Just a quick notice to let you all know that there is now a space free for this September’s  Icelandic photographic adventure.

This is a very popular trip, and usually sells out in a few days. If you’d like to come in September, and experience some autumn colours, and maybe the Aurora too, then you can find out more here.

For a while now, I’ve been wishing to teach photographers more about how to ‘interpret’ their images during the post processing stage of their image creation. Like Ansel Adams, I do not believe that the creation of an image stops at the moment the shutter was fired.

Learning to ‘see’ whilst out making images shouldn’t just stop at the point of capture. Learning to ‘see’ is an extremely valuable asset in assessing images for post editing. What do we do with our work, how we manipulate it, should come from a strong sense of vision. We should be able to see themes, patterns, relationships within our images and know that these are the essential building blocks of our editing sessions. To do that, we must understand what is going on in our images so we can bring about our message.

Digital Darkroom Workshop Announcement

Starting this November, I am introducing some Digital Darkroom workshops, with the primary focus on learning to ‘interpret’ what is there, and how best to apply your tools of your choice to suit the nature of each image. The emphasis is on learning to look at your own images and know how best to approach them during the editing stage.

I must stress that these workshops are not about learning Photoshop / Lightroom or Aperture. Instead, they are about teaching you to interpret and understand what is going on in your images, and how best to approach them in the editing stage.

These digital darkroom ‘image interpretation’ workshops will be based at my office, situated in Edinburgh, Scotland. The workshops are weekend affairs, starting on the Saturday morning at 9am and finishing on Sunday at 5:30pm.

To find out more, click here.

Last year, I conducted my first photographic tour of the Bolivian altiplano. We made our way from San Pedro de Atacama in Chile across the southern side of Bolivia to the capital La Paz over nine days. It was quite a tour.

I’d originally shot the altiplano in 2009, and the images from that particular shoot were at that time, an epiphany for me: I saw the start of my journey towards more simplified compositions.

Returning back in 2012, I wasn’t so sure I could add anything new to what I’d shot back then, so it was a surprise to me to note that my compositional style has become more reduced and more simplified in the intervening years.

One could argue that shooting a square aspect ratio camera helped me achieve that look of simplification. I would indeed agree, that square offers the opportunity to be more abstract with compositional elements than any rectangular aspect ratio can. I also feel that rectangles are more traditional, whereas square has no deep roots in art history: rafael did not paint his images on square canvases.

One could also argue that I’ve had a chance to become more familiar with the altiplano. This is also true. I do believe that we often need two visits to a location: the first to understand it – to know what works and what doesn’t work, the second visit to do the work with a more refined viewpoint.

I’ll be heading back to Bolivia in two months from now, and I’m really looking forward to seeing what new material may transpire from the tour we will be doing there.

By looking back at my previous work, I’m often able to see that there has been a shift, a subtle change in direction. I feel all photographers should do this as a matter of course. Consider, reflect, open up an inner dialog, ask yourself some questions about your development. Other times, I feel the changes are less apparent, but usually something comes along to show us just how far we’ve come.

Note: I’m returning to the Bolivian altiplano in June to conduct a photographic tour with six participants. If you’d like to come along, I’m pleased to say there are two spaces left. The tour was originally full, but there’s been a couple of cancellations due to health issues and other commitments. If you would like to find out more about this trip, you can read all about it here.

This trip is now sold out. Just to let you all know.

Dear all,

I’m just taking some time-out at the moment, after a rather busy schedule this year. So I do hope to be back on this very blog with more thoughts about photography soon!

In the meantime, I have had one cancellation for Bolivia next year, due to a graduation, so I thought I would let you all know about this space as the trip was extremely popular and sold out in a matter of hours this year.

–

My Bolivia photographic-safari for 2013, now has one space free on it, due to a cancellation. This trip was extremely popular this year and had sold out before I’d even gotten round to mentioning it on my monthly newsletter!

If you’d like to know more about this trip, then you can find the details here. I expect this space to go very quickly, but rather than just let you find out by going to the workshop pages on this site, felt I should really just tell you all about it.

I hope you are all out there making nice images!

regards, Bruce.

Last March I spent an enjoyable week with a small group on the isle of Skye doing a photography workshop, and Duncan Fawkes, one of the participants has written a review of the week.

I’m pleased that Duncan has given himself a bit of distance between the actual workshop and the writing of his review. As he points out, he has found that it’s taken him a while for things to simmer, bubble away in his subconscious…..

His review, I feel – is a good guide to what you should be looking for in a workshop…. for instance, I would agree that you shouldn’t go to a workshop looking to come home with killer images (although it’s a nice bonus if you do).

I’m pleased to say that most of the things that Duncan says he got out of the workshop, are really what I strive for, and he covers most of them in his review. Thanks Duncan for letting me know about this. I’m also glad you didn’t mention too much about the rubber chicken and the gloves ;-P

My good friend Duncan MacArthur, is running a workshop this September (8th to 13th) in the French Hautes-Alpes. He’s told me today there is only one space left. It’s a beautiful part of the world, and I hope some day to get down there to see Duncan on his home territory.

Here are some photos of the region by Duncan. If you’d like to find out more, follow this workshop link.

Every now and then, something happens to make me take a step back, and review where I am. I think it’s extremely important as a creative person to do this. Just this week, I was emailed the inset photograph by my Chilean guide – Sabine, who accompanied me on my little photo-tour of Torres del Paine national park in Chile a few weeks back (in the inset picture, I’m the one standing with my back to the camera (left) with Polly, one of my participants from Australia – looking out towards the Towers of Paine, across Laguna Armaga in Chilean Patagonia).

