Workshop Descriptions

All of the pre-conference workshops are small and hands-on. Typically, there are eight to twelve participants

A day in the darkroom with Gordon Hutchings – you will have a full “hands on” day in the darkroom with Gordon (the author of The Book of Pyro) where he will work with you on mastering the use of staining developers with an eye toward producing Fine Black & White prints for exhibition. Emphasis will be on using variable contrast papers. Be sure to bring negatives that you want to print. Gordon will have a few with of his own with him. For those who don’t have negatives we will arrange some shooting time in the morning or the day before.

Alternative Processes - This workshop will cover hand coated alternative photographic processes aimed at giving beginners a solid foundation, as well as helping experienced students fine tune their work. The class will cover several processes such as cyanotype, van dyke brownprints, and platinum/palladium printing. Topics will include methods for hand coating paper, selection of paper, options for negatives, and light sources. Students will learn interesting variations of each system, allowing for a greater range of expression and optimum print quality. All materials provided, but students should bring their own negatives for contact printing (up to 8x10). Digital negative output may also be available. Kevin is a second generation platinum printer and handles tech support for alt. process suppliers Bostick & Sullivan. He also teaches photography at Santa Fe Community College. 

Scanning and Digital Workflow – you will spend two days of “hands on” digital processing and printing working with John Latimer (adjunct Professor of Photography at RIT). You will have the opportunity to work with a variety of scanners, to learn the basics of scanning for any desired output.  Output to a variety of wide format printers will be available and you will have the chance to sample the best of papers from several manufacturers. The workshop will both hone your digital darkroom skills and assist you in equipment purchase decisions.

Natural Light Portraiture - with Karen Kuehn. Karen started her career in the late 80s with an internship with National Geographic. Encouraged to move to NYC she was based there for 16 years. Now she hubs out of New Mexico shooting for many clients with national recognition. Karen is a working photographer wearing many hats; she exhibits at The Monroe Gallery in Santa Fe, shoots for advertising clients such as Master Card. Toyota, Uof M, and Gillette and editorial magazines such as the NY Times, Newsweek. The Smithsonian, Vanity Fair, etc. These are just a few of her clients. Karen is mainly hired for the way she thinks. A solid technician with an intuitive touch. Karen has a unique ability to get into the heart and soul of her subjects and tell their story with her portraits.To see some of Karen's work visit her site http://www.karenkuehn.com.

Large Format in a Ghost Town – working with Steve Simmons, the publisher of View Camera and Gordon Hutchings, participants will cover the basic and intermediate use of the large format camera. The Sunday afternoon session will cover camera styles and formats, lenses, accessories, films, and exposure techniques. Sunday late afternoon and evening, all day Monday, and Tuesday morning will be spent photographing the old mining town of Victor. This is a small “hands-on” workshop with lots of opportunity for one on one instruction in the field. We will be staying at the Victor Hotel in Victor. Victor at an elevation of 9700 feet and is located an hour west of Colorado Springs.

Environmental Figure Study – with Peter LeGrand. An intensive two day workshop addressing the questions of the photographer who wants to work with the human form in the natural environment. Peter LeGrand is a Professor of Photography at Columbia College. Hedecades of experience with the human form and long records of teaching this subject and exhibiting his work. The class will cover topics such as posing, camera selection, lens choice, exposure techniques, finding markets for your work, traditional vs. digital printing, and finding models. This class will have two models on hand and a maximum of 10 participants. Location to be announced but it will be in the greater Ft. Collins area. $300.00 plus a $75.00 model fee. All formats welcome.

Wet Plate Collodion- with Gary Samson. You'll start with a day on the CSU Campus making wet plates and processing them in the darkroom , Gary will take you through the entire process from coating the plate, through exposure and finishing with processing the exposed plate. You'll see how Gary does his wet plate work, do it yourself and also shoot and process your own. The second will be spent out in the field where you will make and process your own wet plates, You will learn how to create wet plate collodion positive images (Tintype and Ambrotype) as well as wet plate collodion negatives. Through a combination of discussions, shooting sessions and darkroom time, participants will learn how to incorporate the wet collodion process in their own photography. This workshop will have an additional $100 materials fee.

The Ranch -Well known cowboy and western lifestyle photographer David Stoecklein (http://www.drsphoto.net/) will be leading a one day photo workshop at a beautiful guest and cattle ranch one hour southwest of Ft. Collins on Wednesday, June 4th. Stoecklein's work has been published in numerous books, calendars, and magazine articles for the past 20 years. Stoecklein is being sponsored by Canon who is a major sponsor for the foto3 activities. Stoecklein will be showing the participants how to get the best shots of the old ranch buildings, the ranch hands on the job and in environmental portraits, and the wranglers moving cattle. There will also be a model on hand during the day to help the participants learn to do fashion photography on location. Topics included in the workshop include camera styles, lenses, shooting digitally vs film, lighting, etc.