Masters & workshops 2012

1. Arja Hyytiäinen - A personal approach in photography: From diary to fiction

A personal approach in photography: From diary to fiction
By Arja Hyytiäinen

I believe in translating emotion into images, feeling and experiencing life through photography, seeking and questioning, trying to see behind the visual reality. I’m interested in personal, self-experienced stories, the very individual language of expression. The workshop will focus on fictional storytelling using everyday material in form of a diary.

I will start the workshop with a presentation of my photographs, so you can get an idea of who I am. Then I would like to get to know who you are by seeing your personal portfolios. I would prefer to see your images on paper rather than on a computer screen. We will also see the work of others that have had an influence on me. Later on, we will focus on a theme that each of you can identify with. I would like each of you to work around a person or storyline that is the most important to you right now. All of this will take place in the surroundings of Kuldīga. We will shoot, edit and find a form of presentation for the work done over the workshop days.

Requirements for students: The students can work in any technique/s they feel comfortable with. You can also combine image and text, drawing, sound or any other means suitable for expressing yourself.

About Arja Hyytiäinen
Born 1974 in Turku, Finland. Lives in La Rochelle. Arja Hyytiäinen started photographing in a documentary style, beginning her education in Northern Sweden and later on graduating from FAMU in Prague, the Czech Republic. Living a life between several European cities - Berlin, Paris, Prague, Gothenburg - Hyytiäinen has been documenting her own life in movement, combining it with fiction. She won the Kodak Prize for Critical Photography in France in 2006 and the Grand Prix at Lodz Fotofestiwal 2007. Her book “Distance Now” came out in 2007. She has been freelancing and exhibiting in several European countries. In recent years, Arja Hyytiäinen has taught workshops at Neue Schule Fur Fotografie in Berlin, FotoDepartment in St. Petersburg and at various other schools. Arja Hyytiäinen is represented by Agence VU and Galeria ZPAF i S-KA in Cracow, Poland.

More info:
http://www.agencevu.com/photographers/arjahyytiainen
http://www.arjahyytiainen.com/

Meistardarbnīcas aprakstu latviski var atrast šeit.

2. Phillip Toledano - Yes, but what does it mean? Creating concepts, exploring ideas

Yes, but what does it mean? Creating concepts, exploring ideas
By Phillip Toledano

Most successful photographic series begin with an idea. How the artist transforms that idea into a meaningful concept and series of photographs can be one of the most challenging aspects of photographic practice. This class will explore the process of generating ideas and refining concepts in the pursuit of a successful photographic series. Through individual and group assignments, discussions and critique of current work and interests, students will examine the strengths of their ideas and intentions, develop skills to better conceptualize satisfying and sustaining projects and realize the potential of their ideas and photography.

Students will arrive with one (or more ideas) they'd like to work on. The first several days of class will be spent honing those ideas, deciding which are viable, which are not. The remainder of the class will be spent making those ideas a reality. The goal is to finish the class with something tangible in hand.

Requirements for students: no limitations to technique whatsoever. Students should think of ideas they’d like to realize in advance.

About Phillip Toledano
Born in 1968 in London, to a French Moroccan mother and an American father. Lives and works in New York. After working in advertising, made a shift to photography. The themes of his work are primarily socio-political, although lately he has strayed into the deeply personal. His work varies in medium, from photography to installation, sculpture to painting. He has published four books: “Bankrupt” (2005) “Phonesex” (2008), “Days with my father” (2010), and “A new kind of beauty”, with portraits of people who have recreated themselves through plastic surgery (2011). His work has appeared in numerous international publications and festivals; he has exhibited widely in the United Sates and abroad. For the last three years, Phillip has taught photography at ICP in New York and been invited as guest lecturer at various international events.

More info: www.mrtoledano.com

Meistardarbnīcas aprakstu latviski var atrast šeit.

