Developing Creative Vision

Going Deeper with Photography

What a privilege to work with Chris Harris and ten photographers for a whole week of photography in a remote location! Develop Your Creative Vision, a photography workshop at the Tallheo Cannery Guest House in Bella Coola, is now complete for the second time this year. The week ended on a high as our students described personal breakthroughs in their creative vision and asked to do it all again! A few highlights from our week:

• We had rain every day! This may sound like a low light but the rain didn’t matter!  Working under cover of the cannery buildings is no problem and helps us to discover new visual treasures.
• At the end of the week, someone suggested we repeat the workshop at a ‘graduate level’! When we asked how many would attend, every hand went up!
• Our hosts, Garrett, Skye and Colleen once again created a warm, hospitable and well fed (!) venue and made us feel just like family.
• The real learning took place when we shared our images with each other and talked about our ideas and how to achieve them. As one student wrote, This week was an invaluable experience for me. The relaxed, non-critical, non-competitive atmosphere has restored my enthusiasm in photography… . I’m so grateful!

Just to give you a taste of what we were sharing all week, here is a selection of images from our ten participants. Each one represents their own unique impression. And we’re proud of their work.

And a few of my own …

In between our sessions, I found it was very important for me to photograph, just for myself, to maintain a creative edge. With so much inspiration coming from our students each day, I was propelled to get out there and push myself.

As part of our celebration of learning on the last evening, we created a slideshow to showcase our fun throughout the week. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Book Available

Have a look at the book created by and for our participants.

Develop Your Creative Vision

By Dennis Ducklow

For Photographers

Many photographers today have developed considerable competency with their cameras and created many successful images. After doing this for some years, some hit a road block. They begin to lose interest because they have photographed just about every scene and situation they can think of and may respond to new opportunities with a “been there, done that” attitude.

Others may be looking for a way to more deeply express their inner thoughts and feelings with their cameras but don’t know how to ‘go deeper’.

One problem is that many of us, when photographing, spend just a few moments working on an image and then move on. Our fast-placed culture dictates that we don’t have enough time or patience to really work the subject until our vision is fulfilled with the camera. We’re just not in the habit of spending the time we need to see the possibilities. And, when our pictures don’t really match our vision, we feel discouraged.

If you can see yourself in any of these descriptors, then Develop Your Creative Vision is just right for you. The workshop reviews the fundamental tools we have to work with as photographers and inspires you to realize that photography can help you release your artistic creativity. In a 7-day workshop, you are immersed in a creative mindset with others for long enough that the ideas and habits will stick. You practice with new ideas, share them in the group and receive honest, constructive feedback and then do it again. As one participant said, “This is a 5-star course. There is so much inspiration every day. The lecturers and participants are so positive and enthusiastic. One week of total photographic immersion is extremely valuable.”

Are you wanting to move to a deeper level with your photography? Course dates for 2017 have been set:

• May 28 to June 4
• August 27 to September 3

Registration opens in late October. For more information, or to be notified when registration opens, click here and follow the links at the bottom of the page.