Not much time to play. Class is in full swing. Two days of shooting with short edits and reviews, and a longer review session, three hours, during this morning’s beginnings. Rain on the windows of the seventeenth floor. Each student has a completely different take on the experience. This is one of the most enjoyable aspects for me. Seeing each person make decisions. Two writing assignments so far, and two photography assignments with seven more on standbye. Seed planters. “Have you thought about……THIS?” “Or trying THIS.”
Workshops are not about building complete, cohesive essays.
Workshops are about risk, taking chances, doing what you do while trying to understand what you currently don’t do but might want to do in the near future. Where will you be in eighteen months? Three years? And workshops are editing to make sense of what you have. This is the part of photography that gets lost these days, mostly because editing is so difficult.
One more day here and then we move to another city. A change up. An altering of pace and feel. It is our responsibility to adapt and keep moving. Keep making pictures and telling stories. Invented or real, no matter. The work from this place will fade quickly as it is replaced by the new, by what lives tomorrow. Yesterday a distant, distant place.
Comments 7
Reading these Japan notes makes my head travel, imagining how i would go about my frames. It would‘ve to be a small set up but luckily sushi in one hand and 35mm and zone focusing with the other should work.
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Food has been incredible. I’m still losing weight, however, as we have been on the move from day one.
I took several workshops and got invited to a private salon with a landscape painter over the years. Great experience. Forced me to get on a plane and go somewhere unfamiliar. Where I met fellow artists of varying abilities, but all shared the desire to learn and grow. Education and experiences like this, be it artists, photographers, writers, etc is such a worthwhile investment versus endless scrolling on your phone.
Author
I can’t’ believe so many people are so addicted to the phone/false community. I shouldn’t be but I am. And watching grown men pose for each other for IG amid incredible temples and shrines is so alarming. What happened to these people?
I love the photograph you have shared with this post. The woman, standing still amidst the chaos visually describes taking the time to pause, see and respond. That’s what comes to my mind when I look at it.
“Workshops are about risk, taking chances, doing what you do while trying to understand what you currently don’t do but might want to do in the near future.” Yes, this. I am endeavoring to do this at home on my own. Yes, I am missing the workshop participants component but one must work with what they have available to them in the now.
Why do you think editing is so difficult? I am not saying it is or it isn’t. I’m very interested on your take on it. I do know that it’s a work in progress for me. Working in other mediums helps a lot. Ripping up and binning works that don’t work is a necessary part of the process, lest the studio fills up quickly, taking up space both physically and mentally. I’m thinking that this ties to what you’ve said numerous times… do the work. Keep doing the work. Perseverance. Developing a body of work that speaks for itself, independent of the chosen medium and/or gear. Yeah, thinking out loud here.
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It takes time and long-form attention span. That, for many people, is impossible now. And, there is a skill to editing, a skill that needs to be learned. Many folks want instant relevance with their work, or they are addicted to the online pat on the back that comes via social and online groups or communities. Not to mention, some folks are shooting so many images that editing becomes a challenge,even for the best of them.
Great post! Would love to read a post about seed planters on its own. You have gold nuggets in almost every post. Do you think you could share perhaps (5) or (10) questions to plant some seeds here? Intrigued…think I should attend a workshop too lol.