[Leica] Photography at the Summit - David Alan Harvey (long)

[Doc748@aol.com]

Dear Friends,

I just returned from Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where I attended the Photography
at the Summit Workshop.  This workshop is put out annually by Rich Clarkson
& Associates from Denver, Colorado.  Rich is a former Director of
Photography and Sr. Assistant Editor of National Geographic.

The Workshop: the teaching method is based on the "assignment" or "project"
method, unlike most of the other traditional method of teaching, which are
based on the how-to-method.  Basically, you are encouraged to undertake a
project for the week that is different than what you would normally do at
home, i.e., if you are a sport photographer, your project should be, let's
say, in wildlife photography.  The workshop is aimed to the professional or
aspiring professional photographer.  In our workshop we had a variety of
experience, from the seasoned professional to a high school senior student.
Regarding cameras, there was a variety ranging from aps to the latest Canon
and Nikon offerings.  Including myself, there were four students using
Leicas, the majority were M-6's.

The Instructors: the workshop strives to have a mix of magazine
photographers and editors.  As you can imagine, the slant of the workshop is
toward magazine professionals. However, we had some young photojournalists
(freelancers), a couple of photogs from L.A. who work for AP, and a lot of
freelancers.  The instructors were: James Stanfield, National Geographic
(NG)(60 major stories in the magazine), David Alan Harvey, NG and Magnum
photographer, Dave Black, freelances for Newsweek magazine, Maryanne Golon,
photo editor TIME magazine and former director of photography U.S. News and
World Report, Keith Bellows, editor in chief NG Traveler magazine, and other
less famous but nevertheless noted photographers.

Instruction: pretty much we were free to choose from amongst the instructors
and work with them the assignment for the week and the how we should
accomplish it.  Obviously, I and 7 other people chose David Alan Harvey
(DAH).  DAH looked at our portfolios first before finalizing the assignment.
In my case, he ripped my modest portfolio as having too many pictures and
very static (read: not too many people pictures).  After that, we settled on
my project, which was to photograph the town square: the square itself,
shops, people around the plaza, people in the shops, etc.  Later on in the
week, as my project was taking form, I spent more time with James Stansfield
(JS).  I cannot say enough how DAH and JS were helpful to other students and
myself.  They helped review our daily shooting and also in the editing.  One
important aspects of the workshop is the critique session, which is daily.
We would edit every morning and then submit 3-5 pictures to be critiqued by
the instructors with you present.  There was tremendous feedback from the
instructors both bad and good, and this spur you to do better next time.
One other informal instruction was the nightly meeting after school at the
Silver Dollar Saloon, where we were free to discuss any topic with the
instructors.

Bonus instruction: last Thursday afternoon a small group of students were
supposed to go with DAH to town to show us how he works.  However, as soon
as we came in that morning, we were told of the upcoming parade in the town
of Afton (about an hour and fifteen minutes away) for Rulon Gardner, the
Olympic winner in the Greco-Roman wrestling.  DAH made the decision to go
"cover" live the event, and we took off for Afton.  In Afton we fanned out
along the parade route and pretty much covered the whole event.  DAH was
furiously covering the parade at the platform and truly was a pleasure to
see this guy shooting away with his little M-6 and 35mm f1.4ASPH.  He
reloads real fast and rarely misses a shot.  It was funny seeing him work
amongst the national media with Canon and Nikon gear and the ultra zoom
lenses.  Let me tell you, this guy is aggressive in picture taking
situations and he really comes close to the subject to fill the frame. The
police was friendly and let us work unchecked.  The only problem that I
encountered was trying to get some elbowroom from the video photographers,
these people hog the front line and do not let you shoot at all.  The
national media still photographers would take a shot and then step out to
let you do your thing.  But he video guys were impossible, as a matter of
fact; the high school senior student was alongside me and was whacked in the
head by a swinging video camera.  The videographer never said he was sorry.
When I related the incident to JA, he told me to get used to it.  On Friday
afternoon there was a presentation of the pics and they tell me there were
fantastic (I was flying back to Miami).  Maryanne Golon tried to get two
pics in TIME magazine, but later that day I learned she was turned down by
the mag.

Summary:  I learned a lot.  I learned how to do a portfolio, how to approach
a story, assignment or project, and more importantly, how to talk to
strangers to help me in my story.  I talked to store managers, bartenders
and people on the street, and luckily I was never turned down this time
around.  Also, just being with DAH in the R. Gardner parade shoot made my
week.  This photographer is a hell of a talent and it was nice to spend time
"on the job" with him.  Last but not least, by the end of the week I was
almost a master of my camera (M-6 TTL and 35mm Summicron) and the mantra
that DAH would repeat to us during the week: one camera, one lens, one film
(I think HCB used to say that).

Javier Montiel
Coral Gables, Fl.