Kirk Williams Update

Kirk Williams has moved from his room at Denver’s Craig Hospital, the world’s leading facility dealing with the kind of spinal injury Kirk suffered last November. Moving into a Denver apartment with his brother Clayton, who is helping care for him, his progress has been so good as to impress even the doctors. As always, Kirk’s optimism and enthusiasm defines his rehabilitation — and the rest of his life.

But is a wheelchair life and he is learning to do over simple things, like zipping his jacket up. He and his brother have created an amazing (and well produced) web site, www.aspokenlife.com, a Kirk Williams Chronicle, in which Kirk writes each day about what happened and his progress. He tried out various wheelchairs before settling on one — and looked at how a monopod could be attached so he can continue his photography.

Kirk attended the Adventure Photograph Workshop in Jackson Hole in September. An active outdoor athlete, he was riding his bicycle on a mountain trail when as he moved over to allow an oncoming cyclist the right of way, his bicycle struck a rock and he was thrown to the ground. And in the accident, lay motionless with a serious spinal injury that instantly paralyzed him. Thus began a series of events that leaves Kirk saying how lucky he is. Lucky in that the oncoming cyclist was an orthopedic surgeon who instantly recognized the seriousness of the injury and who cared for him until the medical helicopter arrived. Lucky in that on his arrival at the Denver Health Hospital, two top surgeons were there and began the operation to fuze and replace severely-fractured cervical vertebra. From there it was to the Craig Hospital to begin the rehabilitation where doctors were unable to say how much movement he would ever have in his arms and hands, much less the rest of his body.

But the progress has been amazing and though he may never walk again, much of his movement has come back — enough to talk optimistically of the rest of his life and a changed normalcy. If you want to keep up to date on his progress — and to share in a big dose of optimism, visit his daily blog. www.aspokenlife.com

Workshop Alumni In Briefs

Kort Duce, who has attended the Summit, was photographing the 2011 Yamaha line of snowmobiles for Yamaha in central Wyoming.  The ad agency and Yamaha group along with Duce and another photographer had just finished the shoot when at 4 a.m., the main lodge that was the project headquarters, burned to the ground.  With all Kort’s equipment — and three days work.  With quickly borrowed cameras and computers, the entire group had to start from scratch and do the entire shoot over.  Kort, who was staying in one of the nearby cabins to the lodge, probably takes his equipment to bed with him now . .

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John Moore, who continues as one of Getty’s top photographers, travels from his Denver home to wherever Getty needs the prime shooter.  Lately, he was sent to cover the close of the Congress in Washington as the health care bills moved through the senate.  After the first of the year, he returns to Afganistan as that war escalates.

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Kevin Moloney is back in Boulder, Co. from a six-week session teaching photojournalism in Burma.  Moloney teaches photojournalism at the University of Colorado and is the New York Times contract photographer for the Mountain West states.

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Chen Xiaomei has returned to the states from her homeland China to continue her quest for a master’s degree at Ohio University.  She attended the Summit while a student at the University of Colorado and after graduation there, went to the acclaimed Ohio University program in documentary photography.  When finishing her thesis and course work, she will intern at the Dallas Morning News this spring and then move to an internship at the Washington Post.

Workshop Faculty regular James Balog attends UN Climate Change Conference

James Balog, a regular teacher at the Summit Workshops over the years, continues to attract attention with his latest project using 30 Nikon cameras in all-weather housings to record some of the world’s shrinking glaciers.  His previous projects, which he has described at the evening sessions at the Summit have included an ode to the world’s endangered species followed by an innovative book of portraits of the nation’s greatest trees.

Balog, founder and director of the Extreme Ice Survey, represented NASA and the U.S. State Department at the Copenhagen United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 15. Over the course of the 12-day conference, he has presented a total of six times—five times on behalf of NASA and once on behalf of the World Wildlife Fund—about the Extreme Ice Survey’s ongoing photographic documentation of stunningly rapid glacial retreat and the implications of these findings.

“I am profoundly honored to participate in this landmark climate change conference and to share our work with government officials, policy-makers and concerned citizens from all over the world,” Balog says. “NASA’s sponsorship is a tremendous vote of confidence in EIS and its mission.”

En route to COP 15, at the invitation of the Alaska Conservation Foundation, Balog spoke at an event in New York City at the home of Susan and David Rockefeller, Jr. and made a live appearance on CNN Newsroom. Since arriving in Copenhagen, Balog has appeared in footage shown on CNN’s American Morning and was featured Tuesday on CNN.com’s Opinion Section.

Light painting with the Nikon D3 in Jackson Hole

The latest issue of “Jackson Hole” magazine, an elegant quarterly publication that goes all over the nation to frequent visitors to Jackson Hole, features a cover by chief photographer Brad Boner. (The magazine is an offshoot of the Jackson Hole News&Guide, their award-winning newspaper in Jackson.)   And on the contents page, Brad tells how he learned how to make the picture from attending a session with Dave Black in light painting at the fall Photography at the Summit Workshop.  Then with the help of Nikon’s Bill Pekala, used a D3 to capture all the details of the Milky Way and the entire northern sky.  A little moonlight lighted the mountains and to keep the balance, Brad “painted” the famed Moulton barn with —  a Maglite!  The stunning picture could never been made before the D3 high ISO capabilities with no noise.  Thus, the quality.

