Tell me about your class and what excites you about teaching at Anderson Ranch.
This is the second part of the Visual Storytelling & Documentary Photography Projects workshop that will begin this year, so this is a cool and exciting program coming up. What is exciting is that it’s one of a kind. I teach a number of workshops every year and there is nothing quite like this workshop. It is incredibly rewarding and gratifying as a mentor/teacher because we are working with very high-level students and participants. The ambitions of the projects are to create books, films and exhibitions. Hopefully through this workshop I can help these folks move forward towards their goals.
What are some of the projects you work on? What is your art-making schedule like?
My work revolves around the world and around the country, so my schedule is insane. The nature of documentary work is I guess push and pull based on the schedule and needs of my subjects. I’m on the road about eight months of the year and I probably would say five months of that time I spend filming or photographing. You need to be very open, flexible and prepared for things that are constantly changing. You work very hard to get access to something, someone or a location and then it falls apart. Or maybe something you did not expect happens.
It is a mixture of exhilaration and massive disappointment.
Are there any crazy or wild projects you have not done that you want to do?
I would say that what has influenced me the most are the issues of my time. I have chosen my projects and the subjects that are things or issues I try to tackle. I base this on genuine reaction as a human being, as a journalist and as an inquisitive soul through what is going on in the world and what I can actually accomplish.
Ed Kashi will be teaching Visual Storytelling & Documentary Photography Projects from July 17 – 21.
