B.D.'s Day in the Life Workshop
Flyinggina
Registered Users Posts: 2,639 Major grins
I am still recovering after last week's workshop with B.D. but I want to share what a wonderful experience it was.
I went into the class with trepidation, knowing that there would be assignments that would take me way out of my comfort zone. And they did -- both mentally and physically.
I was in a world of no flash, no posing of subjects, poor shooting conditions I normally avoid like the plague (including harsh midday light and shadow).
Class assignments resulted in my taking more photographs in one week than I think I have ever done before. One day, I shot 10 hours, on my feet in very hot conditions and survived. (I have renewed admiration for wedding photographers.)
Seeing some of B.D.'s Day in the Life work for clients expanded my understanding of how to use photography to tell real stories. The books he produces for his family clients capture the personalities of the subjects as well as the dynamics of their relationships (perhaps more than his subjects realize). I could see why his clients pay him the big bucks.
I am still digesting what I learned -- about my camera, about the work of other photographers (especially Eugene Richards and Eugene Smith), about my strengths and limitations as a photographer and a person and even about what is fundamentally important to me. That's a lot for one week!!
In the end, my pre-workshop fears were unfounded. True, I didn't enjoy the pj assignment, even though a frustrating afternoon netted me a shot that I love. But the experience reinforced the fact that I can push myself on command if I have to.
Will I become a documentary photographer/photojournalist? I doubt it. But I know now that I can take meanful photographs under a wide variaty of conditions and that I don't have to have lots of fancy equipment to make good pictures. Wherever my photography leads me, my work will have benefited from the week with B.D.
Virginia
I went into the class with trepidation, knowing that there would be assignments that would take me way out of my comfort zone. And they did -- both mentally and physically.
I was in a world of no flash, no posing of subjects, poor shooting conditions I normally avoid like the plague (including harsh midday light and shadow).
Class assignments resulted in my taking more photographs in one week than I think I have ever done before. One day, I shot 10 hours, on my feet in very hot conditions and survived. (I have renewed admiration for wedding photographers.)
Seeing some of B.D.'s Day in the Life work for clients expanded my understanding of how to use photography to tell real stories. The books he produces for his family clients capture the personalities of the subjects as well as the dynamics of their relationships (perhaps more than his subjects realize). I could see why his clients pay him the big bucks.
I am still digesting what I learned -- about my camera, about the work of other photographers (especially Eugene Richards and Eugene Smith), about my strengths and limitations as a photographer and a person and even about what is fundamentally important to me. That's a lot for one week!!
In the end, my pre-workshop fears were unfounded. True, I didn't enjoy the pj assignment, even though a frustrating afternoon netted me a shot that I love. But the experience reinforced the fact that I can push myself on command if I have to.
Will I become a documentary photographer/photojournalist? I doubt it. But I know now that I can take meanful photographs under a wide variaty of conditions and that I don't have to have lots of fancy equipment to make good pictures. Wherever my photography leads me, my work will have benefited from the week with B.D.
Virginia
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"A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you, the less you know." Diane Arbus
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"A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you, the less you know." Diane Arbus
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Thank you, Virginia, for such kind words. I do hope that what you gained stays with you and that your horizons really are expanded.
"He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan
"The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed