Time to start thinking about a summer workshop

bdcolen

I'm inclined to do another workshop this summer - three days? A weekend? A week? July 4th in Boston worked pretty well last year, but...I am open to various possibilities in terms of time and place. If, for example, there are 4 to 8 people in a given city who'd like a workshop there, if the participants want to split my airfare, put me up and feed me, I'm happy to come to you. And by put me up I mean I am more than willing to sleep in someone's home - doesn't have to be a fancy hotel. Also, if there are two or three Dgriners in, say SF, Chicago, NY, who can then find additional participants through a local camera club, Meetup, or whatever, go for it.

Anyway, just starting to think about this.

thoth

bdcolen wrote: »

I'm inclined to do another workshop this summer - three days? A weekend? A week? July 4th in Boston worked pretty well last year, but...I am open to various possibilities in terms of time and place. If, for example, there are 4 to 8 people in a given city who'd like a workshop there, if the participants want to split my airfare, put me up and feed me, I'm happy to come to you. And by put me up I mean I am more than willing to sleep in someone's home - doesn't have to be a fancy hotel. Also, if there are two or three Dgriners in, say SF, Chicago, NY, who can then find additional participants through a local camera club, Meetup, or whatever, go for it.

Anyway, just starting to think about this.

Macon, Missouri sounds like the perfect place. Surely there's someone else with a camera around here...

sara505

thoth wrote: »

Macon, Missouri sounds like the perfect place. Surely there's someone else with a camera around here...

Want to come to the Vineyard? I could put you and a few participants up in my rental house, in-town Edgartown - June or September would be ideal.

bdcolen

sara505 wrote: »

Want to come to the Vineyard? I could put you and a few participants up in my rental house, in-town Edgartown - June or September would be ideal.

Hmmmm....Hear that, people? Perfect place for a workshop. (Not that Macon, Missouri isn't the greatest place on earth, Travis! :-) Actually, a Heartland Workshop could be really cool.)

sara505

bdcolen wrote: »

Hmmmm....Hear that, people? Perfect place for a workshop. (Not that Macon, Missouri isn't the greatest place on earth, Travis! :-) Actually, a Heartland Workshop could be really cool.)

Sleeps 8 (in various configurations of couples/singles); 6-minute walk to downtown Edgartown; x-street from a wildlife sanctuary/secret pathways to Edgartown Lighthouse, beaches. Again, June or September would be best so as to avoid the summer rat-race - better light, too. I would serve as Native Guide.

Patti

The Vineyard's hard to top. I was going to suggest migration north to Toronto but...

bdcolen

I've done the math - for four attendees the housing cost would be about $400 per person for the week - which is awfully good. And Sara points out it's a four block walk from the center of Edgartown, close to beach, etc. etc. etc. We could do our own cooking...hmmmmmmm

Patti

For those who might fly in, what is transport like from Logan to the location? Just wondering...

sara505

Patti wrote: »

For those who might fly in, what is transport like from Logan to the location? Just wondering...

I don't fly, but many do fly in from Boston, Providence and NY.

lizzard_nyc

sara505 wrote: »

I don't fly, but many do fly in from Boston, Providence and NY.

So B.D. what is the cost for the workshop itself aside from the stay?

Sarah--I just burned my meatball dinner reading and rereading this!

sara505

lizzard_nyc wrote: »

So B.D. what is the cost for the workshop itself aside from the stay?

Sarah--I just burned my meatball dinner reading and rereading this!

Liz, welcome to my world. I burn everything, and I live in a small apartment where the kitchen is not that far away. Once I get involved in a creative project - playing my fiddle, or working on photographs or tending to my blogs - I get so focused that I forget I'm cooking until I smell it burning. What's typical is: burn; set it aside to let it cool; get so busy that I forget I've done that, too; finally sit down and eat my burned, cold dinner. Yuk.

