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Thread: Bruce Barnbaum's Art of Seeing workshop

  1. #1

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    Bruce Barnbaum's Art of Seeing workshop

    Has anyone attended this workshop in the last year or so? I'd be interested in some opinions, thanks.

  2. #2
    stradibarrius stradibarrius's Avatar
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    Re: Bruce Barnbaum's Art of Seeing workshop

    +1 for me. I think this is something I really need to work on.

  3. #3

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    Re: Bruce Barnbaum's Art of Seeing workshop

    It's been several years ago for me, so maybe this info is dated.

    Bruce tends to attract groupies, much like I'm sure AA did. His personality and focus are such that if all you got was Bruce, you'd have no other options but to become a little Bruce. And that's not bad, obviously, his work is lovely.

    Bruce is (was - as I say, I haven't been lately) wise enough though to include other strong instructors with strong viewpoints to counterbalance his. The time that I had the privilege to attend it was Jay Dusard and Yousef Khanfar.

    So, if you want to be a little Bruce, you're good to go, but if not, you should shop your workshop dependent on who else is going to be there as counterpoint.

    I did have some fun with Bruce though. I had a Verito image I liked, and his rule is to bring print and negative. He kept arguing that image could not have been made from that negative as the negative wasn't sharp ;~')) *links take you to pages with images made on the workshop*

  4. #4
    mandoman7's Avatar
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    Re: Bruce Barnbaum's Art of Seeing workshop

    I really like the shots from that workshop, Jim. There's some great work there.

    I happened to be in a gallery a couple of weeks ago and they had one of Bruce's signature images on display, the one where there's a rail fence in the foreground in front of a dramatic mountainscape with clouds. I've always liked the image when I've seen it in prints, but on this occasion I was kind of amazed to see the fence in the foreground was a little soft. It was notable enough that I went back after looking at some other work to confirm my first impression. Not a big deal accept that I guess I had a certain level of expectation based on the reputation perhaps. Maybe its my own obsession that's developed for avoiding smudgy foregrounds in landscapes.
    John Youngblood
    www.jyoungblood.com

  5. #5

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    Re: Bruce Barnbaum's Art of Seeing workshop

    If you want a top notch workshop on seeing photographically get in one with Paula Chamblee. Just talking with her for a few minutes greatly increased my ability in this area. She is Michael Smith's partner so only does workshops with him.

  6. #6

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    Re: Bruce Barnbaum's Art of Seeing workshop

    I think all this "photographic seeing" nonsense is snake oil. Anyone alive in the 21st century sees photographically, and "teaching" someone to do it is a bit like teaching them to see three dimensionally, or in color -- one can draw some attention to the mechanisms at work, but beyond an explanation of the human visual perception system, what is there to add? If you want to learn to emulate another photographer, a workshop with them could help, but anyone wishing to evolve their own visual signature has to do it the hard way. That's my take on the subject, but I don't mean to suggest one of these workshops would not be enjoyable for others.

  7. #7

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    Re: Bruce Barnbaum's Art of Seeing workshop

    I took Bruce's workshop but not within the last year. However, I doubt that the workshop has changed much, it's not like he teaches specific techniques that go out of date.

    I thought the workshop was worthwhile and I'd attend again if it was offered near my home. I didn't appreciate his hustling the class for contributions to help fight some proposed structure or other project that if built would have affected property near his house. And I didn't like his harassing and denigrating the poor waitress with a southern accent who was having trouble keeping orders straight as people kept leaving and arriving at the large table where we were having breakfast. But solely from a photography standpoint I thought Bruce was an excellent instructor and the workshop was useful though I couldn't tell you at this point exactly what I learned from it.

    I'm not sure I agree with Jim about becoming a little Bruce. Like any course of this nature, you can take what you want from it and leave the rest.
    Brian Ellis
    Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you do criticize them you'll be
    a mile away and you'll have their shoes.

  8. #8

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    Re: Bruce Barnbaum's Art of Seeing workshop

    I enjoyed his book, its available on Kindle.

  9. #9

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    Re: Bruce Barnbaum's Art of Seeing workshop

    Dakotah +1

  10. #10

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    Re: Bruce Barnbaum's Art of Seeing workshop

    Jay's photographic seeing (or at least the visible evidence of seeing) is limited to one subject only, and mostly small format anyway, which is probably why he thinks workshops are snake oil.

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