The Architecture and Their History
by Plato Rivellis
The Past of the Seminars
The first photography seminar I organized in 1981, in the basement space I had just bought and equipped on Arachovis Street (Studio Quark), was extremely simple. One morning a week, focusing on teaching photographic techniques (shooting, developing, and printing). However, this seminar could boast something that was rather unusual at that time. From the first day, I began to present the work of great photographers, reproducing their photos in slides from my - still fresh - photographic library.
Studio Quark, Arachovis Street
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My brief stay in America in 1983 added an important element to my teaching, which I "copied" from a young and talented teacher-photographer, Charlie Melcher. And this was none other than the critical discussion about the printed photographs that we, the trainee photographers, brought in.
Maine, USA, Charlie Melcher, Critique Course
The photographing and the critique were enriched with other artistic comments and presentations, which, after the establishment of the "Photographic Circle" in 1988, became a new autonomous and short-duration seminar, which we then called "Advanced", since the old and already established one we called "Basic". The "Advanced" seminar aimed at producing photos (since we hoped that the technique had already been mastered) and developing the films as quickly as possible so that the critique of the shots could follow. This was made possible because just then a portable negative scanner from Tamron was released, allowing the immediate projection of the negative on the screen as a positive. It was essentially the application of the rule "from theory ('Basic seminar') to practice ('Advanced seminar')".
Tsakalof Seminars
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The joy of creation was combined with the enjoyment of companionship, as the "Advanced" seminars, from 1992, began to take place in the first days of July at a seaside hotel in Paros. To keep the group of students artistically alert, I then established evening film screenings from copies of TV broadcasts.
The duration of the "Basic Seminar" was originally four months with a four-hour meeting per week. One cycle from October to January and another from February to May, to be followed by the "Advanced" ten-day seminar in Paros in early July, which moved to Syros in 1999. After a decade, the four months became eight, resulting in only one "Basic" seminar each winter, lasting about 120 hours. After a few years, the names also changed. The Basic became "Introduction to Artistic Photography Seminar" and the Advanced "Photography and Critique Seminar". And they were disconnected from each other so that participation in the first was not a prerequisite to allow participation in the second.
Paros Seminars
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Reversals and New Perceptions
At this point, I must highlight something that we often forget, although we all know it. And that is that most of the changes we make in our lives are essentially imposed by external factors that we do not control, to which, however, we must succumb and which it is good to utilize. Because, as the painter Renoir aptly said, when you are swept by the current of a river, it makes no sense to swim against the flow, but you must let yourself be carried by it, making only minor corrective movements.
The sweeping prevalence of digital photography and the omnipotence of the internet were significant external changes that brought various upheavals to the Circle. The excellently equipped dark room of the Circle became an endangered species, but also our large library did not have the same importance, since one could easily view and download photos from the internet. These two upheavals reduced the significance of the large and expensive space of Tsakalof. The transfer of the seminars and presentations to the Benaki Museum and the donation of our library to it led to the obvious solution of maintaining only the small space of Tsakalof as the headquarters of the association.
In the external changes, we must add the rapid multiplication of free photography courses (Popular Education, Local Government, etc.) and the major economic crisis. The latter led to a reduction in the duration of the seminars and a significant increase in the number of photography teachers. At the same time, however, I noticed that the re-emergence of old students and their insistence on re-attending courses began to be the rule rather than the exception. Perhaps because they realized that the concepts developed in each art teaching are not exhausted with the first contact.
Seminars of Popular Education (Metsovo, Nafpaktos, Skopelos, Nafplio)
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Just before the coronavirus pandemic, the "Photographic Critique" was finally established as an autonomous seminar, and the presentation of the work of well-known (and unknown) photographers also took the form of a separate seminar titled "Artistic Signature". In the meantime (unfortunately) the interest of emerging photographers in the technique, whether it concerns shooting or the much more useful (nowadays) use of a good sorting and processing program, was downgraded.
The forced familiarity of all of us with online communication was another of the wonders that can be caused by external difficulties. During the two years of total or partial confinement, the attendance of online seminars included people of all ages who quickly learned to handle modern means with relative comfort, and who came not only from Athens, nor only from various cities in the region, but also from cities abroad. However, even the residents of the capital admit that with much less effort they have the happiness to attend the seminars from their homes, instead of losing time in the long commutes. Here is another revelation due to external difficulties and changes that none of us caused or wished for, but which ultimately benefited us.
