The first workshop in Europe by Christian Patterson will take place between the 9th and 10th of March at BlankPaper School, Madrid. There are still places available. You can see the entire information here.
On Friday, March 8th at 20h, Christian Patterson will make a free open talk in BlankPaper School. It is going to be broadcasted via streaming through Facebook. You are all invited.
If you want to know more about Christian here is an interesting interview:
BP. Do you think that photography must feed on other experiences not only photographic? The image itself may be exhausted?
CP. Yes, of course. I’m interested in ideas, feelings and stories, and photography is once medium for expressing these things. In my own work, I’ve often incorporated other mediums – music, documents and objects, drawing and painting.
I’m not dismissing the power of photography; I still get a thrill from looking at certain work, and from making images of my own. And I’m not interested in any of those silly discussions about the “end of photography” or the “future of photography.” Photography and our reactions to it are just too powerful to be defined or confined.
BP. What are your artistic references?
CP. Growing up in the American Midwest, my father, music, absurdity, color, dreams, humor, intensity, sadness and wonder.
BP. What do you like most about photography? And the least?
CP. Most: Making images.
Least: Over-analyzing it.
BP. What do you think about photography schools? How should the teaching method be?
CP. I’m a self-taught artist, so I have a biased personal opinion about all of that. I learned by looking and making my own work. But thinking more objectively, I can see how school, its exercises and structure, its collegiality and competition and its mentorship can be a good thing for the right person. What’s most important is that your own experience pushes you forward into your own work. So if I were to propose a teaching method, it would be very open, and very individualized.
BP. How do you see photography in 10 years? And in 100?
CP. Please refer to my first answer, second paragraph! If someone had told me ten years ago about the changes that we’re actually seeing in photography today, I wouldn’t have believed them. I don’t like predictions, but I’m looking forward to the future, or at least whatever part of it I’m around to see.
BP. Why is it necessary to make photobooks?
CP. It’s not always necessary, and there are far too many bad photography books. It’s common for people to want to make books simply because it’s what they perceive to be necessary to realize a body of work or achieve some kind of success. But a book isn’t a solution to a problem, and a good book is the realization of good work best seen as a book.
Great photo books do things that other mediums cannot do. They pull you in. They make you touch and turn their pages. They tell you stories, often in a beautifully fragmentary way. They take you to other places, internally. They hold and store all of these things inside. They keep you coming back for more. They’re different every time. They’re intimate and personal, but their distribution offers a different kind of wider, shared experience. I could go on and on…
BP. What advice would you give to photographers who are working on a photography project?
CP. Keep working. Have patience and take your time. Share your work with a few close friends and a few honest critics. It’s natural to feel eager to share your work, but good things come with time and good work doesn’t have an expiration or sell-by date. Repeat as necessary. Work it and rework it. In a day, a month or a year you’ll either find a way to improve it or finally know that it’s done and it deserves to be shared and seen.