I don’t often see photos of myself in the ‘environments’ I frequent these days, and this image in particular has made me think…..

A few years ago, I was sitting very comfortably in an IT office in the middle of Edinburgh. My life was pretty normal, I went home in the evenings, caught up with friends, did the shopping, washing, went back to work the next day and so life continued for me, as it always had.

Each day I would look outside of my office window, and I’d watch as the clouds crawled across the view I had over the rooftops of Edinburgh, over Arthurs Seat (extinct volcano) and over the seasons I’d witness the same landscape change. I was an onlooker, dreaming of being outside more often than inside. I felt my life was pretty good, but I’d always wished to be outside more often, making images more often too.

Roll forward to today, I’m just home from a month’s long trip to Patagonia, Bolivia and Easter Island. Things couldn’t be more different for me these days compared to my life back in my comfortable little IT office. I now run a successful photographic workshop business, I spend most of my life outside, watching the clouds crawl across some very beautiful landscapes here in Scotland. In the past year, I’ve expanded my business to Norway, Iceland, Patagonia and Bolivia. I wouldn’t have dared guess that this is what I would be doing back in 2007 when I first had ideas of changing career.

Although it has not been plain sailing, and like every job out there, my new job has it’s downsides as well as upsides, I find that I’m much more content at what I do, and I also feel I’m more in touch with who I am as well. I’ve learned so much about myself through the act of setting up and running a photographic workshop business.

In many ways, I’ve had to review just who I am. I think we all carry around with us a mental image of who we are, and of our own abilities. I’ve had to seriously reconsider my own mental image as I think it was really out of date. For years I felt I didn’t have much initiative, or was able to be pro-active enough to do things for myself. I’ve found that it’s simply not true.

I wish, that if you have aspirations to do something new with your life, that you can find the inspiration and encouragement to try them out. Often the signs are there, the clues that we need to make some changes to our lives, but we seldom take their cue and run with it.

I’ve been more scared in the past three years than I have been in my entire life. Running my business has been like riding the crest of a wave. Thrilling and often making me feel very, very alive indeed. There’s been very little in the way of staidness to it.

I think that with whatever it is that you’re doing, whether you’re creating art, engineering bridges, building roads, writing computer programs, just taking a moment to stop and reflect on who you are, where you currently are and what it is that you want is a vital ingredient to having a good life. I believe that everything that has happened to me over the past few years – has happened because I wanted it to, and by visualising where I wanted to be, I was naturally steering my own course in the direction I wanted to go.

Patagonia was brilliant by the way, as too was the Bolivian altiplano. Both landscapes were extremely different, and it was really something to get to come back to some places that I have a deep connection with. If I had to go back to my IT job now, I guess I would adapt to that, but I don’t think I could ever live with the prospect of never going back to revisit Patagonia and the Altiplano. They are like good friends that I have to keep in touch with. They feel like home, and sometimes I think I’ve become a citizen of the world through my own love for remote landscapes.

I have one freed up space for my Eigg workshop this September (10th to 15th). This is an extremely popular trip and it’s full every year, so if you had your eye on coming this September, but noticed that it had been fully sold out since earlier this year, now is your chance to grab the last space :-)

You can find out more about the trip, and also book here.

I also have another cancellation for my Arran trip this August (13th to 18th). Perhaps if the Eigg trip doesn’t fit your schedule, you can maybe look at the Arran trip instead. More details can be found here too.

Signing off from sunny Bolivia, where I am currently enjoying the sun, waiting for the 2nd part of my South American Safaris to begin in a few days time. We will be heading over the Bolivian Altiplano in two Land Cruisers, guide, cook and two drivers. I have six participants with me where three of them came with me from Patagonia to Bolivia. We’ve been discussing how different the landscape is up here. We’ve gone from winter and inclement weather to dry desert and blue skies. Looking forward to returning back to the Altiplano. It is my first trip here since first venturing here in 2009.

Wishing you were here,

Bruce

Today I’m heading off for about a month. During the coming time away I will be heading off to Easter Island, Patagonia and Bolivia. It looks all set to be an interesting month ahead for me doing some personal photography on Easter Island, and then running photographic safaris in Patagonia and the Bolivian Altiplano.

It’s been a while since I was back in Torres del Paine national park in Chile. It is without doubt one of my favourite places on Earth. I’ve been busy packing for the trip for about a week now – I always seem to forget something, so in a vain attempt to not leave home without something important, I start to pile up a small mountain of equipment to take on the trip.

I’ve got two camera bags to take with me. I love the ThinkTank Airport International and Take-Off bags – you can see the content of my bag here:

I’ve got my Mamiya 7II plus three lenses, and a Hasselblad kit too in this bag, along with all the Lee filters and light meter that I use. This bag is purely used to get me through the airport-circus and around most of the heavy traveling I’ll be doing.

Once on location, I prefer to go out shooting with a smaller bag and one outfit only – doing this makes me more focussed on working on the landscape and less on thinking of which system to use. I use a small shoulder bag for the outfit I use on location, because quite frankly – I detest backpacks – if I can get away without  using them – I will. Backpacks mean I have to stop, take the bag off my back and lay it on the ground. I prefer a bag that I can access things from the top without everything spilling out everywhere and a smaller bag means I take less, and if I take less, I’m more mobile, and less burdened down by the weight and choice of what to use once I’ve found my spot.

I’ll try to post some things on the blog over the coming month, but I’m not so sure I’ll be able to do that, as we will be in remote regions with little or no communication.