Roots Workshop blog

Hello world!

This is eric – I’ll be guest blogging on here for the week from sunny Cape Cod where we’ve just started the 3rd incarnation of the Roots Workshop. We’re pretty stoked about it – some fabulous participants this year as well as a stalwart crew of instructors and mentors… and, most importantly the best chef this side of the Bass River… So anyways, I’ll be keeping you abreast of the fun goings on, assignments, frivolity, and debauchery that is tantamount to the Roots experience. Kick up your feet, grab a cold one, and enjoy the ride! If you’d like to communicate with us, you can always leave a comment here, reach out via twitter @rootsworkshop or you can throw up a twitter search column using #rootsworkshop to get up to the minute  kicks – we’ll all be tweeting about the hilarious and often inapropriate quotes that occur here in the midst of Camp Roots… on with the show!

this is us. if you think i’m going to go through and name everyone and give links to their sites… well… it’s 1:00am.

as everyone slowly rolled in from all over the country, many took a late afternoon respite from the heat off our personal dock in the Bass River

after a wonderful dinner, we had our official meet and greet… for all of us being in a similar profession we come from markedly different places. the varied wonders of the human spirit…

as the night began to fall, everyone broke into their teams to discuss the week and so the mentors could be caught up on where the students are in their craft and what they are hoping to accomplish from this intense week. Having a meeting in a place like this doesn’t mean cramping into a conference room…

we are artists and purveyors of the human condition… sometimes subtly and sometimes full of animation

after that it was chill/prep time for the students while the faculty got together to discuss things that a faculty gets together to discuss. Like Patty Cakes. [True story]

the end of the first day is filled with anticipation, anexiety, wonder, but most of all, a childlike excitement that will be tried, tested, and challenged throughout he grueling week. We prepare to grow. We prepare to bloom.

all the love, mirth, and wonder I can muster at this hour,

eric

Last week you were treated to Eric Laurits’ comedic commentary that accompanied his photos as official photographer of the Roots Workshop. You therefore also likely read that he presented those images on our final celebration night with an original tune, right? Well, folks, you’re in for a treat. Eric has recorded that song!! Check out the slideshow below, and turn up your speakers loudly as I present to you Eric’s view of Roots. This brings me right back, as I know it will everyone else who attended. And for those of you who are considering Roots ‘10, I hope this is a sweet peek of what you might expect!

I’ve been staring at a blinking cursor for an hour trying to come up with how I can accurately explain the effect Roots Workshop has had on me in the last week. And while the words have been slow to form, the tears have been quick to flow. It was that emotional and deep and life changing.

Hosting a workshop is no easy task. When the idea of Roots was hatched two years ago, I was almost certain it would be a one-time thing. But riding a post- week high that can only be compared to summer camp, I breezily agreed to a return when positive feedback made it nearly impossible not to.

Between then and now, however, the economy tanked and it was a year that many photographers chose to invest in gear and not workshops. With a little more than half of the students enrolled as I had hoped, the staff decided that we should continue anyway (but made the sad decision to merge three teams to two, thus cutting team leader and my first newspaper boss, Arnold Miller). Coming from DC, Atlanta and even Kansas City, this talented dream team sacrificed their precious time to give of themselves to this experience. Their love and dedication to share with others what was once given to them is beyond humbling, and I am so ridiculously honored to have such great friends. Greg, Tyler, Jenn, Mark, Rachel, Eric and my sweet J, I love each and every one of you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

The true success, of course, was in the progress made by 7 remarkable students who I now also consider beloved friends. The transition from Sunday night to Friday is insane, and I beam with pride when talking about the growth- both photographically and personally- that every one made. Signing up for a workshop where you are going to live, eat and sleep with photographers is daunting enough, let alone willingly subjecting yourself to brutal critique. But this cast of characters all arrived with the most positive of attitudes and soaked up every conversation, every exercise, every opportunity. They appreciated the intimate environment and were not shy in acknowledging even the smallest of lessons.

The camaraderie among the group was something from a movie script, yes, made only more sweet by the campy Cape Cod compound that wrapped its arms around us, inspired us with its history and beautiful light, and recharged our creative spirit. Sound hokey? To you, maybe it does. But to those who were there, the house was just as much a piece in the puzzle as were the staff, the assignments and, oh yes, that yummy lobster bake. One evening just before sunset while we were outside under the grove of old trees and filtered sunlight, Jenn exclaimed, “This house is magical.” I couldn’t agree more.

