THIS WORKSHOP HAS BEEN CANCELED
Date: April 23-26, 2017
Location: Central Dupon Images, Montmartre, Paris
Cost: The price is $530 USD
Overview
In celebration of VII’s Fifteenth Anniversary and the dual exhibitions in Paris during the Mois de la Photo du Grand Paris, VII Photo, Cosmos Gallery and Central Dupon Images are excited to announce a very rare photography workshop opportunity – four days with four members of VII Photo Agency!
The workshop will be a combination of presentations and open discussions with the entire group, as well as breakout sessions into four small, intimate groups enabling you time with each of the four photographers over the course of the workshop. The final day will also include a group discussion with each participant presenting his or her recent work.
Each VII Member will offer their unique learning opportunities including:
Classics and Outsiders with Stefano De Luigi
Stefano De Luigi will lead students on a journey through the history of reportage in his Classics and Outsiders workshop. Through a commentary on the images of the great interpreters of this field, the class will analyze how the photographer poses himself in relation to this history and the authors that have mostly influenced his training. During the presentation portion of the workshop, students will view projections that retrace the history of photojournalism from its origins until today. Divided into decades, the projections will focus on the work of the authors who have revolutionized the language of photojournalism.
Starting from the 1930s and concentrating on the main categories of the classics and the outsiders, De Luigi will uncover the history of reportage and clarify its most complex aspects. He will illustrate how two apparently very different approaches evolved separately, to then cross paths and come together again at the beginning of the new millennium.
The fundamental characteristics of this work will be defined including the perception of a specific project in relation to "being a photographer."
How is the work to be structured and how should we proceed with selection and editing images? What is it that distinguishes a reporter from an author?
The course will include portfolio reviews and editing of students’ work. Project ideas produced by the students will be evaluated side-by-side with the author and an overview of the international editorial industry will be presented as well.
Photojournalism Survival Kit with Ron Haviv
Capturing a story on film is a complex process. It demands an understanding of the issue at hand as well as the ability to condense, package, and pitch the story to a distributor.
In Photojournalism Survival Kit, Ron Haviv brings two decades of experience in building a photojournalism career on carefully laid groundwork.
Haviv draws on his long career for anecdotes and suggestions for aspiring photographers. He’ll teach you that your assignment starts before you leave your house; planning, packing and preparing for even the best-laid plans to go awry is essential. You’ll learn tricks for assessing your preparedness, safety, and support while on assignment in the field.
Photojournalism Survival Kit is crucial for beginners, and for current photojournalists who may need to brush up on their checklists. Learn from Ron Haviv’s early-career mistakes, and lay the foundations of your own successful, impactful enterprise in visual storytelling.
The Politics of Representation and the Politics of the Image with Gary Knight
How do you represent the world with your photographs? What are the ways in which your photographs might be interpreted? Gary will draw from his vast career and that of his friends and associates to help guide a deeper understanding of representation. Gary will engage participants in discussions about the moral conflicts that photographers can face and the imperative of having a point of view. Also, Gary will help the participants learn how to construct proposals for magazines, other media and for grants. This includes working on the idea, how to turn that into a photographic concept, how to write that into a proposal and how to make a budget.
Learning to See with Christopher Morris
Christopher will expose the group to the different forms of photojournalism that are prevalent today, leading a discussion around the common mistakes that many working photographers are making, while also highlighting the successes of what makes a good photograph. Christopher will also share his working formulas for portraiture, filmmaking and archiving.
What You Need
An enthusiastic, curious mind, and a thumb drive with your most recent work.
Workshop Fee
The price is $530 USD.
Please contact [email protected] for further information and read the Terms & Conditions here.
Logistics
Classes will be taught in English. The morning session will run from 10 AM – 1PM. There will be an hour lunch break, and then classes will resume from 2PM to 5PM.
Testimonials
On Gary Knight by Filmmaker, Ryan Booth
“The photographer Gary Knight was another really important mentor for me. Since I was a kid, I’ve always loved the big, black-and-white documentary photography from LIFE, National Geographic, and TIME; and one of my favorite books to look through when I was a kid was a huge coffee table book of Matthew Brady’s Civil War images. While living in Nashville, I went on the road with a couple of bands and shot black-and-white doc style images. I thought documentary photography might be interesting to explore, so I applied for a workshop with VII, a conflict photography agency in New York. I was accepted and did a two-week workshop in Siem Reap, Cambodia with Gary Knight. There were 10 of us in the workshop and everyone else worked at newspapers or were stringers for magazines or something similar. But there I was, an audio engineer from Nashville who didn’t quite fit in—and I felt like Gary sensed that. He pulled me aside at the end of the first week and said that when he looked through everyone’s photos, he immediately knew which ones were mine because I had a very distinct way of seeing. He told me: “You have to protect that. Don’t let anybody tell you that you’re doing something wrong. Don’t go back to school, because they’ll beat it out of you. Don’t go work for anyone who doesn’t value that. Just keep at it.” It was an amazing moment: an incredible photographer told me that there was something inside of me that I should protect and grow. No one had ever said anything like that to me before.”
On Ron Haviv by Anastasia Taylor-Lind, Freelance
“I’d been out of University for 2 years, and was in desperate need of inspiration and direction. I learnt as much from a week of being guided by Ron as I did in my 3 years of formal photographic education. Ron critiqued my work and sent me out with practical, tangible, clear advice on how to move forward with my story. It was an exhausting, at times heart wrenching, and exhilarating process. Ron is a brilliant photographer, but also a brilliant teacher…this is a rare quality. He knows exactly when to gently coax and encourage, and when to give you bollocking. I sincerely attribute making a successful transition from education to working freelance to him”
