This workshop will be led by Rolf Kraehenbuehl with a maximum of six participants. It will include six online sessions with participants making images between the online meetings.

How are landscapes, both natural and built habitats, represented? What narratives are embedded? How can we visualise our own impression of a landscape and of what we perceive as a sense of place, to construct our own personal narrative?

Aims:

The aim of this workshop is to unlock our creativity for visual storytelling; we do this by shifting the focus from producing a predefined outcome towards the process of image-making, thereby allowing ourselves creative freedom to create personal images. Working in a landscape of your choice, by taking the cue from experiential learning and responding to prompts and tasks, the participants will explore ways to express and visualise their individual perception of a place.

Audience:

Because this workshop is not about specific photographic techniques or about creating a particular type of image, but aims at expanding the repertoire of creative approaches, it is suitable for photographers with different levels of experience, who are in different stages of their photographic journey, and who work with different equipment (e.g. digital, analogue, DSLR, mirrorless, phone camera).

Outcomes:

By the end of this workshop the participants will have explored various ways of analysing and describing a landscape, translating this into photographs and constructing an individual and personal narrative; they will have created a small body of work, which can serve as a starting point for a larger visual exploration and project. 

Requirements:

An open mind and the willingness to challenge your photographic approaches and to go outside your photographic comfort zone are key requirements. Participants are required to respond to tasks and prompts, to make work between the meetings, and to show the results in the following meeting. Peer interaction, discussing each other’s images and giving and receiving supportive and constructive feedback are important parts of the learning process.

Course outline:

The workshop consists of six online meetings (over seven weeks) with presentations by the tutor, tutor-led discussions of images by photographers past and present, image presentations by workshop participants and tutor-led/facilitated image reviews as group discussions. Active participation and peer interaction is a vital part of this workshop.

All online meetings (via zoom) are on Thursdays, 18:30-20:30 GMT.

Schedule:

Meeting 1, 22 January: 

We will look at examples of different representations of landscapes (from iconic to mundane locations) and their embedded narratives in painting and photography from the history of the media to contemporary works.

Workshop participants introduce themselves and their current approaches to landscape photography.

Group discussion on alternative ways of image-making and visual narration.

The participants are given two tasks to carry out before the next session.

Meeting 2, 29 January:

The second part of the lecture on landscape representations is followed by an introduction to experiential learning, its hallmarks and advantages.

Workshop participants introduce their chosen landscapes and present their responses to the tasks from the first meeting.

The participants are given two tasks for the next session


Meeting 3, 12 February:

Presentation by tutor and discussion.

Workshop participants present their responses to the tasks from the previous session; group discussion.

The participants are given a new task for the next session.

Meeting 4, 19 February:

Presentation by tutor and discussion.

Workshop participants present their responses to the tasks from the previous session; group discussion.

The participants are given two tasks for the next session.

Meeting 5, 26 February:

Presentation by tutor and discussion.

Workshop participants present their responses to the tasks from the previous session; group discussion.

The participants are given two tasks for the next session.

Meeting 6, 12 March:

Workshop participants present their responses to the tasks from the previous session, and present their project as it has evolved so far; group discussion.

Reflection on the outcome, the learning process, and how this can be applied to advance the projects.

About the Tutor:

Rolf Kraehenbuehl is a professional photographer and educator. Using a variety of photographic strategies and processes, his practice and personal projects centre around visual investigations and representations of natural and built environments, of how we transform space into places with personal meaning, and how we can communicate this through photography and visual art.

Recent works have been shown in a solo gallery exhibition, and as part of a group exhibition at the Northern Eye Photography Festival.

https://www.rolfkraehenbuehl.com/

https://www.instagram.com/rolfkraehenbuehlphotography/



Terms for RPS Landscape Group online events:

Cancellation by You:

If you wish to cancel your booking PLEASE let the event leader / organiser know with as much notice as possible. If nothing else, this can avoid them delaying the start of the event while they wait for you.

If you have paid for an event, please note that this fee/ticket price is non-refundable unless we are able to sell your place to somebody else. You are welcome to sell your place yourself but, again, PLEASE notify the event leader / organiser in advance of any change.

Cancellation by us:

Event leaders are asked to make plans for alternative activities or locations in the case of poor weather and, in most cases, events will proceed despite poor weather unless, in the view of the event leader, the weather will lead to unacceptable safety risks or very little chance of successful photography. It is inevitable, however, that occasionally an event will be cancelled for this or another reason beyond the RPS’s control.

Occasionally an event may also be cancelled owing to lack of bookings. So if you wish to attend an event, don’t leave it till the last minute to book as it may be too late.

If an event is cancelled we will give you as much notice as we are able and any payment by you to the RPS in respect of the event offered as a full refund. In the case of events cancelled because of lack of interest we will aim to give at least three weeks’ notice wherever possible.

Please note we are NOT able to refund any associated or consequential costs including but not limited to travel, accommodation, insurance premium or other costs incurred by you in order to attend the event.

Thank you

RPS Landscape Group Committee