Cellphone Photography – A Meditative Journey from Selfie to Self-discovery
Modern cellphones can almost take pictures without you. They easily produce very high-quality images with a simple button push. With technology this good, where do you, the photographer, come in?
In this workshop you will learn many techniques of cellphone photography that will give you much better control and empower you to create technically strong photographs. But you will also learn through a series of practical exercises to change the way you see the world. You will make images, take time to look at them and discuss them. You will learn how to translate what is alive for you into expressive photographic images. This workshop encourages a relaxed inquiry into the nature of our minds, feelings and all of our senses using the tool of photography. It is a supportive space for personal and collaborative experimentation and exploration. We will gently extend our individual awareness as well as our photographic image making potential.
As with the creation of a poem or a painting, we must bring all of ourselves to the creative process of seeing and making a photograph that “lives.” • When I slow down, let go of thoughts and see what is really here without preconception, how might that affect the insights, richness and vitality of my photographs? • What inner rewards might I discover through the process? • How does exploring my feelings and thoughts affect how I see and what I photograph? • Can my work become my teacher? • Why and for whom do I photograph? • Am I willing to creatively explore without limit?
REQUIREMENTS: The only requirements are a modern cellphone (iPhone 7 onward preferred, Android accepted) and an open mind. (Optional: laptop with Photoshop Elements)
Workshop is limited to 8 participants.
Questions about the workshop are welcomed. Simply email the instructor, Jim Lemkin at: [email protected]
About the Instructor: Jim Lemkin
Jim Lemkin studied photography with Minor White, William Giles, Nathan Lyons and Harold Edgerton. He has taught photography and filmmaking at Harvard and other colleges, schools and workshops. He has worked mainly as a holistic doctor specializing in preventive medicine and as a documentary filmmaker and photographer. His work has aired nationally on PBS and elsewhere. He has given workshops to teachers that explore holistic thinking as a way to problem solve anything using filmmaking. A recent project, Does My Voice Count, is a traveling photographic exhibit with public conversations on the legacy and present realities of voter suppression with a case study of Mississippi Black voters. Jim has studied and practiced in the traditions of Taoism, Gurdjieff, Native American, Advaita Vedanta and Dzog Chen Buddhism for more than 50 years.