Roots Workshop blog

I’m in a bit of disbelief to say that for our fifth year (where does the time go?!), we’ll be hosting the Roots Workshop on Cape Cod again for a week in July.

Started as a simple idea to gather together a group of like-minded professional photographers passionate about the craft of photojournalism, the workshop has grown to embody an experience, a mid-season refresher and often a perspective shift so desperately needed in our industry where we don’t speak a lick about weddings or trends or business, but only about the core of who we are as visual artists striving to tell other people’s stories through our images. It doesn’t matter if you have the fanciest new camera on the market if you don’t have the chops to back it up, folks. We all have room for improvement. Roots is a safe environment to do just that. And man, the growth that takes place is WOW inspiring and makes all the nutty logistics and legwork worth every ounce of effort.

I invite you to take a peek at a slideshow below put together by the brilliant Eric Laurits from this past July to give you a glimpse at a bit of what goes on. And then I urge you to run a quick report on Quickbooks to see where you spent your money last year. If you didn’t spend at least one wedding’s income on education, ask yourself why not. You and your clients deserve it. I challenge you to resolve to do so in 2012. We all guarantee it will forever change the way you think and see, see and think. Join us, won’t you?

Registration is now open for the Roots Workshop 2012 class, July 22-26. Special guest speakers, a scholarship contest and a 5th anniversary assignments twist to be announced. I can’t wait! Call or email us asap to reserve your seat!

Lucy Parker was the lucky duck to score a f-r-e-e seat to Roots via a Facebook contest so generously gifted by our sponsor Pinhole Pro. They caught up with Lucy after the workshop to ask her about her experience and we thought you might like to take a peek at her interview! A million thanks to Pinhole for their support. We were so happy to have had with you there with us, Lucy! Click here to read her interview and here to check out the wonderful paper goods from Pinhole.

We are back to reality (or at least trying to… I unpacked my suitcase only yesterday!), and I’m elated to share with you the final slideshows of the week. The spirit of the students and the body of work each produced surpassed anything I could have imagined for this summer’s Roots Workshop. Everyone worked so hard, spending long hours each day at their assignment and keeping an open mind each night during their group critiques. Huge thanks to Triple Scoop Music for providing the music for each of these slideshows.

Enjoy!

Kelly Benvenuto photographed Days Cottages in North Truro, a 23 identical cottage community that brings back repeat vacationers the same week year after year. This particular week some of the longest-running renters were there, having visited at the same cottage for the same week since the 30’s! Kelly was accepted lovingly as another member of the beach family.
Days Cottages

Whitney Fox was assigned to photograph mega-Cape artist couple Robert Henry and Selina Trieff in their home in Wellfleet. The tenderness between these two as well as their quick wit and zest for life in an honor to witness in Whit’s intimate photographs at their daily life.
Robert Henry and Selina Trieff

Maria Fernandez traveled to us all the way from South America. She enthusiastically accepted her assignment to photograph at Cape Cod Skydive, tho she was admittedly terrified! Tethered to an instructor while up in the jump plane, Maria faced her fears and captured some emotionally gripping imagery.
Cape Cod Skydive

Samantha Bohall photographed Shawn Vecchione, a native Cape Codder who has made a name for himself shaping custom surf boards in his Orleans shop. When he’s not shaping, he’s in the water or spending time with his sweet daughter.
Shawn Vecchione

Lucy Parker was the winner of the Facebook contest sponsored by Pinhole Pro for a free seat to the workshop! She was a welcome addition to the week and fit right in! She photographed at the Hyannis Youth and Community Center, an enormous new attraction for young and old alike, offering a range of activities to appeal to the hundreds who visit each day during the summer.
Hyannis Youth and Community Center

Tracey Buyce brought her hunger to learn to the Hole in One donut shop but learned so much more than the practice of the only remaining hand-cut donut operation on the Cape. She carefully captured the relationships among the regular patrons, both young and old.
Hole in One

Christina Wnek returned for a second time to Roots, looking to further her learning and fine-tune her technical skills. Matched with E&T Aquaponics Farm, she photographed the simple process of growing plants and fish with a quiet respect, teaching us all how fragile and powerful farming truly is.
E&T Aquaponics Farm

Ruben Parra also traveled to the Cape from South America, enchanting everyone with his accent and determination to master better English and the chaos at 4H Camp Farley. Exploring around camp, Ruben was a mini celebrity with children calling to him by name and wanting to play with him at every turn.
4H Camp Farley

Jeff Mosier came to us from New York City and was smitten with the Cape Cod Railroad’s slower pace and kind clientele. He worked so hard to “get the shot,” running on the tracks from an oncoming train and even submerging himself into chest-high water as it passed.
Cape Cod Railroad

Denise Farwell closes this year’s show, quite literally, with a brilliant peek at a long-standing children’s theater, the Harwich Junior Theatre. A busy scene, Denise worked hard to slow it down and capture the essence of this historic place and its talented little people.
Harwich Junior Theatre

Congratulations everyone! I am oh-so proud of you all!

