October Musing 2014

The Keys to the Kingdom

I’ve been asked why I choose to teach workshops in such odd and unusual places as Alabama, North Dakota, along the Erie Canal or the Orkney islands? Perhaps the best way to answer the question is to explain how a location becomes a workshop.

What makes a good workshop location? First and foremost, a location has to be visually interesting to me. I have to want to make photographs there and I have to believe others will find it interesting as well. For most of the workshops I lead I have photographed in the area at least once and often several times. It is when I find a location worth a return trip that I begin to it as workshop worthy. When I begin thinking of specific students and the images they might make in that location then I really begin to search out the potential in the area.

Second, it has to be photo-friendly and this is harder to find than you might think. There are many places that are visually interesting but very restrictive towards photographers. Many locations restrict access (time and area) and/or tripods, require a time-consuming permission process (which may include prohibitive fees) or demand to control rights to images made. As a result, I look for places that welcome photographers. Many of these tend to be public properties that have a small admission price but I gladly pay these fees because they help the non-profit society to maintain and preserve the properties.

Third, I do look for places that are out-of-the-way and that have an unusual attraction to them. Many of these places would be considered ordinary and thus be overlooked but I often find an extraordinary image in just such places. It is my preference to photograph in an area at least one time before I bring a workshop. (The exception this year is Cuba. I was asked to lead not a workshop but a cultural exchange group through the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops. They have Cuban photographers who will be leading the workshop and they most certainly know the lay of the land. I will help you making photographs but not choosing the locations.) By being more familiar with the area I serve as a better guide for my students. Focusing most of my workshops in the Continental U.S. not only makes it possible for me to photograph but it keeps the costs of a workshop more affordable for all of us.

Fourth, a good workshop location has to be able to handle a group of 10 to 15 people without getting in each other’s way. I want you to be able explore a location without tripping over another photographer. I don’t want you to have to stand in line to make shot. I have been to many places that were visually exciting, photo-friendly and unusual, but were too small to build a workshop around.

Fifth, it helps to find someone who has, what I call, “the keys to the kingdom”. This is someone familiar with an area who is interested in my workshop participants becoming excited about being there. It may be a person who knows everyone in the area who helps me make those connections, or someone who works in a location and allows us access beyond the usual public schedule and spaces. It is often this person that makes a workshop of mine so unique.

So, how does all of this come together to create a workshop? Let’s take the Alabama workshop as an example. Years ago, when visiting Birmingham, I went to the Sloss Furnaces. It reminded me of the Chestnut Hill Pump Stations I had photographed in Boston in the 1990’s. I returned to photograph the next year thinking it might be a good workshop location. I enjoyed a great day making images and met Karen Utz, the site historian and curator. She was very excited about the potential of a photographic workshop visiting the site. She was willing to open up for us on a Monday (Martin Luther King Day), the first day of the workshop and a day the site is normally closed. We would have the whole place to ourselves for the day.

The Sloss Furnaces met all five of my requirements as a workshop location but I knew that most students would only be interested photographing them for a couple of days at most. What was there to do for the other three days? I turned my eyes to my hometown, Decatur. I knew that the downtown area was undergoing a transformation. Through my parents I met Rick Paler (Director, Decatur Re-development Authority). He thought he could get us access to some of the buildings before they were renovated. This would give us another day or two shooting potential. To round out the week I reached out to the small historic town of Mooresville, right across the Tennessee River from Decatur. I planned the workshop for 2-½ days at the Sloss Furnace and the other 2-½ days in the Decatur area. We had enough locations in Decatur and Mooresville so that the group could be divided and people would have no trouble staying out of each other’s way.

The workshop went well, people made good images and all the locations were accommodating and enthusiastic to have us. The second year we added a few new locations through new contacts with “keys to the kingdom”. This year David Breland, head of the Decatur Historic Preservation Commission, has gotten us access to even more unique and unusual locations. We will work in the Princess Theater, a livery stable that became a vaudeville theater and then a movie theater, and is now a premier Performing Arts Center. In addition, Kara Long, the Site Director, at Pond Spring, (home of General “Fighting” Joe Wheeler) has opened the doors to this beautiful 50 acre site with an 1818 dog trot style log house, an 1830’s Federal style house, the 1870’s Wheeler House, eight related buildings, 2 cemeteries and many gardens.

Some of the others with the “keys to the Kingdom” for other workshops this year include Dan Smith (North Dakota Workshop); Dennis Stierer and John Joyce (Erie Canal workshop); and Andy Schmitt (Delaware Water Gap workshop).

Workshops evolve but they all start with a location that fulfills five needs: visual interest, photo-friendly, usually off the beaten path, large enough to handle a group of 10 – 15 photographers and last, but not least, they are most successful when someone with the “keys to the kingdom” thinks having a photographic workshop on site is a good idea.

I hope you can join me for a workshop adventure in the near future. I guarantee it will take you down a different road!

Tillman