245 ☼ I'm Still Thinking About Saturday
Sharing doubts in a safe warm room and coming out better for it
Dear friends,
Last Saturday, thirteen photographers spent a full day together in London for the first ever in-person Develop Workshop, co-hosted by myself and Shane Taylor of Framelines. I can still feel the warm afterglow and I want to tell you what made it so special.
Sometime next week, we will share short video which will show you the room better than I can describe it, but for now I will share some stills in this issue.
The day started with Shane’s session, about finding one’s artistic voice. This is that mysterious special something that bubbles up underneath the photographs we make and make them uniquely our own. Shane ended with a collaborative work session that had the room full of genuine excitement as everyone leaned on and into each other, trading ideas and reactions, building on what Shane had opened up. It was such a lovely sight to behold, especially know it usually takes a group much longer to get there.
Then a short break, and it was time for my session, which focused on turning ideas into projects with a thought out plan and practical steps to take next. My goal is always to help you hone in on the idea that moves you most, crystalize the purest version of this idea, and then help you plan out the specific steps, goals, and tasks that get you to completion and publication.
To do so, I walk people through a set of core questions I usually only ask one-on-one, and the work happens on the page before we talk about it out loud. There’s lots of writing and thinking in my sessions, with practical examples from my own career.
Then in the second half, we talk as a group. And it was amazing. People shared, generously, and more than I expected. Project ideas and underneath the ideas, the doubts. Is this feasible? Is this too big? Is this worth doing?
My style of teaching is to create a safe space where I can gently push people to think more ambitiously, and to share my own experiences to map theirs onto. I want to demystify and encourage. For every doubt you have, I have three solutions or ideas because they were also my doubt. I have stories, I have failures, and I have successes.
The room held this energy so well. Someone would put a half-formed idea on the table, unsure, almost apologizing for it, and the room would catch it. Support, feedback, a gentle question that made it sharper. It was a warm room.
People felt like they could say the thing they weren't sure about and not feel small for it. I never allow any negative self-talk and gently shut it down when it pops up. In this room, things are possible and we are worthy of trying them out and giving it our best.
It’s so incredibly satisfying for me to watch people go from not quite sure to embracing excitement and feeling a level of control over their ideas that maybe they hadn’t yet felt. Vague ideas became clear ideas with a plan. People landed on the why of their project, and the what, and a real sense of the next step.
I push for goals bigger than we tend to set on our own, because I can tell you from experience that more is possible than we let ourselves believe. Press coverage. Showing the work publicly. Things that feel out of reach when you’re alone with the idea, and a lot less so when someone who’s done it is sitting across from you saying go further.
We ended with a photo walk, though honestly it was barely about photographing. It was thirteen people walking through London still talking about the projects that had surfaced, still working it out together. And then the most ridiculous, perfect ice cream before we all went our separate ways.
I felt full and not just from the ice cream! Thank you to everyone who attended. The afterglow I mentioned already has me excited for the next one. I also want to thank our friends at picdrop and the Zetter Bloomsbury who helped make the workshop possible with their support.
Next Workshop
Shane and I are doing the next one on Saturday, September 5, in London. Tickets and full details will go up in a week or two, and I’ll share them here as soon as they’re live.
If you want to be first in line, just reply to this email and let me know you’re interested to attend. I will make sure that the folks who do will hear about it before it goes public since the tickets go fast once public.
Here is a generous testimonial about this most recent one, from attendee Simon:
“I came to the workshop expecting to learn something new from Wesley and Shane, but I left with much more than that. Their depth of knowledge, passion, and enthusiasm for sharing their experience were truly inspiring. Beyond the photography itself, it was often a passing conversation or a simple comment that sparked new ideas, built my confidence, and opened my mind to new creative possibilities.” — Simon Jones
If you’d like to share this newsletter issue with a friend who might be interested in the next workshop, please do. You can use the button below.
Speaking up future workshops, Berlin is high on the wish list for us. The photo community there is one of my top favorite ones in Europe, and we’ve had an amazing Process Photowalk there with our friends at Safelight. It’s a great city to photograph as well. I wrote up a list of 10 of my favorite Berlin spots to photograph for the folks over at MPB, featuring photos by my friend Austin Fassino, a great Berlin-based photographer. Check it out here.
NEXT WEEK: Some thoughts on starting projects knowing they will end, and relieving ourselves from the pressures of long term thinking.
Warmly,
Wesley
P.S. Chapter 2 of 52 of my new series Creatives In/AMS was published. It’s about creative director and visual creative Victor Brangolo of Oedipus Brewing Company. Check out the chapter on the CI/AMS website or on IG.
P.P.S. All my film is developed by Carmencita Film Lab. They’re the best and they clearly love what they do. Use code PROCESS for a free upgrade.
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