3. Jodi Bieber - Finding your photographic voice: Latvia contemporary

Finding your photographic voice: Latvia contemporary
By Jodi Bieber

The workshop will focus on understanding the process of storytelling with a personal vision – exploring ways to incorporate your personal vision and voice into your work. I would like you to think of something you feel passionate about, close to and important for you to learn, understand and incorporate it into the theme ‘Latvia contemporary’. The topic is broad, giving you the freedom to create an essay that suits your interest. You can include still lifes, documentary photographs, triptychs, diptychs, colour and black and white, sound – whatever adds something to the series.We will work on the editing process.I will also require you to write an Artist statement about your project, and read it in front of the class: What it means to you; Why you chose to do it; What it communicates, symbolizes and defines; What you personally have learnt from it.

The workshop will confront and help deal with your fears, strengths, anxieties and weaknesses as a photographerand person.

Requirements for students: No limitations to technique. You will need to bring a portfolio or personal project that is complete or in progress. Please also bring family pictures, music, your favorite object, or whatever else you need and would like in order to introduce and describe yourself to the group.

Jodi Bieber
Born in 1967 in Johannesburg. She began her career by covering the period leading up to the first democratic elections in South Africa in 1994. After participating in the World Press Photo master class in 1996, her career expanded to the foreign media. She has also collaborated with several nonprofit organizations.Her work takes a close look at the social wars within society and those living ‘on the edge’. Though South Africa is her passion, her work has taken her to many other countries, including the rest of Africa, Iran, Iraq, and Pakistan. Her first book “Between Dogs and Wolves – Growing up with South Africa” was released in 2006, followed by “Soweto” in 2010. Her work continues to be exhibited internationally in solo and group shows.

Jodi Bieber won World Press Photo of the Year in 2011. She has also received 10 World Press Photo awards, a 1st Place in Picture of the Year International 2009, and numerous other accolades. She has taught photography workshops in Finland, Nepal, Italy, Austria and Turkey and been invited as a guest lecturer at numerous international occasions. She was a jury member for the World Press Photo awards in 2008 and taught at the WPP Joop Swart Masterclass in 2010.She is represented by The Goodman Gallery and the Institute for Artist Management.

More info: www.jodibieber.com

Meistardarbnīcas aprakstu latviski var atrast šeit.

4. Hellen van Meene - Portraits: A practical guide to the art of seeing

Portraits: A practical guide to the art of seeing
By Hellen van Meene

My aim for this workshop is to inspire you. To help you in making the right decisions when making your photos. We will work on portraiture, but I can also guide you in other related subjects. In the beginning, I would like to see your portfolio, so that I can help you in deciding what focus to take in your workshop project. I would also like to see the photos that you are not happy about: we could discuss what could have been done better, or maybe even discover that the photo is not worthless after all!We will decide on your workshop project together - you can work on strangers, course-mates, self-portraits, whatever interests you and brings you forward at that moment. I will also show and discuss the work of other photographers.We will go out to shoot together and I will show you my way of working and making contact with people on the streets. We will work on the editing of your final project, and also discuss the best form of final presentation for it.

Requirements for students: Students can work with whatever camera they like, analogue or digital. For those normally working with analogue technology, a digital camera will be useful for sketches and work in progress. Bring your portfolios, along with discarded photos.

Hellen van Meene
Born in Alkmaar, the Netherlands in 1972, Hellen van Meene lives and works in Heiloo, the Netherlands. Her work has been exhibited internationally and is held in the collections of major museums worldwide, including the Stedelijk Museum, GEM Museum Den Haag, Frans Hals Museum, Victoria &Albert Museum, Art Institute of Chicago, Brooklyn Museum, MoCA Los Angeles, the Museum of Photography in The Hague, Guggenheim Museum in New York and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Previous publications include Hellen van Meene: Portraits (Aperture, 2004) and Hellen van Meene: Japan Series (The Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago and De Hallen, Haarlem, the Netherlands, 2002). Hellen has given masterclasses in Madrid, St.Petersburg, St.Sebastian, Switzerland and other locations in Europe.

More info: www.hellenvanmeene.com

Meistardarbnīcas aprakstu latviski var atrast šeit.

