Masters & workshops 2006

Documentary photography: Objectivity reconsidered
By Alnis Stakle
The issue of this workshop will be documentary photography in every sense and interpretation. Students will have a possibility to receive introduction to history of documentary photography as well as contemporary lines and interpretations, which are based on different cultural contexts. The workshop will include both discussions and work on individual or group projects.
Requirements/technique: color/BW/digital; preferably use SLR or medium format cameras, take along your tripod, flash, filters
Alnis Stakle was born in Daugavpils in 1975. He is now teaching photography, visual culture, and qualitative analysis at the University of Daugavpils, as well as leading documentary fotography course at the Riga Stradina University. Since 1992 he has participated in numerous photo-exibitions in Latvia and abroad. In 2004, he took part in “Joop Swart Masterclass” workshop organised by World Press Photo. Alnis is a member of press agency “Photographer.ru” (Moscow). In his photography projects, he uses the language of photo-documentation as well as images obtained by staging the plot and manipulating with the materials. Important work series: Dark Side of The Moon, Living Space – Daugavpils, [Ex] Pride.
www.alnisstakle.com
Portrait: What about portrait photography?
By Kurt Hörbst
Portrait is one of the most important, most difficult and most interesting genres in photography. I want to confront participants of this workshop with different historical and contemporary positions in portrait-photography. Some of my own portrait-projects will be part of the introduction. The goal of this initiation should be an open discussion about photography, especially portrait-photography. To get an idea what is possible - to open minds of the students for their own examination with this subject. After this first part, students should structure their thoughts to find a way for realize their own portrait-projects. The individual aspects of different characters of the students will be shown through the final pictures … something like a self-portrait…
Requirements/technique: color/BW/digital; digital or analog 35mm SLR-camera with different lenses (up to 135mm) or medium format camera, tripod.
Kurt Hoerbst was born in Austria in 1972. Having been originally educated in telecommunications, he then turned to photography beginning his studies in Prague in 1992. Kurt founded a school of photography in Austria in 1996 and now teaches history of photography, journalism and digital photography and gives lectures at the Kunstuniversitaet in Linz and at the St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences. Publisher of three books and multiple prize winner in this field, Kurt’s work has enjoyed numerous exhibitions both home and abroad. Over the last five years, multimedia projects have been a focal point of his activities.
www.hoerbst.com
Landscape: Seeing after photography
By Nicolas Block
To See requires a particular concentration, an intensity that sets seeing apart from the simple looking that we are all accustomed to. While our culture continues to demand more and more from a photograph both visually and conceptually, truth remains the most fundamental quality of photography - that the camera can really depict something, that a depiction can say something real. In our workshop we will devote ourselves to truth, to real thoughts and feelings, to seeing clearly and clicking the shutter. Our topic is the landscape: the way we relate to space. What will we find important in this place we have never been, imagined or photographed?
Requirements/technique: color/BW/digital; digital or analog camera. Additionally, there are two essays that students will be required to read before arriving in Ludza.
Nicolas Block was born in 1981 in a rural area of the United States. He studied Lithography at the University of Vermont and subsequently joined the San Francisco Art Institute where he received a BFA degree in photography in 2005. Nicolas is a recipient of the Paul Sack Prize and a Fulbright Fellowship in photography. His most recent project is a self-portrait of himself as the American musician Bruce Springsteen.
www.nicolasblock.com
Free topic: What I see if I watch?
By Michael Buehler
Topic selected individually: can be portrait or self-portrait, landscape, objects, feelings, visual phenomena, up to the choice of the student - topic is the form to express the personal way of perception. It is a workshop about awareness which influences the personal way of taking pictures. The questions asked are about the consciousness of watching. Why do I take a picture in my personal way and do I know what is leading me to act so? Bringing these questions into consciousness will change my attitude and work and give me more space and freedom to act. Changing the perspective to the things will give me another experience at the end.
Requirements/technique: BW/color; It is recommended to use a simple mechanical camera with a regular lens (35 or 50mm).
Michael Buehler was born in Switzerland and grew up in a small village in the mountains. After three years working as a teacher he studied at the university in Zuerich until the moment photography has taken his time completely. For twenty years he has been working as a photographer in different countries. Most of his time he works for private projects and exhibitions. For Michael, teaching is about the inspiration coming out of the exchange of the experiences of the group and every single person. He likes to look and listen through the eyes of the other and to share the ideas that are coming up in the process.
www.michael-buehler.com