The Hinterlands - Day 5..

I have been having a wonderful time this week with 17, and occasionally 18 others down here on the edge of the Blackdown Hills in Devon at the second ever Hinterlands workshop. We are humbled to have participants that have travelled thousands of miles to get here to this little corner of rural Devon to make up our small community for a week and learn together in this really special way.

It's been a week of sunshine and in between training with duckrabbit our new found friends here at the Hinterlands have eaten wonderfully prepared fresh food out in the open to relive the everyday stresses of life. Tuesday saw teams head out across the county to visit all it has to offer and collect peoples valuable stories to treasure and turn into wonderful photofilms. From trams, to calves and horse drawn canal barges there was something for everyone and perhaps an eye opener into what this beautiful patch of green has to offer.

In the past few days we have has the pleasure of hosting a talk with Guardian multimedia editor Pascal Wyse who wowed us with his beautiful soundscapes from nature before getting almost three hours sleep in his cosy bell tent to get up and capture the dawn chorus. On top of that we were happy to welcome back past Hinterlands student Alice Carfrae - alicecarfrae.com - to talk about her current work Tin Girls and her experimentation with multimedia. John MacPherson - john-macpherson-photography.com - finished wrapped our evening last night with tales of people, places and generally enthused us to become more excited about just taking pictures and enjoying it for what it is.

It's the last full day today and after cooking a whole host of fry-ups this morning I am looking forward to our finale this evening. We invite the local community, those that have helped and participated in our photofilms to come along and view the work made here at The Hinterlands. It's a really special part of what we do here and it's my favourite. It makes you really consider what you put into your work and to make it as honest and as true as possible, and there really is nothing like seeing that look of genuine happiness on the face of someone whose story you have told when they watch a film about themselves.

24 hours left here at the yurts and I'm sure it will be great!

New updated Hinterlands for 2012!

I've spent the morning outside of my flat, outside of the office and outside of the screen on my computer. With the beautiful spring weather we've been having it's been really hard to have been sat inside tapping away working on the new Hinterlands website although now it's done I think it was well worth the effort.

Take a look at www.thehinterlands.co.uk and let us know what you think...

Last years Hinterlands workshop celebrated the great outdoors, photography, photofilms, tasty food, a sense of community, yurts, having a drink around the fire and storytelling in equal measures and was a big success. Fifteen happy people walked away from their time in Devon with the skills to make a photofilm after a week of learning in the big barn with duckrabbit.

This year we are adding another workshop to the roster so we thought it was time for an upgrade to our presence on the web. duckrabbit are back for 2012 and will be playing host to 15 trainees at The Hinterlands. Be prepared to be immersed in a world of photofilms and storytelling and ready to increase your potential to use multimedia as part of your work.

'Dana`s sister, Jessica, on her 22d birthday. A friend gave her pellet guns.' - Part of the series Upstate Girls - © Brenda Ann Kenneally.

On top of this we have, all the way from New York city the wonderful Brenda Ann Kenneally. Brenda is a skilled storyteller and has many comprehensive bodies of work under her belt. Ten lucky participants will be taken under her wing for a week to thoroughly look at their working practice and to build upon their skills using a multi-layered approach to documentary storytelling. Brenda also

We are so pleased to be working with such talented people like Brenda and duckrabbit and will also be getting in some great speakers to keep the trainees evenings jam packed with interesting talks and screenings. On top of all of that we are chuffed to be welcoming back the wonderful Olivia in the kitchen who will again be cooking up a storm of wonderful food to feed those creative appetites.

The best thing about The Hinterlands this year is the fact that it is still a small workshop that holds true to it's values. We source local food and drink and all of the trainees will work on stories in the local environment, stories that we hope the subjects will come and view later for themselves over a beer. The participants share yurts with solar lights, compost loos and warming wood burning stoves and get to know each other enhancing their learning experience. Our workshops aren't up on a pedestal and all of the people involved are normal people who enjoy sharing their knowledge and skills. If you come down to The Hinterlands this year you will eat, drink and relax with the trainers, our cook, Rebecca and myself (that would be us the organisers..) and generally be part of the whole experience. This is really important to us, it's how a workshop should be and it's how The Hinterlands is and we are so happy to be running it.

