Developing the Personal Project
Level 2-4
Phil Borges
Workshop:
Saturday & Sunday, June 23rd & 24th
9am-5pm
$450
Lecture:
Saturday, June 23rd 7:30pm
FREE
This workshop will focus on bringing greater depth, context, and purpose to your photography. Working with renowned photographer and humanitarian Phil Borges, you’ll learn to connect the issues you care about with the imagery you create. You’ll see how exploring an issue through personal stories and biography can make your photographs resonate on a deeper level. Phil will share how he works with his subjects to get pictures that go beyond simple portraits.
He’ll also share his methods for developing rapport with portraiture subjects to create more nuanced and truthful images. The workshop will also focus on the process of building a personally meaningful photographic project from initial conception to creation and distribution. Phil will also discuss working with corporations and NGO’s to help finance and distribute photographic projects. Reviews of student work and a discussion of student goals will round out the class.
Students should bring images to share and discuss.
Register for this workshop at least one month prior to the start date. Withdrawals or refunds must have at least 30 days’ notice. There are no exceptions. If a class is cancelled, Newspace will refund only the class fee, not travel or hotel expenses. Newspace is not responsible for and will not refund any non-tuition expenses for any reason.
Who Should Attend
All photographers are welcome in this workshop. Students should have a solid working knowledge of their equipment and a desire to take their portraiture practice to a more meaningful and personal level.
About
For over twenty years Phil Borges has lived with and documented indigenous and tribal cultures around the world. Through his work, he strives to create a heightened understanding of the issues faced by people in the developing world.
Through his exhibits and award-winning books, Phil attempts to create a relationship between the audience and his photographic subjects. “I want the viewer to see these people as individuals, to know their names and a bit of their history, not just to view them as an anonymous part of some remote ethnic or tribal group.”
His book Tibetan Portrait: The Power of Compassion, introduces individuals from a deeply spiritual culture who have been marginalized and displaced by the occupation of their homeland. In Tibet: Culture on the Edge Phil returns to Tibet to discover climate change, technology and land development have placed a land and a culture on the edge of disappearing. In 1998 he joined Amnesty International to present “Enduring Spirit,” an exhibit and book celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. His exhibit and book The Gift highlights the work of medical teams that provide facial reconstructive surgery to children in the developing world. Women Empowered is a celebration of remarkable women in developing countries making extraordinary differences in their worlds.
Phil has hosted three television documentaries for Discovery and National Geographic as a part of a series that investigates indigenous cultures that still maintain a spiritual dialogue with the natural world.
Phil’s current project, Stirring the Fire is a call to action and a celebration of women and girls, mostly in the developing world, who have broken through barriers of tradition and oppression to become catalysts for change in their communities. With the travelling exhibition and website of the same name, the goal of STF is to raise awareness about the issues women and girls face and to inspire individuals to get involved.
Phil’s photographs are collected and exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide. His award-winning books have been published in four languages and in 1998 he was presented the Photo Media Magazine “Photoperson of the Year” award. In December, 2003 Phil was honored with the Humanitarian Award, receiving the Lucie at the 1st Annual International Photography Awards. In 2005 he was named a Giraffe Hero for his humanitarian work. Phil teaches and lectures internationally and is co-founder of Blue Earth Alliance, a 501c3 that sponsors photographic projects focusing on endangered cultures and threatened environments.
In 2001, Phil founded Bridges to Understanding, an on-line classroom program that connects youth worldwide through digital storytelling for the purpose of exploring and honoring cultural diversity. Volunteer mentors helped the Bridges students create photo-stories of their lives that are then uploaded and shared with students in other parts of the world. He lives with his family in Seattle.