Announcing the winners of The 1000 Words Award

1000 Words is proud to announce the results of the inaugural 1000 Words Award for European photographers.

Having attracted considerable interest from a diverse spectrum of committed and passionate photographers, the standard of the open submissions was exceptionally high. And while the deliberations were difficult, the judges selected in their opinion, four photographers who could most benefit from the mentoring and workshop experience and go on to produce interesting and innovative bodies of work from having the time to focus on their practice.

In total, 348 submissions were received from 24 EU member countries.

The winners are: Henrik Malmström (b. 1983, Finland), Lucy Levene (b.1978, United Kingdom), Tereza Zelenkova (b. 1985, Czech Republic) and Virgílio Ferreira (b. 1970, Portugal).

At the core of my practice I seek to destabilise different subjects by reassessing their potential as metaphors for broader questions surrounding photography’s capability for representation and its relationship with the real. My latest work is an installation that comprises of a series of black and white photographs and several objects from my personal collection. This work can be understood as a metaphor for the night as a time associated with both inspiration and imagination, but also melancholia, solitude and isolation. The darkness of the night, like the darkness inside a camera, is a space where images are conjured. Here I am not really interested in the images brought to us by dreams but rather by that point of insomniac vigilance when one can no longer recognise what’s a dream and what’s reality; when familiar objects start to take on shapes of something else, undergoing a sort of metamorphoses. Tereza Zelenkova

A series of un-staged images taken in an Edinburgh nightclub. The title is from the poem by Maya Angelou; Come, And Be My Baby.
Lucy Levene

This series deals with ideas of intangibility related to states of being, by capturing candid moments of anonymous people in the streets of London. In these pictures I attempt to evoke those feelings of vulnerability, bewilderment, impermanence and solitude, which are related to the uncertain times that we live in. They are haunted depictions of our world, and maybe they reflect us.

In these photo-chemical experiments the use of light has a double function: it both records and destroys the information in the picture, denying any secure reality. These manipulations are made on the moment of capture, and all the process of image transformations happens inside the apparatus. Virgílio Ferreira

My work up until now has always been connected to home and identity. I like to challenge myself into finding new perspectives and angles in a search for how things can be represented. Sometimes it can appear as fiction, but still there is always a deeper social aspect to it.
Henrik Malmström  

The 1000 Words Award for European photographers is a major initiative in collaboration with The Other European Travellers, a project co-ordinated by Cobertura Photo and co-organised by Atelier de Visu, 1000 Words and Festival Voci di Foto in partnership with Magnum Photos. It is part-funded by The Education Audiovisual and Culture Exchange Agency (EACEA) under the auspices of the EU Culture Programme.

Photographers were invited through open submission to apply for an opportunity to realise a new body of work with the supervision of several high-profile photographers and industry experts.

The 1000 Words Award includes:

• £1,000 cash prize

• 18 month mentorship programme

• 3 workshops with Jeffrey Silverthorne, Antoine d’Agata and Patrick Zachmann in London, Marseille and Seville respectively, including financial assistance with accommodation and travel

• Travelling group exhibition through the UK, France, Spain and Italy

• Catalogue and DVD

• Feature in 1000 Words Photography Magazine.

The 1000 Words Award selection panel were:

• Simon Baker, Curator of Photography at Tate

• Brett Rogers, Director of The Photographers’ Gallery, London

• Dewi Lewis, Director at Dewi Lewis Publishing

• Tim Clark and Michael Grieve, Editors at 1000 Words Photography Magazine.

The 1000 Words Award and The Other European Travellers have been supported, in part, by The Education Audiovisual and Culture Exchange Agency (EACEA).

1000 WORDS WORKSHOP WITH BORIS MIKHAILOV IN FEZ, MOROCCO, 5-9 NOVEMBER 2012

© Boris Mikhailov

1000 Words is greatly honoured to announce our next workshop with the Ukrainian artist/photographer Boris Mikhailov in Fez, Morocco (5-9 November 2012). This is a very rare occasion to learn from one of the most highly-regarded contemporary photographers from the field of art and documentary.

