About Those Assignment Awards

Okay, so you may know that on the final night of the Workshop, awards are given in the form of assignments or small scholarships, gift certificates or equipment, internships and the like.

I want to make it clear that in my experience, these awards are NOT based on how well you shoot your assignments at the workshop.  They are based on general attitude of professionalism, on your work as shown at the 11:30 club or just sitting around, and other things, but for the years I've been involved with the workshop, I cannot think of an instance where your take during the weekend of the workshop has led to an award.  On the other hand, almost all awards were given, I would say, based on a history of strong work and, even more so, great work ethic, professionalism, attitude, helpfulness, maturity, leadership.  You know: the kind of qualities editors want when they send a shooter out for the first time.

I say this so that you can best relax on your shoot, roll with it if anything goes wrong (and it does!  I have some stories that I will be happy to share without naming names), and put your best foot forward at the 1130 Club.  I want you to enjoy the weekend and the total immersion in the craft, to make a lot of friends and contacts.  We will not stress.

Thanks guys!

Late Tour

I spent yesterday driving through Sullivan, Ulster, Orange and Delaware Counties of Upstate New York to check on my assignments.  Mostly, I wanted to make sure they were all "go", because the recent post-hurricane flooding had washed out a lot of bridges and closed things down.  Whole towns, in fact.

But it was a gorgeous autumn day, the kind the Eddie Adams Workshop is famous for.  Pumpkins were already on the porches and with the window down the air smelled variously of smoking chimneys and fallen leaves.  I stopped at an apple stand and picked up a bag of Cortlands and homemade doughnuts & coffee (free!).  My last stop of the day was at eel fisherman Ray Turner's smokehouse, and I left with three pounds of smoked salmon, cured in late summer honey and brown sugar.  Ray's weir is mostly under water, so we'll see if that assignment pans out.  I'm hopeful.

Bundle up!  There's definitely a snap in the air.  See you all soon.

Almost there...

...a couple more things to add to your checklist of stuff to bring. 

This is most important: bring a sandisk card (the little one -- not the CF card that goes in most cameras).  This is because each of you will be given a GoPro camera to use in small part for your assignment, and it only takes a sandisk card.  It's very important you bring one along.  You can pick up one at CVS or Staples.

Also, you may want to bring a GPS if you are driving.  One reason is, because we are the sports team and our subject is adventure sports, we will be traveling a little farther than everyone else to get to our assignments.  I'll have maps for you but GPS's are cool.

Warm weather clothing is a good idea, as well.

Back on Board....

...after a harrowing couple of weeks where I was unable to access this blog & board.  I almost set up a brand-new one, but here we are.

I have a couple things to mention:

IF YOU OWN A GOPRO CAMERA, please oh please bring it with you.  And let me know if you have one and are bringing it.  We are scrambling to get enough for the whole team.  This is a very simple camera that shoots video and stills and is so small you can mount it just about anywhere.  Very useful.


IF YOU HAVE A FEAR OF HEIGHTS, please drop me an email so I can take this into consideration when making assignments.

DON'T FORGET TO BRING whatever you need to show at the 11:30 Club, be it business cards, your physical book, your laptop.

Once again, the weather looks fabulous for this weekend.

Sorry about the incommunicado, guys.  See you soon!

Suzy