REGISTRATIONS ARE CLOSED.
GUS POWELL: “BASED ON A TRUE STORY”
JUNE 6-8, 2025, BOWEN ISLAND
You see an actor, you see a rhinoceros.
You prefer the rhinoceros of course.
– Philippe Gaulier
In this workshop Gus Powell will explore the narrative and poetic qualities of photography and the photobook. He will discuss how he works within the tradition of street photography, and his own family life, to make work that embraces both the universal and the ambiguous in equal measure. It is a workshop about telling stories and making, not taking.
We will begin with a presentation of Powell’s past: the inspiration for his projects and the creation of the books and their maquettes; his work for editorial and commercial clients, his ongoing practice as a street photographer, and what he is working towards now.
It will continue with portfolio reviews and a deep dive into exercises centered on storytelling and sequencing. The restraints of time and space will force us forward together.
It will conclude with classroom editing assignments involving collaboration and the union of text, image, and design. You will finish the workshop having made something new.
Topics Covered:
• Authorship & storytelling.
• Finding inspiration in unexpected histories and heroes.
• The comedy & tragedy of the human experience.
• “Sketching”
• Making something out of nothing.
• Using language to elevate rather than explain.
• Embracing chance.
• Getting into trouble. Getting out of trouble and getting on with it.
Banner images © Gus Powell, Family Car Trouble, 2019.
© Gus Powell, Family Car Trouble, 2019.
© Gus Powell, The Lonely Ones, 2015.
© Gus Powell, The Lonely Ones, 2015.
ABOUT GUS POWELL