"As a photographer with unofficial authority I discover, I observe, I clandestinely stalk." Boris Mikhailov

BORIS MIKHAILOV:

Born in 1938, Boris Mikhailov is one of the most important photographers to have emerged from the former USSR. Starting photography in the 1960’s his work transgressed the moral and political dictates of the Soviet Regime. Although often engaged in the social disintegration affecting his country his work is subjectively rooted, dealing with the profound concerns of vulnerability and mortality. He has exhibited in numerous galleries and museums around the world notably the Tate Modern, Saatchi Gallery, MOMA, and The Photographers’ Gallery, London. His projects Case History, The Wedding, Unfinished Dissertation, Look at Me I Look at Water, have been published as books. Boris Mikhailov was the recipient of the prestigious Hasselblad Award in 2000 and the Citibank Photography Prize in 2001.

ABOUT THE WORKSHOP:

The 1000 Words Workshop takes place in an authentically restored riad situated in the medieval medina, at the heart of the beautifully evocative city of Fez, Morocco. The workshop will be an intense experience lasting five days between 5-9 May 2012 and will consist of 12 participants. The medina is a vibrant labyrinth that will permeate all the senses. Surrounded by the Atlas Mountains, it offers a visually stunning backdrop for this truly unique workshop.

We are looking for a diverse range of participants who understand the work of Boris Mikhailov and feel that their own art will benefit from his guidance. 

PRACTICAL INFORMATION:

The cost of the workshop will be £1250 for 5 days. Once participants have been selected they will be expected to pay a non-refundable deposit of £500 within two weeks. Participants can then pay the rest of the fee according to deadlines (see below). Participants are encouraged to arrive the day before the workshop begins for a welcome dinner. The price includes:

-tuition from Boris Mikhailov (including defining each participant’s project; shooting; editing sessions; creating a coherent body of work; creation of a slide show; projection of the images of the participants.)

-a welcome and farewell dinner

-lunch everyday and snacks during the afternoon

-24 hour help from the 1000 Words team and an assistant/translator with local knowledge.

Participants will be expected to make their own travel arrangements and find accommodation, which in Fez can range from £150 upwards for the week. We can advise on finding the accommodation that best suits you. Remember that most of your time will be spent either at the riad or shooting. For photographers using colour film we will provide the means for processing and a scanner. Photographers shooting digital will be expected to bring all necessary equipment. Please note that for the purposes and practicalities of a workshop, digital really is advisable. All participants should also bring a laptop if they have one. Every effort will be made to accommodate individual technical needs.

ABOUT US:

The organisation’s flagship is 1000 Words, an online magazine dedicated to contemporary photography in the UK and beyond. It reviews exhibitions and photobooks and publishes interviews, essays alongside carefully curated imagery, often around a particular theme. We are committed to showing the work of lesser-known but significant photographers alongside that of established practitioners in the aim of bringing their work to a wider audience. Often incredibly diverse in terms of subjects, concepts, styles and techniques, yet whilst always foregrounding the subjectivity of documentary art photography, 1000 Words intends to explore the limits and possibilities of the medium.

Released quarterly, the magazine attracts over 140,000 unique visitors from more than 120 countries every month. In May 2010 the 1000 Words Blog was ranked at number 3 in The Top 25 UK Arts & Culture Blogs as part of a survey carried out by Creative Tourist and was also named as the winner of Arts Media Contacts’ Photography Blog of the Year Award, 2010.

Yet 1000 Words is much more than just an online magazine. 1000 Words also operates a programme of exhibitions and events including workshops, artist talks, portfolio reviews, prizes and awards. 

1000 Words is governed by its board of directors who play an active role in the direction of the organisation. They are: Camilla Gore, Nicholas Barker, Simon Baker, Aron Morel, Louise Clements, Tim Clark, Michael Grieve and Norman Clark. The 1000 Words Workshops are organised by Tim Clark, founder and editor-in-chief at 1000 Words and Michael Grieve, 1000 Words deputy editor, senior lecturer at Nottingham Trent University and a photographer represented by Agence Vu. 

