12 Bahraini photographers shared in a two day workshop with Julia Baier and Stefan Stark, hosted by the Shaikh Ebrahim bin Mohammed Al Khalifa Center for Culture & Research, their photos and ideas about reality and its rendition in camera shots.
The event started with an introductory lecture by Stefan Stark, explaining the development of photography and the challenges photographers have met when catching reality through the lenses and the means of a camera.
Julia Baier then presented her artwork and talked about the details and challenges a photographer faces when aiming for the perfect picture.
The Bahraini photographers engaged in a very lively discussion with the German peers. Beyond the technical and artistic themes of photographing, they discussed ethical and culture related conditions that photographers meet and have to deal with. All of them had prepared a series of pictures taken in their immediate neighborhood. These pictures were then displayed and examined with the workshop title DO YOU TRUST ME in mind. The compilation of the photos under various aspects were jointly discussed, and all artists brought in their knowledge and skills as well as their opinions and emotions on how a series can be optimized. The Bahraini artists very much enjoyed the peer discussion with the two Germans. As a local Bahraini artists, Camille Zakharia enriched the discussions with his experience and knowledge.
Workshop with Peter Bialobrzeski
A further workshop with award winning photo artist
Peter Bialobrzeski followed on 20 and 21 January 2017.
Two days of reflecting how the history of photography informs, challenges and enables the artist and photographer to address the issues of trust, truth and credibility in photography.
The workshop consisted of conversations, discussions and reviewing participants’ own photographs. The question of "truth" was an integral part of the debate in the workshop. The participants had the chance to discuss with Peter the extended possibilities of the digital image making and the way it changes our perception of a photograph. How is a place being represented in contemporary photographic practice? How was it represented by painters?