I really enjoy do workshops. I like the feeling of generating knowledge, creating interest and sharing experiences. I like the expression of the attendees when they learn something that excites them. And perhaps the best thing is that I also learn from them.
It is very satisfying when students understand that there is a huge distance between using a camera and do photography. Memorizing the manual of the camera is purely a technical aspect. Useful yes, but overrated. As overrated as a 7000-pixel camera.
The main goal is to develop the sensitivity to create. Assume yourself as the origin of the idea. The camera is just a resource, an interface. Photography is truly in the brain. Achieving it, is not a matter of technique but talent.
BDSM
BDSM photography has been neglected. Generally, awkwardly treated and reduced to unnecessary crudeness. 90% of it is a failed and unfortunate exercise performed by the practitioners themselves. As professional photographers enter the BDSM world, a realm of great creative possibility opens up.
The main difficulty of BDSM photography is that it is an inaccessible space. Its participants keep absolute secrecy and confidentiality about their practice and the places where they perform it. Being able to access a Dungeon or a Mistress can take many years. Consequently, are limited proposals worldwide, due their inaccessibility but fascinating due their aesthetic value.
NUDE
The female nude is a fascinating subject. As archetypal as it is current. Rooted in human nature, interdependent on libido and fundamental in the history of art. All its derived aspects are interesting; legal, ethical, feminism, sociocultural and even semiotic of photography.
The nude requires a very broad theoretical base to translate it into a quality visual proposal where the next step is to learn the process of the photo shoot itself. The planning, the purposes, how to obtain a model, the contracts, the limits, the artistic direction, lighting, treatment of the material, safety aspects etc.
STYLE & CREATIVITY
Develop your own style in photography, create a visual identity and insist the idea; it is the quintessence of photography. And it is so complicated, that it is too the area where most of the students get frustrated and quit.
Can creativity be taught or is it part of the personality of the privileged? Does creating your own style require creativity, perseverance, or cunning? What does it take to get started in photography, and what does it take to develop through practice and learning?
There are a series of basic exercises where the potential of the students can be evaluated but where they can also be encouraged to manage successfully skills.
