alan frost photography

A Still retreat – a mindful approach to creative photography with Paul Sanders

By alan frost on November 13, 2024

I have recently returned from arguably the best photographic workshop I have ever attended. I could stop there but let me explain my reasons for why I feel this way and share with you some of the images I made.

The workshop, or to use the correct term, retreat, was organised and run by Paul Sanders of Discover Still. I first met Paul a number of years ago when I heard him give an inspiring talk at Fotofest in Bath. He explained how being the Picture Editor for The Times drove him to the grip of depression before leaving that role in 2011 and turning to landscape photography. On the ‘About’ page of his website he states:

‘I traded noise and materialism for something far more precious: peace.’

The idea of attending one of his retreats only came to me a few weeks ago. Reading its description appealed to me on several levels. Firstly a holiday in a beautiful quiet location, staying in a manor house and enjoying the food prepared by a private chef. Secondly the opportunity to meet like minded photographers and to be inspired by them. Thirdly and out of choice, to have a complete break from all television, news, social media and any of life’s other distractions. And lastly to be encouraged and motivated by a facilitator who’s images I greatly admire and who I thought would adopt a very different approach to the concept of a photographic workshop. This was not about rushing to one ‘honeypot’ photo location, taking a few pictures, then moving on to the next destination trying to find the tripod holes left by the previous group of image makers. The retreat was based at The Stewardry on The Boconnoc Estate in Cornwall and there we would stay for the duration.

On the evening we arrived Paul explained that each participant could take things at their own pace, going to out to photograph when ever they wanted, or just stopping and being quiet to take in the sights, sounds, smells and feel of the nature around us. He made it clear that it was only by giving ourselves permission to stop, look around, touch and listen that our minds would begin to absorb nature and in so doing images might reveal themselves to us.

He reminded us of a quote by the American Photographer Minor White –

‘Be still with yourself until the object of your attention affirms your presence.’

I spent the first morning wandering around, exploring, stopping as I noted something of interest. Paul encouraged us to write down anything we witnessed, saw or felt. The camera was left in the house; a notebook and pencil was all that was required. The autumnal beauty of my surroundings was very much in evidence but this wasn’t what drew my early attention.

I had been told that there was an old saw mill about 10 minutes walk from The Stewardry. Set in a valley a stream ran through the area. The sound of flowing water always close by. I was intrigued by this location and I spent a lot of time searching out objects to photograph and possible compositions. One object that really spoke to me was a single white wrought iron chair, so when I returned with my camera later in the day I took some photos of the chair just where I found it.

As I walked back to the house for lunch I recalled something Paul had mentioned during his evening introduction to the retreat. “What if?” he had said and these two words started to play on my mind. I was attracted to the simplicity but rather elegant curves of the chair so I began to explore the idea of ‘what if I moved the chair around?’ and how might I be able to make some interesting compositions. I returned to the saw mill and began to play. I was totally absorbed; camera, subject and mind completely intertwined to the exclusion of everything which didn’t relate to the task in hand.

Back at the house I was pleased with six or seven of the images I had made. However I noticed a common theme; the chair was a similar scale in the frame and once again I asked myself ‘what if?’ Could I create some new and interesting compositions by being further away from the chair and including more of the environment in the frame.

I returned to the location for a third time and made some more images. Very quickly I appreciated how much better it was that we were staying in the one area. It gave me the time and space to develop a creative idea, knowing it could easily be pursued. There is much frustration associated with having been somewhere, realising afterwards that an opportunity has been missed, but to return would require a special effort and in truth would probably never happen.

Fortunately the weather and light were consistent for each visit to the saw mill, even though a change would have opened up other possibilities or ‘what ifs?’

I selected what I considered to be the best images and set about processing them in an harmonious fashion so they formed a complete body of work. They were all made with a Leica SL2-S and a 50mm Summilux lens, may wide open at f1.4. There are 15 images in total and they all appear in the panel below.

I find it quite hard to say why I was drawn to photograph the chair and whether or not there is some hidden maening. There must be a metaphor or several. I will leave it to you the viewer to decide what this set of images say to you. How do you react to them? What do they say about me as a photographer and person? Should I make an appointment with a psychoanalyst as a matter of urgency? Please leave a comment if you wish.

Given we were surrounded by majestic autumnal trees, parkland and nature at both a macro and micro level, it would have been impossible to ignore and not photograph the beauty to be found so I have included a selection of photographs as well as a panel of 9 further images below.

In my opening paragraph I stated that I considered this to be the best photographic workshop I had ever attended, but how do I quantify ‘best’?

To summarise – I very much welcomed and appreciated Paul’s approach to photography and consequently I was completely at ease. I was able to relax and be creative. All the participants produced very different work, we each had our own style, but there was no sense whatsoever of judgement or competition. Perhaps I was fortunate that as a group we gelled so well. We appreciated each others work as well as having a lot of fun and laughter. The location, accommodation and meals were all of a very high standard and given the time of year we were fortunate with the weather. Yes, it could have been brighter but it stayed dry for the duration.

As I look back on these photographs they will always remind me of a very special few days and I honestly can’t remember a time when I have enjoyed creating images this much. All I have to do now is to try and recreate a situation and the circumstances where I can be equally at one with my photography.

This is Part one of two posts about the retreat. Part two will follow soon and will include a few more images plus a description of the hand stitched book we all made on the last afternoon.