The Art of Seeing and Creating

Photographs from Bruce's "Death Valley Dunes" Portfolio: Upper Left: The Magic Dune Hill; Lower Left: Wings and Bubbles; Lower Right: Converging Dunes

Many people feel that the essence of a photography workshop is to pick up your camera, get out into the field, and start shooting. But that's not true. To be sure, there's a great deal of real work preceding and accompanying shooting that is the real essence of fine photography. What is needed, along with a camera, is the art of observation, the art of seeing, the art of noticing, and the art of imagining. This workshop will be strictly focused on those prerequisites—and accompaniments—to fine photography.

In fact, this workshop is an exploration of creativity. This tends to be a subject that spooks many people, simply because many feel that creativity can only be discussed but not taught. That's not true. It can be taught and it can be learned. The learning can then be applied. This workshop is designed to deal with creativity in a way that brings it down to earth and makes it real.

The workshop will concentrate on discussions, presentations, and in-depth reviews. Bruce will show his own work, fully discussing what he saw, what he was looking for, how he composed the image with the available light and forms, how he imagined the final print would look while he was standing behind the camera (which largely determined the exposure and development of the negative), and the processes he used to go from the discovery in the field to the final image now in front of your eyes. He will solicit your own views on the images to see if they parallel, diverge, or go in the opposite direction of his own vision. This type of in-depth analysis and discussion brings out aspects of your own way of seeing and thinking that you may not be aware of, and helps give you direction for pursuing your own vision.

What, in your opinion, constitutes a great photograph? Have you ever made a great photograph, using your own criteria? Do you feel that you are capable of making a great photograph? When you have your camera in hand, what are you looking for? Do you have a specific image in mind? Do you edge toward realism or abstraction? Why do you go in that direction, and how do you feel about images that tend to go in the opposite direction? Do you shoot color or b&w? Do you photograph using traditional materials (i.e., film and photographic enlarging paper), alternative processes (i.e., film and platinum/palladium or another "alternative" process) or digital processes (i.e., digital capture and printing, or film exposure followed by scanning and digital printing, or another combination of the two)? What determines your choices? Do you focus on one unified type of subject matter or do you tend to skip across the board in your imagery? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each approach? These deep questions will be the major focus of this unusual, thought-provoking workshop. It will, indeed, be a very different workshop experience from all others, and one capable of catapulting you further along your career than most because of the unusual, intellectual approach to the subject. You may not need a camera for this workshop; you'll surely need a well-tuned brain to consider the many possibilites and options we'll discuss during the session.

All participants in the workshop will be expected to bring between 10 and 20 of their own images for additional in-depth discussion and analysis of each participant's work, as well. All approaches are welcome: color, b&w, alternative processes, mixed media, traditional photographic processes or digital photographic processes, drawing, painting, etc.

The workshop will alternate between the highly enlightening discussion/critiques of Bruce's work, of the work of guest photographers, and those of the participants' work. By the end of the workshop, you will have gained unimagined insight into your own interests and approaches to photography, in particular, and the entire realm of art, in general.

The workshop will be held at Bruce's home/studio in the North Cascade Mountains of Washington. Immediately outside his classroom doors and windows is magnificent forested land. Immediately across the Stillaguamish River from the workshop site is Mt. Pilchuck, rising more than 4,000 feet above his property. Up the road is a myriad of spectacular mountains and dense forests, making this one of the most beautiful settings you can imagine. Though the workshop will be primarily an indoor workshop, there may be several field sessions designed to put some of the classroom discussions into practice and to break up the dominant indoor aspect of the workshop.