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Group Chance Encounters NY
The Chance Encounters group has been a unique combination of learning,
being exposed to many interesting aspects of photography and above
all a great gathering of friends and students, past and present.
From the very start, the night of the welcome dinner at my house, some
very good photographer friends shared their beautiful work from the streets
of New York and Cuba. Another night, another friend and well known collector
told my students about his own personal way of collecting photographs, how
he started, why and a myriad more interesting stories.
Angie came all the way from Texas to be my assistant; Justin came fro
England to simply hang out. Kevin came from Pittsburgh to bring the freshly
printed little books of the groups Transcending Reality and Ramoncito and Where
Are All the People?. From Oregon, John sent the books of the groups Cuzqueña
and Mercy of the Moment. Garry showed the lay out of the upcoming book Stray
Dog and so did Barbara of the book Secondary Elements. I was so pleased and
impressed by the high quality of each one of them. I remember even shading
some tears in the subway as leafing through the Transcending Reality book I
stumbled upon some of the moving comments that without my knowledge, Kevin
had gathered from all the participants.
Our beloved Beths (the first a former student and the latter a student)
had the whole class plus friends come over for two fabulous dinners, one even
on the roof top a building with a sweeping view of the city. Barbara and Daniela
made a beautiful digital presentation of their personal work to a roaring crowd.
Friday night the class and many, many friends showed up at the opening of my
first digitally printed exhibition at the Italian Academy at Colombia University.
I had the pleasure to give away many copies of the beautifully printed catalogues
and posters. Marcello, inspired by all the good work seen during our galleries
tour, decided to buy one of my large prints from Cuba and start his own collection.
In the midst of all these happenings the eleven students (including the
largest contingent of Italians ever with five) managed to search for special
moments on the vibrant New York City streets to photograph. We edited painstakingly
each day all the rolls shot by each student, had improvised lunches in the
terrace and great dinners together. Why the name Chance Encounters? Because
in a huge city like New York we kept running into each other all over the city,
even in a darkroom. Only in New York. To be repeated.
EB
My experience in Ernesto’s workshop in New York was both unexpected
and deeply satisfying for me in my growth as a photographer. It wasn’t
just about training my eye to see the story on the street - it was about
learning to see, understand, and validate the bones of a photograph and
my own work. I feel like I’m light years ahead of where I was before
I took his workshop, and without question I would do it again.
Alexandra Cosentino
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