Take it away Chad ….

The information and skills that I learned in Summer Intensive only a year ago helped shape me into the photographer I am today.  Although it has only been a short time that I have been calling myself a photographer I have been able to establish my own business and put to use those very skills I had just learned.  When I started SI I really didn’t know what I wanted to shoot, but I did know I did not like portraits or shooting people in general, I can now say that I am a portrait and wedding photographer and I love it!  So expect to surprise yourself a little!

I am proud to say I attended RMSP and you will be proud as well.  Be prepared to be exhausted, overwhelmed, confused, happy and sad, its a roller coaster ride that will end all too quickly.  Many memories will be made and lifelong friends as well, I am overjoyed to be able to share this experience with all of you, you won’t regret a minute of it.  I look forward to working with you and sharing in this awesome experience. Until then, cheers!

In her own words …

The visual arts have always intrigued me. From a young age I knew I wanted to be an artist and involved in the creative process. My love of music led me to start photographing concerts and local happenings for an online publication. However, I wanted to learn more and immerse myself in all things photography. That desire led me to RMSP in 2011.

Cig Harvey talks about photography either being a mirror or a balance. You either take pictures of exactly what’s going on or you run a million miles away and take pictures of the opposite, because you need that balance. I find my process to be similar. My work is conceptual, using images to convey personal emotion, happenings, dreams and lyrics. I make images when words fail me.

Last year, I was honored to have my “Simply Summer” series a winner in the student work category of the 2012 PDN Photo Annual contest. This turned my focus to a personal project. I am currently working on a series of 3 books. The first titled “The Swell”, the second “control/chaos,” and the third title is in the works. Each book exploring different chapters of love, loss, growth, change and strength.

Looking back, it seems hard to believe that it’s already been one year since I decided to pursue photography by immersing myself in RMSP’s Career Training Program. What a year it’s been. A year filled with much learning, striving, and creating. This time last spring, I was anxiously awaiting the start of the program with a mixture of excitement and apprehension for the unknowns that lay ahead. In retrospect, my experience at RMSP has empowered me to launch my business and throw myself into photography more fully than ever before.

Living in the North Cascades of Washington, I enjoy photographing everything from grand landscapes to tiny details that reflect the transition from one season to the next. My passion for photography is very much tied to my love of travel and spending time outdoors. Exploring the world with a camera makes me slow down, become more aware, change perspective, and seek out new opportunities.

This year, I am thrilled to be returning to RMSP as an assistant, and am very much looking forward to meeting the class of 2013. An awesome adventure awaits!

Here is a sampling of my work from the past year.

I found myself at a point in life where I felt I was at a standstill.  A feeling I was able to ignore for many years until the fall of 2011 when I unexpectedly lost my father.  Losing my father brought to the forefront how short life can be.  Photography has always been a part of my life, but I always allowed it take a backseat to everything else.

I have always thought about applying to Rocky Mountain School of Photography (RMSP) when I ran into a friend and a graduate of RMSP at a gathering.  I asked her a simple question, “Would you do it again? ”  She quickly answered  “yes” and a sparkle danced across her eyes.  I was not sure what all that meant, but I was sure that whatever it was….I wanted it.

I was accepted to RMSP in 2012. My goal for the summer was really simple. I wanted to be able to gather enough courage to show my work.  If I could get past that fear, then my second goal was to improve my skills enough to submit to a gallery one day.  Although, given my reluctance to let anyone see my work, the latter would take a miracle.

I graduated from RMSP Summer Intensive, 3 weeks of  Professional Studies and Advanced Intensive in 2012.  Words will always fall short of what the program means to me.  I have come to describe RMSP as a combination of a creative incubator and artist boot camp.  I now understand the sparkle that dances in the eyes of past graduates.

Since graduation, I have had the courage to finally display my artwork out in the public and was fortunate enough to have my first “Beautiful Mess” photography collection displayed within 5 months of graduation.  I still can clearly remember showing my portfolio and being asked if I could be ready in a month. Every fiber of my being screamed “no” but then I heard “yes” come out of my mouth.  This showing and experience could never have happened nor would I have allowed myself to take on this project, if it had not been for the confidence and skills RMSP instilled in me.  While I continue in my journey of learning, refining and expressing my creative images, I look forward to my next show entitled, “Portals and Pathways.”

I believe we all need family, friends and a community to help us wake our internal mind, inspire our creativity and find our way home. I found these things here at RMSP and I am grateful for the opportunity to be part the RMSP staff.

Since we think they are all pretty darn cool, we want to introduce each of them to you. Between today and June 3, we will highlight each assistant so you can get a sense of who they are. To kick things off, we would like to introduce Michelle Gustafson. Michelle is a 2011 Career Training graduate who stuck around Missoula after graduation. This summer will be here second year as an assistant.

