Weekend with William Albert Allard

This past weekend Jacquie and I had the fortune of doing an on location seminar with National Geographic's most published photographer of all time. Having had no formal training as a photographer and having never taken a course or really read any books on the subject- I was understandably intimidated that I would be shooting and critqued by one of the best of all time. My work is essentially the result of a lot of trial and error and a whole lot of studying others' pictures. I have learned more from looking at Bill Allard's photos than those of all other photographers combined. His work really speaks to me and moves me but I don't have the language to articulate how or why.

I think perhaps one of the reasons is the intimacy that he captures in his photos. Primarily a people photographer he has an ability to find candid moments and catch subjects at the exact right time. His photos pull you in and make you think you know something about the subject. I think I've heard an interview where he says that his objective is to take photos of people in a way that someone who speaks a different language on a different continent far removed from the subject- can feel like they know them.

The one thing I picked up on when I saw Bill speak a year ago as the keynote speaker at the Calgary Photo Summit was that he always referred to "making photos". He would say, "I made this photo in Paris..." I thought this was really interesting at the time and don't think I fully understood it until this past weekend. Through the time I spent one on one with him and through the critiques I realized how difficult photography really is to do well. I've heard Bill say before that it is actually more difficult to do well than painting or drawing because you can't omit things in the same manner you do with brush strokes in these other art forms. The environment in which you are working gives you the elements and its up to you what you do with them and how you frame or compose your image. Minute details and slight changes in perspective yield immensely different pictures and really determine how successful an image is. As he says its all a puzzle that you put together and then you take it apart and put it back together better.

The goal for me after this weekend is to completely submerge myself in photography whenever I can so that all of these lessons Bill taught me can seep into my subconscious. I want to get to the point where I don't have to think when I raise my camera to my eye because my subconscious is telling me what kind of composition will work. I'm a ways away from that but I cant think of a better teacher or experience to get me started down that path.

Huge thanks to William Albert Allard for his patience, sense of humour, willingness to share stories and impart knowledge to the 15 of us who spent the weekend with him. Its an experience I will never forget.

Here are a few shots from the weekend.