Project Basho Newsletter, June-July '09: Reaching out with Photography

Outreach Program in Planning Stage and Donations Sought
Titled "Reaching Out with Photography", Project Basho is sponsoring an outreach program for teenagers from the local community this summer,

We are collaborating with Centro Pedro Claver , a neighborhood based non-profit in North Philadelphia, and offering this class completely free of charge to 10 students in their summer program. This six week program will teach basic photography skills from shooting to darkroom practices, and also encourage the youth to explore self-expression through a camera.

ROP will be possible because of the dedication of our volunteers as well as through sponsorship. We are now focusing on raising the funds necessary to support this program. Our fundraising goal is $1500 which will be used to buy all the supplies for the photography program including:

10 slr 35mm cameras
120 rolls of 35mm B&W films
B&W Photographic Paper: 8x10 RC paper
If you are interested in contributing to this program, becoming a sponsor, or a part of our team, please contact us. Any support you can give to "Reaching Out with Photography" either in with kind goods or direct sponsorship will be greatly appreciated.

We hope this program will serve as a stepping stone for youth in the area to deepen their interest in photography and other forms of visual art.



Destination Trips
Our destination trip to Japan is coming soon. There are still available spaces for the trip if you are interested in travelling to the countryside of Japan with Andrea Modica.

Again, this is a 13 day trip to Kanazawa, Wajima and Suzu where a slower lifestyle and pristine landscape are still prevalent in modernized Japan. This is a shooting excursion combined with a workshop led by Andrea Modica, who will discuss your images with you during the trip.

You can read the blog from our last trip on our site with images, texts, and interviews of trip participants.

Expansion of Digital Workstations
We are working on the expansion of our digital workstations. In addition to our iMacs, 17" inkjet printer, and series of Adobe CS3 software, we are bringing Cezanne, a prepress flatbed scanner by Screen for high resolution scans of negatives (optical resolution at 6000 dpi and up to 14"x20" originals). This will be available this summer on an hourly rate basis. For the quality comparison with other scanners, take a look at this website (http://www.largeformatphotography.in...n-comparison/).

We are also working to bring a 44" inkjet printer to the studio. This will be a self-service unit and you can bring your file and print exactly in the way you like on the paper of your choice. We hope to offer this service early this coming fall.

You can rent our digital workstation with a friendly hourly rate just like our darkroom. For the full information, please visit our website.

Summer Semester in Full Swing
The summer semester has begun! We are offering many classes and workshops catering to a wide range of photography enthusiasts in the area.

In July, our teenager classes as well as Photoshop for Photographers will begin. In addition, we will be offering multiple specialty workshops such as "Photographs and Text" by H. Eugene Foster, "Gum Bichromate" by Scott McMahon, and "The Narrative in Photography" by Vincent Cianni.

For the full listing, please visit our website.

Upcoming Classes & Workshops
Learning your Digital SLR (One-Day Class, Saturday, July 18)
- This class will show you how to take advantage of the most modern sophisticated cameras for your creative needs.

Photoshop for Photographers I (Tuesday and Thursday, June 2-11)
- This class introduces the student to the image-editing power (and fun) of Photoshop.

Matting and Framing your Photographs (Sunday, June 28)
- This one day workshop is for those who want to learn how to mat and frame your own photographs in order to complete the process. Matting and framing of your photographs are relatively easy to learn and give a sense of "completion" to prints.

100 Pictures a Week (Thursdays, July 2 - Aug 13)
- If you need structure to photograph more images whether you are working on a project or simply would like to produce a body of work, this class is for you.

Photographic Vision Digital for Teenagers (Two-Week Class, Mon - Thurs, July 6 - 16)
- This class for teens emphasizes the student's self-expression and the creation of a digital portfolio.

Gum Bichromate (Saturday and Sunday, July 18-19)
- Discover the beauty and painterly quality of the gum bichromate process.

Photographs and Text (One Weekend, July 11 & 12)
- During this workshop, students will explore the idea of text as picture and the many ways in which text can be made to function as an integral and harmonious part of the whole.

Making Large Negatives with Large Cameras (One Weekend, July 11 & 12)
- In this hands-on two day workshop, students will work with large and ultra-large format cameras to experience the making of large negatives and learn the advantages of different formats.


Project Basho
– Re-introducing Photography to Philadelphia –
1305 Germantown Ave.
Philadelphia, PA 19122
215-238-0928
www.projectbasho.org/