Here are a few words Michelle submitted which explain who she is and how she got into photography.  Take it away Michelle …

The photographer Garry Winogrand is famously quoted as saying that he photographed in order to see what something looked like photographed. I suppose this is the innate reason why I photograph, that it’s beyond just the visual, but to find something out that’s psychologically and anthropologically true to what’s in front of me. When something is frozen in time through an image, we have the ability to study it, make assumptions, look for clues in the way all the visual elements are placed together in order to find an answer as to what the photograph is saying to us. The longer time passes, the more meaning and attraction of the image comes to the surface and is somehow deemed more important. I find photography fascinating in its relationship to time, history, emotion, society, nostalgia and communication.

Photography had always been in the background of my life in some capacity, whether that was seeing whatever photography exhibits that came through Albuquerque where I grew up, or had a family friend whose daughter was a photographer for the AP, or had someone show me photo essays in Time or in Newsweek. I started to seek out photographers that had defined perspectives of how they viewed the world such as W. Eugene Smith, Mary Ellen Mark, William Albert Allard, James Nachtway, Annie Leibovitz, David Burnett and others that showed me how to really piece together a story and a moment. When I finally started to photograph, film was still being taught at the university I went to, and from that moment on I spent 7 or 8 hours at a time in the darkroom. I basically ignored my original major doing just enough to graduate, but my heart had spoken and it belonged to the visual arts. I started out in newspaper photography for the college paper and have been cutting my teeth ever since. When I came to Missoula in 2011 to go to RMSP, I was ready to walk into the abyss of what was in front of me. It turned out to be a very moving experience in my life and has influenced me exponentially. I find social documentary to be the closest category I could fit myself into, but really, I just want to photograph in order to see what something looks like photographed.

Currently, I am working on a year long project here in Missoula tentatively titled The First Year It Was Spring, about a family raising their first child and when the idea of “family” actually becomes a reality.

And of course, the final project presentations were given in their last Visual Studies class. Throughout the entire course, instructor Eileen Rafferty has been educating, guiding and shepherding the students in the process of growing as artists in photography. The requirements of the presentations were that the artwork be presented in a way that helps tell “the story” of the piece and that the student write an artist statement to be read by them in class to fellow group members, staff and instructors and be critiqued. You can imagine how much blood, sweat and tears they pour into their final and we are truly blown away by what they come up with. The presentations are sometimes massive, sometimes miniscule and every size in between. Multiple images or a singular one, it’s a truly one-of-a-kind piece with true meaning behind each. The absolute last bit of inspirational learning experience the students have is a final large group lecture this morning with accomplished Canon Explorers of Light travel/nature photographer, Darrel Gulin.

Today is graduation day involving a gallery set up in the classrooms of the students’ collective finals, and reception for all of the students and their families in the RMSP Gallery. Then the graduation ceremony later this afternoon on the University of Montana campus with all of the RMSP instructors, staff, students, friends and family present. There will be a slideshow of work from each student, speeches by instructors and representative students, tears, laughter and hugs. A “last hurrah” and send-off appropriate for such an intensive, fulfilling experience these incredible individuals significantly contribute to. Another graduating class is born and we look forward see where their journeys in photography take them. Congratulations to the graduates of RMSP Summer Intensive 2012!

A portrait session in progress at the National Bison Range.

Here we are in Week 10 of SI 2012, and the students’ experience couldn’t be any busier. The end of their week last Saturday involved a fun field trip to the beautiful National Bison Range near Arlee, Montana. Instructor Doug Johnson brought the troops with him to practice their newly developed skills in landscape photography. So be it if wildflowers, wild animals and perhaps models in flowing garments were part of the scenery as well. What could be a more perfect portraiture backdrop than the spectacular Montana landscape!

This week began with critiques of their work created from the field shoot with Doug. Also, an introduction to HD video accessories and equipment as well as low-light & night photography. Joe Massa with Manfrotto and Gabe Biderman with B&H Photo/Video were in town to provide loaner gear and introduce the folks to an often new-to-them experience of shooting high definition video with their DSLR cameras AND the experience of shooting at night. The culmination of this was another field shoot with the purpose of trying this all out at the annual Western Montana Fair here in Missoula. The fair is a virtual cornucopia of sights, sounds, smells and characters, and is full of endless photo opportunities. The students had a blast!

Also during the week, their Edit class involved advanced compositing, creative retouching and the mimicking of black & white darkroom technique and film characteristics in Photoshop. In Visual Studies, the students were presented with ideas about fostering creativity in their lives. Creative thought is a necessary skill for every photographer to develop and is a key concept we emphasize throughout the program.

Gabe Biderman of B&H Photo/Video coaching the students on night photography at the Western Montana Fair.

