Photographing Your Community
Elias Williams
Saturday, August 19 – Sunday, August 20, 2023
10:00 am – 4:00 pm
Documentary photography through a traditional, reportage aesthetic has long been the standard for the effective representation of a subject. This standard however tends toward a disconnect between photographer, place, and people. Having been trained in this approach initially, Elias Williams has since gravitated away from the typical notion of reportage and toward those practices that broke the rules surrounding documentary photography that distanced the photographer from their subject.
Williams connects himself to his community through active participation in the experiences that constitute the fabric of day-to-day life that connects individuals across communities, and that strengthen the places we live in. His series “St. Albans” began as a project simply to show his neighborhood from youth but grew to encompass deeper social meanings.
Join photographer Elias Williams for a weekend workshop exploring techniques and tools for approaching photographic projects within your community. This workshop is open to all levels. Participants will learn from Williams about different approaches, best practices, and various tools of the trade, from 35mm to large format. He will also discuss the process from pre-production to post-production, and what can become of a project after it is completed. Participants will also be encouraged to come up with a new project to propose or bring work they have already begun to workshop and review with Williams and the class.
What to bring:
A portfolio of 10–15 prints or digital images, your camera of choice, memory card or film, 150-word description of a documentary project you are working on or would like to begin.
Elias Williams is a photographer born, raised, and working in New York City. Through long-term portrait-based projects he celebrates historically underrepresented communities referencing lived experiences through the nuances of music, pride, race, and resilience. His photographs have been showcased at the Photoville Festival, International Photo Festival Leiden, the Morris Museum, and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, and the Museum of the City of New York. His clients include Apple, Bloomberg Markets, Essence, HuffPost, Instagram, National Geographic, The New York Times, The New Yorker, TIME and The Wall Street Journal among others.
Williams is also a recipient of the Bronx Council on the Arts’s Bronx Recognizes Its Own (BRIO) award (2017), Magnum Foundation Photography and Social Justice Fellowship (2017), World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass participant (2020), and, Center for Photography at Woodstock Artist-in-Residence (2022).
Class limit: 8
Tuition: $550 / CPW Members $450
Scholarships are available for tuition assistance. Please email education@cpw.org for details.