Fortress Photography Workshop

Like people, buildings have character and history, and photographing them well can be as nuanced a process as getting a perfect portrait. This five-hour workshop will teach you how to shoot a building to tell its story using simple compositional techniques and approaches.

Empires of Emptiness is an exhibition of photographs, taken in the African Sahara Desert and the Central Asian Steppe, of fortresses built by French and Russian military forces to establish imperial power over foreign lands.

The photographs complement a university research project, Outposts of Conquest, exploring how the fortresses were used to impose control on Muslim and nomad populations, or to defend against them.

Outline

Our day starts at 11am with a tour of the exhibition by lecturer and photographer Dr Berny Sèbe who will share an academic and aesthetic appreciation of these structures and explain how he photographed them.

We then reflect on Dr Sèbe's talk, thinking of how we might use his approaches to inform our own photography. This will be a group discussion lead by Photo School tutor and artist Pete Ashton.

After a short break for lunch we reconvene at 1pm for a photographic exploration of the University of Birmingham campus, photographing key buildings as if they were fortresses, guarding their knowledge from the outside world. Can we make these ostensibly inviting structures feel daunting and invasive simply with photography?

The final hour is spent reviewing the photographs in a group critique. Everyone will have a chance to show their work and we'll discuss what worked and why, taking home valuable lessons which can be applied to all aspects of photography.

Requirements

Please bring:

• A fully charged digital camera. If you camera does not take standard SD cards, please bring the cable to get the photos off.
• A packed lunch. There are cafe facilities on campus but most eateries will be closed.
• Suitable clothing for a 90-minute walk outdoors.

Other information:

If you have a Photo School voucher which you'd like to use for this event, please email info@photo-school.co.uk and Pete will sort it out for you.

• Children under 16 are welcome if accompanied by a paying adult.
• In the event of really bad weather the workshop may be cancelled and tickets refunded. A decision will be made the night before. (Drizzle does not constitute really bad weather.)
• No refunds for cancellations within 48 hours of the event.
• If you have a Photo School voucher or credit, please contact info@photo-school.co.uk before booking.

This is a Photo School event run by Pete Ashton with support from the University of Birmingham Department of Modern Languages.

If you have any questions about this workshop, please feel free to call Pete Ashton on 07775 690 106.