Seminars at the Benaki Museum
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Before I analyze the current mesh of my seminars in more detail, I would also like to mention another relatively recent realization of mine. Initially, I believed I was a good teacher and that all enthusiasts of photography would benefit from my lessons. Over the years, I realized that I became a better teacher (so I exaggerated then), but I also realized that a good teacher (and I'll limit it to the field of art) is not good for everyone. The student must have the courage, the sensitivity, the instinct, and the knowledge to choose a teacher and to utilize him. And this acceptance (or chemistry) is not common or given.
During my stay in America at a photography center, where many famous photographers participated as seminar presenters, I chose seminars based on the photographic work of the teachers. At the end of the first day of each seminar, I realized that I did not need that particular teacher and left, transferring the deposit to the next seminar. The first day I attended the teaching of Garry Winogrand (whose work I do not remember knowing) I realized that his reasoning would help me. The young Charlie Melcher, whom I mentioned above, met me at the local bar every evening to transfer Winogrand's teaching to him, since he was teaching another group at the same times. I would also like to note that at several points I did not agree with Winogrand and never took even one photo like his, because, despite the friendly relationship we developed and the esteem I had for him, we differed significantly as characters.
I will also add an important comment he made about the essence of teaching. He told me that there are two ways to help a new photographer. First, to show him the work of great photographers so he can form models, and second, to judge with a simple "yes" or "no" his photos. I remember, and it's something I never fail to mention in my lessons, that when he rejected one of my photos with a "no", other photographers present asked him to justify why he rejected it. He answered with the laconic phrase: "Platon will understand." This phrase had a dual meaning. First, it showed a trust in the photographer, thus acting as encouragement, and second, it implied that each must realize his weaknesses on his own. I kept this teaching lesson but adapted it to my character and the mentality of my Mediterranean students. On the one hand, I did not limit myself to presenting only top photographers, but I also gave weight to comparisons with the mediocre and the bad. And on the other hand, I give explanations for acceptance and rejection, always emphasizing that these are hints and not substantive explanations.
Maine, USA, Garry Winogrand
I will also add that photography is so easy that anyone can photograph without needing a teacher. After all, poetry is just as easy. Doctorates are not necessary for the poet. They might even be misleading. To need to seek a teacher, one must have encountered the dead ends of artistic creation. One must have begun to question, or even reject, oneself. If he reaches this point, he will probably be able to choose the teacher he needs. After Winogrand, I think the only teachers who indirectly help me are my students. And to them, I must also add all the artists whose work and words I invoke during my lessons. I mean photographers, painters, directors, writers, composers, choreographers, whose work and words I invoke during my lessons.
These above make me confess something I realized just in recent years. I used to distinguish my students into beginners and advanced, and my lessons were addressed successively to different "sections" of enrolled students. Ultimately, however, those who simply attend a few-hour seminar (I would more accurately call it a small series of lectures) should be considered (and referred to as) listeners and not students.
I am also particularly pleased when someone tells me that he came to sign up for one of my seminars because a good friend of his whom he trusts advised him, or because he talked with one of my former students, or because he came across an article or a book of mine that interested him. Such a starting point is already a beginning of apprenticeship. It is a significant beginning of acceptance. When I refer today to "my students," I mean people with whom, without necessarily being friends, we share common views and preferences. And we exchange choices.
Now I no longer characterize my lessons as advanced or beginner, nor do I distribute the material into easy or difficult, nor do I have the feeling that I am addressing experienced or inexperienced people. I have also been freed from the anxiety of non-repetition, as many of my students admit that each time a theoretical problem recurs, they perceive it more fully or differently, and I as a teacher approach it involuntarily differently, since I obviously do not remain the same and immovable. Finally, the mixing of beginner and experienced photographer-students benefits everyone. The newcomer may understand something from an observation of an old one, and the latter may put himself in the place of the former, remembering his own questions to realize the complexity of the problems.
Seminars at the Piraeus Cultural Foundation
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Seminars Various (Stavroupoli-Chania, Venizelos Museum-Cairo, Abetios School-Thessaloniki)
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Seminars Various (Patras, Idyphos- Patras, University-Poros-Nicosia)
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Seminars Various (Moraitis School-Athens College-Kozani-University Club)
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Seminars Various (Delphi EPKD-Syros-Greek-American Union)
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Please, anyone who has questions or comments about the seminars or the "Photographic Circle" should not hesitate to contact me via email (