Eyes in Progress proposes a frame of a one week training course during which 9 participants will be placed in a situation of total immersion, in order to produce a photographic series, from inception to end, under the direction of a distinguished photographer.
Participants will be placed in a situation of « artistic residence ». Working days shall be spitted in various sessions: shootings, editing, masterclasses, commented projections of films and mutual exchanges on a daily basis.
Moreover, other activities will be proposed, outside of the working sessions, in order to allow participants to appropriate their environment and to arouse their creativity and inspiration.
These sessions will take place in a typical and very charming country house, a so said ‘mas’, located in the hamlet of Cosprons (Occitanie region), close to the border of France and Spain. Located in the bottom of a valley covered with vineyards, not far from the Bay of Paulliles, you will enjoy a quiet and beautiful environment, living among warmful and authentic inhabitants.
Participants will share bedrooms (2 per room with independent bathroom in each) except if they prefer to be in a single room (request to be done in advance to Eyes in Progress, extra fee involved).
You will be asked to adapt to a total immersion life, to take risks and to go beyond your limits, in order to progress and to get access to a higher level in your practice of photography.
No later than one month before the workshop, participants will be provided with a file. Among other information, you will find in this file a list of subjects and of contacts on site, to allow you to think about your project.
Dinner at the Mas for the group.
Day 2 (Tuesday):
9:30am – 12:30pm
Each participant shows out one or two completed and published series. They will present themselves orally to the group (speech duration limited to 15 minutes).
1:30 – 3pm
Inception and starting of a photographer’s project
By illustrating her presentation with her own projects, Claudine Doury will explain how to make the best choice of the right angle of the subject – paying attention to one’s experience and to previous works. She will evoke environment related constraints and the way to take them into account to perform the work. She will provide the participants with key-factors and suggestions.
3 – 6pm
Every participant achieves an individual reconnaissance outdoor in order to identify some points and/or meet with potential subjects (appointments could have been arranged previously). As far as possible, they will start making some shots. The staff can help in arranging contacts or in making suggestions.
Back indoor, exchanges about the reconnaissance carried on and identified constraints. Final choice of projects with Claudine Doury.
Day 3 to Day 7 –Wednesday up to Sunday):
9:30 – 11pm
Every morning, Claudine Doury will make a presentation of one of her projects or of some significant aspect or her professional cursus. The goal of these sessions is to inspire the participants in the realization of their own series.
On Wednesday – Claudine Doury will expose the importance of written expression in order to synthetize and to communicate about one’s project.
Writing training exercises. Commentaries by Claudine Doury.
Thursday – Relationship with the subject, kinds of approach, human relations and authorizations.
Claudine Doury will make use of her own experience and of the encounters she made, in order to explain the different types if approaches, starting with a model you don’t know and up to a model that you know personally.
Friday – Methodology: shooting and followings.
Claudine Doury shall describe her way for working, she will present the main difficulties one can meet and she will answer any question on this subject.
Saturday – How to choose a kind of presentation that is as consistent as possible with one’s project: book, exhibition, performance.
Based on ongoing projects, near of completion, Claudine Doury shall explain what she foresees for the post-training of each participant.
Sunday – How to prepare a photography contest, how to constitute a file.
Claudine Doury will talk about the most notorious competitions in France and international that she recommends to her trainees. She will explain the importance of finding the right contest, in accordance with one’s experience in work. The group shall work on the conditions of these competitions and each individual will prepare his own file.
11 – 17am
Every trainee goes outdoors to shoot their subjects. Participants come back to the training facility as soon as they can, in order to get a critical review and improvement suggestions of Claudine Doury.
Editing of selected pictures session.
Through a selection and a discussion with Claudine Doury around the best pictures of the day, participants will work at developing their series and improving their global approach of the subject.
5 – 6pm
Exchanges in group on shooting and associated problems such as encountered. Synthesis and solutions, presented by Claudine Doury.
Day 8 (Monday)
9:30 am – 1pm
Edition of the final portfolio.
Each participant works on the making up and the sequence of the final selection. He writes a text related to the series such as presented. The series and the associated wording shall be forwarded to a mentor of their choice.
2 – 4pm
Final screening and/or exhibition that will be attended by all the people involved in the realization of the series, as well as inhabitants in the surroundings.
Working language: French and English (depending on the audience).
