Documentary Photography Class   

I recently took a week-long Documentary Photography class at the John C. Campbell Folk School (website link) in Brasstown, North Carolina, near Murphy.  A large variety of classes are offered at the folk school.  Some of these include basketry, blacksmithing, clay, cooking, drawing/painting, glass, jewelry, metalwork, music, quilting, weaving, woodturning/woodworking, etc.  Classes are held in various studios on the 300-acre campus, and lodging and meals are also provided. My wife (who took a stained glass class) and I stayed in the Mill House.  My photography class studio was in the Orchard House.

The Mill House                                                                The Orchard House in nice afternoon light

Our instructor, Darcy Holdorf, (link) designed the Documentary Photography course to tell a story through photographs.   Approaching and connecting with people in the community filled a major part of our class time.  Learning their stories helped us to find stories we wanted to tell with pictures.  Our group of photographers were all fairly advanced and we all benefited by seeing each other’s differing points of view and the interesting images taken from the situations we shared.

We experimented taking portraits with window light and other natural light situations, and took several field trips including Trackrock Stables, Cane Creek Vineyards, Martha Owens’ sheep farm, and a “walk around” in Murphy.  Access to the various studios on campus was also an option, with the course’s focus to find a story we wanted to tell with just a few photographs.

A slide show of my photos from around the folk school and our field trips comes first.  Then, there’s a gallery of my favorite portrait shots.  And, finally, is a YouTube video our instructor made of each student’s final project — storytelling with photographs.  Mine is about the blacksmith instructor.

BTW — I had so much fun photographing the blacksmith shop, and really like so many of the images, that I will post a second Blog with just my pics from the blacksmith shop.

Scenes From The Folk School And Field Trips

My Favorite Portraits From The Week

Mouse over any thumbnail for their names, or click on one to scroll through the full size images.

And here is a YouTube video Darcy put together with all our stories.

Thanks For The Look

And for those of you who know me…. I can’t leave without some birds and nature captured on campus.

Keep a lookout for the Blacksmith Shop Blog coming soon.

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