TESTIMONIALS:

"I have had the most profoundly moving, fascinating, difficult, wonderful week of my life. Thank you 1000 Words. Words can not describe. I have been continuing with my project. It feels different here, of course. And much slower progress. But still shooting with the same or similar mindset. All connected to what I did in Morocco. Really, really missing everyone. I feel privileged, truly, to have been part of it. Have been in the countryside with my parents since getting back and finally showed my mum the slideshow, with music that had been spinning around my head. She cried." Laura 

"The Erik Kessels workshop in Fez has been a fantastic and motivational experience that I will carry with me my whole life." Andy

"The choice of city (Fez) to develop such an educational and inspirational workshop is amazing, since the immersion begins as soon as you arrive. You are induced to leave your comfort zone and search for new references and perspectives, and given that the culture and language are so unique they also become great ingredients in this creative quest. The whole infrastructure offered during the workshop and also the specific venue where the meetings and tutorial activities took place were all part of the environment, serving to create a peaceful and harmonic atmosphere that continuously inspired us all during the workshop." Alan

“Antoine D’Agata workshop in Fez was a mind shaking experience, and for me that was just what I needed! Antoine’s repeated question to me was, "but what do you want?" What a simple question it may seem but to truly honestly answer this was one of the hardest things. Antoine struggled with me daily to be truthful to the process of shooting and to my work. Trying to do this as a white woman in a muslim foreign country seemed scary at first. But soon enough this fear pushed me to go farther than I had before. To take more risks and be more bold. In the end, I had allowed myself to befriend men and women who were at first just strangers on the street. My once beautiful but safely intimate portraiture became more real for me, evoking not only the fear of letting myself leap in a strange place but in the process of doing so, being able to see so much more in others.

The workshop venue was such a treat and incredible place to be able to go to every day. A sanctuary to rest and to edit and collect your thoughts. A place to run into your fellow work shoppers and bounce around ideas. The food was more than I had expected and in fact pretty much the best food I ate in Morocco in my three weeks travel. Tim and Michael were so on top of the workshop; they were there managing every detail from accommodations, food, coordinating the class meetings, running film to labs, scanning, and even just being sweet and kind pals to talk with about your day or have a beer with and brainstorm about your project.

All in all, this workshop could not have been better and I feel so lucky to have had such an opportunity. Antoine’s phenomenal out of the box thinking and honesty is one of a kind. 1000 Words’ workshops fall into the 'do not miss this' category!” Katie

HOW TO SUBMIT:

We require that you send 10 images as low res jpegs and/or a link to your website, as well as a short biography and statement about why you think it will be relevant for you to work with Boris (approx. 200 words total). Submissions are to be sent to workshops@1000wordsmag.com with the following subject header: SUBMISSION FOR 1000 WORDS WORKSHOP WITH BORIS MIKHAILOV.

01 October 2012: Deadline for applications

03 October 2012: Successful candidates contacted

12 October 2012: Deposit due (£500)

31 October 2012: Second installment due (£750)

04 November 2012: Arrive in Morocco for welcoming dinner

05 November 2012: Workshop begins

09 November 2012: Workshop ends

Удачи!

© Boris Mikhailov

Tereza Zelenkova and Peter Watkins: Index of Time

© Tereza Zelenkova & Peter Watkins

Launched at Donlon Books in East London last Thursday, and already down to the final few copies, Index of Time by Tereza Zelenkova, Peter Watkins and Oliver Shamlou is an ambitious cornucopia of words and images, musing on the dark mythologies and historiography surrounding the second largest cave structure in the Czech Republic. Here, 1000 Words Associate editor, Brad Feuerhelm, of Ordinary Light Photography fame, gets a first-hand look at the book and offers his reflections on this unique and at times beguiling project.

Index of Time offers an interesting ménage a trois of absurdist literature and cold and ritualistic photographic Gnosticism, with approximately 40 murders by an above average Troglodyte thrown into the mix. If that were not enough to pique your curiosity, the pictures and words are well conceived and patterned, rather tethered to each other in a black and sinking maelstrom of cave-dwelling intrigue.

