Mary Jo Bedford: 'Geiko Goes'

‘The Great Lensbaby Experience’, organised by the Centre for Continuing Education at the University of Auckland, on Thursday and Friday, 15 and 16 October, is an opportunity for Auckland area photographers to study with Christchurch-based Canadian photographer, Mary Jo Bedford.

‘The Lensbaby is a variable focus lens that allows creative expression in ordinary photographic situations without the use of digital manipulation. After a review of various Lensbaby styles as applied by different photographers, we’ll delve into the different applications of the Lensbaby using specific shooting lessons designed to help you develop your skills.’ Mary Jo provides Canon, Pentax and Nikon DSLR /SLR mount Lensbabies for student’s use on this course. Among the new lenses that will be demonstrated are ‘Muse’, ‘Composer’, and ‘Control Freak’.

This course is designed for photographers at any level wanting to experiment with new technology and special effects. The course number is ?48205. Contact: http://www.cce.auckland.ac.nz/cce/continuing/index.cfm?P=8548&ClassNumber=48205

Mary Jo Bedford is offering a workshop of a different kind, called ‘Worth a Thousand Words - the Art of the Photo Essay’, on 16-21 November 2009, at Lochmara Lodge, in the Marlborough Sounds. Contact: http://www.lochmaralodge.co.nz/ac_events.asp

Photograph by Rineke Dijkstra

Harvey Benge, director of the Auckland University of Technology’s high level summer photography workshops, has just announced that the celebrated Dutch photographer Rineke Dijkstra, has agreed to join Paul Graham to teach the 2010 summer workshop, which will run from 15-17 January on the central Auckland campus.
Once again, this workshop series, which has previously featured  Peter Bialobrzeski, Antoine d’Agata, Lewis Baltz, Slavica Perkovic, John Gossage and Alec Soth, presents a unique opportunity to study with top international figures and serious local photographers. For more information on these photographers check out http://harveybenge.blogspot.com/

Demand will be high for this workshop, with entry by portfolio, Benge says, so expressions of interest need to made in the first instance to Neil Cameron, Registrar School of Art and Design AUT University, Auckland, neil.cameron@aut.ac.nz, or to Harvey Benge at harvey@harveybenge.com

Photograph by Paul Graham

Slow Light - pinhole photography by Jenny Tomlin, Janis Mysliwiec, Neil Finlay

Lopdell House, 418 Titirangi Rd. Waitakere City
In the Spiral Gallery (upstairs)
Open daily from 10am-4.30pm

Opens 6pm, Thursday 28 May, Exhibition runs Friday 29May - 20 June
‘Neil Finlay, Janis Mysliwiec and Jenny Tomlin explore the particular qualities of the pinhole process in relation to their photographic practices. Each working in the landscape, from domestic to remote, or using it in reference to other photographic processes. Pinhole is deceptive in its simplicity - suspending the gap of uncertainty and imprecise control. The familiar becomes ambiguous and vice versa’.

Pinhole weekend workshop
Venue Lopdell House basement studio/darkroom
20 - 21 June, 9.30am - 4.30pm
Fee $130.00 includes all materials
Prebooking essential

This is a practical hands-on workshop exploring the surreal world of pinhole photography. Looking at other photographer’s work then making your own cameras, through to honing your exposures with paper negatives processed in the darkroom. We will be celebrating the accident and looking at what these cameras do well.

Contact Jenny for more information: jennytomlin@yahoo.co.nz

Photojournalism: Telling Stories of Trauma

When: 1 session, Tuesday 26 May, 6.30 - 9pm
Where: Old Government House Lecture Theatre, Building No. 102, behind ClockTower Building, 22 Princes Street
Cost: $35.00 (International Fee $51.50), Student and unwaged $10.00
This course is designed for people interested in the media, photography, journalism and international events and how they impact on those who cover them.

Award winning Photojournalist Jim MacMillan will discuss the special challenges and responsibilities of covering traumatic events in the news, from urban violence to terrorist attacks and foreign wars. Primary concerns will include the ethical treatment of victims and survivors, the impact of trauma coverage on news consumers and communities. Issues of accurate and complete reporting under stress, and the psychological hazards of covering traumatic events for the news professionals involved will be addressed.

About the presenter

Until 2008, Jim MacMillan was the senior photographer, a photo-columnist and solo video journalist with the Philadelphia Daily News, where he had worked since 1991. On leave from the Daily News in 2004 - 2005, he was a photographer and photo editor for the Associated Press in Iraq. He personally covered over 200 combat missions and at times managed the AP’s photo reports and staff development in Baghdad.

