Photo Camp 2012

This is an Event blog that I wrote after being invited to attended and cover this years Photo Camp. 

* Photos by Simon Cliff

This year Photo Camp returned to Leeds and was held at St Patrick’s Studio East Street Arts. It ran over the weekend of the 29^th and 30^th September, and this year Simon Cliff and Alison Covey took over the organizing reigns from Jon Eland.

The event ran over two days. The first day being more practical with numerous workshops and events held throughout the day.  The second day was what you’d call a ‘play day’, it was much more relaxed and about putting into practice what you had learned the day before.

Saturday was kicked off by a quick introduction by Alison and then attendees were free to wander around and attend a wide range of workshops, ranging from Macro, Model shoot, Processing film, Copyright, Wildlife and more.

Possibly one of the highlights of the day was the trip to the Playhouse costume department. I found John Dolan in the Military isle and, as he had organised the trip, asked him what he thought was the main thing to come out of the trip, “it’s to give people a chance to go in front of the camera for a change rather than taking the photographs and just have fun dressing up, it brings out a different side of people which you wouldn't normally see and that’s interesting as a photographer”. It was wonderful to see a group of approximately 20 grown-ups almost reduced to giggling school children.

Now I'm not personally a photographer but I am the daughter in law of one, so when I was so generously asked to attend and offered the opportunity of some writing experience how could I possibly say no. Having not attended a Photo camp, or in fact any photography event previously, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I think I was imagining a much stricter, very structured conference but I was quickly and pleasantly surprised.

To me Photo camp had a real community feel to it. It was clear that most people had attended previous Photo camps and knew each other or at least knew of each other’s work. There were also a handful of new comers but because of the relaxed atmosphere, it didn't take long for them to integrate. No one was left out and everyone was willing to share with and help anyone who needed it.

What seems to make Photo Camp stand out is that it’s not just professional speakers addressing ‘students’, the people who run the workshops were more than often people who had attended previous Photo camp workshops and who were now giving back by imparting some of their knowledge. Everyone in attendance seemed to be able to fill both the student and teacher role.

Speaking to Jitesh, who was leading a workshop for the first time this year, really gave me, as a Photo camp novice an insight to what it’s all about, “ Mainly it’s about talking to new people, trying a few new things. Personally I'm looking for things to keep me interested, looking for different ideas and inspirations. Photo camp isn't a conventional conference, it’s a different concept. It does breed the idea of sharing. It’s fitting for this generation of photographers”.

Later on in the day I caught up with Anne  Ackers, who said about her workshop ‘Portraits not snapshots’, “It’s me trying to encourage people to take better pictures, I'm not coming here to say I'm a fantastic photographer , but my passion is to help people to do things better”.

Anne has attended every photo camp and says she’s seen it evolve over the years, “It’s about imparting with that little bit of knowledge and getting people to think for themselves”.

Speaking to people throughout the day, it was clear how highly people thought of Photo camp and how willing everyone was to get involved in one way or another.

After having so much positive feedback I wanted to know how this year’s organisers felt about it all. I managed to grab Alison Covey in a rare free moment and she said, “There’s the right number of people, a mix of people we know and a few new people. It’s a free and easy way of doing things. Everyone involved is a volunteer and I think people respect that”. Speaking to Simon Cliff after the weekend was finished, he said, “it was everything that photo camp is about, everybody sharing in their experience and abilities”.