I'm very pleased to be a part of this program. If you look , you can see a very tired photographer with his hat on trying to keep his eyes open and doing his best to crack a smile.
Redeye’s Lightbox is an intensive year-long course, which launches the careers of professional photographers through workshops, networking sessions and support from experts in the photography industry.
The course encourages collaborative working methods and participants work towards exhibiting at an international arts festival on completion of the programme. This year’s group mentors are; Thomas Dukes, Curator at Open Eye Gallery, Nicola Shipley, Director of Grain Photography Hub and Kate Jesson Curator at Manchester Art Gallery. The participating photographers are selected through an application process and are hand-picked by a panel of arts professionals. This year’s panel consisted of Andy Adams (FlakPhoto), Karin Bareman (Autograph ABP), Ying Tan (Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art) and Paul Herrmann (Redeye). Redeye seeks photographers with a high standard of photography and a desire to experiment and push their practice further whilst having an openness to collaboration.
Last week we welcomed our new group of Lightbox photographers who had the chance to share their work with each other for the first time. Over the course of the weekend, the group were joined by leading experts who offered inspiration, workshops and gave advice for the course ahead of them.
On Friday our Director Paul Herrmann kicked off the weekend with introductions and an overview of what Lightbox is all about and what to expect alongside Fiona Yaron Field of Uncertain States who gave the group an insight into collectives and collaborative working. On the Saturday Company of Mind offered tips on how to recognise challenges, generate ideas and work productively. On Sunday Lightbox mentors Nichola Shipley of Grain Photography Hub and Kate Jessen, Curator at Manchester Art Gallery led an open discussion on project management, building partnerships with arts organisations and other artists. Redeye's Charlie Booth helped the group to understand the importance of evaluation and in the afternoon Sarah Gee of Hyper Island in Manchester closed the weekend with a workshop on marketing and communications.