Workshop 5. Environmental portrait: People in their spaces
Teacher: Vanessa Winship (London, United Kingdom)
An environmental portrait is executed in the subject’s usual setting, such as their home or workplace, to illuminate their life and surroundings. By portraying a person in their natural ambiance, it is thought that photographer is able to better reflect their character, catching the essence of their personality, rather than merely a likeness of their physical features. It is also thought that the subject will be more at ease, and therefore more conducive to expressing themselves, as opposed to a rather intimidating and artificial experience of being in a studio. The openness and hospitality of people of Ludza and the surrounding villages will provide an adorable material for this photography genre.
The workshop is about ideas rather than technique, - our focus will be on realising a concept and editing a body of work. We will use students’ portfolios and/or work that they admire as a starting point for discussion. The workshop will consist of lectures, discussions, and the assignment.
Requirements: Students have to be beyond beginners’ level. Please bring your portfolios.
Vanessa Winship was born in 1960 in the United Kingdom. After studying cinema and photography at Westminster University, Vanessa started teaching photography, and then worked for the National Science Museum of London. She then became a freelance photographer, working on long term projects such as Albanian Landscape, Children in Competition, Black Sea. In 1998 she was awarded the first prize in Arts category of the World Press Photo competition. In 2003 she received an honorable mention in the Oscar Barnack competition for her Albanian Landscape project and in 2008 - the first World Press Photo prize in Portraits category. In 2008, she was named Photographer of the Year at the SONY World Photography Awards for her series Sweet Nothings. During the last four years she has been based in Istanbul, working on a series of photographs about the lives of people in the countries bordering the Black Sea. Since 2005, Vanessa is represented by the VU’ Agency, Paris.