Photographers Alliance Workshops

by Mike Derzon

Armed with a borrowed camera and tripod, I stepped out of my rental car into the cool evening air of Death Valley, CA. I was embarking on my first photography workshop ever, and it had been twenty-five years since I’d taken my one short high school photography class. I was wondering if I could keep up. I was wondering who the leaders would be. I was wondering if I could figure out how to work all the buttons and wheels on the digital camera that hung around my neck.

During the first evening meeting at Furnace Creek Ranch, we met our leaders, Moe Witschard and David Middleton, who I would soon learn were tremendously capable and approachable experts in their field. Introductions and itineraries were followed by a short lesson on how to approach our first shoot. Talk of foregrounds, depth of field, and “leading lines” swirled about. Cookies were passed around. The playful banter that characterized our four-day workshop began. By the end of the meeting I felt excited to get underway, even though our meeting time was an early 5AM the next morning.

The first PAW Death Valley workshop was a great success! In addition to a full schedule of shooting sessions, presentations, and critiques, some of us still found time to jump in the pool during our mid-day breaks.

We visited 7 of the most iconic Death Valley locations: Cow Creek, Golden Canyon, Badwater, the Mesquite Dunes, Dante’s View, Ubehebe Crater, and the classic Zabriskie Point were all on our schedule. Everyone seemed to really love our final shoot at Zabriskie. Ansel Adams knew exactly what he was doing when he made one of his more well-known shots from this overlook.

I just wanted to take a moment to thank all who attended the Maine Coast workshop. Our home base for our workshop was the Harpswell Inn. This was a perfect location because it was right on the ocean. The first day our group was able to walk down to the water and start shooting. The small lobstering harbor protected by two beautiful small islands was perfect for this!

When the weather challenged us a bit, we were back at the Inn for some valuable classroom instruction. Friday we spent a wonderful morning in the small colonial village of Center Harpswell. The maple trees framing the old cemetery and stone wall were great. Later in the day we went a few miles down the road to another great harbor; Potts Harbor where I live.

This is the third article in the series "Bhutanese Adventure." Click here to read Volumes 1 and 2.

As I waved goodbye to the chile lady (Bhutanese Adventures Part 2), I turned my attention back to the farmhouse that I was originally drawn to. Was anyone home? The front door was open. I wandered closer, admiring the attention that had been given to the upkeep of the house and grounds. Forever drawn to color, I snapped a few shots of some bundles of chiles drying near some closed windows. I stepped back and made a few shots of the house front with the melons, the neatly stacked lumber and firewood, and a cat.

I waited and watched and noticed a body move by inside the house. The person had not seen me. I continued to watch and the hunched over body of an old, white haired woman moved by the door again. I waved over my guide, Phuentsho. I told him that I’d seen the woman and I asked him to see if he might be able to engage her and get her into the doorway where I could stealthily make a photograph of her in front of her home.

Phuentsho marched up to the door and politely called for the woman. She came to the door, but stayed a few steps inside where she was still in the shadows. Now I could see her face. This woman has seen a lot I thought. She’s seen some change. I’ll bet she could tell some incredible stories. Phuentsho asked in Bhutanese “How much are the melons?” The woman stepped closer to the doorway and replied, “They’re not for sale”. This led to more conversation and the woman slowly stepped further and further forward until she was in the perfect, soft, wrap around light of the doorway. I shot away while she and Phuentsho chatted.

Pretty soon she was stepping out of her house and sitting down on the steps. She was tiny. Her mouth was stained red from a life of chewing bettlenut ( a common Bhutanese practice ) and she was dressed in the traditional female Bhutanese outfit, the kira. A kira is a large piece of woven cloth that is wrapped around the body in a series of folds. It is held in place by a two-part brooch with a connecting chain, the koma. This woman’s koma really caught my eye. It was beautifully and intricately hand crafted.

I asked Phuentsho to see if it was OK for me to continue photographing. She said it was fine. I was standing pretty close now, maybe 6 feet away from her. Regardless of the permission she’d given, part of me still felt the intrusiveness of the camera in my hands. I photographed quickly, capturing an image and then dropping the camera to nod and gesture, even though I could not understand a word of the conversation. She asked some questions about me to Phuentsho. I replied through him. When we were finished and left her home, I could see that a neighbor was going to drive some cows in front of her home. To complete the story, I positioned myself and snapped a last shot of the woman and her house in the distance with the cows in the foreground- another satisfying day of discovery in the “real Bhutan”.

Click here for more information about the 2010 Bhutan Workshop.