Photography Workshop with Parrish Dobson

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION

At heart, photography is a spiritual activity. The two most important elements at work in the making of a photograph are attention and connection. I will take people on a journey through the building blocks of a “good” photograph, always encouraging them to invent, to be playful, and to discover. As we move deeper, and everyone feels more capable, we will begin to talk more and more about engaged seeing, and about connecting powerfully and empathetically to whatever one is moved to photograph. I hope with the time people have in the afternoons, they will both photograph and write in journals----building the bridge between what they photograph and what is emerging as questions and discoveries in their inner lives. In class time, I will show work of many artists (using a digital projector attached to my laptop). We will look at the photographs the participants make each day, editing, selecting, encouraging new approaches. The class will be comfortable and encouraging for photographers at any level of experience. I imagine a natural outcome for this workshop would be a slide show (powerpoint) at the end of the week to share with the whole conference.

Participants should bring their own cameras, and laptops with Photoshop, if they have it. But particpants without laptops can make photos, and we can look at them projected as they came from the camera. Since a great deal of the focus of this workshop is about seeing, and connecting to what you are seeing, people without laptops and Photoshop will still have a good time. We will be looking at a lot of work, learning more about cameras, and shooting a lot.

INSTRUCTOR

Parrish Dobson has been making photographs with intention for over 30 years. Her personal interest is in landscape photography. Parrish is Head of the Arts Department at the Buckingham Browne and Nichols School in Cambridge, MA and has taught Photography there for over 20 years. Additionally, she is on the Steering Committee of New England Women in Photography, and on the Worship Committee at the First Parish Church in Belmont.

You can see her work at www.parrishdobson.com.