Expressions in Black & White - A Photography Retreat

Cre­at­ing a black and white image is a huge devi­a­tion to cre­at­ing a colour image and one that all pho­tog­ra­phers should explore dur­ing their pho­to­graph­ic jour­ney. It requires both a dif­fer­ent way of see­ing, a change in the mind and the nur­tur­ing of an apti­tude to reveal the sump­tu­ous images that can be made. It is these dif­fer­ences in skills that we will focus on dur­ing our time togeth­er and har­ness­ing an under­stand­ing of the dif­fer­ences that will enable you to become a black and white artist. In some ways, when con­sid­er­ing black and white pho­tog­ra­phy, the input of the artist can be more impor­tant than the sub­ject or real­i­ty and the raw cam­era file serves only as the start­ing point.

All expres­sive black and white images start with the mind and the soul of the pho­tog­ra­ph­er and your vision of how you see your sur­round­ings. It is this expres­sion of vision and the abil­i­ty to delve greater into your cre­ative work which is some­thing that we will explore in depth dur­ing this Retreat. Through shar­ing and dis­cus­sions, we will explore how pho­tog­ra­phers want their work to look. We will endeav­our to be curi­ous and unveil the hid­den world beyond colour and objective

Through­out the Retreat Paul Gal­lagher and Michael Pilk­ing­ton will work with you side by side to encour­age and devel­op your approach to your work and help you with black and white image inter­pre­ta­tion, image edit­ing and mak­ing prints. Black and white pho­tog­ra­phy is not about strict rules that sti­fle expres­sion, so we want you to express your­self in what­ev­er way you choose. No mat­ter what your lev­el of expe­ri­ence we will be there to encour­age and inspire in an entire­ly non-judge­men­tal way.

For this retreat we have cho­sen two main envi­ron­ments in which to work, the wood­lands and heath­lands of Sus­sex. We will encour­age you to take your time and devel­op a vision of how you would like the land­scape you are sur­round­ed by to look like in black and white. We will have a ded­i­cat­ed room back at our hotel in which we can hold dis­cus­sions and work in peace and tran­quil­li­ty. Paul and Michael will hold evening lec­tures to share their expe­ri­ences of work­ing in black and white over many years. Dur­ing our time you will enjoy the high­est qual­i­ty accom­mo­da­tion and fine meals which are all included. 

Each pho­tog­ra­ph­er will pro­duce a unique port­fo­lio of three A2 prints on a paper of their choice which will be pre­sent­ed in a fine art port­fo­lio box.