Every year,
Nikon awards one student at the Eddie Adams Workshop a $10,000 scholarship. Last fall, the prize went to
Philip Andrews, a senior at Western Kentucky University. Via e-mail, I asked him what it was like to be a student and what he learned. This is an edited version of our exchange.
Steve Myers: What were your thoughts going into Eddie Adams? What did you want to learn and work on?
Philip Andrews: I had just completed the
Mountain Workshop as part of my class at Western Kentucky University and actually thought that Eddie Adams was a week later. So, when my friend called me to say we were leaving the next morning, I was a little overwhelmed. That night I wrote an English paper that was due during the workshop, studied for a political science class, e-mailed all my professors and printed an entirely new portfolio. The next day we hit the road, drove through the night and made it to Liberty, N.Y., with time to spare.
On the drive up there I began to think about what I really expected from the workshop. I knew there would be a lot of the industry's top professionals there and I knew, since I plan on graduating in May, that it would be helpful to make industry contacts. I had also just completed the Mountain Workshop and I felt like I should have done a much better job than I did. I guess I really wanted to shoot well at Eddie Adams to prove to myself that I could produce good photographs in a high pressure, workshop setting.
What was your assignment, and how did you figure out how you would approach it?Andrews: On Friday night we all gathered in a hotel room and went over our group's stories. As my team leader, Melissa Lyttle, and team producer, Josh Ritchie, went down the list of stories, handing them out to my teammates, there wasn't one that I didn't wish I got. All of the situations that they were putting us in were extremely compelling while also being visual. They were trying to pair the stories with what they felt our weaknesses were.
I was assigned to photograph a duck farm and slaughterhouse a few miles outside town. Because my time there was going to be so limited, and given the type of situation this was, I knew that it would be easy for me to fall into the trap of shooting pictures that illustrate the process, rather than the mood and emotion of the facility. In approaching this assignment I knew that I wanted to make pictures that were not about the steps it takes to slaughter a duck, but rather the aesthetic and feeling of the situation.
Tell me about your photo editing experience on the first day. What was the feedback from your photo editor? How did you respond? Andrews: My editing experience on the first day was a positive one. My editor, Santiago Lyon, and I went through every image I made looking for good ones and ones that needed improvement. We decided what images were keepers and which ones I needed to work on the second day.
Can you provide any examples to illustrate your point?
Andrews: The first one [below] was shot the first day; the second was after I went back. The first image is a detail of a couple of feathers on the ground. ... Santiago told me that I needed a stronger emphasis on my subject and a better composition, but that the thought was in the right direction. He also told me that I didn't spend enough time working on a good situation, and that I needed to capitalize on those moments more.
On the second day I went back looking for feathers on the floor but also for more storytelling elements. One of the butchers was doing his thing and collecting feathers and blood at his feet:
What did you do differently on the second day in response to the editing?Andrews: On the first day I shot a lot of graphic images of the ducks and details that described how the slaughterhouse felt to me. After my conversation with Santiago, I focused on how the slaughterhouse felt to the men working there. I looked for moments that showed how they felt about being there and tried to capture that.
... I also looked at improving images that were successful, but not quite there, from the day before. The room I was working in was very dark, and so I was able to borrow a camera from one of the sponsors that was better in low light than the equipment I was using.
What feedback did you get on the second day, and how did you respond?Andrews: The feedback I got on the second day was very positive. I am usually pretty hard on myself when it comes to photography, but Santiago and my team leader Melissa were both very encouraging. I thought that there were definitely images that I missed, but overall I did a good job in the time I was provided.
What surprised you about your experience at Eddie Adams?Andrews: The thing that surprised me was how encouraging the entire experience was. As we all know, our industry isn't the healthiest it's been right now, and before the workshop I was, let's just say, pessimistic about my employment opportunities when I graduate in a few months.
But the workshop really changed that. I was surrounded by professionals, and young professionals, who were all doing it. Even if they weren't shooting six-month projects or making six figures, they were doing documentary photography, supporting themselves and being happy. More than anything, this feeling -- the feeling that I can actually do what I love and make a living -- is what I took away from the Eddie Adams Workshop.