Not always the easiest of marriages, photography and literature in the context of a small edition of 100 is intimate and somehow eludes arbitrary measure, enabling the brooding photographs that share their pages with a humorous taxonomy of archaeology exemplified by a furrowing shaman named Slogger.  

The historic tale of the collaboration alone relates to a discovery of pre-historic cave dwellings in the Josefovské Valley a vast Moravian Nature reserve. Within this valley lies the open mouth of Býčí skála Cave, which henceforth since its inception has spewed forth plenty of tales. Some tales have been told on its walls as the caves carry the earliest cave paintings from the region. The cave system which is some 13 kilometres long has housed millennia of human inhabitants each gathering and leaving some minor mark on the sweaty surface of the cave interior - glistening and palpitating - waiting for a chance to secrete its histories to future generations of intrepid travellers.

When the cave was explored by Jindrich Wankel from 1867-1873, its notion as spiritual pre-historic home became layered with the uncovering of what has since been reported to be the remains of 40 women and the potential deputy of their demise. Stories abound of ritual sacrifice and brutal dramas being played out on each of the women by a local nobleman. Conversely, in a less legendary version of the atrocity, it has since been alleged that the butchered group, were actually children, adult males, and adult females suggesting the possibility of a mass execution during WWII, possibly via gas though some were beheaded and chained. 

All of these histories, which inform this photographic body of work, having been inspired by its representations in culture capture the physical environment and remaining elements of these cautionary tales in monochrome form with clarity and presumably a great deal of patience (the photographers’ car and cameras were both stolen). Within the cave’s interior are abstracted and illusory pools of molten and eroded rock surfaces, which pulse calmly with an otherworldly light while the crevices are alive with the swarm and screech of the bats. Dripping stalactites. Low light. Patience.

The works in the book project the viewer into the suffocating dirt, guano, and human remains found along the way. And further juxtaposed with these dire totems are simple, yet effective images of historic tools, blades, and further underground sublimity as intimated by the silky waters of the cistern pools. The images heave, pregnant with a heavy and oppressive air that weighs like a silken paperweight at the bottom of my lungs in this perceived environ sickly unable to breathe, unable to stop. Heat on the back of my neck joined with a cold shiver down my side, rock and gravel crushed and scraping under the sole of a twisting foot. Reverberations. Low light. Patience to venture further.

As a collaboration, the book’s overall aesthetic and supplement create an atmosphere of charged and observed mythical neglect. By photographing in subterranean climates and in capturing the origins of the written word from its pre-historic root cultures of historic abode and gathering, the three authors have crafted a slick and elegantly designed ode to a morbid yet integral part of our collective humanity. One story of many, the photographs serene and playful cavalcade of diffuse light inherit the historical lineage with aplomb. The cold dejected analogue photograph aesthetic in the hands of operators with earnest interest is as fresh as ever and without any abandon I suggest you explore it further.

Brad Feuerhelm

The limited edition self-published artist book is available for purchase here. More images from the project can be seen here.

Jo Longhurst @Mostyn, Llandudno North Wales

On show at Mostyn, Wales’ leading gallery of contemporary art, is an engaging body of work titled Other Spaces by artist Jo Longhurst. Developed from a selection of sketches and studies made when visiting the Heathrow Gymnastic Club and the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, and by pulling Plato’s Perfect Solids and Popova & Rodchenko’s experimentations with aesthetic form as her well of inspiration, the rich and timely project takes sport as its subject.

In the manner born of many contemporary photographers, Longhurst has attempted to expand or explode the parameters of photography by experimenting with more sculptural displays, in turn fusing a mixture of analogue and digital lens-based processes, performance and installation. With the experience of actually being a former gymnast herself, Longhurst brings to question the ideas of human perfection in her work and highlights the emotional and physical strains this sport has on the lives of elite gymnasts as well as the pleasure and exhilaration of the activity it elicits.

