..
I am grateful for the links and suggestions to follow for further knowledge… my nature is communal and not competitive, so when I see the images that make an impact I think “Wow” and I am happy someone has created that image but at the same time I feel sick to my stomach feeling that I am just not good enough….I know I can take that 2 ways, put my head under the covers or just go out and try harder…
What I am touched by most is the generosity and good nature of David to selflessly give advice and a nudge of encouragement. Never have I met someone with such tenacity, commitment and love for the continuation and sharing of passion and knowledge. A catalyst for others to become inspired and create a forum to share their love for photography for life and for each other. It is with deep sincerity that I say thank you to D.
Your conversations have prompted me to question my basic assumptions about life, about photography and my particular path ahead. I’m just trying to allow myself to feel comfortable without knowing exactly what to do next. So I humbly offer my photographs for critique and with an unfamiliar feeling of apprehension I put my work forward to anyone who cares to look and yes, brutally critique! It is the only way I can move forward. If you care to, please look mostly at recent imagery and my eventual & recent book project on Hot Springs.
http://HillaryAtiyeh.com/
Originally I thought I would document environmental issues and started my career doing so…Then I got married, helped raise 2 great stepkids & took ample time to travel around the world making pretty pixx but never showing them to anyone. This year I felt the need both emotionally and financially to take my photography to a deeper level, put together a portfolio and brought it to Fotofest in March. Granted it was a venue for fine art photography & my work was straight nature, the responses were mostly the same… great composition, color, light…seen it before…Cliché….ouch!
Knowing I needed to change & never wanted to shoot stock I looked for something different and that’s what led me out of my comfort zone and into David’s Look 3 photo essay class. Wanting to muster up enough courage to photograph people as in his work it seems effortless. Well, no peeps shot in VA…. cemeteries, which I happen to have a fondness for… at least pushing myself to photograph in a completely different way.
Something fundamentally changed for me this year & after working with D. I’m still not sure what that is, but D’s disapproving look is the one in my head every time I want to shy away from making photos with peeps & I push myself to do it. So with a knot in my core I do it, and with the knot I edit this Summers photographs and try to put together “essays” and with that knot I am putting it out there for whomever wishes to see it.
Soon I will edit and scan slides and show the work from past years but for now I can’t stop shooting….looking for something deeper, meaningful, something that moves me and potentially touches someone else.
Eventually, I want to use photography as a tool to make a difference in the world…right now it is making a difference in me.
Thanx D and to this community for inspiration to be better and go deeper than I’ve ever gone before.
PEACE,
Hillary
ALL.
There is a new conversation going on at
sunday morning ramble.
Please join us there!
BOB BONES
Well, what words are left? I can only say that Bones is even more powerful than I’d anticipated. After three images my heart started pounding like a drum. Further on I started shaking, and later still I found myself gasping for breath. And these were my just visceral responses. Bob, I am speechless. I’m sorry but any words I’d say would seem trite. Let me go through it a few more times and try again to speak of this work. I now must go take a friend to dinner for her birthday but I shall return.
in awe
Patricia
Hilary, I havent gotten through the whole site yet, but I like your horse and river runners pix a lot. You may want to repost this on the new thread; being at the end of an old thread is a sure way of getting lost in the shuffle around here.
“That is what this workshop needs, a psychiatrist.”
~ David Allan Harvey
Coming into David’s “At Home Workshop,” I was looking forward to taking a whole week off of my regular life to take fabulous photographs. What I didn’t expect, what I don’t think anyone expected, was that this would also be a week of personal growth.
The following few days were a struggle for all of us in the workshop. Some of our stories fell apart at the seams, some of us had a lot of trouble getting access to the people we hoped to photograph, and some (including myself) just had difficulty getting our narrative to translate photographically. In short, we all had to confront our insecurities in some small or big way. At one point in the week, I felt like we were all in a really bad episode of Project Runway where the contestants feel confident with their point of view, only to find during morning critique that they were off the mark.
Just when most of the class was at its wit’s end, the workshop seemed to take a dramatic turn of events where all of our projects seemed to finally come together. David’s influence and support — we heard a lot of words like patience, intent, zen and even “work it”– helped us realize our projects and an intense week of hard work and stress finally paid off.
Thanks David, for one of the most difficult yet personally and professionally enlightening experiences of my life.
Brian Camarao