From Toast to Trophies! The final official day of Roots 2011 certainly did not disappoint. The Thursday of Roots is always such a bittersweet day with the amazing culmination of the week’s learning and shooting coming to a head at the evening’s slideshows. Our sponsors this year were incredibly gracious and we adore them and thank them for their impeccable support. Check them out over to the right! Mad props.

toast. made by….

Audra! Our stalwart chef extraordinaire for the week finally got to kick up her feet and relax for a little bit while preparations were being made for the evening’s feast.

Rachel, Tracey, and Kelly put some finishing touches on their presentations for the evening. See that fan rocking in the background? Yeah. It was that kind of a week. AC is for wimps.

Across the way in the bunkhouse Whitney is leafing through some last minute details of her presentation piece… I mean, seriously, how could you not smile with an assignment like hers :]

Guests, past participants, assignment subjects, and family joined in together for our presentations out on the porch in the amazing summer evening

and what would Thursday night be without the annual Chubby Bunny championship. Names get engraved on the trophy… added to the list of champions, Jeff. Way to go, man. You can stuff more marshmallows in your mouth then all the rest of us. A skill that will no doubt prove useful in your photographic explorations.

Stay tuned for a full reflective recap, links to student slideshows, and the workshop slideshow!

More incredibly awesome assignments to share with you today. I went around to visit 6 students today… all documenting some amazing Cape Cod stories. You really should come visit. We have so much fun… and holy crap you should see everyone growing. More on that tomorrow but yikes. Watch out industry, you’re about to have your assumptions challenged…

First stop of the day was out to see Reuben and watch him telling the story of an adorable 4-H camp. I have a hysterical story about his relationship with the pigs… but that’s for another post.

Straight from the animals to the farm… this is no ordinary farm, however, it’s a hydro… uh.. aqua..ponics? Yeah, that sounds right. Aquaponics. Fish generating the nutrients and that water used for growing the food and plants without soil… just water! At least that’s what I could gather from my brief time there. It was really cool. Christina has been there for two days telling the story and I showed up right as Mark poked his head in to offer some feedback.

From Christina I went to visit our very own southern belle, Lucy who was tasked with finding a story at the local community center. It is a massive place with the potential for thousands of little stories… she was working out on the ice rink when I stopped by…

From water to water… though a little less solid. Jeff is working on his story about an extremely old, yet still operating railroad. There’s a nice shot with a beautiful reflection to be made, but, well, it takes some hanging out in a leechfield for an hour or so. We do what we have to do for the shot. Truth.

Maria was tasked with a pretty sweet assignment… skydiving. Basically shooting people either freaking out or in permagrin. Good times. She even was up in the teeny teeny plane shooting some really unique angles. I wasn’t around for that part but from what I hear it’s a very er… open experience

So after seeing all those awesome faces, I went to visit Kelly again and the cottages – the quintessential Cape Cod – and Tyler was there hanging out lending some feedback and guidance. The light was lovely, and incredible breeze off the water – a wonderful end to an intensely hectic day. All in good fun.

Everyone’s in the critiques now, so that’s where I’m going to to hang out for a bit. Before I fade into the ether… until tomorrow, don’t make crappy pictures!

Day two is our first day of assignments. This year there are some many fun adventures everyone is out on! The day started bright and early, with everyone out meeting and exploring their new subjects. After a while of solo expeditions, the mentors started poking their heads in to check in, chat, and offer advice and guidance. I first popped in on Rachel mentoring Kelly. Kelly was charged with the task of telling a story at Day’s Cottages. They are a collection of small sea shanties that have been hosting some of the same extended families for over 70 years! Crazysauce…

Next stop was Whit. Mark also showed up to lend a hand. Whitney is staying with a husband/wife who are extremely accomplished [and elderly] Cape Cod artists. They were quite possibly the most endearing pair I’ve met… how charming!

Denise was shooting the dress rehearsal for a local children’s theatre production of The Jungle Book

Then to Sam and her hardbody of a subject at a world famous surfboard shaper studio.