Jim won the Bayeux Prize for War Correspondents, was a member of the Associated Press photo team awarded the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography, and is the recipient of numerous additional awards. He was a 2006 - 2007 Knight-Wallace Fellow at the University of Michigan, and a 2007 Ochberg Fellow with the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma. He has led photojournalism seminars at Tufts University, his alma mater, and undergraduate courses at Temple University, including a new course on journalism and trauma. (Jim MacMillan’s website - http://jimmacmillan.com)

How to enrol

Online: Click here to view full course description with enrolment links
Phone: 0800 864 266 or 09 373 7599 ext 87831/87832 (credit card only)
In person: 1 - 11 Short Street, Auckland City. Office hours 8.30am - 5pm, Monday to Friday.

AUT’s annual international photo-art workshop is coming up this week. It should be a good one, the guest photographers being John Gossage and Alec Soth. I can’t deny that I envy those who are going, I do hope that you get heaps out of the opportunity… you lucky lucky people!

All those who are not going to the workshop still get the chance to meet these wonderful photographers at AUT’s St Paul St Gallery, 5.30pm Saturday 17th January.

Harvey Benge, who is the organiser of the workshop, will launch his new book at this time. The book, I LOOK AT YOU, YOU LOOK AT ME, is a pretty original take on the idea of the environmental portrait.

Everybody is welcome at the launch event and there is no admission fee.

Image Credit: Image by Alec Soth from The Last Days of W.

A unique opportunity to spend 3 up-close days with John Gossage and Alec Soth two of the most influential American photographers working today.

Friday January 16th - Sunday January 18th 2009
AUT School of Art and Design, ST PAUL ST Gallery, Auckland City

Facilitated over three days by Harvey Benge, John and Alex will talk about their working methods and outline the strategies they have developed to shape their own unique photographic styles and approaches. From a position that “anything is possible” the workshop will look at photo based art practise in a post-modern digital cyber world where the possibilities for making and showing work are endless. Participants will also have the opportunity to have their work constructively reviewed by John and Alec who will offer feedback and suggest ways forward.

Bruce Connew comments on a previous workshop..”I must congratulate the AUT School of Art and Design for hosting an extraordinary workshop with Harvey Benge, Peter Biolabrezski and the incomparable Antoine D’Agata. All are world class, at the top of their respective games, while one in particular is on his way to greatness - should he survive the journey. These workshops offer a rare and honest insight into world class photographers practices and the varied and complex world of photo art. They give each participating photographer a way forward, no matter the stage of career. That AUT should be involved in assisting Harvey Benge to bring such an intellectual and accomplished level of photographer to New Zealand is an absolute credit to the School’s commitment to photography. Very, very well done….these workshops are career-defining days for any photographer.”

John Gossage born in Staten Island New York in 1946 is noted for his artist’s books and other publications using his photographs to explore under-recognised elements of the urban environment and themes of surveillance, memory and the relationship between architecture and power. He has shown his photographs in solo and group exhibitions since 1963 and his work is held in numerous private and public collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C His publications include Berlin in the Time of the Wall (2004), The Romance Industry (2002), Empire (2000), There and Gone (1997), The Things That Animals Care About (1988), Three Days in Berlin 1987 (1987), and Hey Fuckface! (1984). After a number of years with Nazraeli Press his usual publisher is now Loosestrife Editions and Steidl Verlag. He has taught at the University of Maryland, College Park, and curated several photographic exhibitions. He lives and works in Washington, D.C.

Alec Soth born in 1969 and based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is the recipient of several major fellowships from the McKnight and Jerome Foundations and was awarded the 2003 Santa Fe Prize for Photography. His work is represented in major public and private collections, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. Soth’s photographs have been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including the 2004 Whitney and São Paulo Biennials, Jeu de Paume (Paris, France) 2008 and Fotomuseum Winterthur (Winterthur, Switzerland) 2008. His first monograph Sleeping by the Mississippi, was published by Steidl in 2004 to critical acclaim. Since then Soth has published Niagara (2006), Fashion Magazine (2007), and Dog Days, Bogota (2007). Soth is represented by Gagosian Gallery in New York, Weinstein Gallery in Minneapolis, and is a member of Magnum Photos.

This is the fourth in AUT’s series of photographic “master-classes” and promises to be as rewarding and exciting as the previous.

