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JUNE 14-17, 2007 A workshop for intermediate and advanced photographers. Limited to twelve participants. This workshop runs from Thursday evening through Sunday afternoon. Our aim is to make it so complete that it will be the last workshop of its type that you will ever need. The purpose of this workshop is to help you make better photographs, and through doing that, to experience personal growth. And if you already make beautiful photographs, but find that you don’t do so consistently, then this workshop is for you. We intend this to be the definitive workshop for black and white photography. Even though this is only a weekend workshop, everything will be covered including developing film by inspection, printing, and proper use of the camera in a way that encourages creative vision. All technical matters will be discussed as a function of vision. Although Michael and Paula both use view cameras this workshop is not format specific. Large, medium, 35mm and digital formats are all welcome! If you notify us beforehand of specific things you would like to learn, we will incorporate them into the workshop. Of course, we will expect you to ask plenty of questions as various topics arise during the weekend. There are no limits and we hope to meet your needs as fully as possible. Although the principles covered are applicable to all formats, the use of view cameras will be emphasized. Workshop Fee: $695.
Complete Workshop Description Thursday—Looking at Photographs The workshop will begin on Thursday evening at 7P.M for a 3–4 hour session. It will continue from 9:00 A.M. Friday and Saturday until the evening, and on Sunday from about 9:00 A.M. until 4:00 or 5:00 P.M. Our workshops are intense. Our objective is to help you develop your visual and creative skills and give you the tools to make the best photographs you possibly can. We will try to teach you everything we know about the fine art of black and white photography, both visually and technically. We have no secrets. On the first evening, Thursday, June 14th we will begin by taking a brief look at participants’ photographs. (We will look at them again very carefully, and will discuss them fully, on Sunday.) We will then spend considerable time showing and discussing our own work. In this context, we talk about our photographs in terms of the visual concerns we have and an approach to “seeing.” This will not be a “we went here and did this” type of presentation. To our surprise, a number of participants at our Vision and Technique Workshops have reported that this was one of the most informative and rewarding parts of the workshop in terms of their own work. Friday Morning—In the Darkroom—Printing On Saturday morning we will go into the darkroom for a printing demonstration. We will demonstrate an approach to printing and apply them to negatives you have brought with you. We ask that you bring negatives that are difficult to print, ones that yielded satisfactory prints only after many hours of effort, or ones that never yielded the print you had hoped for. Also, bring the best prints (mounted or not) that you were able to make from those negatives. Although our demonstration will be with contact prints, it is fully applicable to those who make enlargements. Friday Evening On Friday evening we will attend the opening of Michael and Paula’s exhibition at the Camera Obscura Gallery http://www.cameraobscuragallery.com/. Friday and Saturday Afternoon—In the Field We will spend Friday, June 15, in the field demonstrating how we photograph. During this time Paula will spend time with each participant individually, looking on the ground glass, and demonstrating a way to use the camera as a tool for fresh discovery and stronger seeing. We have rarely encountered other photographers who use a camera this way. This has nothing to do with using swings and tilts or other mechanical manipulations, but is about how to approachany subject in a truly visual manner. If you have not experienced this before, we guarantee that it will open your eyes to new visual possibilities and will enrich your photographing experience beyond what you may have imagined. Although we will be using an 8x10 view camera for this demonstration, this is valuable even if you work in 35mm. During this time you will have the opportunity to make your own negatives, so bring your camera and film. Also during this time, Michael will demonstrate how he approaches his selected subject and the ways in which he does not limit himself to accepting his first response. And of course, we will both be there to answer any questions you might have regarding use of filters, exposure, or anything else that you might wish to know. Saturday Morning—In the Darkroom—Developing by Inspection On Saturday afternoon we will demonstrate developing film by inspection. This will not be a time for developing your own negatives that you might have made the previous day. After the developing by inspection demonstration, however, we hope you will be developing all of your future negatives with greater confidence and skill. Sunday—Your Photographs On Sunday we will take a careful look at the photographs from your portfolio. We will discuss them in light of all that has gone before during the weekend. Our hope is that by this time you will almost be able to anticipate everything we might say. The more photographs you bring with you, the more helpful we can be, though thirty would be maximum. These photographs should be in finished form and preferably mounted (although this is not essential). Other We will also demonstrate print finishing: mounting, matting, and spotting. At the end of the workshop, we can cover any topic you like that we have not dealt with. Let us know if there is any specific aspect of photography, either technical or visual, that you are interested in having us cover and we will do our best to do so. About the artists PAULA CHAMLEE: After beginning a career as a painter in the mid-1980s, Paula Chamlee discovered photography and quickly found direct involvement with the world outside the studio to be irresistible. In the dozen years since then, she has traveled extensively, making her photographs both in the United States and abroad. Her first book, Natural Connections: Photographs by Paula Chamlee, consisting of photographs and writing about the natural landscape, was published in 1994 and established her reputation as a highly original artist working within the classical tradition of straight photography. In Chamlee’s second book, High Plains Farm, published in 1996, she looked to her roots and photographed and wrote about the farm where she grew up on the High Plains of the Texas Panhandle. One critic called High Plains Farm “one of the genuinely significant contributions to photography and landscape study in many a year,” while another described it as “epic in its vision and intimate in its humanity.” Her third book, San Francisco: Twenty Corner Markets and One in the Middle of the Block, published in 1997, takes a look at the uniqueness of small, family-owned markets amidst the larger, faster-paced commerce of a big city. In 2004 she published two books of photographs from Tuscany: Tuscany: Wandering the Back Roads—Volume I, and Madonnina. She recently completed a series of still lifes, The Bonsai of Longwood Gardens, a collaborative work with her husband, the photographer, Michael A. Smith. Most recently, she has photographed in Baja California and in Iceland. MICHAEL A. SMITH, has been working in photography since 1966. Less than a year later, in 1967, he began photographing exclusively with an 8x10-inch view camera, committing himself to the contact print. Later he added both an 8x20 and an 18x22-inch view camera. His photographic journeys during the past 36 years have taken him to every state in the continental United States, western Canada, and Europe. The results of these remarkable odysseys are included in the permanent collections of over 100 museums in the United States, Europe, and Asia, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Art Institute of Chicago, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. His commitment to the medium has resulted in nearly 200 exhibitions. In addition, he has twice received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, and he has been the recipient of major commissions to photograph four American cities. In 1981, Smith’s first book, the two-volume monograph, Landscapes 1975–1979, was awarded Le Grand Prix du Livre at the Rencontres Internationale de la Photographie in Arles, France. At that time, the Swiss publication Print Letter commented that “For the first time in the 11 years of the Rencontres, a deserving book has won the book prize.” In 1992, Smith was honored with a 25-year retrospective exhibition at the International Museum of Photography at the Eastman House in Rochester, New York. To mark the occasion, Michael A Smith: A Visual Journey—Photographs from Twenty-Five Years was published. His first book of portraits, The Students of Deep Springs College, was published in the fall of 2000. His next book was published in the fall of 2004: Tuscany: Wandering the Back Roads—Volume II. He recently completed a series of still lifes, The Bonsai of Longwood Gardens, a collaborative work with his wife, the photographer, Paula Chamlee. Most recently he photographed in Baja California and in Iceland. |
