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Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Denver Assignment/Response Workshop
with Douglas Beasley 
June 24-25, 2017

New workshop!

You do not have to practice, or even understand, Zen to join us for a powerful week of exploring new ways of seeing and making photographs that come from a more personal and intimate place, using spirituality as creative force.

Revitalize your photography while exploring your relationship to your subject, your camera and yourself. We learn to deepen our visual awareness while clarifying our approach, making images that are both more personal and more meaningful. Your images will become more powerful by cultivating simplicity and developing the power of intuition fueled by the proper balance of contemplation and decisiveness (be mindful/act now).

This workshop provides a unique opportunity to rethink your expectations of what it means to ‘see’. We will work on cultivating simplicity and making more powerful photographs, supporting the notion that a photograph is not ‘taken’ but ‘made’. We will learn to become stronger visually by becoming more in touch with our inner selves and then use that awareness to deepen our connection with our subject; whether it’s a person, place, or thing. We will also pay attention to lighting, composition, depth-of-field and exposure issues. Much practical advice will be given in these areas but more importantly you will practice using this information to make more powerful and meaningful images.

Zen & the Art of Photography is a challenging invitation to redefine not only what is personally suitable subject matter but your whole approach to creative expression. Inspiration will be sparked by a balance of conversation, meditation, sharing photos, critiques, writing exercises, readings, poetry or whatever means necessary. Numerous photographic exercises and assignments will be site specific and are concerned with both internal and external experience and growth. Expect to learn from fellow students as well as from class activities. Be prepared to grow past your previously perceived boundaries. Expect fun, laughter and genuine deep inquiry into your own personal artistic process.

Mornings will be spent in class on photographic exercises and early afternoons with Doug doing assignments or critiques and late afternoons open for hiking, soaking, working on your photo assignments or to book a massage. 

Who Should Attend:
While participants must have a working knowledge of their camera, the creative process of image making will be emphasized over the mechanics of camera use. Both digital and film, in all formats, welcome. Open to all levels of experience but better suited to those looking to expand their creativity and vision.

View student photography from other Vision Quest workshops

View some of Doug’s photography

DATES: Saturday June 24 & Sunday June 25, 2016

COST: $375 Non-Member   $349 Members

RESERVATIONS: Contact Colorado Photographic Arts Center