Then I finished off the day with Tracey at the Hole in One donut shop. Yuuuuuuumm. They sent us home with some snacks :]

Upon our glorious return to the Roots Home, we ate and jumped right into the critiques. Sure, they contain intense moments, but often they are full of mirth as well.

ciao!

Day One. All sorts of chocolaty goodness. As is tradition the first day begins with all sorts of lectures and presentations – history of photojournalism, working a scene, ingredients of a picture story, taking care of business, ethics… all the good stuff. There’s no shortage of information dispensed.  It’s all about planting little seedlings of ideas so that we can grow our Roots this week.

After the morning’s lectures [and a delicious lunch... thanks Audra] we all headed out to the Barnstable County Fair for shooting exercises. We tackled the things discussed during the lectures, worked on building our own stories… so much fun, incredible character studies. No shortage of awesome. It’s true.

After the fair we wined and dined and settled into critiques. As I’m writing this, the instructors are all huddled around together dishing out this year’s assignments. This year we have some really amazing assignments… can’t wait to share them with you :]

Hello my beautiful friends!

We’re back. The time of year has once again come for our annual retreat and learning extravaganza up [or down, depending on where you are] on the Cape. Stellar group of folks this time around. Stalwart instructors, fresh faces, returning friends… and I’ll be here for the entire week giving you a little glimpse at what life on the Root is like up here.

Right after everyone rolled in we hung out fr a bit, got our bearings, and jumped right in to some chatting and a wonderful BBQ provided by Chef Audra. Good times by all. We have folks from all over the country and globe here with us and I’m super stoked for the week ahead… so stay tuned and don’t touch that dial… we’re about ready for lift off…

see you tomorrow!

eric

Dusting off the cobwebs from this blog to share a hearty “hiya” and “can’t wait to see you all” on the Cape in just a few weeks!! I hope everyone has had a tremendous winter and boy-oh-boy, I cannot wait to dip our toes in the water and catch up soon at Roots!

2011 students, you should have received an email from me last week with all the nitty gritty details. We were waiting on one of our sponsors, Pinhole Pro, who so generously purchased a seat to the workshop and gave it away in an online contest, to announce their winner before I shared the team assignments. That has all been settled, and so, without further ado, I present to you your teams! Hooray!

FYI, you’ll notice we have one less team than originally planned. With a few seats left and registration still lingering last month, I decided to keep your group small and not accept any last minute participants so I could concentrate on securing our assignments and lining up the other pieces of our plans. We think you’ll be extra happy with an even tighter learning/living circle.

TEAM 1:
leaders: Jennifer Domenick (‘08, ‘09, ‘10) and Mark Dolan (‘10)

I go way back with these two. Jenn and I met while working at the Washington Post in 2001 and Mark Dolan is a bbq-loving bearded teddy bear who also happens to be my very favorite photojournalism professor from when I was a student at Syracuse University. He now teaches photography at the Southern Illinois Carbondale campus and we’re so lucky he’s returning for another summer with us. Jenn is co-owner of Love Life Images in Columbia, Maryland, and mother to three of the most wonderful little boys you’ll ever meet. She’s a Roots staple having been with us since the very first workshop!

students:

Christina Wnek (‘09)

Lucy Parker

Ruben Parra

Samantha Bohall

Whitney Fox (‘10)

———

TEAM 2:
leaders: Tyler Wirken (‘08, ‘09, ‘10) and Rachel LaCour Niesen (‘09, ‘10)

Smart and savvy Rachel, co-owner of LaCour and online studio management software company ShootQ (now with Pictage), is paired with Roots mega personality Tyler who I first met while teaching at the Foundation Workshop in Texas in 2007. Both have extensive backgrounds in photojournalism, hosting workshops and generally just being awesome and enthusiastic. Tyler co-owns Wirken Photography in Kansas City and Rachel lives in Atlanta.

students:

Denise Farwell

Jeff Mosier

Kelly Benvenuto

Maria Fernandez

Tracey Buyce

Nervous yet? Don’t be! Well, er, maybe just a little!

Calling all professional photographers! It’s that time of year again! Starting at 9a tomorrow, Tuesday, September 7th, registration for our next Roots Workshop, July 17-21, 2011, will be open! Last year we sold out in three days, so please don’t delay in calling the studio to reserve your spot! Tuition, lodging and all meals is $3400 for this unique learning experience on Cape Cod.

For more information about this opportunity and to take an inside peek at the experience from the student perspective, please visit our workshop website. We’ll be waiting for your calls tomorrow at 207.272.2285.

See you on the Cape!