Mike Seaborne: Photographing the Urban Landscape (Workshop)

Saturday May 2nd, 10am-4:30pm
St James Church, 197 Piccadilly, London W1J 9LL (enter at side stairwell)

Cost: £28 LIP Member ( £25 concession); £32 Non-Member
12 places

This workshop begins with Mike showing examples of his urban landscape work from the 1980s to the present, outlining themes and techniques. He will then lead a photographic walk through the West End exploring the variety of buildings and urban spaces. Each participant should bring a digital camera to shoot with. Returning to base, we will collectively critique a selection of images taken by each participant on the walk.

Mike Seaborne is both a photographer and Senior Curator of Photographs at the Museum of London. He lectures and writes on photography and in 1995 he curated the landmark exhibition, 'Photographer's London, 1839-1994' and wrote the accompanying book.

Participants' Images and Experiences in the Workshop

1. Mayfair, May I?
2. Soho Modern: Lean Back - On the tiny streets of Soho the city is being built up and wide. Lean back.
3. Endless Possibilities - Soho captivates the mind and the spirit with endless possibilities and endless vistas of architecture both new and old. It can be overwhelming at first until we stop and look and give way to take it in from every direction.

Tracey Delaney says "The Mike Seabourne workshop was part overview, part exploration of Soho & Mayfair and part sharing & critique. Mike shared at the beginning his rich knowledge about London, its structures, its history and how to notice the built world around us. The group then - equipped with new lenses, metaphorically - explored Soho & Mayfair, a representative juxtaposition of the city called London itself, with Mike and before our eyes we began to see, notice the city the always changes, is built and rebuilt and perserved. Finishing off the day, we regrouped to appreciate the many different ways in which we saw London with expert advice from Mike and participants on how we may see, frame and express even better. Overall, a wonderful opportunity to see, reflect and look up at the city we pass through (everyday) at a hurried pace at street level."

Giovanni Frisari says "The whole workshop was much harder than I was expecting. After watching some great photos on London's urban landscapes by Mike, I set off to the shooting in Soho with great ambitions but was soon faced with an overwhelming amount of details, colours, moving parts to take into account. Having Mike with us was helpful in solving quick issues as they came along (e.g. managing the contrast between the sky and the shadows in such a sunny day). At the end I settled for less crowded places (back alleys) and particulars rather than full frame landscapes. After the 3-hours walk-and-shoot I was knackered and a bit disappointed, at first, with the picutres- however, after a couple of days cooling off, the photos seem to me much more interesting. The review session was very interesting, as we could discuss and comment each other's pictures and see how we all had tackle the task in slightly different ways. It was a pity, though, that Mike didn't show us his photos of the day..."

Lesley Parkinson says "The day began with Mike showing us some of his work which inspired us all to go out and take our own pictures. Mike took us around parts of Soho and Mayfair and after nearly three hours, I was in photo overload. I found it hard to concentrate on any particular theme, as there was just such much to see and so many distractions! It was interesting during the review time to see what other participants had photographed."

"I think the workshop has inspired me to look more closely at what the term “urban environment” means, is it the buildings, the streets, the people, or the interaction they have with each other? I plan to revisit some of the areas we went to and spend more time in a particular area allowing me to become familiar with the location."