The Photograph Within Workshop
27th January 2008
Update (28-Jan-2008): Robin and Doug have both posted their comments on the workshop. Looks like they’re going to do it again in about six weeks and they’re offering half price for those of us who attended this time. It will be interesting to see where I am with the exercises by that point and whether I am ready to try again.
Doug Plummer and Robin Shapiro led a new photography workshop today in Seattle: The Photograph Within. It’s different than other photography workshops I am aware of since the focus was not on technique, or other technical matters like printing or digital darkroom work, nor even about the topics that typically concern most artistic workshops like composition. Instead, the workshop was about the zone of awareness where you’re engaging your right brain, how to listen to the messages that come from that non-verbal but essential-to-art part of your brain, and how to get into that zone.
There were 12 participants and they all had significant experience with photography; the workshop included several current (and one retired) professional photographers. There were amateurs there as well and I was far from the only one without a formal art background.
Developing sensitivity to your body was the foundation for most of the exercises. As I understood it, the right part of your brain communicates through sensations in different parts of the body. They would help us clear our minds and "listen" to our body and then go make some photographs. We then explored what we felt as we composed the photos and pressed the shutter. There were other exercises, like thinking about our preferences for different things like particular foods or favorite types of movies and where we felt a response in our body to those.
This seemed to be easy and even natural for most of the people in the room but I–not surprisingly–had a hard time with it. I approach everything analytically and verbally. I think I have managed somehow to build a simulacrum of the functions of the emotional right brain out of purely analytical thoughts but it clearly limits what I can do with photography–or at least it limits how much I can enjoy what I am doing with it.
Today was the first time they have done the workshop and I suspect they will change the format a bit in the future. There was too much to fit into the time but not nearly enough time to experiment with the day’s lessons and discover what they mean for each of us personally. There was especially not enough time for me, though Robin did give me some "homework" that I will be practicing. First, when I have to make a choice, I am supposed to quiet my mind and find what part of my body is responding to the choice. We all make thousands of choices a day so I suppose I will just do this as often as I practically can. The other exercise is more directly related to photography. I should find something I haven’t taken pictures of before and I am supposed to stand in front of that thing and look at it until my analytical brain gets bored, then I will be ready to take my pictures.
It should be interesting. I have a selection of my photos from the day in a photoset. The pictures are OK, but they are not nearly as good as even my normal daily work. It’s not surprising because the focus for the day was on the process of taking the photos, not on the final result.
January 28th, 2008 at 12:42
You might not be happy with it, but I really like mossy stairs. The zag moving up the stairs is just what your eye wants, and then there is something tasty looking about those top three steps, a sort of layered cake effect.
January 28th, 2008 at 16:22
Thanks, Julia. I find that I need more time away from my photos to appreciate them. I have also discovered, through the various aborted efforts at taking a photo a day over the years that the photos I produce during those times are definitely better than the things I do outside those times. Maybe it’s just practice: I am better at operating the camera, I have the discipline to shoot more pictures more often and so there is more to choose from, and because I process the photos every day I have greater facility with my “digital darkroom.”
But I think–I hope–there is more than just quantity and an easier way with the camera. I hope that the daily practice lets me make better photos.
I’m still not sure what I want to say with my photographs or, in fact, even why I take them. I just know that I must take them. During the workshop yesterday Doug pointed out that this uncertainty is a good thing because it’s something that will keep driving me to make more photographs. Once we find the answers we’re looking for, the urge to make art–or at least the art that explored that now-resolved area–goes away.
I appreciate you reading and taking the time to comment.
January 28th, 2008 at 21:33
Hey, thanks for writing us up so quickly. I’ve linked to you already. I hope the workshop simmers in you and helps your process. My experience is that the best workshops are those where nothing seems to have happened, but there’s a big shift six months later. Stay in touch.
Doug
January 28th, 2008 at 22:07
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January 29th, 2008 at 9:15
Tommy, I read Doug’s blog and so I was delighted to find that you attended the workshop. I like the images in the set. You seem to be taking a more intimate look during the workshop.
January 29th, 2008 at 21:00
Billie: it’s funny that we’re so far apart geographically but we read the same photo blogs from people around the Puget Sound (another we have in common, I think, is Paul Butzi’s).
I was aware that I was looking at smaller pieces of things around me. I have a hard time making photos I like in new places. I need time looking at things and absorbing them somehow before I can take photos I like. Getting to the point that I can “perform” better in new locales is one thing I hoped to get from the workshop. And I believe that it will come. But, in the meantime, I’ll keep right on taking pictures of the stuff all around me.
February 2nd, 2008 at 21:05
Hi Tommy,
Fun to read about the class on your blog! And I really like your step picture. See you in 6 weeks at the next course. I thought it was helpful and I loved the day-long conversation. Brooke
February 4th, 2008 at 22:22
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