Our very own, Jenna Banat, 1000 Words Editorial intern, attended the 2012 Olympic Gymnastic qualifying rounds in London and witnessed rhythm and aesthetic perfection right alongside painful and embarrassingly messy dismounts first hand. This project, however, shows the sport of gymnastics in a new light. Longhurst set out to “explore the physical and emotional experiences of elite gymnasts through classic portraiture, appropriated photographs, performance and installation.” She manages to capture the athletes’ psychological states during high-speed moves, portraying, for example, a gymnast in mid-flight, perfectly composed, in a state of tranquillity.

To accompany the exhibition, Other Spaces, Ffotogallery in partnership with Mostyn have published a book comprising 128 pages, with an essay by Sara Knelman and an interview with Charlotte Cotton, the launch for which will take place on 26 August 2012 at Mostyn gallery.

This exhibition runs until 30 September 2012, and at Ffotogallery, Cardiff, from October to December 2012. 

Peter Fraser @Brancolini Grimaldi, London

© Peter Fraser

In the lead up to his show at Tate St Ives early next year, which will survey the artists’ work to date, Brancolini Grimaldi are currently exhibiting Peter Fraser’s latest project, titled A City in the Mind. 

Inspired by the Italo Calvino novel Invisible Cities, Fraser takes on a similar role as its fictional character Marco Polo, who describes these fantastical cities that he discovers on his travels to the emperor Kublai Khan. To overcome the problem of their language barrier, Polo uses objects from the cities, allowing each of them to inflict their own interpretation on what the other is trying to say. Fraser has dedicated the last five years to photographing his home in London, with the desired outcome being the creation of an imagined “city in the mind”. The result is an exhibition that reveals a unique, poetic and enigmatic vision of London.

In an interview with writer Jeremy Millar, Fraser explains that with his work he is essentially, “trying to understand what the world around [him] is made of through the act of photographing it.” Through his varied series of images that depict everything from miniature town models to a vibrantly coloured bowl of berries or a collection of shiny chestnuts on a table, Fraser hints to the viewer an initial insight to this unknown, mysteriously intriguing world. The images act as triggers within our own imagination that encourage the viewer to ultimately piece together their own city in the mind. As Michael Bracewell perfectly describes in his writing on Peter Fraser, (Portfolio, issue 39) his work is, “the mingling of compassionate, heightened human perception and laboratory-determined objectivity.”

Born in Cardiff in 1953, Peter Fraser graduated from the photography course at Manchester Polytechnic University in 1976. He began making work using a Paubel Makina Camera, which incidentally led to an exhibition with photographer William Eggleston in 1984 at the Anofini in Bristol. He has since produced a number of publications, including his first Two Blue Buckets in 1988, which won the Bill Brandt prize in London; shortly followed by Ice and Water in 1993; and most recently Lost for Words, which was exhibited at Ffotogallery, Cardiff in 2010.

The exhibition runs until 21 July 2012.

The 1000 Words Award

The 1000 Words Award for European photographers is a major initiative in collaboration with The Other European Travellers, a project co-ordinated by Cobertura Photo and co-organised by Atelier de Visu, 1000 Words and Festival Voci di Foto in partnership with Magnum Photos. It is part-funded by The Education Audiovisual and Culture Exchange Agency (EACEA) under the auspices of the EU Culture Programme.

Photographers are invited to apply for an opportunity to realise a new body of work with the supervision of several high-profile photographers and industry experts.

Applications can be submitted online only. The closing date is 23 July 2012 (5pm GMT). There are 4 places available.

Fee: £25.00 (GBP)

The 1000 Words Award includes:

• £1,000 cash prize
• 18 month mentorship programme
• 3 workshops with Jeffrey Silverthorne, Antoine d’Agata and Patrick Zachmann in London, Marseille and Seville respectively, including financial assistance with accommodation and travel
• Travelling group exhibition through the UK, France, Spain and Italy
• Catalogue and DVD
• Feature in 1000 Words Photography Magazine.

The 1000 Words Award is open to photographers born or based in the EU.

An internationally renown jury will review each entry submitted. Their final 4 will join 8 other European photographers selected by Cobertura Photo and Atelier de Visu.

