Workshops
Guided by David Brommer, delve deep into your personal work while learning the anatomy of photographic style, forging a unique and definable style that you can call your own.
Dates:
Oct 7, 2024 - Oct 11, 2024
Levels:
Intermediate,
Advanced,
Workshop Fee: $1350
Workshop Duration: 1-week (Monday-Friday)
Workshop Location: On-campus
Class Size: 12
This workshop is about the stylistic signature that you sign when you make a photograph, complete a project, or present a body of work. “Definable” and “identifiable” are elements the icons of photography imbue in their work. Imagine if you were viewing ten photographs by ten different well-known photographers, but no image was credited. Just photos, and among the ten photographs is a superbly printed and composed B&W landscape of towering mountains. Which photographer comes to mind? Other images are a solarized nude wearing avant-garde fashion from the 1920s, a color image of a woman wearing a wig and costume against a red background, a frozen B&W street scene in Paris… All of these images reflect the core style that each prominent photographer is known for (Names of photographers revealed at end of course description). This workshop will help you find and develop your own sense of photographic style so that your images resonate with your untapped uniqueness.
The workshop will follow David Brommer’s lesson “Six Point Anatomy of Photographic Style”, comprising: Attitude and Emotions, Genre and Subject, Shooting Technique, Messaging, Treatment (workflow) and Presentation. Each component will be examined and studied in detail so that a fully holistic approach to developing style will be provided. Students will build on what they have, and create new work in the studio and on location further reinforcing their individual style.
Comfort Zone: This workshop will provide you with the opportunity to step outside your comfort zone both internally and externally. Over the course of the week, we will discover what lies beyond our boundaries and sensibly explore new creative horizons.
Camera Whispering: Part of the process of developing photo style resides in the equipment you use to create your work. Students will gain a better understanding of their own gear and be exposed to new tools to deepen their style.
Experience Level: Finding and Developing a Photographic Style begins the moment you pick up a camera and start taking pictures. All cameras are welcome (including iPhones) and students should arrive with a body of work to be critiqued.
Every workshop includes the “Suspect Photography Little Black Book” which serves as a class text and notebook.
The photographers described earlier: Ansel Adams, Man Ray, Cindy Sherman, Henri Cartier-Bresson.
All images copyright David Brommer.
Share This
Instructor: David Brommer
David George Brommer is a New York City based photographer specializing in portraiture and historical landscape. In the mid-90s Brommer was the architect behind Suspect Photography, an acclaimed, Seattle based studio-gallery featuring emerging maverick photographers.
Brommer’s body of work is unique in its fascination with history, science-fiction and mythology, populated with subjects often whimsical and challenging, from Drag Queens to WWII battlefields. As a parting gift to his beloved West Coast, the Seattle Suspects project aimed at documenting the underground goth/industrial dance scene of Seattle, a counter-world to the Grunge movement of the era. A series of portraits of unique characters, the ‘Suspects’ (as they became widely known) pushed the viewer to explore individuality and challenge cultural perception. The work would go on to become a seminal theme in Brommer’s work and establish his photographic style.
Brommer is well versed in techniques ranging from platinum to pixels, embracing a wide range of camera gear to create the final image. Shot on a 1950s rangefinder, a Deardorff 8x10 camera, Hasselblad medium format, or the latest Nikon digital suite, Brommer’s extensive oeuvre has been shown across the country, published on a variety of media, and lately, with over 14 millions views on Youtube, the viral video “Ten Hours Walking Like a Goth in NYC”.