Masters & workshops 2010

True or False (Vrai ou Faux?)
By Veronique Bourgoin
The border between the “True” and the “False” is neither static nor vertical. Our senses are taken by the products of a modern artillery, they mutate towards the world where nature moves away, replacing direct experience with experiences aided by technological progress. Where the real world is transformed into fiction, fiction takes the shape of reality… What is the borderline between true and false? The participants of the workshop tried to answer this question by means of photography. The workshop was set up as a space for questioning, reflection and debate, and an exploration of a personal artistic direction. In the students’ projects, investigation of intersections between expressive media rather than marking the borders between them was encouraged.
The workshop was a part of the project Vrai ou Faux? that unites several established European artists and supports younger artists through an international programme of workshops and residences.
Requirements/technique: There are no technical or other limitations for the participants who are free to use any analogical or digital medium. Please bring your portfolios.
Veronique Bourgoin was born in 1964 in Marseille, France. Since her graduation from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts de Paris in 1992, she makes photographic research through painting, sculpture and experimental films, focusing on the interaction between the personal and the collective. In 1988, she moved to Montreuil, where in 1994 together her partner she founded Atelier Reflexe - a pedagogical initiative for creation and promotion of young photography through a programme of international workshops, exhibitions and publications. Since 2004 she has directed several international artistic projects financed by the EU: EX-IN (2004-2005), EU Women (2006-2008) and the new project True or False? that will take place in 2010 - 2011. The projects support the creation, education, edition and exhibiting of her personal and collective artistic works that are shown at international festivals. In the last decade, Veronique Bourgoin had numerous personal and collective exhibitions in various prominent locations around Europe and in the US, and took part in numerous festivals, such as NY Photo Festival 2008 and 2009, Paris-Photo 2009, etc.
New Harmony: Man-Altered Landscape
By Ville Lenkkeri
The focus of the workshop was on discovering a new beauty in the nature that has been in some ways changed by the human presence. The human activity often tends to fight against the natural order of the nature - changed by the humans into landscapes or scenes, the original state and harmony of nature do not work anymore. The workshop was about studying the new possibilities for beauty to surface from what generally might be understood as disruption or even destruction. The students tried to see and find the new sort of beauty and harmony in man-altered landscapes and express it through photography. It the end, it is all about accepting our world as it is and ourselves as parts of it.
Requirements/technique: DSLR camera, or analogue with possibility of producing ready images during the course. Take along your portfolio or other earlier images for conversations and to build a coherent connection between the new and the existing images.
Ville Lenkkeri was born in Oulu, Finland, in 1972. Permanently lives and works in Stockholm, Sweden. He began studying film in Prague and also briefly in London before taking photography degrees at FAMU in Prague and later at the University of Art and Design (Taik) in Helsinki. Lenkkeri represents the Helsinki School of photography, which has succeeded in turning contemporary Finnish photography into an outstanding cultural export. The photographer’s refined way of playing with reality and fiction continually leads the viewer onto thin ice. His works have been exhibited internationally in venues such as Gallery Taik, Berlin; Kulturhuset, Stockholm; Point of View Gallery, New York, etc. In the last 5 years he has published two books - Reality in the Making, in 2006, and The Place of No Roads, in 2009.
A Sense of Place
By Peter Bialobrzeski
This workshop looked at the possibilities of creating „a sense of a Place”, and explored the ability of the photographer to capture the mood of a space or the sense of a person. The question of “truth” was an integral part of the debate in the workshop – the extended possibilities of the modern digital image making, and the way it changes our perception of a photograph. Participants created projects on their personal perspective of a chosen place in the vicinity of Ezersala or Ludza.
Requirements/technique: DSLR cameras are preferable. A good knowledge of computer photo-editing programmes is necessary. Previous research about the subject is at least recommended. How is a place being represented in contemporary photographic practice? How was it represented by painters?
Peter Bialobrzeski was born in Wolfsburg, Germany, in 1961. He studied Politics and Sociology before he became a photographer for a local paper in his native Wolfsburg. Peter Bialobrzeski travelled extensively in Asia before he went back to College in Essen and London to do courses in Photography and Editorial design. After having worked as a photojournalist for almost 15 years and being published world wide, Peter started to focus more on Personal Projects. He interprets his work neither as documentary nor as art but defines it as Cultural Practice. In the last seven years he has published four books, XXXholy, NEONTIGERS, HEIMAT and very recently Lost in Transition. His work has been exhibited in Europe, USA, Asia, Africa Australia and New Zealand. He won numerous awards including the prestigious World Press Photo Award 2003 for his work about Asian Megacities. In 2002 Peter has been appointed as a Professor for photography at the University of the Arts in Bremen. He has been running workshops around the world. As a critic he regularly writes for Photo News and Freelens Magazin. Since 194, the reproduction rights of his work are handled by laif agency in Cologne. He is represented by Laurence Miller Gallery in New York and LA Galerie in Frankfurt/Germany.
