From: Richard Sullivan FRPS (richsul@earthlink.net)
Date: 05/18/01-08:32:51 AM Z
Don,
I taught there last year and it was superb but I can agree it was pricey.
Tillman had student assistants up till 3 AM running film in the Jobo's.
What is amazing is that the Waterford School is a high school! The lab had
4 Jobo's, a complete pt/pd printing set up with two light banks, 3 large
darkrooms and a film loading room. A bunch of 4x5 and 8x10 cameras, and at
least 1 12x20. Every student gets his or her own Pentax 35mm outfit to use
for the term. Tillman mentioned to Dusty, the head of the school that they
had no medium format stuff so Dusty authorized 6 Hassy outfits!
If I am not mistaken all the students must take a photo course during their
high school years. Dusty Huston is a former Columbia U. Professor, is a
view camera nut himself. His teaching philosophy is that photography is
great integration of disciplines. You need to have a sensitivity to art and
design, some math, some chemistry, optics, know how to use tools, etc. All
must come together or it bites back, it bites gently but it bites
nonetheless. I agree that it is a great way for students to be able to
apply and integrate multiple disciplines in practice.
The money secret? Here's what I see. The school is associated with the
Waterford Institute that is also on campus that develops leading edge
learning software. The school is the lab for the software. The software
price begins at $340,000.00 for a basic kit for a small school district. So
my guess is the plushness is due to the Institute's funding. Student
tuition runs about $9000.00 per year which is about par for a private high
school.
Tillman is leaving Waterford and Utah at the end of the semester to go back
to Maine and be a full time photo artist. He used to be the director of the
main Photographic Workshops until Dusty stole him away. Tilmmann and a gang
of students will be coming down to APIS and PhotoArts Santa Fe in July.
Pics of last year's and perhaps the last Waterford Workshop are at:
http://www.bostick-sullivan.com/MammothCamera/index.htm
--Dick Sullivan
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : 07/12/01-11:29:40 AM Z CST