Staying in New Orleans for a month formed itself around the fact that when I originally booked myself in for the National Geographic photography workshop here I was advised that if I also wanted to see the city I should add extra days to my visit for this as the course itself was very intense and allowed very little free time. When I worked all of this out I would have ended up staying here for at least two weeks and then I thought that it would be quite nice to repeat the Florence model and put down my suitcase for a longer stretch. The course was scheduled from Thursday last to Sunday lunchtime and they weren’t lying when they said “intense”.
It is based on a combination of time in a “classroom” – i.e. a hotel conference room which they book for the duration – and time spent outdoors shooting pictures with the instructors or on your own, having been given assignments by the teachers. Time in the classroom means going through what you’ve captured and having your choices critiqued one on one and then opened up to the whole group. Also, short presentations on different aspects of photography – about both artistic, technical and processing elements – are given to move you along the path to better images.
We photographed in Jackson Square at dawn, Bourbon and Frenchman Streets at dusk and at night, the French Market and whole Cafe du Monde area in the morning and one of the local cemeteries. Within these photo shoots we had assignments such as having to take an “environmental portrait” (where you photograph a subject within the context of his surroundings or with others but not a random crowd photo) or where we had to use colour in a particular way or had to capture pattern or light in a premeditated manner, thinking about composition and other elements. It all forces you to think. You can’t just go around madly clicking away and instead have to focus down on the task at hand. Something I found particularly interesting was that the lead instructor, someone whose photos have graced the cover of NatGeo magazines, says she still gives herself small assignments in order to hone a skill. I can see why. It really narrows your focus rather than just going out to photograph with a vague idea of what you’re looking for. Of course, that applies when you’re trying to learn something, she didn’t mean you can’t just go out and see what you find.
The most valuable part of the whole workshop was, to my mind, the opportunity to see how others use their cameras, how they “see” the world. Often I find that I narrow my point of view to certain things: I love pattern and texture so my eyes are drawn to that and I’ll go for those kinds of shots, sometimes missing other good possibilities because I just don’t register them. By seeing others’ images other perspectives are highlighted and pointed out to me and upon my next foray out into the world with my camera I am that much more likely to spot similar vistas to the ones they caught on film.
It is also a joy to have teachers who have every element of operating a camera, using the light, tackle composition, manage to include energy into a photo and have every editing software’s tricks at their fingertips. No doubt this is what they do every waking minute of every day and you would expect them to be at this level but it is amazing to watch them and to have the opportunity to pick their brains.
They don’t promise that you’ll leave the workshop an amazing photographer but that they’ll have given you some guidance and new perspectives with which to move forward with. I can say that I have taken a few good pictures during this weekend. And I know more than when I arrived. So, all in all, it was worth my time.
My rather busy evenings/nights during the course of the weekend did impact on my energy levels as I was involved in the photography workshop, there’s no doubt about it. But, at the back of my mind was the knowledge that I still have three weeks in New Orleans to go out and, with time on my side, be able to wield my camera across the beautiful streets, parks and quirky characters that exist here.
That’s my plan for the next few weeks and hopefully I’ll have a couple of photos that punch a little above the weight of my current images at the end of my time here.
E x
Losing Sight of the Margin 