Bucharest Street Photography Workshop

Bucharest: Exploring Your Vision

Join Davin and Aga Luczakowska for an intensive street photography workshop in Bucharest, Romania, 24-25 July 2010, one of Europe’s least known capitals.

The city is a beguiling place which still suffers from outdated Communist-era stereotypes. Well off the tourist track, there is a raw energy to Bucharest that has to be experienced to be believed. Globalization has yet to run its course here and a curious blend of old and new Europe exists side by side.

Bucharest suffered the worst of the former Eastern Bloc Communist regimes under dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. By 1989, Romania was a police state akin to North Korea with the feared Securitate (secret police) waging a war of psychological oppression against ordinary Romanians. Bucharest and its citizens emerged from Communism dramatically changed. The once elegant city had been stripped of its beauty and its citizens severely traumatized. But two decades since Ceausescu’s overthrow, Bucharest is finally poised for revitalization.

Although economic progress was slow in the 1990s, the last five years have seen nothing less than astounding change as banks began to make loans and the entire population went on a shopping spree for the first time. Today, the citiy is full of sharp contrasts. While the scars of Ceausescu are still visible, the city is forging a new identity. Some of the trendiest fashions and nightlife outside Moscow exist against a backdrop of spectacular urban decay and it remains to be seen what will become of the city known between The World Wars as “The Paris of the East”.

Since 2000, Davin has been transfixed by Romania. Immediately after finishing college he even went and lived for a year with peasants in a village in the Carpathian mountains lost somewhere in the 18th century. In 2007 Davin decided to base himself from Bucharest and has since fallen under its dark spell. In 2010 Aga joined him.

This is the first photo workshop of its kind ever to be held in Bucharest.

The pair will be working closely with workshop participants and providing daily critiques and group discussions. The goal of this workshop is to perfect one’s street shooting skills and the art of spontaneous photography by exploring Bucharest as well as how to edit – select and sequence your photographs -- intuitively. It’s a workshop open to amateurs and professionals alike. We will shoot during the day and edit in the evenings. Through group as well as one on one discussions of the best work, participants will see their picture making skills improve each day. Technical, theoretical and aesthetic issues will be discussed as attendees work towards honing their individual visions.

The workshop will begin with individual portfolio reviews and an expert tour of the historic center as well as lectures about Bucharest and its architecture by Romanian historian Valentin Mandache. Romanian reportage photographers will also join us, presenting and discussing their work and their own experiences of Bucharest. Davin and Aga will show their own photography as well as the work of classic masters.

The workshop is limited to 12 students.

WORKSHOP LOCATION: Café Verona at Carturesti

WORKSHOP FEE: €300.

Accommodation, transportation, meals, and other expenses are not included.

ACCOMMODATION: €15/night La Historia youth hostel
Hotel suggestions are available upon request.

REGISTRATION: The workshop is open to any professional or committed amateur who has knowledge of digital cameras and editing software. Participants must come with their own camera, laptop and editing software. All ages welcome!

PAYMENT: A non-refundable deposit of €100 is payable on confirmation of a place. The balance is due 4 weeks before the commencement of the workshop.

*Please check if you need a visa

Helpful links:

Bucharest In Your Pocket

Bucharest Life

Bios:

Aga and Davin are freelance photographers based between Katowice, Poland and Bucharest, Romania.

Aga studied in the US with National Geographic photographer Gerd Ludwig and National Geographic photo editor David Griffin. Later, she studied with photographers Stanley Greene, Alex Majoli and Lorenzo Castore At Masterclass Focus on Monferrato in Tuscany.
Davin worked at National Geographic photographer Steve McCurry's studio in New York and studied with photographers Eugene Richards, Ken Light, Constantine Manos, George Tice and Paul Lowe. In 2006 he completed an MA in documentary photography at The London College of Communication.

Aga has worked for Polish newspapers and magazines and her photographs have been published worldwide (Poland, Turkey, Germany, China, USA). She has won numerous awards including one from the Office for the City of Katowice, Poland, Newsweek Poland and National Geographic Magazine.

Davin has completed assignments for such publications as The International Herald Tribune, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Courrier Japon, Bloomberg News. His work has appeared in The New York Times and Der Spiegel and the book This Day of Change, among others. The recipient of the 2009 Portfolio Award at The Phodar Photography Biennial in Bulgaria, Davin has also won an honorable mention in Jen Bekman´s Hey! Hot Shot Contest in both 2008 and 2009. He has worked for various NGOs such as Leslie Hawke's Ovidiu Rom in Bucharest and The International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX).

Check out Davin's archive on Bucharest here.

Please contact us with any questions:


mail: luczakowskaellicson@gmail.com

phone: +40 754 928 306