Foto:RE photogs assemble and get meta in WR

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Y’all know how I love to photograph photographers, and even more fun is to talk photography with them.  And leveling up from there is to talk about how to create/extend a thing in our community that facilitates excellence/learning/sharing/collaboration around photography.  I caught up with some friends Thursday night to talk about just such a catalyst.

Foto:RE is the invention of Mark Walton and Sean Puckett, with Jen King, Karl Griffiths-Fulton, and a raft of others pitching in.  The group is at least a couple of years old now, with some successes under the belt and self-reflection in progress as they look to the future.

Hey, before you switch channels: Foto:RE is getting together on the Third Thursday of April in a TBD venue to review photos among whomever shows up.  So get off your sofa, and bring one (1) print or digital instance of one of *your* photos and we’ll sit around and critique each other’s work.  Expect respectful and constructive honesty there.  Get your unconditional love where everyone does: mom.  Goals are to improve your skills and iterate.  And make friends.  Follow @foto_re or me on twitter to catch details.

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I met Mark Walton (right) through some work with Art Allies back in 2011 and covered his show “shift” at The Button Factory.  We crossed orbits again in a series of urban exploration shoots organized by Cathy Farwell, hitting up the now-gone RMS plant on Glasgow and later the American Standard plant in Hespeler.

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Come to think of it, I got to know Sean Puckett (above) in person on those gigs, too.  You may remember Sean’s cool project Portrait of Kitchener that showed at The Rotunda.

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And since we’re exploring the wonderful web of players in WR, here’s Jen King who I connected with through Art Allies guru Jacqui Murphy.  When Jen isn’t working on Foto:RE, she’s Exec Directing the social good we call Social Venture Partners Waterloo Region which runs a charity photo auction each year, bringing us back to photography.  See how that all knits together?

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New friend for me at this meetup was accomplished pro photog and UW instructor Karl Griffiths-Fulton.  He brings 25+ years of professional experience starting in his native Northern Ireland to other international locales.  This highlights a topic of discussion we had: how do you guide Foto:RE so it has something to offer pros and beginners and those in between?

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Hey, Joe Martz(!) and I paired up for the most fun gig of 2013: our Night\Shift bike-face LED-lit “photo-booth”.  Joe’s been showing his work… everywhere.  I first met him at BOX Art and saw his work at the SVP 8×10 show.  He’s done a lot of work shooting architecture and is working on a large-print commission (if I understood the story of challenges moving a 5+ foot print, correctly).  And the point of all this is to start to characterize the awesome mass of photography talent here and show some faces behind Foto:RE, thus helping you surmount your social anxiety threshold and getting us all together in real life.

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Sna…

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…cks!

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Artist/Photog Terry Torra (right), dropped by with Linda (centre) and Sam.  Correct me if I got those names wrong.

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Sam brought her work-in-progress photo book that captures her five month tour around various parts of the world.  High-five for busting out the work.

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Time flew by and I probably talked too much on some ideas to engage the broader community.  Quoting from the book of kwartzlab.  Regular cadence of meetups is a good start, so save your Third Thursdays of the next couple of months and come out and talk photography with Foto:RE.  And bring a photo.  And a friend.  This is what community looks like.

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Engage.

DW

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  1. Pingback: Pop-up photo review success | makebright

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