Images have the power to pen eyes, evoke emotions and instigate change. Students will discover new and innovative ways to create and share stories through research and class discussion of ideas, daily shooting, and critiques of the work done at the workshop. Students should bring portfolios, bodies of work in progress, or recently finished if possible as Maggie would like to see this work too. Participants conclude this workshop with new compelling images and ideas that reflect original thinking and vision, as well as plans for how to present the work.

Objective

It’s the workshops objective to give the student an insight into and an appreciation of online journalism/multimedia reporting techniques in order to address a rapidly changing media landscape in face of the global economic recession.

Goals

Each student/team will acquire ground level techniques to gather and edit material for use in an interactive presentation or web documentary. The students will work with sound, still photography and video as well as text. By the end of the workshop, the students will have produced a working web documentary.

Assignment: ISTANBUL

Produce a 3-5 minutes web documentary on the subject of ‘Istanbul’. This includes sound, still photography and video.

The students will be allowed to form teams of two or three. During 2nd and 3rd day they will gather all the material necessary to complete the web documentary. The last two days will be dedicated to editing and producing the actual documentary.

This is a VERY labour extensive workshop and the students should expect to work long hours. The students should have researched a subject prior to attending the workshop as the time schedule does not leave any room for research once the workshop has begun.

It can be anything ranging from a portraits of youth in tight knitted social groups, architectural structures till formations within a defined political segment.

The ball is up for graps as long as the web documentary relates to ‘Istanbul’.

Software

Sound: Adobe Soundbooth  (30 day free trial version)

Photo: Photoshop, Fireworks

Video: iMovie HD, Final Cut Express/Pro

In this class I would like to discuss various ways of working on a social, environmental and psychological portrait – be it a portrait of one person or a community. We will talk about approaching or sometimes confronting a stranger, building close rapport with your subject, breaking down the barriers of communication. Students will receive two assignments, one of which will be to shoot a compelling portrait story of an individual or a group. These assignments are very common in the magazine world and in class we’ll discuss the elements constituting a successful portrait. I would like to push the boundaries of traditional understanding of portraiture. I will share both examples from my own experience and work of other photographers that have a non-traditional photographic vision and approach to storytelling.

In my own work I am most interested in portraying humanity through stories of daily life, i.e. portraying a complex global issue through a simple story of an individual. In class I would like to discuss ways of developing a theme for a long-term documentary project outside the fast pace of news-oriented media.  Additionally, I will share my own experiences of working on a long-term personal project, ways of funding such projects outside of traditional media support, such as grants, book publishing etc.

Transitioning to the new world of Photojournalism: How to market yourself and expanding your skillset.

This class will explore with students the fundamentals of formulating a photo essay. There will be a discussion about the social and political relevance of the students intended stories, and what aspects of them students will need to document to convey their chosen story to an audience. This discussion will focus on how they can achieve this practically, as well as photographically. Once students have embarked on their stories there will be daily editing sessions to discuss the direction their work is taking. The aim of the class will be to develop a visual narrative through both personal style and photographic techniques.

Photographing stories often involves a myriad of professional and personal challenges that teach us all to be better photographers.  Ron Haviv will help you whether you are working in your own neighborhood or overseas by combining portfolio reviews, assignments, editing sessions, and dialogue. This workshop embraces a multi-faceted approach to photojournalism, from developing a personal sensitivity and working in the field to visual style and getting work seen.

All students in this class will come to the workshop with a general theme or issue they would like to explore in Istanbul. (These ideas should be emailed to me before we arrive in Istanbul). Once we are there we will discuss ways to make the story personal–to get involved with the issue on an intimate level. The goal of this class is to come away with emotional and empathetic photos to bring viewers closer to issues and the people they affect.