Drawing on a backlog of contacts from my days as a photography intern at the Cape Cod Times during college, many of the assignments were repeats from our inaugural year. Most fascinating was the variation of photos from these same subjects, and the very different journey had by two photographers at the same scene one year apart. The assignments, however, don’t make a lick of difference at the end of the day, you should understand, because when it comes down to it we could be photographing sailboats float by from our dock and learn just as much. The assignments are simply an exercise to put the art of seeing into practice and, thus, become better visual storytellers.

So now I’m a bit stunned that it’s come and gone. Again. It feels so strange to be writing a recap of the week when I’d really rather just go back to the house, the Roots house, to spend more time with my awesome friends. But unfortunately it’s business as usual, and back to the grind as is the case when summer camp ends. I feel extremely lucky to add to the Roots alumni list: Audra, Christina, Roxanne, Rob, Andree, Earl and Ned, my summer ‘09 BFF. Please check back to see slideshows of each of their assignments from the week in the upcoming days.

And in case you missed it:
Roots Workshop Day 6
Roots Workshop Day 5
Roots Workshop Day 4
Roots Workshop Day 3
Roots Workshop Day 2
Roots Workshop Day 1

(Thanks again to Eric for documenting our week so beautifully and thoughtfully).

After a super fun post-slideshow celebration on Thursday which included a late night dance party and our (now annual, as this was the second) Chubby Bunny Invitational, everyone miraculously rallied on Friday morning for a group portrait on the dock before the emotional good-byes of the day that followed (minus two who had already left).

As we perched on our dock at low tide, I looked around me and couldn’t help but be inspired by the beauty of the simple moment and the strength of the friendships formed around me. Folks who just days before were complete strangers, were sharing inside jokes and not caring one bit that none of us had brushed our teeth yet. This dock, this house, these faces, this week, this experience, will be burned in my memory until we can return to inspire a new group of students next July.

I’m logging off to enjoy a day of relaxation and reflection before returning to the workflow that awaits back in Maine. This won’t be the end of the Roots Workshop ‘09 blogging, of course, as I cannot wait to share with you the students’ work and impressions of the experience soon!!

Thursday, the last full day at Roots Workshop (sniff, sniff), was spent at the house as teams completed a final edit of each student’s work and then assembled the best of the take into a 30 (ish) image slideshow.

Per usual, the day began with another yummy meal by Chef J.

J made sure everyone started their day this week fueled with a full belly including scrambled eggs, blueberry pancakes, or today, a breakfast burrito- with onions (Crying for entertainment purposes only).

Next up, Mark entertained… er… led a mini boot camp in the yard.

Once we got to editing, the day- par for the course- included lots of laughter.

And singing breaks.

But there were plenty of pensive, solitary moments as folks assembled a week’s worth of growth into their selection slideshows, a task taken seriously by all.

For dinner, we donned some bugspray and hit the deck for an amazing Jake’s Bake lobster feast.

We moved under the porch as it started to rain. Love the coziness.

Roots ‘08 student Shyla arrived with a plateful of homemade Roots logo cookies. How sweet!

Jennifer’s Snapshot Studio provided some hilarious entertainment.

Of course we all had to climb in together (note Mark’s beard on Greg’s head please).

The slideshows begin. Each student introduced their assignment, sharing tidbits they learned throughout the process.

The formal portion of the evening (or shall I say, blog-appropriate) ended up with a beautiful slideshow of all the images Eric took, accompanied by an original tune on guitar. We heart you, Eric!

So proud and inspired by everyone this week! More on this in tomorrow’s post…

Today was another busy day in Cape Cod, with Roots Workshop students returning to photograph their assignments again, working to apply the suggestions from last night’s (late night) critiques. So grateful to Eric for another fantastic account of the students doing their thing around the Cape.

We all woke up smiling to see yesterday’s rain had moved out.

Mentor Mark squeezed in a quick paddle before heading out. Did you see his silly video from the previous blog post yet?

Christina captured the sheriff’s youth academy at a ropes course.

