My Photography Workshop

I didn't post anything last week because I was on the go from 8 AM to about 9:30 PM. I took a Santa Fe Photographic Workshop called Faces of Mexico: Environmental Portraiture with Holly Wilmeth.
It has been a long time since I took a workshop. I've been trying to think of when was the last time I took a workshop that was just about photographing and not about some technical aspect of photography. The last one I remember was a workshop with John Sexton back in the 1990's.

Sexton is an amazing photographer who shoots in black and white and knows more about the wet darkroom than most anyone. I learned so much about perfecting my black and white prints from that workshop but also a lot about seeing. Although he is still a working photographer and workshop leader, I found out how much the photography world has changed. When someone younger than me (well everyone in the workshop was younger than me) well anyway, she asked me about whose workshops I had taken, I mentioned Sexton. The look on her face told me that Sexton didn't register at all. She started with digital photography...in color, of course. Darkroom, black and white? Nope, Sexton's work didn't register with her. I had to laugh to myself. Times, they are a'changing.

The workshop was a wonderful experience. I met some great photographers, made new friends but most of all I learned a lot. Wilmeth was a warm and encouraging instructor and role model about how you work with people. It was good for me to have this time of concentrated work with my camera because I had gotten lazy about using it in various modes. I do want to shoot environmental portraits so my friends are probably going to get some requests to model for me. Now that I have put that in my blog, I hope they don't run when they see me!

If you ever have a chance to take a workshop with Holly Wilmeth, DO IT! You won't be disappointed.