And with this being the second to last week in SI, the students are putting the finishing touches on their final projects to be presented in Visual Studies next week. The lighting studios and presentation labs were available to all of the students this week for them to work on these important projects. With their projects they are perhaps exploring parts of themselves that may have never seen the light of day before. Quite an inspirational experience for everyone involved. We are greatly looking forward to witnessing the vision and skill they have developed over eleven short weeks, and then graduation day next Friday.

One more week left to share. Stay tuned!

Two more informative practical full group lectures were part of the curriculum this week with Jeff McLain speaking about the lighting and shooting of Interiors in a professional manner, and Eileen Rafferty discussing the potential of Working Professionally as an Artist. Also, a so-called “Canon Roundtable” was held by a camera expert for those shooting with the Canon brand of camera strictly to show them the finer menus and functions of their tools. A similar version of this for Nikon shooters will be held next week.

Happy Birthday to RMSP Director of Education Marcy James!

All of this in the shadow of the students’ all-important final project presentations which are due to take place in approximately a week and half. These projects represent the accumulation of the artistic, technical and personal journey each student has taken to reach this point with their passion in photography. Not an easy task to say the least. In addition, student preparations are taking place with providing submissions for RMSP publications, a group showing of RMSP student work at a local Missoula gallery, and the preparing of select images they wish have shown to friends, family and peers at the graduation ceremony on August 17.

If you’ve been following our posts on the progress of our students in the course, you’ll want to check out the last two weeks. They promise to be some of the more fun, intense and emotional of the entire experience!

Instructor Eileen Rafferty

Right about now, all of our Summer Intensive students are thinking, “Week 8 … How can it be week 8 already?!?!”

True to form, this is the about the time of the program when it dawns on everyone that there isn’t that much time left to their SI experience, but there is TONS of work to be done. And depending on how each student is accepting the workload, the fact that this was a four-day week is either a blessing or a curse.  We’re guessing it’s a blessing so they will have a minute or two to catch their breathe and recharge their batteries … literally and figuratively.

Last Friday saw the fourth and final optional publications critique, in which students interested in pursuing magazine or book work were able to have their images critiqued in that light. Later that evening, photojournalist and former shooter for the New York Daily News, Mike Albans presented a large group lecture on the topic of working as a photojournalist. His experiences, stories and images left more than a few jaws on the floor!

This week in classes, students had their second landscape photography session of the summer with instructor Doug Johnson. In Visual Studies, Elizabeth Stone gave presentations on different methods to present photographs, and in Edit Jeff McLain continued teaching each group how to use Photoshop to work with their images. In Light, instructor and associate professor of photojournalism at The University of Montana, Jeremy Lurgio introduced students to the ins-and-outs of working with on and off-camera flash. By the way, Jeremy’ s much anticipated multimedia exhibit, Lost & Found Montana opens next Friday in the RMSP Gallery. This exhibit documents the human side of 18 Montana towns: Nine that are scheduled to be wiped from the map, and nine that were spared. It promises to be a fantastic experience.

Throughout the week students also had time in the studio to practice their technique with studio lighting and familiarize themselves with all the equipment that goes along with it. As we predicted (because it happens every year!) there are a few students that entered the program with no interest in studio who are now having light bulbs go off (again … literally and figuratively).

That’s week 8 in a nutshell. Next week, the fun continues! Tune in next Friday to see the latest happenings in SI 2012.

Students practice their flash technique.

Students share their mid-term slideshows to their peers in last Friday’s mixer.

SI keeps rolling along and it’s already nearly the end of Week 7! At this stage, our students are progressing nicely with both their technical skill, comprehensive understanding and artistic pursuits. Last Friday the students presented their major slideshow projects in front of their peers and staff, which is truly an inspirational and emotional experience for all.

This was a week full of intensive study and practical application. It started with another round of Light Studies instruction involving studio equipment, print outsourcing preparation and advice in Output.  The students also received introductory instruction on the topic of photojournalism in Photo Studies, more advanced Photoshop instruction in Edit, and they delved deeper into the artistic process in Visual Studies.

Lighting instructor, Heather Anne Thomas, demonstrates food photography and lighting technique to the students.

To top things off there were optional publication-oriented critiques and special group lectures involving some amazing professional photographers. Speaking on the topic of pro sports photography and sharing his incredible body of work was accomplished Sports Illustrated staff photographer and Canon Explorer of Light, Peter Read Miller. Giving a comprehensive lecture entitled, “Food & Still Life Photography; Producing a Cookbook” was lighting instructor and portrait & food photographer, Heather Anne Thomas. Check out Heather’s bio here. And finally tonight is another informative presentation being given by experienced award-winning NYC photojournalist, Michael Albans.

Week 8 promises to be more of the same and concluding with the beginning of a long weekend off for all involved.

For an excellent peek into the experience of one of our current students along with his impressive slideshow, check out Charlie Bulla’s recent personal blog post he titled “Focused!”