Wandering in the Company of Strangers

Wandering in the Company of Stangers: The (Sub)Urban Portrait
Black Boots Ink invites you to wander with us on the first annual, traveling, project-based workshop and exhibit introducing you to your neighbor.

The (Sub)Urban Portait is the focus of the workshop series Wandering in the Company of Strangers. The emphasis of this workshop is on creating an opportunity for people to learn and practice skills that will help them document their own communities. Workshop sessions are designed for practical use with personalized working critiques centering on the work you create and instruction for photographing how people inhabit, use and exist within their communities. It's often how life is lived, particularly in very public venues, be it a market, a church, a park.

We will discuss ways to use the camera to give voice to a community by approaching people, building relationships, and making insightful images in their natural environment. We will also discuss ethics and responsibilities, light and composition and equipment choices. The purpose of this workshop series is to help you understand the narrative, aesthetic, and emotional aspects of photography.

Each day is divided between classroom instruction, discussions, personal and group critiques and fieldwork. Participants may work in black and white or color c-41 film or digital. Enrollment is open to amateur and professional photographers.

Our vision is to make urban portraits as a means of visual introductions of people from one city to people in different cities. Our goal is to return the portraits of the public, to the public; to make art accessible in comfortable venues by combining the work from each workshop in a book, exhibitions, online, and on the streets and other places where people gather to live.

for more information email us at blackbootsink@gmail.com