I’ve been away on the Marshal Gray Photography Dare workshop the past few days. I had several blog posts I was intending to write before this – I have a list on my wall, but I needed to get this out. In fact, despite the fact I’ve seen very little sleep over the last few days, I scrawled this in a moleskin notebook in the middle of the night whilst sleeping in my cousin’s spare room in Milton Keynes. (My cousin Caroline and her Husband Al have been great – she even packed me a lunch for the train journey down. You could tell it was packed in an old children’s party bag because of a random jelly bean of unknown origin)
Marshal Gray is an anagram of Gary Lashmar- I’d urge you to look at his photography. It’s not for everyone but you can’t deny the energy, intimacy, graphic simplicity and disregard for convention that it displays. The first time I came across Gary was via an article he’d written for the Define journal, where he discussed how he used street photography to practice pushing his own boundaries and inform his work. I kept coming back to the article, and before long I was signed up for the Dare workshop.
The first thing I should say, is that this isn’t like other workshops. At no point were we told what, or how to shoot, it just isn’t that kind of workshop. As Gary kept saying, you can google all that stuff. In fact one of the key messages of the workshop was that the only source of original creativity you own lies within yourself.
Among the things we did on the first day, there was a model shoot, and we went out for some street photography. I’m going to talk more about street photography, as it is really scary. Especially when you get in close and personal. It brings about a level of discomfort, and as several of us discovered whilst shooting solo on the streets – it upsets quite a few people. But once you’ve pushed through that discomfort there really isn’t anything to be gained from turning back. And this isn’t just about photography, it’s about all those beliefs and rules that you hold onto without really questioning them. Several of us made it to Dinner quite late that evening, lost in our own searches…
The highlight for Day 2 was a pressure-cooker style shoot. Five minutes with a real couple in front of 12 other photographers. On most workshops the instructor pretty much sets up the shot for you, and I come away with between 0 and 1 photos, as I find it more important to watch the instructor rather than click away – but this was completely different, and working against a ticking clock in a studio filled with props left us winging it and pushing ourselves. I’ve since seen a lot of really creative work being posted from the other photographers present.
On a side note – you know when you’re in a hurry and time seems to speed up, yet when your relaxed it seems to slow down. When watching other people - externally – panic or relax in a situation it seems to do the same thing… weird,
It was an interesting experience, especially watching how the other photographers worked with a couple. I will be stealing stuff off several people. (Emma, you’re likely to get tickled by Stoo at some point in the near future – consider this an official warning). Louise and Andrea were a great couple to work with.
So I’ve met a lot of great people over the past few days, and been really inspired. Gary, like most photographers, can’t complete a sentence without digressing somewhere else. The workshop was a totally immersive experience.
On a technical note all the pictures were taken on a 35mm lens. In the spirit of the workshop - and this was something Gary talked about – it felt good to challenge myself with a further limitation.
The post Dare Workshop appeared first on Nottingham & Derby Wedding Photographer Simon Dewey.Nottingham & Derby Wedding Photographer Simon Dewey - Fine Art Reportage Wedding Photography