I am heading out to Ruidoso, New Mexico tomorrow for what my friend, Kate, calls ‘Photo Camp.’ It’s really a Photography Workshop, but I giggled so much when she said ‘Photo Camp’ - like it was a middle school volleyball camp or something - that’s all I can call it now. So much for sophistication.

The instructor, Todd Williams, who taught the Documentary Photography class I took in the fall, has a really unique look at teaching photography. He teaches technique, but is also very philosophical. I remember the first day of class he gave us two handouts for homework, one about light metering and one about yoga. The next week he asked us if we knew why he’d given them to us. A guy’s hand shot up in front. “I have no idea,” he said. We laughed. Basically he wanted us to understand that he wasn’t just going to teach us about the settings on our camera, there had to be an inner balance and focus as well. If we didn’t get that right from the start, we probably wouldn’t get that class.

Todd hasn’t taught workshops in a few years, so this Ruidoso trip is a ‘test’ trip. Some students from our class, and some from his last classes, got together for a few happy hours and after enough margaritas, we finally convinced him that we were the group to get him started again. The agenda is jam packed, but laid back enough that if we all want to do something else, we will.

My friend, Mia, told me this afternoon she hopes I come back with a giant creative hangover. I hope so too, because that sounds WONDERFUL.