Colin Pantall
Photography: A Short Guide to History, Theory, and Practice
Begins Wednesday February 2nd 2022
This two-part series of lectures will introduce you to the contemporary practice of photography through examples that link the historical, the contemporary, and the theoretical in a way that is dynamic, visual, and accessible to everybody.
Touching on major photographic genres such as landscape photography, portraiture, and conflict, it will look at some of the key photographers and ideas that have shaped how we see the world today and will also present a global, pluralist outlook on both the wonderful expressive and artistic qualities of the photographic image, as well as its darker side.
The lecture series comes in two 8-lecture parts. The first part will look at the origins of key photographic genres, where they came from, how they affect the images we make and see today, and how those genres are influenced by different global theories and practices.
The second part will look at how social and cultural change in the post-war era influenced photographic practice around the world, and the final part will look at specific areas of interest within photography, from representation of the body to the family album and how these ideas can be communicated through different global photographic media.
This series of lectures is ideal for anybody who seeks to understand how images are made and understood. It will enrich your understanding of the multiple ways in which images can be read, and will also add layers to how you make images and how you communicate those images to a broader audience. If you have never studied photography, these lectures will give you a fast track introduction to the history of photography and its theory. And if you have studied photography, it will present new possibilities that will refresh your understanding of what photography is and what it can be.
Time: 18:00 – 20:00 British Time
Dates: 2nd February, 9th February, 16th February, 23rd February, 2nd March, 9th March, 16th March, 23rd March
Cost: £160 for Series 1 via Paypal
or email me at colinpantall@yahoo.co.uk for payment details
Online Summer Course
Starting 22nd June
The Bath School of Photography
with Colin Pantall
Developing your Project
Over a period of six weeks this course will look at the different ways in which you can develop your personal project for exhibition, publication, or professional dissemination.
The course will focus on participants’ practice, the work they are making, and how projects can be developed into coherent stories that might be told in print, in the gallery, in photobooks. The course will look at the ideas behind images and how artistic, cultural, and political influences have helped shaped how those images can be understood.
Each session will include a short introduction to partcipants’ projects, editing, and how image, text, and narrative overlap and interact. Peer-to-peer participation will be encouraged.
In addition to each session, students will also receive a 30-minute one to one tutorials which will focus specifically on their work.
By the end of the course students will have a stronger narrative foundation, ideas on how to use text, design, and printing, and possibilities for moving the project forward.
(max 12 participants)
Time: 18:00 – 20:00 British Summer Time (UTC + 1)
Dates: 22nd June, 29th June, 13th July, 20th July, 10th August, 17th August
Cost: £160 via Paypal or email me at colinpantall@yahoo.co.uk for payment details
Begins March 3rd 2021
They will look at how photography is made, used, understood, and exhibited from multiple perspectives. There will be perspectives on exhibiting, curating, publishing, on how regional histories, collaboration, the curriculum, and science feed into and from our understanding of images, how that has and can be used for both good means and bad - and how we can try to address the injustices of the past through a change in understanding what the community of knowledge is and can be.
For more information and to sign up, please visit the RPS here.
Image right by Chemi Dorje, of Photo Kathmandu
Online Course with Spazio Labo
I will be teaching an online course with Spazio Labo, starting March 18th.
Click here for more details and to sign up (early bird sign up till February 23rd).
Image from the Sydney Police Archive Specials
Writing for Photographers
Need a text for your project? Do you need some words to get to the heart of your project?
Need a statement that merges theory, practice and what makes your work so unique?
If you do, get in touch. I might be able to help.
Mentoring
I mentor photographers both highly experienced and those who are looking to add a critical element to their practice.
In these mentoring sessions we work together (both in-person and/or online) on how projects can be developed, how theory can tie into practice, how a visual voice can be developed, how text can add to image, how contemporary practice connects to a wider history of photography. If you've never studied photography, I will bring you up to speed on the theory and the practice.
Feel free to contact me with any questions if you are are interested.
Writing and Photography Workshop
My writing and photography workshops will be returning in the near future. Email me at colinpantall@yahoo.co.uk for more details.
Thank you all the participants who came to my writing and photography workshops in 2019 and 2020. We've had photographers, curators, journalists, students, curators, young photographers just starting out and artists come and the range of approaches has been exciting and stimulating.
Some Feedback: 'Really useful and insightful. Looking forward to articulating what my work means to me so that others can relate'. 5/5
'Absolutely delighted with the course, extemely pleased to go home and take it all in for the next few weeks.' 5/5
'It was really enjoyable and something that I wouldn't have got anywhere else.' 5/5
“Once again...welcome to my house. Come freely. Go safely; and leave something of the happiness you bring.” ― Bram Stoker, Dracula
WHAT
Writing and Photography is a one-day introductory workshop on the different ways you can write about photography – both your own photography and other people’s. Using interactive examples, the workshop will examine different forms of writing, the different voices it can be delivered with, finding your interests, how to start writing and escaping the academic voice.
If you have ideas, you can write, if you lack confidence in writing, this workshop will help you gain confidence.
WHO’S IT FOR?
It’s for anybody who is interested in writing about images..
Writing develops ideas, it makes connections, it enriches photography. This workshop is for people who want to expand how they think about and see their own photography. It’s for people who want to write about their own work and find ways to connect their way of seeing with viewers through writing.
It’s for people who want to write about photography, who think there are areas that are neglected or ignored in photography. It’s to give a written voice to those areas.
HOW AND WHY
One of the major blockages for people who want to write about photography is thinking there is one way of writing. There are many ways of writing about images. It does not have to be formal, academic, or an essay.
Using interactive activities with images, texts and key examples, participants will begin to identify ways of writing that match their personal style. They will look at starting points for getting their inspirations and ideas in a variety of written forms. By the end of the workshops, students will have writing ideas and approaches they can apply to their own work in the coming days, weeks and months. I
WHO AM I
I am a writer, photographer and lecturer in photography. I write regularly for publications including the British Journal of Photography, World Press Photo Witness, Magnum Photos, PH Museum of Humanity, Photomonitor, and Source Magazine. I co-edited and wrote Magnum China and have also written and edited texts for photographers including Cat Hyland, Laura El-Tantawy, Vincen Beeckman, and Amak Mahmoodian.
In addition to this, I have a background in teaching writing to learners with language barriers. Building confidence and developing both short-term and long-term strategies and frameworks of writing for participants of all levels is my speciality.
WHEN, WHERE, HOW MUCH
The next live workshop is now likely to be in 2021 given that Covid-19 is not going away anytime soon.
I will keep you posted on this.
Maximum number of participants: 10
BOOK NOW
Cost: £100 - payable via paypal – https://www.paypal.me/colinpantall
Or paypal using email colinpantall@yahoo.co.uk
Questions: Email me with any questions you may have at colinpantall@yahoo.co.uk