A photography class without cameras?  That’s right.  Arthur Fink is more concerned with teaching  us how to see than how to take a picture. Active looking and seeing, photographing from within; these are at the heart of  his two hour workshop “Seeing Dance Like a Photographer” which he’ll be offering at Cultivate. Participants will contemplate photographs, as well as excerpts from a live performance, and discuss them, practicing seeing in still images, without actually taking any photographs.

The photographer in residence at the Bates Dance Festival for the past seven years, Fink will be photographing much of what happens this year at Cultivate.

“He doesn’t look like a dancer” was how the arts reporter of the Portland Press Herald began a profile article on dance photographer Arthur Fink.  But Fink’s interactions with dancers might truly be considered dances of their own.

Below is a description of the workshop Arthur will facilitate as part of this year’s Cultivate programming. You can see more of Arthur’s work throughout the Cultivate website, and here, on his own site:  ArthurFinkPhoto.Com

Seeing Dance Like a Photographer (Friday, August 19, time and location TBA)
This is about seeing dance  and understanding how it translates into still two dimensional images.  We won’t need or use a camera.  Instead, we’ll look together at several short dance pieces ­ deciding exactly which images might tell the story of that dance, seeing if there is one “iconic” image, etc.  The program would be useful not just for those who want to photograph dance, but also for dancers and choreographers to better understand how their pieces might best be photographed, or for anybody seriously interested in photography.  Its lesson is:  “Look before you photograph”.