BAPW 2008 - What an Experience!

So after 3 solid days of information packed sessions, with three of modern photography's masters, all I can say is wow! The entire experience was amazing, and quite gratifying. Click through for the details...

Here's a brief synopsis of the weekend...

Friday: Sign in, dinner, and submission photo critique...

- Arrive in Banff early evening. Sign in to the workshop at the auditorium in the Max Bell building, and spend the evening working though introductions, and critiquing all participant's submission photos, and generally getting to know the other participants, and instructors, Bill Hatcher, Gord Wiltsie, and Alec Pytlowany. This evening's session ends at about 10:30pm. Off to our rooms, to prep our gear and get ready for a 7am breakfast in the dining room.

Saturday: Climbing shoot, biking shoot and critique...

- Meet for a feast of a breakfast in the dining room. Eat too much, then congregate in the auditorium for a brief discussion on the morning shoot. Everyone heads to the vans to load up gear, and travel to the shoot location.

Arrive at rock climbing location around 9:30am and meet local volunteer climbers to discuss what type of shots we're looking for. Soon they move into place, and we break off into smaller groups to cover the different opportunities.

Overall the shoot was great. The models took direction well, and tried their best t0 accommodate the requests from the shooters. We covered everything from typical action, to implied motion and even some portraiture, strobist style.

Around noon, we pack up and head back to The Banff Centre for lunch in the dining room, and then to prep for the afternoon mountain biking session.

We head out around 1:30pm to the trail location near Lake Minnewanka for the shoot. Again, we meet the riders, and hike the dirt trail about 10 minutes off the main road. The scenery is amazing! Once again, the instructors break off into smaller groups to cover off the different possible shooting opportunites. Bill Hatcher work with his group on panning with slow shutter speeds, and on camera flash to create implied motion. Gord takes a group down trail to grab the "calendar shots" with bikers performing jumps along the trails. Alec works with his bunch on creating scale and depth with people in action.

We pack up and head back to town just in time for dinner, then to the auditorium to process our images, and do a group critique of the top 10 images (per photographer) of the day. We finish off the day around 10:30pm.

Sunday - More critique of previous day's shots, kayaking shoot, and more critique...

- We gather for another early breakfast in the dining room, then proceed to the auditorium to review a few final images from yesterday's shoot. We work through the remaining critiques, and load up our stuff to head out for kaykaing. It's a 45 minute drive to Kananaskis for the kayaking shoot. When we arrive on location, again we speak briefly with the kayakers, and then they hit the water to do their thing, while we grab a stable rock to position ourselves for he action. Today's session is totally different than yesterday's, as we're now shooting fast moving action.

- We work with the kayakers as they perform various manuvers through the rapids. As they move down stream, we follow on land, via road, then trails along the river to the final location of the day, where the kayakers "play" in the rapids for a good long time. All in all, I shot over 600 frames for the afternoon. At about 4pm we pack up to head back for, you guessed it, dinner, then processing and critique. We finally shut down around 11pm.


Monday: Critiques, a few lectures, and farewells...

- We begin Monday as usual, with breakfast in the dining room. We then move back to the auditorium, to finish processing yesterday's kayaking images, finish critiques, and prepare model photos to be exchanged for model releases.

- In addition to image processing and critiques, Gord Wiltsie does two lectures, one on composition, and one on photography business practices. Both are very well done, and offer something for all levels of photographers.

- We have a "working lunch" in the adjoining building, and then back to processing. Some of the workshop participants and instructors head out to make their flights in Calgary. I stayed back to finish processing my remaining images and soak up the last of a fantastic weekend.

This post is by no means a comprehensive account of the workshop; only a brief look into the highlights.

High points:
- Working with 3 photographic master, including alumni of the National Geographic team: Bill Hatcher, Gord Wiltsie, and Alec Pytlowany. You can't ask for any better.
- A friendly, eager, like minded group of people with the same passion for photography as me.
- Exposure to friendly models
- Great food, anytime you want!

Low points:
- The accommodations. Unfortunately, as is the case with most service based businesses in Banff, staff is in high demand. My room was not terribly well kept, and was not cleaned by house keeping one night of my three nights there. Also, the rooms in Lloyd Hall are a bit dated and worn out.

All in all, for the price, it's a really rewarding experience, and I suggest anyone interested in going, do it asap. I'll be back next year.

If you have a question that I didn't discuss here, or you'd like more info, just ask. I'd be happy to provide it.