Workshop Website Redesign

We’re happy to announce our new workshop website, completely redesigned to better illustrate the workshop experience, provide a platform for educational content created at the workshops, and keep you up to date on the latest news in photography. Please take a moment to check out our expanded video and image gallery. We have plenty more video content in the works, so look for more updates coming soon.

We are working hard to finalize details for our 2010 programs and will have dates, locations and other information posted to the site shortly.

Workshop alum Todd Heisler producing strong work for the NY Times

When Todd Heisler attended Photography at the Summit, he took a creative leap and instead of photographing wildlife or the mountains, he did a photo essay on light bulbs.  Where they were, where they burned and how they fit into the very Western scene of Jackson Hole.  It was very unusual — and good.  Now a staff photographer for the New York Times, they devoted an entire page of his color pictures in the Sunday June 21 issue showcasing his very creative pictures from the Venice Biennale.  Oh yes, in the meantime before he went to the Times, he won the Pulitzer Prize in photography while on the staff of the now-departed Rocky Mountain News.

Daylight Magazine

This print and on-line magazine, published by Daylight Community Arts Foundation, is a non-profit showcase for contemporary documentary photography featuring the work of established and emerging artists, scholars and journalists.  Founded by Michael lItkoff and Taj Forer as winners of a Howard Chapnick Grant for developing leadership in photojournalism, the website features documentary work from around the world, news from the profession and listings of grants and scholarships.

Why Workshops in the 2009 Economy?

Everyone is looking to save money as this year moves forward with a stimulus emphasis. President Obama promises investments not only to get the economy going in the short term, but much of this spending as investment in future well-being. Rebuilding the infrastructure — bridges and highways now, but significant investments in education.

For many of us, investment in the future means investment in ourselves, for learning not only new tricks but time-honored career advances are built around experience and using the skills of others. Education prepares us for those days when the economy begins its return as it always does.

Education is personal investment.

And workshops provide not only that learning experience but the kind of networking that can be both useful now and becomes our personal spark when new opportunity is once again present. Spare time should not be wasted time — it can be a great opportunity.

And educational workshops are always tax deductible.

How Are Our Workshop Faculties Selected?

We are often asked about the faculties, for they represent many of the best in the field — and a divergence of experience, styles and specialties.  The concept of team teaching is unique to the Summit series of workshop and every workshop has at least eight faculty members which include both top rated working photographers, editors from major newspapers, magazines and book publishers along with curators and critics of serious photography.

They are selected not only for their expertise, but for their ability to teach well and a love of photography — which keeps them usually willing to talk with the attendees into the late hours of the evening.  We often fly faculty members in from far off places around the world including Paris, Moscow and London.  Several years ago, we called James Hill, a Brit who is a contract photographer for the New York Times and winner of a Pulitzer for his pictures from the Iraq front lines.  We made connections on his satellite phone in Afganistan and began to talk of Photography at the Summit.  ”Yes, I’ve wanted to attend this workshop for several years,” he said before we were able to interrupt to say we weren’t trying to sell him a place as a student — we wanted him on the faculty!  He has joined our faculty twice since and was an unusually effective teacher.

So how are the instructors recruited.  The answer is — we mostly don’t have to recruit.  Our regulars plus newcomers every year actually campaign to join the workshop faculty.  We take care of them well, but they love the atmosphere, the camraderie and meeting new students and participants.  They all want to come back and we have received calls a year in advance asking if they would be selected for the next Summit or Sports Workshop.  But as much as they love the faculty group, the facilities and the atmosphere, they love to meet and get to know the students.

And the editors in the group always find new talent and workshop participants have left with everything from a book contract to an exhibition booking to a major magazine assignment. Two students years ago are now staff photographers at Sports Illustrated and another has been a major contributor to Golf Digest.  An amateur attending her first ever workshop had one of her pictures selected as the Photo of the Month in National Geographic magazine and website and another was featured in American Photo magazine.  The networking is unlike any other workshop.

As Jay Maisel, who teaches at a variety of workshops around the country says, “These are the best workshops anywhere.”

John Moore added to Fall Photography at the Summit faculty

The 2009 lineup of faculty members is underway and among the first who will join the Fall Photography at the Summit instructors is 2008’s first place winner in both spot news and spot news picture story from World Press Photo, John Moore of Getty Images.  His pictures, which also won him the title, “Photojournalist of the Year” in this country by the National Press Photographers Association, were of the assassination of Pakistan’s Benazir Bhutto.  Stationed in Pakistan for several years before returning to the United States, he covered not only the turbulent politics of that part of the world, but also the war in Afganistan and Iraq.