On Saturday, a local photographer shared his passion for shooting photos in downtown Phoenix while teaching an intimate, daylong workshop for beginning photographers.
Andrew Pielage grew up immersed in photography. The child of two adventurous campers, he was always taking pictures.
Pielage lived in the suburbs of Phoenix and Tempe the majority of his life. He said he decided to move to downtown Phoenix because of the creativity of people in the area.
“As soon as I came down here, I mean you can just feel it,” Pielage said. “When you walk down Roosevelt Street and see the smiles on people’s faces, and there’s always people running around taking photos. It’s just great.”
It wasn’t until two years of searching online, however, that Pielage found and rented the space for Drive-Thru Gallery, located on Sixth and Roosevelt streets. He uses the gallery as a space to allow up-and-coming artists to feature their photography during First Friday and other shows.
After living and working out of the Drive-Thru Gallery, Pielage said he noticed a communal desire for photography classes.
“Having a photography gallery, I hear people come in and ask if there (are) classes,” Pielage said. “I think a lot of people aren’t necessarily sticking into their genre of art. Sometimes they want to kind of expand into other avenues.”
In deciding where to host the photography workshop on Saturday, he said downtown Phoenix was an obvious choice. He highlighted the architecture, skyscrapers, street art and churches as being a “great avenue” for photographers.
“I just think that downtown Phoenix is so diverse, and it’s wonderful as a photographer to take photos because we have a little bit of everything down here,” Pielage said. “Going to these beautiful places in Arizona, sometimes it’s hard to take a bad shot.”
To spread the word about his workshop, Pielage used social media avenues, along with the Roosevelt Row Arts District newsletter. However, he had one mandatory rule when teaching: keep an intimate setting.
Pielage said he would only allow eight students maximum so that he could focus on giving paying customers the one-on-one attention they deserved.
“My philosophy on teaching is I always want to teach somebody so they’re going to be better at it than I am,” he said. “I think that’s the most important part.”
The two students who attended the workshop agreed.
“The fact that it’s small and intimate and I can get all my questions answered is amazing,” said David Borsheim, one of the workshop students.
Borsheim, a friend of Pielage, said he was interested in the workshop because Pielage was “not concerned about the numbers and just getting people in and out to make more money.” Borsheim said Pielage has a “true passion for photography.”
Zie Weathers, another attending student from Bioscience High School, met Pielage three months preceding the workshop. He immediately asked if Pielage would mentor him.
Weathers, who is currently working on becoming an intern for Pielage, said Pielage knew much more than just the technical aspects of shooting. He was good at teaching a hands-on approach and “suppressing (the complexities) in a way which the general photographer population can understand,” he said.
The three men started their workshop learning about aperture and ISO at 9:30 a.m. at Drive-Thru Gallery. After tackling those two elements, they wandered into downtown Phoenix to practice “depth-of-field” photography at the Herberger Theater Center and the GROWop Handmade + Found shop.
After photos and lunch at Arizona Center’s Corner Bakery Cafe, the three returned to the gallery, where Pielage taught the “rule of thirds” composition and shutter speed.
To hone in shutter-speed skills and understanding, Pielage turned out the lights and shined a flashlight. The students took photos with extended shutter speeds. The shots resulted in vibrant swirls of light on top of a black background.
The classroom setting was very casual, much like an open-forum. The students asked questions whenever necessary and all three discussed techniques openly.
The group ended the workshop at the Japanese Friendship Garden, off Third Avenue and Portland Street. The swimming fish and rapidly flowing waterfalls made it an ideal location to practice the shutter speed technique Pielage taught.
Borsheim, an avid auto-mode user, said he would never go back to using the mode on his camera again. By the end of the day, he felt like a different photographer.
“I’m hoping I get so good I won’t have to use editing software,” Borsheim said jokingly.
Pielage said he plans to host another workshop in six months, possibly delving into the intermediate and advanced level. Along with that, he foresees night classes in the future teaching subjects like long-exposure photography at Drive-Thru Gallery.
Contact the reporter at Taylor.Seely@asu.edu
