Workshop March 23rd, 2013

This workshop has 
SOLD OUT - 3/19/13

"The Best Light is the Available Light" - Saturday, March 23, 2013

Photography is dependent on light. It is the job of the photographer to understand light as the essential resource in creating dynamic imagery and how to best utilize every aspect of this resource to communicate his or her personal vision.

David's March 2013 workshop will show how your personal vision can grow through an understanding of available light and how you can shape it to create your unique imagery.

The workshop will answer the most commonly asked questions about light, including:

- Is the available light always the best light?

- Is available light the same thing as ambient light?

- How do I create a powerful image with available light alone?

David will guide participants through a practical understanding of ambient light, natural light, enhanced light and modified light.

As a participant, you will learn how to take command of the available light to create successful photographs in almost any situation.



Date: Saturday, March 23rd, 11:00am - 5:00pm

Fee: $70.00

Location: Golden Gate Park (Meet at the Music Concourse to the left of the Band Shell at 11:00am)

SCHEDULE

Instruction & discussion: 11:00 - 1:00

Break: 1:00 - 1:30

Photographing & problem solving: 1:30 - 4:00

Discussion & wrap up: 4:00 - 5:00

Be sure to bring a camera: digital, film, SLR or point & shoot and some sort of note taking device. (Pack a lunch for the break or there is often food available at the trucks or in the de Young Cafe.)

To register email David at: dave@bigcrow.com

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Exploring Color Once Again

My personal vision is rooted in a close up, wide perspective of contrast, values of gray and line. Every so often I venture into color photography just to try to better understand my relationship to it. I will probably do this periodically for the rest of my career.

Most recently after listening to several interviews with William Klein and having several discussions about the work of Saul Leiter, I have again become excited about working with color. I'm not sure I will ever develop my own unique style of color photography but I'm gaining a better idea of where on the spectrum of color photography I'm most comfortable.

As I've said in the past, I work best in color when I make color the subject of the photograph. Looking at the work of Klein and Leiter I'm understand that the use of longer lenses than I would normally use is key to isolating color as subject. So lately I've been shooting color transparency film using 50mm and 135mm lenses.

 

Cafe window on Valencia Street, San Francisco. ©2013 David W. Sumner

Another interesting approach to color I have been exploring is using the various photo sharing camera apps made for the iPhone. These apps come with a variety of filters that recreate vintage "looks" to the final image. Some look like old Polaroids others like faded family Christmas snaps. Some combinations of these filters can achieve very interesting color palettes. For me the most interesting are those giving the low resolution images I make with my iPod Touch a similar look to early color processes such as the Autochrome.

 

The Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco. 

iPod Touch photo in Eye-Em App

©2013 David W. Sumner

It's all great fun and good visual/photographic exercise. For a while I'll be posting more color work to my Flickr page, but I do hear that dominant, black & white side of my vision clearly calling.

More Basics

 

Consider the the simplicity and comfort of the familiar.

Photo: ©2011 David W. Sumner

When Does it Become a Project? Part 2

I never set out to shoot a "project." I never try to think of a concept that I can turn into a project.

I have created only a few projects and in every case they developed out of an unplanned exploration of a subject. The more I work at photographing a particular subject the more potential I see in it, the more it attracts me. Eventually I see a pattern or structure developing in the work or I don't. If what's there still intrigues me I figure I'm on the verge of greeting a project.

Photographing Alcatraz over a period of four years developed in that way as has my eleven years of photographing in Golden Gate Park. Most recently it has been my flag imagery that has taken the shape of a project. It's finished now and still it has not provided a satisfying resolution to the conflicting notions of what the flag represents. The times we live in are too complex for such a symbol to stand for a single truth or any truth.

It may be easy for some photographers to say I want to do a project on this or that then figure out how to do it. But for me a project emerges out of my practice of a deeper seeing. It's not always apparent. I'm often not aware of how deeply I'm seeing something until I start looking back at the images and begin to see the pattern emerge and define itself.

Part 1: Here

Photo: ©2012 David W. Sumner

The Bigger Picture

I've never liked the 50mm lens. I've tried. I even own a few and put one on a camera now and then.

I know, it's the 'standard' lens. So many of the legends have used it to great effect. But I don't like it.

Our natural human vision takes in more, sees a wider angle of view than a 50mm lens allows. I want that wider view in my images. I'm a 28mm shooter because that's the way I see things.

I shoot wide and close. I try to keep my subject in a proper context by shooting this way. It's natural to me. It feels right, it looks right. That's my vision.




Photo: ©2012 David W. Sumner

Workshops 2013

“Defining Your Vision” January 12^th 2013

As a photographer, defining your personal vision is much more than finding a style. Both vision and style take a long time to develop and only find root in the fundamental understanding of what we are actually seeing when we view the world around us.

A long practice of focused, critical seeing is the way to discover what attracts us to a particular scene or image. Only when you understand the attraction can you begin to shape your personal vision.

It is this process of critical seeing that we will begin to explore in this one-day, six-hour workshop, “Defining Your Vision.”

We will begin this exploration by spending some relaxed time viewing photography and painting in the galleries of SFMOMA. You’ll experience a method of seeing that will help you identify the elements (emotions, color, light, line and form) that resonate with you. As we look at the imagery, we will make brief notes, often a single word that describes the essence of the piece, an emotional response to it, an impression of its graphic impact or its use of color.

Next we will meet for a guided discussion of our experiences with the art and our responses to it. With this information, we’ll take to the streets to spend two hours freely shooting images as we make our way from the Financial District to North Beach.
Meeting up in North Beach, we will talk about our experience shooting on the streets: What scenes we were attracted to, how we saw them, what influenced our seeing, and what we observed that was new to our seeing.

What you will learn:
- The difference between looking and seeing that will define your vision.
- Identifying the essential elements necessary to help achieve your vision.
- How to better express your personal vision through a practice of critical seeing.

Schedule:
January 12, 2013
11:00am – Meet in the atrium of SFMOMA (151 3^rd Street). Introduction & brief instruction
11:30 – 1:00pm – View art to make notes of impressions or inspirations
1:00 – 2:00pm – Meet on the 5^th Floor Roof Top Garden for discussion & brief instruction
2:00 – 4:00pm – Photo walk (individually or in groups)
4:00 – 5:00pm – Meet up at Caffe Greco for discussion & wrap up

What to bring:
A camera – film or digital, SLR or point ‘n shoot
A small notebook or sketchbook
A San Francisco street map
(You may want lunch during the ‘photo walk’ portion of the workshop so be prepared to buy your own lunch along the way or better yet pack a brown bag)

Cost:
$70.00 per person (Includes admission to SFMOMA)
Fees are refundable up to 48 hours prior to the workshop.
(Space is limited to 5 people per workshop)

Registration:
To register for this workshop email your name and address to: dave@bigcrow.com
Your registration will be confirmed once your payment is confirmed. 

Use the Buy Now button below to secure your space in this workshop.

Ever insightful Daido Moriyama