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Sea of images

Wow Hopetoun, you have been busy! At the Hopetoun editing and ordering workshop, we swam through a sea of images. The stories ranged from sheep feeding to the local bakery, native seed collection, an artist documenting her work, a family day sandboarding, a motorbike accident and so many more. Aside from a very busy evening workshop I also visited each participant at their home and on location to film them talking about their photo story. Since I also created a photo story I thought I’d better jump in front of the camera too. This was an impromptu video with my subject, Bruce.

 

2 in 2 Event – Broome

There is nothing like a bit of pressure to get the creative juices flowing. The brief: Shoot a photo story in 48 hours or a 2-minute film in 2 days. Photo Stories teamed up with Mud and Salt Water Short Film Fest for this event. Participants were briefed Friday evening and they hit the ground running Saturday morning. Emily Cole went behind the scenes of two camel companies photographing the camels preparing for their iconic cable beach ride. Joanna Cyrupa spent the day at the beach with her dog and boyfriend showing us sun, surf and doggie vibes. Georgie Barnes also spent a day at the beach with her dog but photographed and edited her entire photo story on her iPhone. Yolande Russell photographed an atmospheric story of a potter at work and Kandy Curran thought outside the box taking creative photos of feet to represent the six aboriginal seasons.

All photo stories were submitted by 4pm sunday and were screened at Matso’s Brewery at 6pm. The event was a HUGE success. When you attend a workshop there is no better way to get momentum then to apply what you have learned immediately. Well done team!

https://vimeo.com/272146962

Broome Workshop

A bird’s eye view of the Kimberley’s pindan dirt was all I needed to get inspired. I landed in Broome with my suitcase packed full of workshop goodie bags, camera gear coming out of my ears and my runnings shoes on, literally. Back-to-back meetings to catch up with all the wonderful people I had been talking to over the phone, including local personality Bart Pigram. He agreed to let me photograph a personal side to him that people don’t usually see. I was going to meet at his home at 7.15am the following morning to photograph the morning walk to school. Simple and ‘every day’ but that’s what is all about, showing the everyday in a beautiful way. I then met him on sunset to photograph his tour to the dinosaur footprints. He also took me to his private hunting ground to go mud crabbing. When people let you into their world it is such a privilege.

The Broome workshop was a great evening. We removed all the tables from the conference room at the Community Resource center and crammed it full of chairs. Everyone left feeling inspired and ready to try something new.

Hopetoun Workshop

In May I travelled to Hopetoun passing 1 Echidna, 20 Emus and a Kangaroo to kick off Photo Stories Workshop. When I arrived in town I quite literally hit the ground running to find, photograph and edit a photo story on a local personality. I am a strong believer that the best way to show someone how to do something is to do it first yourself. I also enjoy showing them a familiar face at the end of my presentation to inspire them to go and create their own. The workshop was a success with 24 people attending from Hopetoun, Ravensthorpe and even Esperance. We are all actively communicating online and the photo stories are starting to flow.

Here is my photo story of a well-loved member of the Hopetoun community – Bruce Alford.

Bo and George

With each community workshop I hold, I photograph my own photo story so that I am taking on the challenge just like my participants. The West Arthur community chose the theme ‘Keep It Local’ for their Photo Stories Exhibition in 2017. For my photo story, I tried to capture the action that was taking place on my back patio at the time…the unique friendship and playful antics between our border collie Bo and pet magpie George. This was easier said than done! Just attempting to crack open a door or window would halt their activities. One day I succeeded and captured this series of images that reveal their unique friendship.

As part of my community workshops, I ask participants if I can film them introducing their photo story. I believe the best way to show someone how to do something is to first do it yourself. So here is me talking about my photo story, Bo and George. I do feel like a dag but I hope it makes you smile.

Paving The Way With West Arthur

Every year the Darkan Community Resource Centre in the Shire of West Arthur coordinates a creative workshop for its locals called West Arthur Expression. It is a wonderful initiative and workshops have ranged from painting, sculpture, short films, and photography. In 2017 I was approached so I decided to make it a photography workshop with a specific goal and an end result. Learn how to create a visual story for a community exhibition using the cameras and devices available to you.

An enthusiastic group of locals from all walks of life came to an evening workshop armed with a range of different DSLR cameras, compact cameras and smartphones then they immersed themselves in the photography project. By sharing photos into a closed FB group we could give each other constructive feedback while learning on the job! Everone surprised themselves and each other. There were so many wonderful moments captured.

The community exhibition was a huge success. Many participants had never had their photos professionally printed and mounted before so this in itself was a huge reward. A large number of the community came to enjoy the photos and social occasion. Throughout the night a multi-media slideshow ran on repeat showcasing everyone’s work and also video introduction’s of the participants which delighted the locals.

The sheer diversity of the photographers is what Photo Stories Community Project is all about. A four-year-old girl, a shire officer, a mother of four, a 13-year-old schoolboy, a store owner, a professional photographer, a farmers wife, and many more. The Photo Stories seed was planted.

Here a is a short video showcasing some of the West Arthur community.

 

Photo Stories Project from Astrid Volzke on Vimeo.

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