Today: more successes from David Trattles’ Social Documentary Workshop at HarryNowell.com supported by Canadian Geographic.

Ross relates his experience on David Trattles’ workshop:

“I got to know Dave Trattles a bit a few years ago.  I was fascinated by his life and enthusiasm, and impressed by the personal involvement and empathy he has for his subjects.  I think he is a brilliant social documentary photographer and one of the most genuine and committed people I have ever met.

I have no inclination at all for journalistic photography. However, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to spend some time with David, so I signed up for the workshop.

It was very relaxed and just plain fun. David is such a hugely genuine mensch, and funny as heck too.  The assignments were well designed I thought – not too specific so there was lots of opportunity to choose what we did, but with definite goals in mind.

I appreciated the small group, which allowed us to view each other’s work and learn from the comments that David gave. From my pre-workshop submissions he pointed out that my people photographs were contemplative and static. So in my three assignments I tried to relax and not attempt to frame everything perfectly – shoot from the hip he kept insisting, capture motion, get close in.

Despite Dave’s assurance that the workshop wasn’t about f-stops and
technical perfection, I think I used more different settings on my camera than I had ever done before in such a short time. It was all very unnatural for me, but I was amazed at the results. I really appreciated the challenge Dave gave me to see outside my photographic box. I feel a lot freer from my viewfinder, squaring images up and having everything in focus!”

Nice work, Ross!