Capturing Your Shadow in Black and White
By Roger Ballen
The purpose of the course was to use the camera to better define one’s inner psyche. In order to achieve this goal, challenging daily assignments were given that encouraged the students to interact between their inner world and the exterior, looking for locations and props that suit their particular visions. The participants were working in classical black and white technique, and significant amount of time was spent on sharing the teachers’ experience as a master black and white photographer. The students were encouraged to produce images that extend their imagination.
Requirements/technique: Analogue or digital camera, good knowledge of the technical camera aspects. Darkroom experience is necessary if you work on film. Please bring your portfolios.
Roger Ballen Born in New York in 1950, Roger Ballen has lived and worked in Johannesburg, South Africa for almost 30 years. A geologist by training, Ballen began to photograph the houses and townsfolk he met while looking for potential mining sites in the 1970s. Ballen’s thought-provoking photography is known for particular attention to detail. He is photographing human and animal subjects in complex, fictional scenes filled with symbolism. His images have been called by critics a powerful social statements that at the same time are disturbing psychological studies. Roger Ballen has received numerous prominent awards including Best Photographic Book 2001 at the PhotoEspana festival in Madrid and Photographer of the year at the inaugural Rencontres de la Photographie d’Arles in France in 2002. His photographs have been exhibited at top venues around the world, including the Gagosian Gallery and MOMA in New York, and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. Roger Ballen has given lectures and workshops at the most remarkable photography events worldwide; he also runs a Roger Ballen Foundation dedicated to the advancement of education of photography in South Africa.
Photojournalism and Print Media
By Andrei Polikanov
The workshop was all about learning the components of serious photojournalism. The students learned essential principles, variety of means and different approaches in photo reportage production and received practical guidance on photo editing for print, online and other visual presentations. A comprehensive overview of international print media classification, structure of a photo department and its duties, and plenty of practical tips on the functioning of a photographer + photo editor team were shared. As way of practical assignment, the students had to create a coherent reportage on a chosen event, location or a person in Ludza and/or the surroundings.
Requirements/technique: Please take along your portfolios (preferably digital, width - 1000 pixels, captions and credit line). DSLR cameras are preferable; examples of other photographers’ works (your “heroes” in photography) are welcome.
Andrei Polikanov was born in 1961 in Moscow. He has graduated the Military Institute of Foreign Languages. For 6 years he worked as a commissioned officer at Missions in Angola. In the early 1990s worked with Anthony Suau, Christopher Morris and other best international photojournalists producing stories on the events on the former USSR territory (including wars and conflicts in Nagornyi Karabach, Chechnya, Transdnestr Republic, Abkhazia, Tadjikistan). From 1997 till 2007 worked as a photo editor for TIME Magazine, Moscow Bureau, since 2007 is the Director of Photography at the Russian Reporter Magazine, Expert Media Group. Andrey Polikanov is a member of various National and International Photo Contests (including Visa pour L’Image de Or, Press Photo Finland) and member of the Joop Swart Masterclass independent selection committee. Since 2005, he has taught numerous workshops on photojournalism in Russia and worldwide.
Documentary Practice and Narrative: The Long Term Project
By George Georgiou
The workshop addressed the issues of contemporary documentary photographic practice and approaches, taking a deeper look at the long-term project in photography. The aim was to build up an understanding of different forms of narratives and different ways of structuring work. Besides a detailed examination of their existing projects, the students had to identify and produce a short narrative through sequence, combination, or juxtaposition. The work was treated as a starting place for identification and development of a critical perspective on the original long-term projects of the participants.
Requirements/technique: Each participant should bring selected project/s from their own work and be prepared to discuss their aims in the context of a group. DSLR cameras are preferable, although film is also possible, provided work in progress can be supplied for daily critiques.
George Georgiou Born in London to Greek Cypriot parents, George Georgiou has been a practicing photographer for the last 20 years. For the last decade, he has photographed extensively in the Balkans, Eastern Europe and Turkey, living and working in Serbia, Greece, and for five years in Istanbul. His work is focused on long term projects around identity, urbanization and the space people find themselves in when caught between communities, cultures, or ideologies. His awards include two World Press Photo prizes in 2003 and 2005, a Pictures of the Year International first prize for Istanbul Bombs in 2004 and a Nikon Press Award UK for best photo essay 2000. He has been published in most of the world’s major magazines and exhibited in a number of countries. He has carried out numerous workshops and portfolio reviews in Ukraine, Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, Serbia, Kosovo, Slovenia, London, Nigeria and Latvia (with ISSP) and mentored many photographers in the regions he worked. His first book, Fault Lines/Turkey/East/West, looking at the complex concept of East and West, will be released in May 2010. George Georgiou is represented by agencies Prospekt (Italy), Panos (UK) and Signatures (France).