Friday, August 15, 2008

Maine and Me

It's my last full day up in Rockport, Maine and the classes at the Maine Media Workshops conclude tonight for the week. It's a bittersweet feeling being up here for the 3rd time- I'm a little disappointed that I didn't get as many great photographs as I would've liked and the experience wasn't what I've had in the past. Unfortunately Bob Sasha had to cancel and I would've loved to spend some time with him.

I did get to talk with Lauren Greenfield who is an amazing photographer and filmmaker. She presented her latest documentary Kids + Money which will air in December on HBO and it was pretty awesome. I've always loved her work with teenage kids especially her book Fast Forward. Her work was quite profound, I was especially moved by her film Thin which is about anorexics in treatment.

I also saw a screening of Pucker Up: The Fine Art of Whistling by Kate Davis and David Heilbroner which was fantastic as well. It was a great lighthearted documentary about the whistling championships in Louisburg, N.C. They also brought along the world champion in whistling Geert Chatrou to do some live songs. He whistled a few jazz classics along with David on guitar then did one with his son who was performing for the first time. It was so much fun seeing him perform after watching the film.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am considering attending another workshop in Maine. Your comment about not having the kind of experience you previously had intrigues me. Could you elaborate?

Needlesville, N.Y. said...

Sure, it wasn't terrible but the spirit of the workshops was a bit different this time around. David sold the workshops and it is now a non-for-profit. It feels a bit less like an art commune and more like a traditional college. It's not bad, just different. I have taken 2 workshops in the past and found both inspirational so maybe this one was just a bad fit.