Last weekend, as already posted, I attended a Royal Photographic Society workshop - "An Introduction to Documentary Photography". Led by John Roe ARPS and Jo Webster ARPS, the course took place at the American Museum in Bath from 4th - 5th July. The course runs several times during the year, and costs £155 for the two days.
There were 10 people on my course, which felt like a good number. All had a variety of experience, from a professional photographer looking to broaden his experience, to one person who'd only bought his D-SLR camera the day before. Most of us fell somewhere in between, being serious amateurs for the most part.
The first day started at 10am with a talk by John Roe on classic elements of documentary photography, and looking at examples by master photographers. With those in mind, we then set about looking to put his teaching into practice using the 4th July celebrations as our model. The centrepieces of the celebrations were the 18th-century re-enactors from the Crown Forces and Queens Rangers, who gave demonstrations of equipment, musketry and their cannon. They also set up a camp, and spoke to people all day. There were other side attractions - a circus performer, an 18th-century gentleman, as well as the museum itself - but the focus was on the re-enactors, and they were the subjects most commonly photographed.
Every 2 hours we would report back to our log cabin for Jo Webster to have a look at our images, as well as offer each other feedback. Jo was especially helpful and provided guidance without being dictatorial, and her criticism was always constructive. This was then repeated for the next day, allowing each of us a chance to build up a small portfolio of 3 - 15 images from the weekend, when John Roe would also look at our work.
I found the event very enjoyable. The tuition was good, though I think there could have been a little more on the second day. The other participants also made it enjoyable, with most keen to share their experience and try out new things. I think we all learnt something from it, and I would recommend it to anyone considering trying out one of the RPS' courses.
You can see more of my images over at my Flickr page.
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