How Many Words is a Photo Really Worth?

Image & Text workshop with Brad Zellar

Overview

This workshop is open to photographers at all levels and is designed to help attendees give a voice to their images. This skill is useful for presenting and selling work to galleries, publishers, audiences, and institutions, whether you're giving a talk, writing a grant proposal, or trying to create a photographic narrative.

*BONUS: This workshop takes place in tandem with Raymond Meeks’ Artist Book Workshop. Attendees of both workshops will have time to mingle and get to know each other during some evening hangouts!

  • Nestled in spectacular Howe Sound, North America’s southernmost fjord surrounded by towering peaks that rise straight out of the sea, Bowen Island (Nexwlélexwm is its native Squamish name) has been Vancouver’s paradisiac getaway since the 1900s. This enchanted island is known for its exceptional serenity, centennial parks, artistic culture, and laid-back country living a short 20-minute ferry ride from West Vancouver.

  • Schedule: Meets in-person on Bowen Island at FotoFilmic on Monday October 2, Tuesday October 3, Wednesday October 4, Thursday October 5 & Friday October 6, 2023 from 9am to 5pm (subject to change)

  • Early Bird $1598
    Previous Attendees: $1495

    REGISTRATION DEPOSITS

    Applicants selected to register must confirm their participation by sending either a $950 USD tuition deposit, or a full Regular or Past Attendee tuition payment.

    If choosing to send a registration deposit, the remaining tuition balance will then come due in full by Wednesday, August 9, 2023.

    PAYMENT PLANS

    If interested in a payment plan, requests must be made by Monday May 22, 2023 to

Limited to 12 participants.

“Photographs are spectacular crutches for writers, and excellent tools for summoning (or inventing) memories, exploring points of views, and collecting descriptive details. All my life I've approached photography through the dog door of literature--poetry, fiction, memoir, screenplay, travel narrative, and I now spent a lot of time thinking about how many words a photograph is really worth. All the ways words swarm and take shape around a photograph or photography project. As much as many photographers resist the notion, words are the language viewers use to translate photographs, and to animate them, to get them moving in a recognizable world or context; the critical and interpretive discussion and attempts to understand photography require words; the mind instinctively attempts to construct a narrative, whether one exists or not. Or, at the very least, a constellation of feelings and emotions.

We'll talk about unlocking the words in a photograph--the voices, histories, music, and stories. We'll look at your photos (and those of others) and try to figure out what they're trying to say. We'll talk about all the ways text in a photobook--epigraphs, critical essays, oral history, project background, jacket copy, and archival documents--influence our 'reading' of and response to the work. We'll also talk about the history of images and text, and how over time words--essays, criticism, word of mouth--have shaped our 'understanding' of some of the seminal photographic works and photobooks. I'll ask you to try to write a photograph, to attempt to create with nothing but words a photo you love, and to try to translate some of your own work into words, to hear its voice. We'll also talk a lot about storytelling, points of view, and the confluence of photography, film, music, and literature, with the goal of trying to make photographs find--and use--their words.”

Things to bring:

  • Paper

  • Writing utensils

  • Bring a physical body of work

  • Not only a tight sequence of 15-20, but additional images as well

  • Preliminary writing assignments and exercises will be emailed one month in advance

This workshop takes place at Maine Studio Works in the heart of the East Bayside neighborhood of Portland, Maine.

ABOUT BRAD ZELLAR

Brad Zellar has written and published fiction, and worked as a writer and editor for newspapers and magazines. He collaborated with photographer Alec Soth on a number of projects, including The LBM Dispatch, a series of seven newspapers devoted to American community in the age of cyberspace. Zellar has also made books with Adrianna Ault, Raymond Meeks, Tim Carpenter, and Jason Vaughn, and is the author of Suburban World: The Norling Photos, Conductors of the Moving World, House of Coates, and Driftless. He lives in St. Paul.

Details

  • Flights, local transportation, accommodations and meals are not included in the registration fees. A detailed information packet will be sent to confirmed participants to help coordinate their stay on Bowen Island, inclusive of on-island accommodations options (single or shared), local transportation directions, a list of restaurants and other amenities available, and general island life tips.

  • Meets at Maine Studio Works on Monday October 2, Tuesday October 3, Wednesday October 4, Thursday October 5 & Friday October 6 from 9am to 5pm (hours subject to change).

    Located in the heart of the East Bayside neighborhood of Portland, Maine.

    Maine Studio Works
    170 Anderson St.
    Portland, ME 04101

  • Applications to register are free (no fee to apply). Enrolment is limited to 12 participants. Photographers from all educational backgrounds and at all career stages are welcome to apply. A portfolio of 10-20 images focused on past and/or ongoing projects must be submitted as a prerequisite for consideration (please include images from no more than 2 different series/projects).

  • DEPOSIT & PAYMENT

    Selected applicants invited to register are required to confirm their participation by sending either a $500 USD tuition deposit, or a full Early-bird/Regular tuition payment.

    If choosing to send a registration deposit, the remaining tuition balance will then come due in full by Thursday, August 31, 2023.

  • EARLY BIRD: $970 USD

    [Deadline: Sunday June 24, 2023]

    PAST ATTENDEE: $870 USD

    [Deadline: Sunday June 24, 2023]

    REGULAR: $1070 USD

    [Deadline: from June 24 and until filled.]

    Please note: Applications are reviewed on a weekly basis, with regular email communication from reception to final decision. The entire review and acceptance process usually takes 8-12 days from the day your application is received. Applying early is recommended for greater chances of selection.

  • The deadline to withdraw your participation and request a refund is Wednesday, July 19, 2023. Please note a $500 USD cancelation fee remains applicable. Cancelation and refund requests received after July 19 will not be accepted.

    In the event the program was not meeting minimum enrolment, or needed to be canceled for any reason, paid tuition will be refunded in full without any cancelation fee. Please also note FotoFilmic cannot be held responsible for any traveling expense refunds if the program gets canceled: purchasing travel insurance is therefore highly recommended.

  • For any questions or inquiries, please contact FotoFilmic Co-Director Bastien Desfriches Doria directly at bastien@fotofilmic.comItem description

Application Form