As interest is high and places limited to secure a place please contact Neil Cameron Registrar AUT School of Art and Design on email: neil.cameron@aut.ac.nz

Getaway at Lake Mungo NP with Lloyd Godman

When Thur eve - Sun
23 - 26 Oct
Hours N/A
Cost $400 (camping & transport not inc.)

A digital landscape photography workshop for 3 days at magical Mungo with Lloyd Godman and Silvi Glattauer. Incorporates moonlight photography, light painting, in-depth critiques and photoshop sessions. Rather than a quest for the classic landscape image explore strategies for identifying and developing a personal photographic vision, style or iconography. Bring your own camping gear and join the fun!

The workshop program involves camping at Lake Hatta and Lake Mungo NP. 3 days.

For more information, please ring Lloyd Godman on Ph (australia) 97101350

Check out the website.

AUT International Photography Workshop Dec 15th & 16th

Following on from the success of previous International Photography Workshops held by the School of Art & Design, this year’s photo workshop will be held by Hamburg based photographer André Lützen and by Auckland based photographer Harvey Benge. The annually held photography workshop held in the St Paul Street Gallery is a unique event which offers the opportunity to become acquainted with the practice of both nationally and internationally renowned artists and to discuss one’s own work facilitated by Andre and Harvey within the group of other participating practitioners.

André Lützen is a free lance photographer and has a long record as an artist (Krefelder Kunstmuseen, Kunstverein Ludwigsburg, Kunsthalle Hamburg) and as a teacher (Muthesius University, Kiel). André’s work deals with political issues like migration, exploitation of natural resources, globalisation and the heritage of colonialism. In his project Boule Fale (2001) he made research on the Hip Hop culture of African immigrants in Marseille, France, and tracked back their roots in the musical culture of Ghana. This project did not only unveil the difficult situations of African immigrants in post-colonial France, but is also an essay about how music gets re-appropriated, and identity and pride, damaged by slave trade and inhumanity, get re-established. In Perimeter I, II and III, André documented specific spots of the “Fortress of Europe”, places like the Spanish enclave Melilla in Northern Africa, the Eastern border of Turkey, and the Italian island Lampedusa; places, where different ethnicities mix, different religions and different value systems co-exist; places in-between, where it becomes dubious if this is still Europe or already another, unknown continent.

The workshop will be accompanied by an exhibition entitled Heart of Darkness. The works of this series will be shown for the first time ever. André refers to Joseph Conrad’s famous novel, published in 1902, about a journey on the river Congo in what was called Belgish Congo at that time. Francis Ford Coppola’s film on the war in Vietnam, Apocalypse Now, was loosely based on this novel, especially exploring the dark sides of so-called civilization in the figure of Kurtz. André travelled the Congo River in 2004 to find out more about the exploitation of the mineral Coltan, which is used in cell phones, CD players etc. and is found in the region between Congo and Rwanda, a region constantly shattered by war. Warlords of all sorts arrange deals with international companies, which take profit of the unstable situation. The question behind André’s photographic essay is, if things have changed since the era of colonization, or if colonization simply changed its name to globalisation; has colonization come to an end, or do now tribal chiefs and warlords colonize their own people, driven by greed and the prospect of quick money, offered by international companies, which have no interest in an improvement of the political and humanitarian situation. Harvey Benge behind Harvey’s recent photographic essay on China is also the question of what globalisation means. Harvey, who kindly has initiated the photo workshops at AUT, is an internationally active artist with a huge range of published books. In his series, he explores the contrasts and tensions between the traditional and the rapidly changing modern China, the extremes between poverty and wealth, between beggars and newly riches. His interest lies in the mundane, which may tell more about the impact of a globalised economy than any statistics. The workshop will be held at St Paul St Gallery, 34 St Paul St, Auckland City, on Saturday, December 15, and Sunday, December 16, 2007. 9am -5pm. For registration please contact neil.cameron@aut.ac.nz or phone (09) 921 9999 Extn 8626.

This above press release was received indirectly through the GRINZ free weekly e-newsletter for NZ photographers. You can register at http://www.grinz.co.nz or send your news to thenews@grinz.co.nz

Manukau School of Visual Arts is holding a series of practical hands-on workshops exploring digital photography and the hand-made print. Workshops include Preparation of Digital Images for contact print processes, non-toxic Photogravure and Hybrid Print.

I received the promotion for this in the mail yesterday and by the time I got to the website the November/December workshops were already full.  The next lot of workshops are being held in January but it seems you will have to book quickly. Here for more information