Workshop Questions and Answers

Kenneth Jarecke / Contact Press Images © 2013

I’ve been answering a ton of questions about my upcoming MontanaFair workshop, which leads me to believe I didn’t do a very good job explaining it the first time.

So let me give this another try.

The workshop has three main parts. In the first part of the workshop we’ll look at workflow.

What do I want in my camera bag? What do I carry? How do I carry it? Which lens? What camera settings? What colorspace and what is a colorspace? What’s the difference between jpeg and RAW? Which one should I shoot in? How should my histogram look? What’s the best ways to get my files from my camera to my computer? Once I get them there, what do I do with them? Does this fanny pack make me look fat?

Except for the last one, I’ll answer all of these during the workshop.  For the last one, here you go.

If a woman asks, “No”, is always the right choice.

If a man asks, “Dude, really?” is the proper answer.

These are the easy questions, and I’ll give you the answers that work for me. You’ll use these answers to create a workflow which works best for you. Everyone is different, has different wants and desires. Your workflow should fit your needs.

This part of the workshop won’t be very long. I’ll explain my system and why I’ve made the workflow choices I have. It will only take about an hour of our time to go through this. This is helpful, because it gives us ideas on how to modify our current workflow and makes sure we’re all speaking the same language. Of course, finding the PERFECT workflow is one of those things that will only take us about the rest of our life to refine!

Kenneth Jarecke / Contact Press Images © 2013

Part two of the workshop will focus on finding answers that aren’t readily available in a book.

Things like;

Okay, my photo credential got me through the front gate, now what do I do?

This is the question we’ll be working on through the next 80% of the workshop. This answer doesn’t come easy, and it’s something that every photographer struggles with regardless of their level of talent or experience.

We’ll work through this question both in the classroom and at the fair.

In the classroom, we’ll look at each other’s work. We’ll edit and critic our work together. We’ll figure out what works and what doesn’t. We’ll determine what techniques and situations were a success and which failed.

In the field, you’ll walk around the fair with me. I’ll point out specific situations which I think might make a photograph. I’ll show you how I approach people (and animals I’m guessing) to produce images that are candid, surprising and pleasing to the eye.

The fair is a photo-rich environment. I’m going to use this environment to help you answer the questions that always pop up. Like where to stand and when to push the button. Simply enough until you ask yourself. Why do I want to stand here and when should I push the button?

These are questions that are worth exploring and that’s why we’ll spend most of our time trying to answer them. Find these answers and you’ll be well on your way to making great images in every situation you find yourself in.

Kenneth Jarecke / Contact Press Images © 2013

The third part of the workshop gives us real-world motivation to improve our work.

The MontanaFair runs from August 9 through August 17. We’ll work together on August 9, 10, and 11, in the classroom and at the fair. Now, workshop participants will have access to the fair through August 17th. You can make pictures there as often as you like or whenever is most convenient.

On August 24, we’ll meet again. This will be an all day event. We’re going to edit and go through the work we’ve created at the fair. This day is designed to enhance and bring home the knowledge you’ve gained throughout your time making pictures at the fair.

This will be an important learning day.

At this time, we’ll also get an idea of what we’re going to submit for our show at the Toucan Gallery, which was our added motivation for learning and improving our photographs during the workshop.

The final edit, the submission of our work and the exhibition of our images will be the final 20% of the workshop. So if workflow was only 1% of the workshop, that means you’ll be agetting 101% of a workshop out of the deal.

That’s hard to beat.

I hope this answers most of your questions.

The goal of my MontanaFair Workshop is to help photographers say, in the most visually articulate way “I saw this. I found it interesting and I hope you do too.”

Contact me here: website (at) kennethjarecke.com

You can also contact the Toucan Gallery to reserve your spot.