The price we pay for being artistes, I guess.:D

lizzard_nyc

sara505 wrote: »

Liz, welcome to my world. I burn everything, and I live in a small apartment where the kitchen is not that far away. Once I get involved in a creative project - playing my fiddle, or working on photographs or tending to my blogs - I get so focused that I forget I'm cooking until I smell it burning. What's typical is: burn; set it aside to let it cool; get so busy that I forget I've done that, too; finally sit down and eat my burned, cold dinner. Yuk.

The price we pay for being artistes, I guess.:D

The good thing is I've gotten my family used to it:)
Glad I am not alone, it's exactly what happens to me.

They're not all burned, just one batch--so at least I'll be able to eat some good ones--and well since my family is already used to my burned food .

bdcolen

lizzard_nyc wrote: »

So B.D. what is the cost for the workshop itself aside from the stay?

Sarah--I just burned my meatball dinner reading and rereading this!

Not so sure art's worth burning good meatballs. The workshop itself is $500. Rutt will tell you it's cheap at the price.
And IF we were to do the Vineyard, we'd make it a week long - at least gather Sunday, go home Saturday. As the house has been described to me, it would it possible for one student to bring spouse and maybe a child, assuming I bring spouse. If I don't, there will be two rooms for couples.

But this is very early, and what we have to do is figure out who's interested - and you can contact me by email - bd@bdcolenphoto.com - and under what circumstances. I have one person already who has said he's very interested in a Boston workshop, and I'm assuming the Vineyard will also appeal to him.

lizzard_nyc

bdcolen wrote: »

Not so sure art's worth burning good meatballs. The workshop itself is $500. Rutt will tell you it's cheap at the price.

no worries--they are delicious--I just tasted them.
I want to say yes now and figure out how later;)

Must discuss with Michael first--thank you for the info, I will get back to you this evening.

I had a snowday today--to myself (office closed)!
Been processing photos and relaxing and cooking all while listening to the Beatles Abbey road on my little portable record player over and over again--This would be beyond icing on the cake and fitting for such a wonderful day. The year is starting off smashingly!

bdcolen

lizzard_nyc wrote: »

no worries--they are delicious--I just tasted them.
I want to say yes now and figure out how later;)

Must discuss with Michael first--thank you for the info, I will get back to you this evening.

I had a snowday today--to myself (office closed)!
Been processing photos and relaxing and cooking all while listening to the Beatles Abbey road on my little portable record player over and over again--This would be beyond icing on the cake and fitting for such a wonderful day. The year is starting off smashingly!

NO rush. At all.

sara505

bdcolen wrote: »

Not so sure art's worth burning good meatballs. The workshop itself is $500. Rutt will tell you it's cheap at the price.
And IF we were to do the Vineyard, we'd make it a week long - at least gather Sunday, go home Saturday. As the house has been described to me, it would it possible for one student to bring spouse and maybe a child, assuming I bring spouse. If I don't, there will be two rooms for couples.

But this is very early, and what we have to do is figure out who's interested - and you can contact me by email - bd@bdcolenphoto.com - and under what circumstances. I have one person already who has said he's very interested in a Boston workshop, and I'm assuming the Vineyard will also appeal to him.

Here's the house.

Actually three rooms for couples, and one room with two singles; four bedrooms in all. Another way of looking at it is three singles (in over sized beds) and one room with two singles. Or, three rooms for couples, and you could push the two single beds together to equal four couples.

I wouldn't count because I don't live there.

lizzard_nyc

sara505 wrote: »

Here's the house.

Actually three rooms for couples, and one room with two singles; four bedrooms in all. Another way of looking at it is three singles (in over sized beds) and one room with two singles. Or, three rooms for couples, and you could push the two single beds together to equal four couples.

I wouldn't count because I don't live there.

--beats the pants of me asking my son to sleep at grandma's so B.D. could take the top bunk.

rutt

Sara beat me to the punch. I just saw this and thought about offering my place in Nantucket. July 4 is not the right weekend for Nantucket, though.

http://dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=17135&highlight=Nantucket+opera+demo

This is usually the third weekend in August. I can find out about this year.

In any case, MV or ACK, I am interested. My house can handle enough people.

