That’s right, this post is a twofer!
This post will be a bit backwards since I figure the workshop at Studio 181 is a more interesting topic than Friday night wanderings around downtown Rochester.
Saturday marked the first of a series of workshops during which a number of local professional and amateur photographers will be getting together to hang out and talk shop; but also push our own boundaries and comfort zones by trying new types of photography and giving and receiving critiques. This first event was a mix of getting familiar with the idea of the workshop as well as starting with a broader assignment. For the first assignment we all went off and had to create a photo essay about anything at all that we found interesting. A set of guidelines was provided but all that mattered was that we push ourselves to try something different and tell the story of something however we saw fit using photography.
I figured doing these workshops at all was stepping outside of my usual since the focus is more towards a documentary style of photography which is not what I generally am interested in. Having been out too late the night before I took a good while before I really got in to shooting anything. I had enough trouble not taking every wrong turn while I was driving, I was even misinterpreting my GPS on the way to the studio. I know how to get to the studio but I was using it since I was curious how the GPS would route me there. In the future I think I’ll follow the route it suggested though, it was quicker. Hooray technology!
After everyone showed up and we discussed the assignment we had about two and a half to three hours to shoot. A handful of us wound up at the Rochester Public Market and after initially hanging out with Joe at Java’s (not the Joe from Long Island) I wandered off to head towards the finky stish stands. (Finky stish is apparently what comes out of my mouth when I’m not awake yet and I want to go to the stinky fish stands.) There are two big fish stands in this particular building and I actually avoided the stinky one and stuck to the fresh smelling one run by Irving (see the photo above).
I spent some time talking with him and the other people working at his stand and committed to using his stand as my subject for the assignment. It all worked out fairly well in the end and was actually a lot of fun. After reconvening at the studio we all had lunch and went through each other’s sets of photos from the assignment. To find out more about these workshops check out the Studio 181 Saturday School Facebook page and to see my photos from Saturday just look at the gallery below!
Friday night in downtown Rochester
Friday evening I met with Andrew at Scotts to drop off a roll of film from years ago that may or may not have anything on it before heading down town. It was a cool evening but we walked around downtown by the river and ultimately wound up on top of the Hilton parking garage which was where I did most of my shooting. I definitely wasn’t feeling the most inspired that night, but it was fun regardless. Not much else to add to this so without further ado, the gallery:
