Participants & final works 2012

By Arja Hyytiäinen
The participants of Finnish contemporary photographer Arja Hyytiäinen’s workshop focused on translating emotion into images, feeling and experiencing life through photography, seeking and questioning, trying to see behind the visual reality. They tried to develop their individual languages of expression, creating fictional and experience-based stories using everyday material in the form of a diary. Each participant worked around a person or storyline that was most important to them right now. All of this took place in the surroundings of Kuldīga.












Participants:
Anna Laurinavichyute (RU)
Christel Ooms (NL)
Ewa Majczak (PL/BE)
IIda Taavitsainen (FI/UK)
Ilze Gustovska (LV)
Jacopo Pergameno (IT)
Juanan Requena (ES)
Kārlis Bergs (LV)
Kseniya Babushkina (RU)
Manpreet Singh Romana (IN)
Sohei Yasui (JP/RU)
Zanda Puče (LV)
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 by conceptual artist and photographer Phil Toledano explored 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 examined the strengths of their ideas and intentions, developing skills to better conceptualize satisfying and sustaining projects and realizing the potential of their ideas and photography. In the end, the students had to turn those ideas into reality by creating a tangible result.










Aiga Ozoliņa (Latvia/ France) - I Like You
Sometimes I feel as though I’m quite alone, and I feel as though many people feel this way. All we need to do is to stop being afraid and show ourselves. And then everything changes.
In my project I chose some of the guys that I liked during ISSP and recorded their reaction when I told them ‘I like you‘. I always felt sincere and it took me lot of courage to confess.
I learnt that there is nothing to lose when you share one of the greatest feelings. It creates a bond that can only grow.
The simplest statement can do that.
Participants:
Aiga Ozoliņa (LV)
Aivars Purmals (LV)
Amy Helene Johansson (SE)
Atis Jākobsons (LV/DE)
Ģirts Raģelis (LV)
Maria Morina (RU/UA)
Marloes van Doorn (NL)
Mikhail Fedorov (RU)
Reinis Lismanis (LV/UK)
Theo Erbenius (SE)
Zane Fišele (LV/CH)
By Jodi Bieber
The workshop of globetrotting photographer Jodi Bieber focused on understanding the process of storytelling with a personal vision – exploring ways to incorporate a personal vision and voice into photographic work. Participants had to think of something they felt passionate about, that they felt was important for them to learn, understand and incorporate it into the theme ‘Latvia contemporary’. The topic was broad, giving students the freedom to create an essay that suits their interest. The aim of the workshop was to confront and help deal with the fears, strengths, anxieties and weaknesses of the participants as photographers and people.












Participants:
Aija Bley (LV)
Andrejs Strokins (LV)
Arianna Sanesi (IT)
Bram De Muynck (BE)
Daniel Eduardo Hernandez Sierra (VE/ES)
Isidora Gajic (HU/NL)
James Hissett (UK)
Jan Rosseel (BE/NL)
Kristaps Dzenis (LV)
Laura Stevens (UK/FR)
Robert van Waarden (NL)
Timo Marttila (FI)
By Hellen van Meene
Hellen van Meene’s aim for this workshop was to inspire her students and help them in making the right decisions when making their photos. Within the field of portraiture, the students worked with strangers, course-mates, self-portraits, as well as whatever interested them and brought them forward at that moment.












Participants:
Alise Joste (LV)
Anastasiya Lazurenko (UA)
Ayaka Yamamoto (JP)
Birgit Puve (EE)
Clare Hewitt (UK)
Denis Davydov (RU/DE)
Essi Orpana (FI)
Ilka Kramer (DE/FR)
Jasmine Bakalarz (AR/CA)
Li-Han Lin (DE)
Mo Swillens (NL)
Viktorija Eksta (LV)
By Christian Caujolle
The workshop by a renown photo editor and founder of the French „Agence VU” Christian Caujolle concentrated on the notion of editing, based on existing bodies of work the participants brought with them. For any photographer, 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.
In open debates and individual conversations with the teacher, the participants had to define the purpose of their work and the best way of publishing the material - in the media, in a book, an exhibition, or as a video projection. For many of the participants, this was not the final step, but a step in a clearer direction.












Participants:
Aleksei Shinkarenko (BY)
Alessandro Penso (IT)
Annegien van Doorn (NL)
Anya Schiller (RU)
Elena Bulygina (UA)
Elton Gllava (AL/IT)
Eugenia Maximova (BG/AT)
Fromont Berangere (FR)
Ilze Vanaga (LV)
Jana Romanova (RU)
Massimiliano Perasso (IT)
Roberto Boccaccino (IT)
By Bas Vroege and Hans van der Meer
The workshop was a part of a bigger project started in early 2012 with 12 photographers from Latvia, Turkey, Estonia, Poland, Germany and Italy, each working on their individual projects under a common subject “Middle Town: Picturing the Unspectacular”, mentored by a tandem of Dutch curator Bas Vroege and photographer Hans van der Meer. The first workshop in Trabzon, Turkey, in March 2012 contained introduction and pitches of individual project ideas, as well as a group exercise in dummy making about the host town - Trabzon.
The workshop in Kuldīga focused on reviewing and editing the participants’ work performed over a period of five months in their own locations, individually reflecting the project subject. Each of the participants created a book dummy, and some worked in video format.
The project is a part of EU-Turkey cultural managers exchange programme “Tandem”. More information on the project here.








Participants:
Andris Feldmanis (LV)
Artis Silenieks (LV)
Diāna Tamane (LV)
Ieva Epnere (LV)
Iveta Vaivode (LV)
Karolina Wojtasik (PL)
Michela Palermo (IT)
Muge Yilmaz (TR)
Nico Baumgarten (DE)
Volkan Kiziltunc (TR)
Yigit Tanel Kacar (TR)
Zeynep Beler (TR)