BTW bus from Logan to Hyannis, ferry to ACK or MV. Much better than Cape Air.

sara505

rutt wrote: »

Sara beat me to the punch. I just saw this and thought about offering my place in Nantucket. July 4 is not the right weekend for Nantucket, though.

http://dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=17135&highlight=Nantucket+opera+demo

This is usually the third weekend in August. I can find out about this year.

In any case, MV or ACK, I am interested. My house can handle enough people.

BTW bus from Logan to Hyannis, ferry to ACK or MV. Much better than Cape Air.

Rutt brings up a good point - if you're looking for events/people to shoot, there's more going on in July and August on the Vineyard (and I will spare you the ages old Vineyard/Nantucket rivalry ). June and September are more sane and prettier - and with 6 towns (7 if you count the fishing village of Menemsha), there is a degree of street/pj opportunities - but a workshop on the Vineyard in June or September might be more along the lines of capturing a beautiful location in the off-season/landscape photography. But then again, I don't know your intentions, BD.

Here is an example of Edgartown in the off-season, and what one might find to photograph. Every day is different.

PS to get to the Vineyard, best to take the bus to Woods Hole (1 1/2 hours); Steamship Authority ferry to the island (45 mins.).

bdcolen

Okay - As you can all imagine, my workshops are not "pretty places" workshops; they are intense periods of concentration on why we photograph, discovering yourself as a photographer, and on shooting in the street and documentary traditions. That said, pretty places are terrific places to spend a week - as the Maine Media Workshops proved decades ago.

So the Vineyard or Nantucket would be terrific, as they are wonderful places to be for a week and explore - but the workshops will not be about shooting sunrises and sunsets, flowers, or beaches - although if we do a week in one of those places I will build in opportunities for those things.

Now - Can we please take this off-line, in terms of both expressions of interest, and any more offers of places to shoot? At some point further on, when I have enough expressions of serious interest to know that I am doing a workshop, I'll post a notice with the details.

Thanks

sara505

bdcolen wrote: »

Okay - As you can all imagine, my workshops are not "pretty places" workshops; they are intense periods of concentration on why we photograph, discovering yourself as a photographer, and on shooting in the street and documentary traditions. That said, pretty places are terrific places to spend a week - as the Maine Media Workshops proved decades ago.

So the Vineyard or Nantucket would be terrific, as they are wonderful places to be for a week and explore - but the workshops will not be about shooting sunrises and sunsets, flowers, or beaches - although if we do a week in one of those places I will build in opportunities for those things.

Now - Can we please take this off-line, in terms of both expressions of interest, and any more offers of places to shoot? At some point further on, when I have enough expressions of serious interest to know that I am doing a workshop, I'll post a notice with the details.

Thanks

Thanks for clarifying.

bdcolen

sara505 wrote: »

Thanks for clarifying.

Well, I figure that people know I am not a scenic kind of guy - although I will occasionally shoot snow fences, flowers, sunsets, etc. like anyone else - but when all is said and done, the real purpose of my workshops is to help the participants figure out who they are as photographers, using a series of exercises, some street shooting, and a short documentary project. Actually - and then I will drop this discussion for now - one of the Islands in the slower part of the season is ideal for being able to do a documentary project - in a store, a restaurant, a boatyard, etc. without getting in the way as much as one would during high season.

sara505

bdcolen wrote: »

Well, I figure that people know I am not a scenic kind of guy - although I will occasionally shoot snow fences, flowers, sunsets, etc. like anyone else - but when all is said and done, the real purpose of my workshops is to help the participants figure out who they are as photographers, using a series of exercises, some street shooting, and a short documentary project. Actually - and then I will drop this discussion for now - one of the Islands in the slower part of the season is ideal for being able to do a documentary project - in a store, a restaurant, a boatyard, etc. without getting in the way as much as one would during high season.

I just wanted to clarify and make sure you knew what to expect from MV in the off-season, again, not knowing what exactly you will be focusing on, thinking you are more of an urban/street/pj kind of guy - but yes, all the other stuff is good, too. And you're right, the slower season does have a lot to offer.