Jonathan Worth from the online photography class #phonar, a speaker at the 2011 Hinterlands workshop.

Obviously I am slightly biased as I am part of the workshop but I really do believe it's a great experience and that we offer something truly individual. So biased or not - get on the website and have a read about what we do, look at some of the testimonials or watch our photofilm featuring last years trainees. I think you'll like it and I hope you will want to come down and become part of it this summer.

Oh and I had an idea. I need to clear it with Olivia but I was thinking of making fresh sourdough loaves every morning. There really is nothing better than a hunk of fresh sourdough, a bit of butter and a spoon of marmalade coupled with a fresh cup of coffee to start a creative day in the countryside....sounds good to me!

Right well I think I'm going to have another cup of tea and then wonder what to do with all of the veg that I foraged this morning. I have wild garlic which will definetly end up as a wild garlic pesto, nettles which I am slightly less well versed in and primroses which are great in salads all to look forward to....yum!

Photofilms and Yurts..

As winter approaches at a steady rate of knots and that inner cold sets in, I think it's good to have something to look forward to. Christmas holidays I suppose would do...maybe your new years celebrations....yeh did that last year..how about next years Hinterlands workshop..

If you have no idea what i'm waffling about then I'll get straight to the point. We (that's me, Rebecca Harley and the duckrabbit team) are running our second Hinterlands photofilm workshop on what I think is the best possible course in the UK. A five day residential workshop staying in mongolian yurts with log burners and eating wonderful food, you will break bread with other keen participants whilst learning all there is to know about photofilms. It's a very peaceful relaxing place to learn in but we still pack in lots of stuff to keep you busy. Last year we had cyclist, adventurer and photofilm creator Nick Hand talk about his work and where photofilms have taken his career, and Coventry University pioneer and creator of #phonar, Jonathan Worth talking about how to get ahead by giving your work away.

Last years participants were an awesome bunch and we really really had a great time working with them. This year we have another 15 places...actually 14 because I just took a booking..and I hope we can fill it with a similarly inspiring group.

If your still wondering what the hell I'm waffling about watch this photofilm with last years participants talking about their experiences.

For more info or to book a place head to www.thehinterlands.co.uk

Hinterben

I've finally made it home after almost two weeks away being everything Hinterlands. We wanted The Hinterlands to be an amazing way to learn everything there was to know about photofilms in a low impact kinda way with a bunch of like minded people. It ended up being so much more! The talks were so inspiring I would like to thank Nick and Jonathan and everyone else who graced the barns presence.

We (Rebecca and I) partnered up with duckrabbit for this workshop and were so happy to have a group of fifteen students who by the end of five days didn't want to leave. A cook who didn't want to leave and a few that didn't even leave.

What an amazing experience!

I'll just sort through the 1111 jpegs, 2 films, 1 timeplapse and several 3d photographs to see what might interest anyone.

Ben gets his portrait taken by Rebecca

The Hinterlands...continues

As I type this The Hinterlands students are getting to grips with the finer side of editing down the material they gathered out in the field on yesterdays case studies. It was a great day with a lot of happy smiling faces and a few surprises thrown in.

They have a lot of hard work to get on with now so I better go and help out..

Captivated by Georgina's talk.

Our schedule for the evening.
Is this Wasma?

Finding our way home from the pub.
The classroom.

An ominous forecast.

Want to stay in a yurt?

I'm really happy to be posting a photofilm I have been working on in collaboration with rebecca. We just finished putting the final touches to it for a small firm in Devon which provide Yurt accommodation on their smallholding in Devon.

We are also using these wonderful yurts as the location for The Hinterlands workshop which I am involved in putting on with duckrabbits Ben & David. So if you like our photofilm and you think you might like to stay a yurt maybe you should come on down in May and take part.. We still have places so head to www.thehinterlands.co.uk or click on the banner below..