Looking back and moving forward

I've been in a bit of hibernation this summer and I've had a break in doing any blogging so this post comes some time after our last workshop. 

So, Brenda Ann Kenneally came to stay at the yurts. Brenda + a yurt + the cold + Rufus and a load of photographers staying on a farm for a week. It was inspiring, stressful, tiring, but ultimately as always a fantastic experience. Brenda was a bright spark at a difficult time and I hope I know her for a very long time to come.

We also met some other very nice photographers who made it all the way down to Devon, including David Hurn from Magnum, Matt Cardy from Getty and Jocelyn Bain Hogg from VII. David Hurn had the best end to a talk I have ever heard, was extremely cool AND I got a cuddle from him.

Lessons have been learnt from organising The Hinterlands over the past two years. We've made mistakes, had fun, learnt a lot, grown up a bit and became a team when it mattered most - despite our difficulties and differences.

Thanks to everyone who came to the Hinterlands this summer and supported the workshops online and in person, making each week a unique experience.

Free place for The Hinterlands photofilm workshop with duckrabbit

Not long now until this year's Hinterlands photofilm workshop with duckrabbit and we are pleased to announce a scholarship place for the 5 day residential training week in Devon. The lucky recipient will attend the workshop, stay on site at the yurts and be fed and watered for free.

We want to help out someone who'd like to come, but can't quite scrape together the beans in this tough economic climate so head to www.thehinterlands.co.uk and click on the workshop button to read more. The closing date is Wednesday 16th May 2012 at 09.00 hrs.


You may end up feeling a bit like Tessa Bunney :-)

The new Hinterlands website is now up and running.

After a lot of hard work, countless conversations and some very late nights, the new Hinterlands website is now up and running. Take a look if you're interested in finding out more about duckrabbit's photofilm workshop, or a photographic immersion workshop with Brenda Ann Kenneally. All the dates and prices are on the site, but feel free to get in touch with any questions via email at rebecca@thehinterlands if you think theres something we've missed.

The Hinterlands - Brenda Ann Kenneally workshop

The Hinterlands Brenda Ann Kenneally workshop will run from Sunday 24th - Friday 29th June and will cost £850.00 including all food and accommodation. It will be an intimate workshop with only 10 places available and will be held at the beautiful site of Blackdown Yurts in Devon. We are working hard to finish the new website and all the details will be available very soon. In the meantime if you want to get in touch or reserve a place email rebecca@thehinterlands.co.uk or follow us on twitter @the_hinterlands.

Brenda Ann Kenneally at The Hinterlands in June

Coming soon in June 2012 - Brenda Ann Kenneally's first UK workshop!

I'm very excited to announce The Hinterlands will be hosting acclaimed American photographer and visual journalist Brenda Ann Kenneally for a new inspiring workshop this summer. The details haven't been finalised yet but expect to be bowled over by Brenda's enthusiasm, tenacity and immersive style of working - and if Brenda has anything to do with it lots of strong cups of coffee.

For more details follow @the_hinterlands

Brenda Ann Kenneally is a mother, activist, and visual journalist who lives in Brooklyn, New York. Her long-term projects are intimate portraits of social issues that intersect where the personal is political. Brenda's own involvement in the criminal justice system when she was a child has given her an insight and commitment to projects that reveal the human cost of misguided public policies in The United States.

The result of a decade of reporting, Kenneally’s book and web publication MONEY, POWER, RESPECT; Pictures of My Neighborhood have received numerous awards: The W. Eugene Smith Award for Humanistic Photography, a Soros Criminal Justice Fellowship, The Mother Jones Documentary Photography Award, and The International Prize for Photojournalism in Gijon Spain. Kenneally was among the earliest to embrace multi -platform media. Her independent collective pioneered in making and distributing serialized reporting via the web. In 2006 the multimedia component of Money, Power, Respect, won the Best of Photojournalism Award for overall Best Use of the Web by the National Press Photographers Association. Kenneally is working to push the boundaries of the social document, using the web as a tool to expand and contextualize her Gonzo-immersion style of reporting.

In this spirit Kenneally and independent producer Laura Lo Forti founded The Raw File, a digital theatre dedicated to providing a space for provocative open-ended media.

In 2004, Kenneally began reporting on the lives of an extended family of teenagers who would come of age in the iconic post- industrial City of Troy, New York. The ongoing project Upstate Girls; Unraveling Collar City aims deep into the emotional and psychological cycle of poverty from a women’s eye view. The project has been supported to date, by a Nikon Sabbatical Grant, The Alicia Patterson Foundation, and The Cannon Female Photojournalism Grant. Getty Grant for Editorial Photography and an Open Society Distribution Grant, A New York State Council for The Arts Individual Artist Grant and a print acquisition form The United States Library of Congress. The project was awarded The Pictures of The Year International Community Awareness Award and First Place for Daily Life Stories at World Press International. The project is ongoing and has been exhibited through out the United States, Europe and Latin America.

The Legendary Dougie Wallace

Shame this is black and white - that pink wig was gorgeous!

Decompressing after our wonderful workshop

Back at home now and still coming down from the workshop. It started with an idea and grew to a full blown amazing experience. It surpassed all my expectations and all the hard work in the lead up was well worth the effort. It's been a roller coaster of emotions I felt exhausted, energised, overwhelmed but over all so, so happy we were able to create a space for the participants to learn new skills and go away feeling they had value for money.

Myself and Mike are passionate about good food, sharing skills, the great outdoors and good company - The Hinterlands workshop bought all this together and so much more. I feel proud to have been part of the team and glad duckrabbit agreed to come along and collaborate with us. The training was outstanding and Benjamin and David bought an amazing amount of energy to the five days.

There were also some brilliant speakers who I feel are well worth a look and want to say thank you to as they provided a wonderful interlude to the hard work and were truly inspirational. They include; Tessa Bunny, Jonathan Worth, Nick Hand, Georgina Cranston and of course David White and Benjamin Chesterton from duckrabbit.

Now away from the Devon hills and back in my terraced house with brown roofs to wake to and no birdsong, I am feeling more than a little separation anxiety from the people who I've laughed with, eaten delicious food with, learned with and worried over!

Those who are close to me know these last few months have been hard since the death of my father, but I feel he would be proud. So thank you Dad for everything you've done for me in my life. x