Classes begin

What a first day of class I have had. We started off with a critique of our portfolios. It was interesting to see the range of work from the students. The lecturer, Raul Touzon from Cuba was very honest about everyone's work, no pussy-footing around. He loved some of my work-such as the Amelie in the shadows, Fiji boys, Istanbul, Courtney and the balloon shot. Other shots he said to cut out of my portfolio because they didn't cut it. This is the thing. One of my portrait shots that he said was too cute and had to go Alessandra in floral dress in Barcelona), was described by one of the judges for the NZ Institute of Professional Photographers as exactly the kind of shot that would qualify me for membership to the NZIPP. It just goes to show how subjective the whole thing is. Well I am here to learn and take it like a big girl. Raul says I need to divide my work into stock photography and portraiture for commercial work- this was good to know.

We had a morning lecture on lighting and composition which was useful revision. He gave us strict instructions for our afternoon assignment- use wide angle lens, manual only and try to get some movement into the shots.

We car pooled down to the Plaza in town for the shoot. It was snowing and it took a while to adjust because we had been sitting in the cosy lecture room all day. We all split up and walked around town trying to get some decent shots to show at the next lecture. It was much harder in this weather than it was the other day in the beautiful golden sunset glow. My shots today are very dark, blue and brooding. I found a gorgeous jewellery shop on my way around called Crown Jewells and had to buy some stuff. The owner, Shanner (pronounced Shauna) was lovely and we talked for ages. I got some photos in there too.

I walked past a woman in a parking booth and got some shots of her reading. Her name was Veronica. She was fine about me photographing as long I wasn't going to publish the shots.

I did lots of trees, skies and reflections which turned out okay. We were not allowed to do any post-production using a computer on our shots to show the class tomorrow. This took me out of my comfort zone and made me think extra hard about each shot.

I GOT ASKED FOR ID TONIGHT. I was having dinner with Alan and Elaine, 74 years old from Iowa, Rachel from Chicago and Ines from Hawaii. When I ordered a glass of Pinot Grigio with dinner, the waiter asked me for my ID. WTF? He was the one who looked under 21, not me. I told him he had made my day and fished around for my NZ Driver's Licence. I think he just wanted to know how old I really was..... It goes without saying that that waiter got a mighty handsome tip. I suspect that was his cunning plan all along.

This evening we had a lecturer presentation from the 3 teachers of the courses that are on this week. My lecturer, Raul Touzon showed his work from a recent trip to The Sudan for the UN. They were very moving as they showed the health and education issues facing this country on high military alert.

David---presented his documentary series on Romania after the revolution. These were very sobering after viewing his high fashion shots from when he worked in NY city. He had given up fashion because he wanted to pursue personal projects.

Genevieve Russell is teaching a portrait workshop. Her talk was interesting because her main work is family storytelling. She meets with familes, spends time with them, makes photos and videos of them and writes about heir stories in book form with DVD. She is passionate about sharing the stories of people we would never otherwise hear about.

I forgot to mention that I am staying in a Carmelite Monastery on the same grounds as the workshop. The main rules are no drugs or alcohol and don't photograph the Nuns. It is VERY basic but after some of the images of Africa and Romania I have seen, I was reminded that I am so lucky to have everything and more in my life. We all need a wake up call regularly to get the heart and mind thinking about our place in the world. Our circumstance really are a lottery.

written by  annwyn_tobin on March 9, 2010 from Santa Fe, United States
from the travel blog: Santa Fe Photography Workshops
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