5. Christian Caujolle - Editing workshop: The finishing touches

Editing workshop: The finishing touches
By Christian Caujolle

For all photographers, choosing the images, their sequencing and organization is one of the main points and difficulties in the process of completing a project. This final step requires the author to be increasingly clearer about the deeper meaning of their work, and more and more precise about the aesthetics needed.

The workshop will concentrate on the notion of editing, and will be based on existing bodies of work, which can be, eventually and if necessary, completed by some new photographs during the workshop. We will be obliged to define whether the purpose is a narrative or not, and what the best way of publishing the material is - in the media, in a book, in a very limited artist book, in an exhibition, or as a projection. These modalities can be combined, but they have to be thought through and conceptualized. The question, finally, is not "is it a good or a bad photograph?", but rather, what is it that we want to tell, to transmit, to provoke, to share with our images? And how can the planned result be achieved?

The debate will be open - probably full of hints and contradictions - but will have to reach a conclusion. Not the final one, for sure, but a step in a clear direction.

Requirementsfor the students: students should come with their long-term projects that are close to completion.

Christian Caujolle
Born 1953. A former student of the St. Cloud Ecole Normale Supérieure, where he collaborated with Roland Barthes, Pierre Bourdieu and Michel Foucault. From 1979 to 1986, critic for photography and art at the newspaper Libération, where he was chief editor in charge of photography from 1981 to 1986. In 1986, he created Agence VU', and the gallery of the same name in 1998, running these two organisations until 2007. Since then he has taught photography in various schools and institutions in France and abroad, written numerous prefaces for books and catalogues, and curated exhibitions. Artistic director of the Rencontres d'Arles in 1997, he has presented numerous exhibitions in the context of the festival, among others "Traverses: the photographic collection of Marin Karmitz" in 2010. In 2005, he curated "Things as They Are, Photojournalism in Context: 1955 - 2005" for the 50 years of World Press Photo. He has published several monographs of photographers, including Sebastiao Salgado, Peter Beard, William Klein, Anders Petersen, Christer Stromholm, Raymond Depardon, and written numerous prefaces for books and catalogues.
Currently he teaches at Ecole Nationale Supérieure Louis Lumière in Paris, writes for the Italian weekly Internationale and directs the Phnom Penh Photographic festival in Cambodia, a venue for dialogues between Asian and European creators, which he created in 2008.

More info: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Caujolle

Meistardarbnīcas aprakstu latviski var atrast šeit.

6. Bas Vroege, Hans van der Meer - Middle Town: Picturing the Unspectacular

Middle Town: Picturing the Unspectacular (Part II)
By Bas Vroege and Hans van der Meer
NB! Project workshop – not open for applications.

The workshop is a step in a project started in March 2012 with 4 photographers from Latvia, 4 from Turkey and 4 from other European countries (see participants here), who are working on their individual projects under the common subject of “Middle Town”, mentored by Bas Vroege and Hans van der Meer. The first workshop in Trabzon, Turkey in March contained introduction and pitches of individual project ideas, as well as a group exercise in dummy making about the host town - Trabzon. The participants will arrive in Kuldīga with almost completed projects, in order to edit the results and come up with individual and collective modes of presentation. A lot of experimental group and individual work with ready images (also text, video, audio?) is envisaged.

More information on the project and participants here: http://www.issp.lv/en/projects/middle-town/about

Bas Vroege, founder and director, Paradox agency (the Netherlands). A curator of numerous exhibitions, photography editor and teacher, he has been advising several high-profile arts institutions and university programmes and currently teaches curatorial practice within Masters the in Film and Photographic Studies (MaFPS) at the University of Leiden. More on Paradox website

Hans van der Meer, documentary photographer (the Netherlands). His project European Fields has been widely exhibited internationally and published as a book in 2006. His exhibition and book “The Netherlands – Off The Shelf” focusing on contemporary culture aspects of the Dutch middle towns, was released in January 2012 and currently on show in Rotterdam. See also The Netherlands - Off the Shelf and European Fields

The workshop is realised in the framework of EU-Turkey Tandem programme and is supported by European Cultural Foundation and Stiftung Mercator. More information at www.tandemexchange.eu.

Meistardarbnīcas aprakstu latviski var apskatīt šeit.