Photography and poetry in Dublin - Magnum photographer Stuart Franklin

ABOUT THE WORKSHOP
We have found the most beautiful and charming place to stay for the weekend. We will create a good frame for entering a world full of poetry in these wonderful settings. To read, to understand, to get an inner vision for transforming the words to a visual language with your camera. Stuarts idea of doing this workshop is to limit your options as a photographer and get ONE poem and work on it for three days, maybe even longer. To try, to photograph, to fail, to go back and do it again and push yourself up to another level.

Stuart will have inspiring lectures, go through your daily work, give feedback and advices. We will have good conversation, discussion and get new friends. Every evening we are social and have dinner together. For sure we will pop into the pub to feel the atmosphere as well. The hotel is located close to the centre, only a short bus-drive away so we get both countryside and city-feeling.

WELCOME TO BEAUTIFUL AND POETIC DUBLIN
Ireland has rich literary traditions and is the country with the many famous writers and poets. Check out; Seamus Heaney, William Butler Yeats, James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, Samuel Beckett, Louis MacNeice, to name a few. "The Irish mist", the soft light created for the camera is famous for photographers. Beautiful for portraits. And as Frode Grytten once wrote about Dublin: “Annoying. Overrated. Moody. Messy and unfinished. Chaotic and anarchic. Lopsided and weird. A bluff. All at once: Rain, sun, laughter, tears.” And he continues: “In Dublin, there is still something one can love: poetry, conversation, music, beer, the river, the sea, the sky, people warming on a bench when the sun finally finds its way.” That not to forget around the year 840, Norwegian Vikings arrived and built a fortress in the area. The city became the seat of a Norwegian kingdom. In 852 the Danish Vikings took control, and the following years were marked by fighting between the Irish and Danes / Norwegians. In Norway, they are often referred to as a Norwegian Viking kingdom, while in Ireland and the United Kingdom they are referred to as "Danes". Today, Dublin is the administration centre, university city and holiday destination for travellers with a sense of true Irish art and tradition. The cultural life in the city is particularly vibrant and exciting with concerts, theatre, exhibitions and other cultural elements. As a regular pub feature at many of the pubs in Ireland is session. Would you like to play? Bring the "horn" and come. To the great pleasure of the pub guests. Come and have fun with us!

Stuart Franklin was born in UK and lives in London. In addition to being a photographer he is an author (The Documentary Impulse) who has also trained as a geographer. However, he began his career as a news photographer for The Sunday Times and Sunday Telegraph Magazine in London. He is now one of the leading photographers in the world's most esteemed photography agency Magnum Photos. The agency was founded in 1947 and has the world's best photojournalists as its members. During the period 2006-2009 Stuart was the agency's president. He has had a range of prestigious assignments for National Geographic Magazine, but it was during the demonstrations at Tiananmen Square in China in 1989 that he was really in the right place at the right time. His picture of the man with the shopping bags holding back a column of Chinese T59 tanks has become an icon. Stuart has helped document, and consistently helped focus world attention on, famine in the Sudan, the conflict in Northern Ireland and the civil war in Sri Lanka, as well as bombings and massacres around the world. One thing is indisputable; this man does not shy away from a conflict zone. His artistic expression is just as bold, and his work is both provocative and moving. Stuart is a passionate advocate of freedom of expression, and his pictures sometimes cross the boundaries of some people's notions of political correctness.

These days, Stuart no longer hunts down conflicts and war zones. The natural world has become his focus and his passion is landscapes, deep dives into nature and the splendour of the Norwegian coastline. In order to be able to photograph the area more intensively, he bought a cabin in the municipality of Midsund. People who are born and bred in the countryside sometimes spend little time appreciating the beauty of nature. Stuart sees it clearly and acknowledges the difficulty involved in capturing it with photography. Despite the fact that he has photographed landscapes all over the world, Stuart says the Romsdal coast has proven to be more of a challenge than he imagined: its wildly contrasting light and weather conditions are the main factors he faces. Lucky then that he is a patient soul. For the last six years Stuart has worked as a professor, teaching master's students in photo-documentary at Volda University College. He also teaches photography at SPEOS, Paris and at Hannover University of Arts and Sciences. His most recent and ongoing project focuses on landscape and literature.

ACCOMONDATION IN DUBLIN
Contemporary, modern, relaxed and informal is the atmosphere at Clayton Hotel Ballsbridge. A glowing red-brick Victorian mansion transformed into a comfortable hotel in the heart of Dublin’s embassy belt. Situated close to Dublin City centre, this 335 bedroom hotel is a beautifully restored 19th century building originally built as a Masonic School. Boasting spacious ensuite accommodation in Ballsbridge with superbly appointed features, this Dublin City hotel is popular with guests and locals alike. The hotel is easily accessible from Dublin Airport by road and Aircoach. Situated so the hotel provides an ideal base for visiting this great city’s many attractions for example Grafton Street, The Guinness Store House and Trinity College. All participants will share a room with one singel and one double bed. You will have to share a room with one other participant of the same gender and if you have a preference please let us know when you register.

For more information and registration:
http://www.blueberryphotography.no/workshops/photographya...rtfranklin