Category Archives: Workshops

Magnum Workshop in Toronto

Magnum Photos.  Cartier-Bresson, Capa,  McCurry… legends in the photography world.

Back in May I was privileged and lucky enough to spend a week at the Magnum Photography Workshop in Toronto that was part of the CONTACT Photography Festival.

My luck continued when I was accepted into David Alan Harvey‘s group, one of my favourite photographers of all time.  David is a legend in the photography world, having travelled the globe and shot over 40 assignments for National Geographic and published stunning books like Cuba and Divided Soul.

The workshop was different from others I’ve taken in that we weren’t told what to shoot, we were just expected to hit the streets and find something… anything to shoot.  We were on our own to find a story.

I spent a couple days wandering Kensington and Chinatown looking for my story.  Eventually it sort of just gelled into street performers and in particular showing them isolated from the crowds they spend their days entertaining.

We started each morning with a critique of the previous days work.  David is brutally honest with his critiques but that’s how you learn.

And learn I did.  This is one of those workshops that will impact my photography for the rest of my life.  The passion and skill of all the Magnum photographers has inspired me beyond words.

I’d like to thank David, as well as everyone in my group, for an amazing week.

Here are some of my favourite images from the week.

Scott.

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Mountain Workshop

Last week I had the honor and pleasure of attending the Mountain Workhops in Elizabethtown Kentucky.

The Mountain Workshop is an intensive week long photojournalism course run by one of the most renowned photojournalism schools in the USA, the University of Western Kentucky.  The workshop is in it’s 35th year, each time documenting a different county in Kentucky.

The coaches at the workshop are really impressive, almost to the point of being intimidating.   Multiple Pulitzer winners, long time National Geographic shooters and combat photographers are all roaming the halls.

Each student draws an assignment out of a hat (literally!) and spends the week both shooting and writing their story with the aid of their coaches.   The nights go long with multiple speakers and critiques, we were lucky if we got 3 hours sleep a night.

My assignment was a single mother with two kids who’s grandfather had just been deployed overseas.

You can see my story here.

I’m still absorbing everything I was taught last week, but I’m already starting to see things differently and have no doubt I’m going to be a much better photographer.

Scott.

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Awaken Workshop | Toronto, Ontario

I had the pleasure of being the official photographer for the Awaken Workshop this past weekend in Toronto.  It was a great 2 days of learning and inspiration, can’t wait for 2.o next year!

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Power of Real Workshop | Toronto | June 8-9, 2010

Just wanted to let local photographers know that two of the best wedding photographers on the planet, Huy Nguyen and Sergio, will be in Toronto for two days in June with a workshop called The Power of Real.

Some of the highlights of the workshop will include:

- the photojournalist’s mind : seeing beyond the obvious, understanding the moments, shooting powerful imagery

- clients : falling in love with your clients, setting expectations, developing relationship, managing the wedding day

- spontaneous portraiture : keeping it fresh, maintaining visual diversity, empowering individualism

- critical thinking : evaluating images, cropping, storytelling

- understanding your badass self

- intensive discussion of wedding photojournalism philosophy and Question & Answer session

- lighting demonstration – using the lightstick for distinctive reception and portraiture- review and critique of participants’ work

Dates: June 8-9, 2010 (Tue-Wed)

Location: Still Motion Studio at 133 Queen St. East, Port Credit, Toronto, ON, CANADA L5G 1N1

Registration Fee – $1,200 per person ($800 for spouses or additional persons from the same studio)

Limit: 20 participants

Please contact our workshop coordinator Scott Williams for more information : scott@capturingthelight.com

To register : click here to download the form

SPECIAL OFFER #1 : Register before March 15 and receive 10% off.

SPECIAL OFFER #2 : Participants will receive $500 off the registration fee for Yin Yang Workshop 4.

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Foundation Conference 2010

All three of us will be heading down to Kansas City this year for Foundation Conference 2010 which promises to be a couple days of serious learning (and serious partying!).

The conference is run by Huy Nguyen and was held for the first time last year in Dallas.

This years lineup looks great, with another local photographer getting the chance to speak (Justin from Stillmotion).

Here’s the link to the conference.

Here’s the schedule:

SCHEDULE (subject to change)

Day Zero : Monday November 8, 2010

7 pm – 10 pm – Drinks with friends

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Day One : Tuesday November 9, 2010

9 – 11:00 am – DQ Studios Bendy Bendy

How’d they do that?!?!? From the in-between to the hero image, their ingeniously simple and spontaneously creative lighting and incredible relationship with their clients make all the difference.  Dave and Quin will share their tools, tips and tricks they’ve learned along the path to imagery of passion, moment and light.

11 am – 1 pm : LUNCH BREAK

1 pm – 2:30 pm : Justin DeMers One Year

On my journey to crafting relevant and meaningful imagery I stopped in at a little conference last year named The Foundation Conference.   One year later, here I am.   Where do you want to be one year?

3 pm – 5 pm : JVS - Keep It Real

For the past twenty years, JVS has been capturing real moments in real time and hasn’t been afraid to use his strobes along the way. Whether it be wedding or portrait, JVS will inspire you to seek the moment in everything you shoot.

8 pm – Party Party Party

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Day Two: Wednesday November 10, 2010

9 am – 10 am : the Wedrockers – Raising the Bar for a New Generation

Mexico is a very traditional and conservative country in and its photography is not an exception. We come from a culture that regard wedding photography as the perfect portraiture of two persons posing like statues in front of a camera. That was it. It has been less than three years since the four of us met and started looking outside the box and outside our country and to try to push the limits of our way of shooting weddings. Suddenly we realized that this constant and constructive challenge among friends has started to change the way many people in Mexico is looking at wedding photography. We are making a difference in our country and we won’t stop. We are up to the challenge.

10 am – Noon – Anna Kuperberg – Being You

When you re-connect with your sense of curiosity, the one that first got you excited about photography, your photos become interesting. Clients are drawn to authenticity and passion. Everything else in your business– branding, marketing, customer service, and even your choices of products– builds on this. Nobody can be you as well as you. So have fun and take some risks.

Noon – 1:30 pm LUNCH BREAK

1:30 pm – 2:30 pm : Candice C. Cusic - Being Laid Off Was the Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me

Candice ruined her mother’s countertops with chemical stains while learning her darkroom technique at age six. Upon graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, her passion for photography took her to positions with the Virginian-Pilot, the Concord Monitor, the Raleigh News & Observer and, most notably, the Chicago Tribune for 11 years. She currently teaches Photojournalism at Northwestern University and has created a business that specializes in photographic storytelling. Candice will share how she escaped from a daily newspaper, the lessons she learned in building a business and how photojournalism fits into modern day weddings.

2:30 – 3:30 – Lemon Lime Photography - Competitive Collaboration

After five years of shooting and debating, Neal and Eric spill how competitive collaboration works and fuels everything they do to make their mark in a small Midwest market.

4 pm – 6 pm – live photo competition judging/critique (judges: Huy, Mark P, Robert Mirani, Candice C, etc)

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