Fine Focus Workshops August Zone System Workshop

[Ted Harris]

Fine Focus Workshops Zone System Workshop will take place August 9th through 12th. We start for dinner on Thursday evening and run through mid day on Sunday. The venue is various locations in Southern New Hampshire and Vermont (always including some time at Richard's shop).

While the concentration is on using the Zone System in the field, we welcome beginners and experienced photographers alike ... color and black and white shooters.

As always, this is a hands-on workshop with limited enrollment. At the moment we do have space. Details at www.finefocusworkshops.com or contact Bruce Barlow, Richard Ritter or medirectly.

[Bruce Barlow]

It ain't just Zone System gobbledygook. We just got very positive feedback from the folks who attended the Landscape Workshop at Bernheim Forest outside Louisville as part of the View Camera Conference. We tried some new things, with a lot more structure and exercises than we've previously inflicted on students. The exercises, particularly those on seeing and composition, were very successful. We got some good hints on how to make it even better from our hard-working, delightful students, which we will incorporate into our August session.

We typically spend a day on Mechanics, and a day-and-a-half on composition and seeing. At the moment, all our committed attendees are alumni, and if that holds we'll skip the mechanics (they know it) and spend all the time on the creative side. Should new folks come, they'll get full treatment, including Camera Cuddle, and Camera Setup with Kisses.

Usually by August 9th what heat we have in New England has tapered a bit, so with luck we'll have low 80s and mild humidity, so weather, barring rain, should be pretty nice.

We've scouted some of the best streams, beaver ponds, old graveyards, farms, buildings, and rocks for the East Coast photographic experience. Hope you can join us!

[Jim Grimes]

I will be there. I would like to do some film speed tests if that can be worked in.

James

[Bruce Barlow]

I will be there. I would like to do some film speed tests if that can be worked in.

James

Yup.

[Ted Harris]

We are nearly full. We may have one or two slots available. If you are interested in this one let Bruce or Richard or me know.

BTW, although it seems a long time away, the deadline for our Fall Foliage Workshop will soon be upon us. We need deposits for that one by the end of August as we have to turn unused accommodations back in to the Lodge at that time.

[Jim Grimes]

The workshop ended a few hours ago and it was a nice three-plus days. In spite of heavy rain Friday morning, the workshop participants got to photograph, do some LF related exercises (mental and camera related), talk shop with fellow participants, do an intense print review, and eat. I have a few photos to post. Thanks to Bruce, Richard, and Ted for a job well done. Looking forward to the Fall Foliage Workshop in early October...

James

[roteague]

The workshop ended a few hours ago

I can't help but comment on the second image. A couple of years ago, I was at one of Per's workshops in Oregon. One day, 4 of us where at a location near the beach - the spot where Michael Smith made one of his most well known images. I looked around, everyone except me was focused on the rocks. I was the only one taking pictures of the bay itself. Seems like most of the B&W LF photographers I know zero in on the small details of a location, rather than the location itself. This isn't criticism, just an observation.

[John Bowen]

Robert,

Robert,

Your observation may in fact be correct. But, photo #2 was taken during an exercise. We were limited to an area of the brook and told to find an image in a confined space. Each of the workshop participants and the instructors took a polaroid using the same camera and lens. The tripod was confined to an area of about 12 square feet. The purpose of the exercise was to illustrate the fact that many original photographs can be made in a small space. I believe the title of the exercise was "the light stinks, this location stinks, there is nothing to photograph here". We all had fun with the exercise.

[Bruce Barlow]

John and Jim, thanks for the kind words. I'm glad we could stretch even seasoned alumni with the exercises. And John, thank you for the gift of bringing your family along, especially the two marvelous Youngling students!

Roteague: well, my man, John's right about the exercise, and in addition, at Fine Focus Workshops we teach that in a new location that feels visually overwhelming, start small and work your way out larger. That way, you can begin to impose some visual sense and ultimately make pictures other than bland "postcards" that everyone has already seen. Stickney Brook, where we did the exercise, is a "target rich" environment that is deceptively difficult to photograph. Pictured in most New England photography books, the only really wonderful photographs from there that I've ever seen were made by Fred Picker, Richard Ritter, and John Bowen. Please note that my name is missing from that list. I've been going there for 20 years-plus and the place makes me nuts. So those guys and their rocks you saw may not have been in a bad starting place at all. The question is, where did they finish?

[RichardRitter]

Not done working on Stickney Brook yet and probably never will be. I started photographing that stretch of river in 1980. It has changed over the years but the one thing that did not change is it ability to keep the really good photos hidden and makes one really work hard to get the good ones. I always find something new each time I go back.