Reflections on a Workshop

Before I debrief my workshop at West Point on the Eno yesterday, I want to mention something remarkable: I am writing, and more importantly, POSTING, this blog from 30,000 miles in the air, somewhere between Milwaukee and California. The birth of flight was only a mere hundred years ago, and now not only can I cross the country in less than a day, but I don’t have to do it without getting my Facebook fix! It really is an incredible thing–both that I am able to do this, and that I am actually doing it, rather than marveling at the whole experience, Louis C.K. style (caution, there is some strong language in there).

So, as I was saying, yesterday I taught an introductory portrait photography class at West Point on the Eno in Durham. I was asked to teach this class by Jessica Leff of Durham Parks and Recreation because Hugh Mangum, (see his photos here) a former resident of the McCown-Mangum House-turned-museum, was an avid portrait photographer at the turn of the twentieth century. This is the first time I have really tried to teach anything about photography to someone else, let alone a group. I prepared a basic outline of what we’d cover, but I really wasn’t sure how the class would unfold, if I would lose people (I have a tendency to get mired in the technical), or if anyone would get anything from the class.We covered the basics–the importance of light, the relationships of apertures, focal lengths, subject distance and ISOs. We looked at famous portraits and thought about what made them exceptional. We had fun exploring perspective, depth of field, and learning a little more about basic settings on our cameras. I think by the end, everyone had his or her camera off of ‘auto.’

Shari demonstrates using a window as a clean background.

Imagine my elation when words like “awesome” were used to describe the class! I’m not writing this blog to stroke my ego or pat myself on the back, but rather to thank everyone that attended and to say that I’m very glad that folks took something useful from those short two hours. I wish we had had more hands-on time, and I wish that we could have parsed things out more, but we had a lot to cover and a short amount of time in which to do it.

I am also writing this blog to announce my intention to hold a couple of workshops this year, based on feedback from the class. I really enjoyed teaching (more than I ever would have expected), and would like the opportunity to have some more hands on time with folks and actually talk about images that they are making and what we can do to improve them.

My first workshop will probably come sometime in March (announced in February) and will be capped at five people–I would like to include more than that, but in order to really give attention to everyone, that’s probably as high as I can go. It will most likely be another portrait class, and I hope to go into more detail. The experience level of the participants will dictate the level of the class, though a workshop like this would give me more opportunity to tailor the experience for each individual.

I also expect to be teaching a couple more classes for the Durham Parks and Recreation in the Summer and Fall–will keep you posted on those.

I would love comments, either here or on my Facebook Photography Page, about whether there is interest in a workshop, and if so, what things you might like to cover. I will teach whatever, as long as I feel I have a sufficient amount of experience to actually give something useful.

And thank you again to everyone who came out, familiar faces and new, and thank you to Jessica for inviting me to teach the class. They say the best way to learn something is to teach it, and I certainly don’t disagree with that.