Seeing Differently: A Two-Day Photography Workshop – Sculptures Festival

Two mornings. One shift in how you see.

This is a workshop for anybody with a camera — including your phone — who wants to take better photographs by learning to see and think more clearly, not by memorising settings. It’s built for beginners and for people who’ve been shooting for years but feel stuck. The only real requirement is motivation: a genuine want to take your photography further, even if it’s purely for your own enjoyment.

What we’ll actually do

Most workshops talk at you. This one doesn’t. The approach is built on a simple belief: real learning happens by doing, not by being told. Across the two mornings you’ll spend the majority of your time shooting, reviewing, and editing your photos — not sitting through lecture.

Woven through the exercises are short bursts of inspiration from photographers who each see the world in a genuinely different way — a local photojournalist whose Sydney Olympics coverage stood apart through perspective, a master of abstraction who could turn a vegetable into a sculpture, a colourist known for finding beauty in reflection and light, a contemporary street photographer building a following by process over obsessing over equipment. Each one is a lens. We use their way of seeing to build a specific exercise, then send you off to shoot. By the end of the two days you’ll have deliberately practised several distinct approaches to the same everyday scene, and you’ll know which ones feel like you — a toolkit for noticing things worth photographing wherever you are, long after the workshop ends.

A central thread of the workshop is the festival itself. You’ll interact directly with sculptures — first in a structured group exercise, then independently, returning to the festival grounds in your own time (early morning, evening, or after dark) to photograph the pieces under completely different light. It’s a rare chance to engage with the works on your own terms, at a depth most visitors never get to.

What you’ll walk away with

• A practical, repeatable way of approaching any subject — one you’ll use for the rest of your photography, not just this weekend
• Real confidence to experiment without fear of a “bad” shot
• A personalised photography coach, set up on your own device, that you can return to indefinitely for feedback and new challenges long after the workshop ends
• A genuinely different relationship with the sculptures and the festival itself

The details

Two sessions, two hours each — Monday 14th and Tuesday 15th September, 10 am, at the Artisan Collective Barn, Wollombi General Store. Bring your camera (or just your phone) and whatever device you use to edit photos — for most people, that’s the same phone.

Who’s running it

Many of you will know me through @wollombivalley. What I bring to this workshop is a bit more than that: a background in architectural and design computing (UNSW, College of Fine Arts), 30+ years running digital and creative agencies internationally, and photography recognised through Emerging Artist at the 2025 Laguna Artshow and Hunter Valley Photograph of the Year (Newcastle Herald). I’m also the in-house photographer for Wollombi General Store & currently @VisitWollombi. This workshop approach is based on my background in corporate & startup innovation and my design education & practice.