The 1000 Words Award selection panel is:

• Simon Baker, Curator of Photography at Tate
• Brett Rogers, Director of The Photographers’ Gallery, London
• Dewi Lewis, Director at Dewi Lewis Publishing
• Tim Clark and Michael Grieve, Editors at 1000 Words Photography Magazine.

All participants will be selected according to criteria of excellence of their artistic approach, gender parity, mix of backgrounds, diversity of concepts and the multiplicity of approaches.

How to apply

1. Please email a portfolio of 10-15 images from any previous project (JPEG format, 72 dpi, each image no larger than 1MB). Links to work online will not be considered
2. An artist statement of up to 150 words or a CV (You do not need to send a proposal for the new body of work at this stage)
3. Submission fee: £25 (Through Paypal please enter your name and use the “Buy Now” button below, or send a cheque made payable to 1000 Words Photography Ltd: to 1000 Words Photography, 29 The Arthaus, 205 Richmond Road, London, E8 3FF, UK)

Deadline: 23 July 2012 (5pm GMT)
Email submissions to: awards@1000wordsmag.com

Eligibility

The 1000 Words Award is open to photographers of any age, born or based within the EU. Students in full-time or part-time education, including PhD students, are also eligible for the award. Applicants do not need to have completed a degree in photography or an art-based subject. Photographers working collaboratively can also apply.

Selection procedure

Application closing date: 23 July 2012
Receipt of applications acknowledged: 24 July 2012
Successful candidates announced: 6 August 2012
First local meeting: 26 September 2012
Workshop in Seville: 29 October - 3 November 2012
Second local meeting: 12 December 2012
Third local meeting: 20 February 2013
Workshop in London: March 2013
Fourth local meeting: 15 May 2013
Workshop in Marseille: July 2013
Catalogue launch: December 2013
Travelling exhibition: January 2014-

Workshops

© Jeffrey Silverthorne

Through his photography Jeffrey Silverthorne explores the question of sex and death, as well as the notions of boundary and transgression. Active since the end of the 60’s, he has been accumulating series on extreme subjects: a slaughter house, a morgue, brothels or a community of transvestites and transsexuals. Silverthorne abandons any notion of objective documentation, and instead further exposes himself and explores his own psychology in a series of intense and subjectively structured images. Born in Hawaii in 1946, Silverthorne studied at the Rhode Island School of Design and has gone on to publish his work in the books Directions For Leaving, Boystown, The Perfume of Desire and most recently Travel Plans in 2011. He has had numerous international exhibitions including Rencontres d'Arles and Musée de l’ Elysée. Jeffrey Silverthorne is represented by Agence Vu’ and Gallery Vu’ .

© Antoine d’Agata

Antoine d’Agata is without doubt one of the most unique and important photographers of our age. His imagery is characterised by an intense and highly subjective experience that pushes the limits of social documentary photography. Born in Marseille, 1961, he left France in 1990 to study at The International Centre for Photography (ICP) in New York alongside Nan Goldin and Larry Clark. His work has been published in the books Insomnia, Vortex, Stigma and Agonie amongst others, and he has been exhibited internationally at galleries and festivals including Rencontres d’Arles, Noorderlicht, FotoFreo and The Photographers Gallery, London. His latest exhibition, Anticorps, a world premiere of a grand touring overview, opened on the 26 May at The Hague Museum of Photography, and runs until the 3 September. He has been a member of Magnum Photos since 2004 and is represented by Galerie Les Filles du Calvaire in Paris.

Their workshops are designed to allow photographers to experiment with new approaches to the creative process. You will be encouraged to build intimate rapport with your subjects, incorporating personal vision and voice into your photography.

The topic of “The Other European Travellers” specifically relates to transformations in the lives of people who have travelled or migrated across Europe. It is also broad to allow you the freedom to produce more personal and self-experienced responses as well as conceptual interpretations of the brief.

A unique element of these workshops is marked by the involvement of several guest experts comprising photographers as well as curators, collectors and critics who will provide the following:

-Talks and seminars 

-Guided tours of exhibitions
-Visits to photo archives and family albums
-Access to private collections.

