dsbryant@telocity.com
Date: 05/18/01-09:31:46 AM Z
Dick and Mike,
>
> 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.
I've keep up with the Mammoth workshops through View Camera and other sources, so there is no disputing that the faculty there isn't top notch and is of "star" caliber. My point to Rocky was that the workshop cost reflects the elasticity of this commodity, at least perhaps in this current economy. Lenswork's recent article on Tillman was very interesting to say the least. I've admired his work for a long time and enjoyed reading his articles.
Having Tillman, et al at APIS should be a lot of fun for everyone. It would be neat if he could bring some of his work published in "Structure" for people to see.
Also I think there may be too much of a good thing available at this workshop. A lot of width but perhaps lacking some depth (this is my conjecture).
Cheers,
Don Bryant
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