Lupin Leaves — Barnbaum

This workshop may be the most unusual — and the most effective — of any workshop offered on any program. We delve into what really interests you most? How can you convey your thoughts about that most effectively through your photographs?

This is what we deal with in this workshop, making it a very unusual workshop, and unusually effective. Those who have attended in the past have repeatedly remarked that they were apprehensive, perhaps even skeptical, about the workshop when applying, but found it to be the most worthwhile workshop they had ever attended. Photography is a communication between you, the photographer, and your viewers. This workshop is specifically geared to help you strengthen your statements about the subjects you find important, no matter what they are. We’ll provide the thoughts and the technical expertise — digitally or traditionally — to get you there.

Many photographers find it difficult to determine what subject matter truly attracts them. In this workshop, we’ll help solve that dilemma. Our discussions delve deeply into your true interests, and the answers are often very surprising.

You’ll see why light is the key to any photograph, because it's simply the only thing film or digital sensors record. The camera is merely the robot that focuses light sharply; you are the artist who makes the statement. Neither film nor digital sensors know a face from a mountain; you do! So you have to learn how to make the recorded light levels work for you to convey the essence of the face or the mountain to the viewer. You need the technical skills and artistic imagination to make it all work. This workshop helps with both.

Can creativity be taught? Can it be learned? A decade of presenting this workshop tells us that the answers to both questions are “yes.”

Most people think that all you need is a camera to be a photographer. But that's like thinking that all you need is a pencil to be a writer. You need more. In addition to "having a good eye," you have to train your eye to “see photographically,” to lead the viewer's eye to where you want it to go. 

What drives creativity? Why do some people create new and different images, while most people continue producing variations of the same things, getting “likes” from their social media? In this workshop we promote new thinking, new seeing, new understanding of the technical tools, and new approaches to your photography. You’ll find the insights during this workshop to be both startling and deeply meaningful to you.

Compiling a list of books, magazine, or videos that you feel have helped improve your own creative abilities, and sharing that list with others is another unique feature of this workshop. We also review each student's images, discussing all aspects of the work, from the technical side to the aesthetic side from the emotional side to the creative side. Bruce Barnbaum and invited guest lecturers show and discuss their own work, their thinking behind the imagery, their methods, and their materials…and they'll answer all questions you have about their thinking, their methods, their materials and their process. There are no secrets.

In this workshop you’ll find that Bruce serves primarily as a facilitator, but also a student if you will, looking for student feedback to improve his own creativity together with his other fellow “students.” Bruce says, “It’s never too late to learn, and if you’re not learning, you’re dead!”

Workshop Details: The workshop begins at 9:00 a.m., Monday morning, September, 8, 2025, following breakfast prepared and served by Bruce’s lovely wife, Karen, at their home. We request all students to arrive Sunday evening prior to the workshop (September 7), for dessert, wine, meeting one another and good vibes with the entire household, including Bruce’s and Karen's dogs. Breakfast, prepared by Karen, will be served each morning in the home. The workshop will end Friday, September 12, 2024, at about noon. But as you’ll learn during the workshop, it never really ends, as we maintain contact after we depart.

Covid-19 is still not defeated, but somewhat contained. We ask all participants to be fully vaccinated and boosted, including the most recent boosters by Moderna or Pfizer, made available recently (or coming soon). There is an exception for those who have a legitimate medical reason for avoiding such vaccinations. We do this on the honor system, acknowledging that nobody can be 100% safe from the virus, but let’s try to be as close to 100% as possible, especially since the workshop takes place inside a home.

To register for this workshop via the website, please return to the top of the page, and click on the button Add to Cart. Fill out the information, including your choice of a deposit ($250) or full payment ($1,375) for the workshop. Payment can be made easily via this website just by clicking on “Add to Cart” and following instructions. If you register with a deposit, the full payment is requested 6 weeks prior to the workshop. (If you are applying for more than one workshop, please do this separately for each workshop you wish to attend.)

The website accepts all major credit cards. If you prefer not to use a credit card as payment method, we accept registration with a check (deposit or full amount) and an application. Please download, print out, and fill out the the application (click on: Workshop-application.doc or Workshop-application.PDF). Specify whether you will pay the deposit or full payment, and make the check payable to Bruce Barnbaum. Mail the check with filled out application to the address below. We will notify you by email to confirm your resignation.

Bruce Barnbaum Workshops

P.O. Box 1791

Granite Falls, WA 98252

If you have specific questions, please contact Bruce by phone at (360) 691-4105 or by email: barnbaum@aol.com.