I recently had the opportunity to participate in the Moab Photographic Symposium 2019, Terrific Trio Workshop. It was hosted by photographers Bruce Hucko, Michael Gordon, and Guy Tal. Over the years I have attended various workshops and have for the most part enjoyed my experiences and have come away with a greater appreciation of the art and enjoyed the interaction with the other artists. And this was no exception.
I initially hoped to attend the Moab Photographic Symposium, but it came to an end after 15 years. This workshop was the result of several of the presenters who regularly ran the old Symposium coming together to share ideas, instruct, and lead some wonderful field sessions.
It had been over 25 years since I had been in Moab and while much was the same there was so much that was not. What used to be a quiet little town was now a full blown tourist town with all the headaches to match. So be prepared for congestion and lots of people on the weekends.
I do not want this to be a long and drawn out review so let me just say that I was treated to some great presentations on the language of art, how to create stronger compositions, creating portfolios, preparing images for print and web, visual language, lots of field sessions, and creative processing.
This last section was on the use of Lightroom and Photoshop and it was quite detailed. As a film photographer my skills in Photoshop are adequate and one of the reasons I attended was to gain some training in the use of Photoshop beyond my rudimentary skills. Guy Tal did a fabulous job and his book “The Landscape Photographer’s Guide To Photoshop” is an excellent resource for what was presented.
I never expect to have many images from workshops as this is a time to process what is being presented and to practice the new information. But in such a great setting as Moab not only is one is ultimately inspired to create images.
I made some great new friends who opened my eyes to new technology and am grateful for the group I was part of for the car pooling. We called ourselves “The Band” and it was enjoyable to drive with them. And finally we were given the advice, which was really the theme of the field sessions, “slow down”. As a film photographer using a view camera, all I can do is go slow even with a digital in hand or on a tripod.
If you have an opportunity I highly recommend you attend this excellent workshop!