Roots Workshop blog

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