Each workshop lasts 5 days, and will be conducted in English. They will form the basis of your project.

Mentorship

Monthly group and one-to-one meetings with the 1000 Words editors will be held in London or by Skype/Internet to report on the progress of the participants’ projects. Sessions will be frank and informal with the view to providing photographers with the following:

-Discussion and critique of creative output
-The practical and conceptual vision needed to help attain your goals and develop the photographic project
-Assistance with self-representation, portfolio presentation and approaches to potential outlets in the editorial, publishing and gallery markets
-Resources to help enhance your work and realise the potential of your ideas.

Exhibitions

The workshop leaders (Jeffrey Silverthorne, Antoine d’Agata and Patrick Zachmann) and the participating photographers in The Other European Travellers project will show their work as a group exhibition in London, Seville and Marseille. The exhibition will then travel to other cultural venues, galleries and photography festivals across Europe. 

An innovative and engaging exhibition design will mix images, text and sound.

Catalogue and DVD

The publication will consist of the participants’ work alonside archive images and includes texts on the subject. The publication will be translated into 3 languages and have a print run of 1,500 copies. The accompanying DVD and sound files contribute to the project, and are based on material from different sources: interviews with the photographic subjects, sound files and musical scores. 

Feature on 1000 Words Photography Magazine

1000 Words will commission a highly-esteemed writer or photography critic to contribute an in-depth review of your final body of work which will be published in its distinctive and highly regarded online magazine alongside a carefully curated selection of your images.

Now on its fourteenth “issue” 1000 Words attracts approximately 140,000 unique visitors from more 120 countries every month. Its sister-site, the 1000 Words Blog, ranked at number 3 in The Top 25 UK Arts & Culture Blogs in a survey carried out by Creative Tourist in May 2010 and was also named as the winner of Arts Media Contacts’ Photography Blog of The Year Award 2010.

Conquering composition with Roger Ballen

© Michael Grieve/1000 Words

Since 1000 Words started organising workshops in Morocco, every photographer and creative who has led them has pushed their own particular strengths in a steadfast manner. Antoine d’Agata constantly asked “what do you want”, Anders Petersen insisted to ‘shoot from the gut’ and Erik Kessels conceptualised the found image. Roger Ballen’s mantra was to emphasise the formal qualities of the picture. Sufficient attention to what makes a picture work is often overlooked and taken for granted. Photographers wonder why their images are weak and more often than not it is because they have overlooked the most basic yet complex issue of composition.

Roger Ballen is very precise and tireless in his deconstruction of the photograph to understand and achieve the perfect pictorial balance. He understands that photography is hard work in a snappy happy world. Ultimately, the success of a photograph relies on the arrangement of the content within the frame devoid of ‘negative space’.

© Aurora Molina

1000 Words Workshops in Fez are challenging in different ways. The medina, with all is chaos and contradictions, provides the perfect capsule to transport your creative concerns into unknown territories. The photographers participating in the workshop were prepared to undo their preconceptions and raised the stakes in order to unlock new chambers into an imaginary world. Thanks to the following for joining us on the creative odyssey:

Jorg Sundermann (Germany)
Marlene de Lazaro (Cuba)
Mark Lanning (South Africa)
Sjoukje van Gool (The Netherlands)
Roger Mavity (UK)
Rob Houkes (The Netherlands)
Aurora Molina (Cuba)
Pier Filippo d’Acquarone (Italy)
Silvia Castro Yapur (Argentina)

© Sjoukje van Gool

1000 Words would like to thank Roger Ballen, a true gentleman, and his fabulous assistant Margeurite Rossouw. As always many thanks to photographer and good friend Omar Chennafi for his local knowledge and beautiful spirit. And Sean Stoker, 1000 Words Editorial/Programme Assistant, for his hard work, dependability and positive attitude. Finally, to Vanessa Bonnin for her hand in helping to deliver another successful workshop. A photo album of the workshop can be viewed on our Facebook page here.

 © Michael Grieve/1000 Words