Ned had a much more successful day on the lobster boat. Sunshine = fair seas = happy tummy.

Rob hung with some cutie kiddos at a YMCA camp.

Andree immersed herself at a beautiful horse farm.

Audra put in some long hours at an ice cream shop.

Mentor Tyler advised for some sweet dusk shots.

Talk about working an angle!

The view from our dock, as round #2 critiques begin inside.

This week has f-l-o-w-n!! Can’t wait to see how everything comes together at tomorrow night’s slideshow celebration night!

Roots Workshop mentor Mark Adams shares a few images from the week so far, and a silly video from a morning paddle.

At the fair on Monday night.

While mentoring Christina at the fire academy training trenches on Tuesday. Peeking in…

And getting pulled out. Awesome effort getting in there, Christina, literally!

Cape Cod dreaming from emilie sommer on Vimeo.

Pirate Eric here.

Coming at you again from the high seas of the Atlantic. Loving the days up here thus far at Roots Workshop. Today I began heading out to document the students on assignment. They’ve been at some pretty awesome places…

… Kids baseball camp

Mentor Rachel arrives.

… Juvie boot camp at the fire house

With mentor Mark.

… summer stock theatre at The Monomoy and rehearsals for ‘Honk”

Mark visits here too.

Then there was Ned. Oh Neddy neddy neddy. I’ll leave the details out for all of you, but in the image below Ned is telling us all about his lovely lobstering trip on the rough seas that morning. He also told us about his best new friend, Mr. Bucket. A bucket is super useful It can catch all sorts of things that come out of us. Sometimes right after another. Like breakfast. Both digested and then undigested. Catch my drift?

Editing sessions are awesome. Just ask Tyler.

Yeah. After everyone got back from their assignments we set up the review stations and went through the day’s images and the team leaders talk about composition, lighting, content, expression.. all the good stuff. Sometimes they are brutal, sometimes they are complimentary but they are all brutally honest. Roots is all about getting better… not fluffing you. er… fluffing your ego. There were some pretty hysterical things said during the critique tonight. Click here to see a few on Twitter. This is what it looks like during the sessions ::

Ok. This little pirate needs to get his booty to bed. Sea bed. HIYOOOOO.

Uh.

ok. I’m making lame jokes. Time for bed.

Get low.

eric

Now that it’s May and the start of wedding season for photographers in New England, I thought it appropriate to post the completed picture stories of those who attended my Roots Workshop last summer as a reminder of the need to awake and refresh our creativity.

Roots is a week long photojournalism retreat in beautiful Cape Cod where the number of staff nearly exceeds the number of students. Under the same roof of a rambling farmhouse on the water, staff and students alike learn to be better visual storytellers through group exercises and editorial assignments.

I am so humbled by the photographers who attended last summer and had the courage to put themselves and their abilities on the line, to be open to criticism, and therefore open to growth. Each and every one had the opportunity to face their biggest hurdles, and all impressed the staff with their grace as they met and exceeded those obstacles.

I cannot wait to return again this summer, and would love to have you join us. The workshop is open to all photographers, not just wedding shooters, looking to have a better understanding of photojournalism.

July 19-24. Will you be there?

Please click on the thumbnails to enlarge and visit the workshop website to see each picture story in its entirety.

My winters are typically much more relaxed compared to the harried pace I keep in the summer’s height of wedding season in New England (except for this one, of course, with planning our own wedding!).

It’s during this time that most wedding photographers have the opportunity to reflect on the past season and look forward to the next, identifying what areas of their business need improvement. Many focus their efforts on marketing or purchasing updated equipment, overlooking the basis of successful photography: skill. It is for this reason that I started the Roots Workshop last summer, and look forward to another fulfilling week of creative growth this July on Cape Cod.

Many thanks to instructor Arnold Miller of Newsday and emilie inc. videographer Morgan for putting together this recap of our experience. It’s a much-needed reminder of why we do what we do, and how important it is to push away the clutter of running a business and perfecting the craft first.

Need a brush-up on your skills? We still have a few seats open for this summer’s workshop, and welcome all inquiries to info@rootsworkshop.com. Not a wedding photographer? No worries. We don’t spend any time talking about weddings, it’s all about shooting. We’d love to have you join us!