The similarities are endless….

For my sophomore year of college I studied abroad in France.  I was nervous about going, my time over there was challenging but rewarding, I met my best friend while living there, in the end I wasn’t sure about going home and, most importantly, it was an experience that influenced the rest of my life.

I didn’t know it – but going to Roots Workshop last week was exactly the same.

I was nervous about going, Matt actually contacted Emilie first and laid the groundwork for me to go.    The nerves kicked in when I got there as well.  I was surrounded by some REALLY talented photographers, leaders who had won Pulitzer Prizes and whose work I had admired and we were all going to live in the same house for a week!    But once the week started I was swept up in the awesomeness of the experience.

My time at Roots was challenging and rewarding.   I thought the workshop was simple – learn to take better pictures and tell a better story.  What I didn’t realize was that the workshop was about how to be a better photographer on all kinds of levels.  The most surprising part of the experience was how the physicality of my photography changed.  How I hold the camera, how I position my body, how I physically react to different situations has been changed.    How did that happen?  How did that come out of a workshop that is about taking pictures?  I blame the house.  When you live in the same house with 15 other photographers you can not help but learn and grow.  Seeing talented photographers in action, how they treat their gear, how they approach a topic, what they see when they look at the same scenario I do was INVALUABLE and not something you get in other workshops.

Don’t get me wrong – I definitely learned how to take better pictures and am forever indebted to Tyler, Jen and Mark for the patience they showed me.   They shared with me(and all of us) their passion, knowledge and patience.  And like any great teacher you had in Kindergarten I will still be gleaning wisdom from their teaching years from now.

I met lots of best friends while I was there.  All of the other brave souls who were willing to have their work critiqued ALOT I now count as close friends!

By Friday I wasn’t sure about going home.  I missed home, hadn’t slept in days,  missed Matt like crazy but I wasn’t sure about leaving.  When you experience something so personal and special you are afraid to pop the bubble.  I knew once I pulled out of the driveway what I had been surrounded by for a week would be gone – that my time at Roots ‘09 would be over and I wouldn’t be able to get it back.   I just didn’t want to leave but I had to.  I had to get to Hailey’s camp graduation and since permanently moving into the house with everyone wasn’t an option I followed the advice of some old British propaganda and told myself to “Keep Calm and Carry On”

I am hopeful by getting this far in my blog post that you know the experience changed my life.  I look at images differently now.  I don’t take pictures now  – I make pictures.  I look at my relationships with other photographers and people differently.  I understand my role better.  I know what it is like to be changed and influenced by great people and this was one of those times.

It seems crazy I have mentioned the assigment yet.  I think that is a testament to the workshop itself.  It wasn’t about what your assigment was although mine was full of awesomeness.  It was about something different, something I didn’t understand until I had experienced it.  Since Emilie said it so much better than I can, I will quote her directly:

“The assignments are simply an exercise to put the art of seeing into practice and, thus, become better visual storytellers.”

But so we are clear my assigment did ROCK!  I had Four Seas Ice Cream in Centerville, MA.  They are the third oldest ice cream shop in New England, which is significant and yet compared to how good their ice cream is they could be the third youngest ice cream shop in the country and it would still be a crazy hot spot for ice cream on the Cape!  I am not ashamed to say I ate alot of ice cream, I ate it 3x a day for the 2 days I was shooting, I gained 2.5lbs last week and that was with RUNNING!  Can you imagine if I hadn’t run… I try not to.

The assignment had its pros (ice cream, happy kids) and its cons (small space, changing lighting conditions) but all the assignments did and if I had had my pick of assignments this would have been it.  I was so excited when Tyler gave it to me he thought he should take it back I just loved it that much.  Imagine my surprise at the end of day 1 when Tyler said “you don’t really have anything workable here”. How can that be when I love a place so much!!!   I will admit it was intimidating to hear that but I am thankful for his (and Jen and Mark’s) feedback, help and honesty.   I learned to so much and in the end I am super proud of my slideshow.  I am especially proud of this image that Tyler and I worked very hard for as night descended upon us the second day.

Our final night included a video presentation of everyone’s work.  My slideshow is below.  I love my slideshow but it wasn’t the best part.  The best part of the evening was having Tyler stand up there with me and knowing that Tyler, Jen and Mark were as proud of me, my growth and my slideshow as I was – that kind of moment is priceless.

Four Seas Ice Cream Assignment- Audra Bayette from audra bayette on Vimeo.