WORKSHOP DETAILS
I’m inviting you to join Soichi Hayashi and myself Steve Simon for an unforgettable assignment to produce a beautiful and meaningful portfolio of images which will be transformed into a photobook from a week of living and breathing photography in Tokyo, Japan.
The workshop is as below, but for Nikon Photographers we will have a refresher Nikon Z8/Z9/Zf class on Sunday Morning and we will check out the Nikon Plaza during the week to see the latest products and gallery and maybe get a quick sensor cleaning.
You will also receive your choice of the 100th Anniversary Nikon Pin Collection below
or the 100th Anniversary Nikon F Camera
Hurry, Just 2 Spots left! There is a portfolio review necessary because it’s an advanced class. More information and to sign up CLICK HERE.
The Photo Book As Inspiration
We are excited to have commissioned Noriko Kodera, a renowned and talented Photo Editor in Tokyo who has worked for Akaaka Art Publishing, where she directed photo exhibitions and edited photo books. She also works with renowned Japanese photographer Mr. Taiji Matsue on his retrospective at the Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art. She will be helping us during our workshop.
In our fist collaboration it was thrilling to watch Nori and Soichi work to sequence student books in collaboration with the photographer.
In this masterclass limited to 5 students, we will focus our efforts on a specific set of images made by each participant that highlights their personal take on what they see in Tokyo. By the end of the week we will edit and sequence our work for an end goal: a beautiful 40-page flat-spread photography book designed by one of the leading photo book companies in Japan, which encapsulates our Tokyo experience in a minimum of 20 images (using double-page threads and cover photo) up to 39 images. We will meet online in a pre-workshop Zoom Lecture for introductions and preliminary lecture so we can maximize our shooting time when we arrive on location. There will also be a post workshop Zoom lecture to talk about the workshop and review the work.
The pre-workshop Zoom session insures each student is ready to maximize the shooting part of the workshop when we arrive on location. We will discuss potential themes for the book as well as the history of traditional and contemporary Photobooks to educate and inspire.
On the first days, participants travel together to 6 different and diverse areas of Tokyo where we work out our ideas for coverage: Shinjuku, Harajuku, Shinagawa, Shibuya, Ginza and Kichijoji. Then, once signed off on your project, you work independently in the area or areas that work best for your topic.
We meet everyday in class for critique and on the last day, we cull, edit and sequence our work before handing over to the designer for final layout. We hope to have the finished screenshots of the book layout available before we depart. The book then goes out to the printer and will be shipped to you at home soon after the workshop.
Nori works on sequencing Craig Vought’s book “JL 001”.
Regardless of your photographic experience, the more personal you make the shooting experience the more universal the results will be so passion for photography is the main pre-requisite. But we do ask for your answers to a short questionnaire and a small portfolio of your work for final acceptance into the workshop.
You will be concentrating on creating a cohesive set of images from your time in Japan, with local expert mentorship and inspiration as a guide. We will provide a list of suggested topics for you to percolate on prior to the workshop, but final sign-off on your project will be on Day 3 of the workshop.
We will visit and have a discussion at The Photobook Cafe, a restaurant that contains more than 5,000 Photobooks which we will have access to.
Street Philosophies
Steve and Soichi will be teaching you new and powerful street photography techniques guaranteed to push you from your comfort zone to new heights in your work and share their street-shooting philosophies gleaned from a lifetime of wandering urban places, camera in hand.
This intensive workshop will help you find your own unique vision and street style through assignments created to get you past photographic fears and cliches to capturing lyrical, poetic and decisive moments that communicate the energy of the streets. But mostly you will be shooting the theatre that is the street; sometimes together, often on your own.
You’ll learn about the “rhythm of place” and we will discuss the laws and ethics of street photography as well as dealing with difficult situations that might pop up. We will help define a strategy for capturing the rich daily life in Japan; overcoming fears and shyness, approaching strangers, framing, juxtaposition, layering your compositions, letting the image come to you and whether color or black and white best suits your vision. And you will have fun!
