It has been a busy week. I spent last weekend at a conference of leaders from our photo association, the American Society of Media Photographers, a world-wide association that has seen many famous photographers amongst its ranks. It was really wonderful to reconnect with old friends from 20 years ago — gleep, has it been that long? — and meet so many energetic new people.

I was lucky enough to participate in the first of these conferences, even run two early ones, eventually heading to the national level, then returning to the chapter level and attend a few more. Alas, there was a long hiatus when these conferences didn’t happen, so it was particularly great that some in our association remembered and pushed to revive them.

The exchange of ideas was phenomenal and very exciting. We all went home exhausted but energized. So, this week has been filled with processing all from the weekend so I can pass it on to our board and get others at the conference to share their notes. The blog, alas, had to take a back seat, especially since we are giving a talk this week.

One of the wonderful things about running workshops, is that groups invite you to come give a presentation. We have two in March — at the Capital City Camera Club and the Raleigh Academy of Chinese Language Photo Club. As passionate photographers, it is always fun for us to review images, compare, and brainstorm about what will make a good and inspiring slide show.

The subject for both of the March speaking engagements is Creativity & Seeking Your Own Vision. In our workshops, we always try to encourage participants to be creative and find their own eye and way of seeing and presenting subjects.

Some of you may remember in my article on Selecting a Photo Workshop where the two vans drove up the hill and belched forth a plethora of photographers who quickly set up their tripods, shoulder to shoulder and pointed their cameras down to the same farm. OK, maybe they got a shot, but it was the same shot every else did, and … ho-hummm … well, hardly our idea of seeking your own vision or using your creativity to get a unique shot!

You have heard us and others say that if you put a whole group of photographers in the same location, you will get a whole bunch of different shots. The question is, are they all variations of the same shot, or are they unique?

Here are a few examples of shots Arnie and I did. You can see that we each approached the subject or location creatively, and we definitely found our own vision. Sometimes, we stood in nearly the same place. Often, our approach was totally different. Sometimes, we are attracted to the same scene, but we envisioned it at a different time of day.

We hope you enjoy them, and we’re not saying which ones are whose! They are all from some of our workshop locations. Some have been juried into exhibits, some selected as featured photographs on photo websites, and some have won awards. You may recognize some from earlier blogs, but as Paul Harvey said, “…and now, the rest of the story.”

The Outer Banks

Maine Coast

Virginia

New England

Colorado

Arches, Canyonlands & Moab

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Meanwhile, check out our Barefoot Contessa Photo Adventures calendar of workshops, and if you are considering joining us, do as others have already done … make your room reservations. You can always cancel later if necessary! We have added a Wish List section to our Calendar.

Some of our alumni have expressed interested in our putting together workshops both in Spain and at Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Parks. If we get enough interest, we will add one or both to our schedule.

If you want to be added to our newsletter list (we send them out about once a month), write us through the Barefoot Contessa Photo Adventures contact page.