(c) Gerd Ludwig 2012
4-DAY WORKSHOP April 2 – April 4 (2 hour wrap-up session Thursday morning, April 5)
GERD LUDWIG: Storytelling with Personal Vision: Documentary Photography On location with National Geographic photographer Gerd Ludwig
This intensive workshop by National Geographic Photographer Gerd Ludwig concentrates on the various aspects of documentary photography. The goal of the workshop is to help photographers develop a personal vision, and take their photography to the next level.
After individual portfolio reviews, Gerd will openly share his personal approach to creating stories for National Geographic Magazine. Discussions will focus on how to use photographic tools in real-world scenarios to capture atmosphere and mood, while maintaining a sense of place; approach strangers and photograph them in an intimate fashion; and to use form, lighting, and color in a sophisticated manner in order to communicate emotionally as well as editorially. Gerd will demonstrate his own photographic techniques, such as his use of wide-angle lenses and hand-held strobes; telling a compelling story in a unique photographic style; and turning your personal interests into long-term projects.
Gerd will also share his secrets to surviving in today’s marketplace, explaining how to take advantage of crowd-funding, social networking, and new media to get your personal projects financed and seen by a wider audience. As a pioneer in crowd-funding, Gerd successfully financed his most recent trip to the Chernobyl zone via Kickstarter, resulting in exhibitions, publications, and most recently, an interactive multimedia photo book in the form of the iPad app “The Long Shadow of Chernobyl”.
Gerd will take the students to the nearby Salton Sea, a place he has photographed for National Geographic Magazine and is very familiar with (see photographs in his portfolio above). The Salton Sea is California’s most troubled lake. Once a lure for tourists, a fluctuation in sea level has flooded settlements and forced people to abandon their homes, leaving buildings to rot in the salt encrusted water. This abandoned and decaying area will provide a dramatic environment for exploration. The region attracted a fair share of unusual individuals, such as the artist Leonard Knight, who has redesigned the desert landscape with adobe, straw, and thousands of gallons of paint. He and his national folk art shrine “Salvation Mountain” will be another exciting subject for the participants.
The workshop will culminate with each photographer presenting his or her images for feedback.
Attendees of this workshop are invited to borrow cameras and lenses from Canon, Leica, Fuji and Mamiya at Korakia Pensione each morning before the workshop begins (8:00am – 9:00am). The Samy’s Camera Store suite is also open each morning for your convenience.
All students should work digitally (preferably in color), and need to provide their own photographic equipment and laptop computers and be conversant with their hardware and software in order to facilitate downloading and projecting their work for critiques in class. Digital projectors with standard VGA cables will be provided. If you require DVI connectors and / or adapters, please bring one to class.
Check out Gerd’s most recently story, Tomorrowland, published in National Geographic Magazine’s February issue:
Monday, April 2 – Wednesday, April 4, 9:00am – 4:00pm (plus Thursday, April 5, 9:00am – 11:00am)
Price: $925.00
Register Now
BIOGRAPHY
Born in Alsfeld, Germany, Gerd Ludwig studied with Professor Otto Steinert at the Folkwang University of the Arts (Folkwangschule) in Essen, Germany, and graduated in 1972. The following year he co-founded VISUM, Germany’s first photographer-owned agency, and soon began working for publications such as Geo, Stern, Spiegel, Fortune, Time, and Life. In 1984 he re-located to New York, signed on as a contract photographer for National Geographic Magazine in the early 1990′s. His focus on environmental issues, and on the socio-economic changes following the dissolution of the Soviet Bloc resulted in his book and exhibit, Broken Empire: After the Fall of the USSR, a ten-year retrospective published by National Geographic in 2001 in USA, Germany and Korea. His ongoing coverage of post Soviet Russia has garnered his distinction as being the world’s foremost color photographer documenting the region. Now based in Los Angeles, Gerd Ludwig photographs primarily for National Geographic Magazine, occasionally shoots advertising, lectures at universities, teaches photographic workshops internationally and exhibits his photographs in galleries and museums around the world. He is a Canon Explorer of Light and is represented by Institute for Artist Management. He has won numerous photographic awards, including the 2006 Lucie Award for International Photographer of the Year.
WEBSITE:
www.gerdludwig.com
