WEEKEND SCHEDULE
Saturday
| TIME |
EVENT/TOPIC |
INSTRUCTOR |
| 7:15 AM – 8:35 AM |
Registration for Weekend |
|
| 8:00 AM – 8:30 AM |
Q&A on Camera Setup for those with questions on Camera Setup Video |
Craig |
| 8:30 AM – 8:45 AM |
Break |
|
| 8:45 AM – 9:00 AM |
Orientation |
Craig, Marti |
| 9:00 AM – 10:30 AM |
Seeing and Creating Dynamic Light |
Craig |
| 10:30 AM – 10:45 AM |
Break |
|
| 10:45 AM – 12:45 PM |
Composition: Seeing and Designing Powerful Images |
Craig |
| 12:45 PM – 2:00 PM |
Lunch (on your own) |
|
| 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM |
The Grand Scale Scenic Landscape |
Craig |
| 3:30 PM – 3:45 PM |
Break |
|
| 3:45 PM – 5:15 PM |
Participant Image Critique |
Craig |
Sunday
| TIME |
EVENT/TOPIC |
INSTRUCTOR |
| 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM |
Creating Expressive Photographs of People |
Craig |
| 11:00 AM - 11:15 AM |
Break |
|
| 11:15 AM - 12:45 PM |
Seeing Beyond |
Marti |
| 12:45 PM - 2:00 PM |
Lunch (on your own) |
|
| 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM |
The Magic of Digital Night Photography |
Craig |
| 3:30 PM - 3:45 PM |
Break |
|
| 3:45 PM - 5:30 PM |
The Next Step: The Artist's Journey |
Craig |
| 5:30 PM - 5:45 PM |
Weekend Wrap Up |
Craig, Marti |
SESSION DESCRIPTIONS
Basic Exposure and Camera Setup
This is a foundation video presentation that will be available to watch here on The Mindful Eye before attending the Inspirational Weekend. We strongly encourage photographers of all skill levels who are attending the Weekend to watch this three part video. This tutorial lays a strong technical foundation for all of our other weekend presentations. Craig begins by explaining the most important camera controls; f-stop, shutter speed and ISO. Craig discusses how these controls form the foundation of exposure, stopped and implied motion, and depth of field. Next Craig demystifies how to use your histogram to achieve the optimal exposure for each shot. Other important camera controls are discussed and explained including image quality shooting modes like camera RAW and JPEG, how to use and creatively work with your camera’s white balance settings, and suggestions for camera set up connected to basic settings like exposure level increments.
By putting this foundation information online for you to view and study before the weekend we are dramatically increasing the value of our Weekend events. Very advanced photographers who have a strong understanding of exposure and their camera don’t have to sit through a basic class that is all review. And by offering this information online at TME before the event we are able to share much more information with you while we are together on Saturday and Sunday. From 8:00AM to 8:30AM on Saturday morning Craig will host a Q and A session for anyone who has questions about the concepts covered in this three part foundation video series.
Seeing and Creating Dynamic Light
Photography is painting with light and no other element of visual design is more important. Craig begins by explaining the difference between how our eyes and cameras see light. Craig then discusses lighting’s most basic concepts – the quantity of light – the size of the light source relative to our subject or subjects – and the color temperature of light. Beginning with natural light Craig looks at ways of finding the perfect quality of light for each photographic subject. Craig then looks at working with on camera flash, studio strobes, and other available light sources to either creatively augment natural light or to create a whole new lighting design altogether. Craig brings his 15 years of experience working with lighting as an advertising photographer to this exciting presentation.
Composition: Seeing and Designing Powerful Images
In this visually rich portion of the weekend Craig shares his broad and deep knowledge on the subject of design and composition culled from twenty years of image design as a commercial photographer and studied over the last 15 years while critiquing thousands of student’s images. This class begins with Craig discussing the foundation concepts of design including but not limited to, the inherent visual weight inside of the blank frame, the hierarchy of the visual weight of our potential photographic subjects, working with positive and negative space, managing separations and mergers, working with implied movement of energy, color theory, and subject placement within the frame. In addition Craig looks at the individual elements of design like mass, form, contrast, quality of line, texture, and pattern. Craig also discusses more subtle levels of visual communication connected to the archetypes of universal shapes, symbols, and the psychology of color and gesture. Craig looks at practical techniques for managing design including quality of light, lens choice, camera position, depth of field, and stopped and implied motion. Craig finishes this exciting presentation with a suggested list of powerful forms of composition practice that can help any skill level photographer continue to grow their ability to see and create compelling and dynamic compositions.
The Grand Scale Scenic Landscape
At the heart of Craig’s work as a photographer for the last 20 years has been his passion for portraying a strong sense of place in his landscapes. In this inspiring class Craig demystifies the process of working with super wide lenses to capture the strength, space, depth and classic beauty of the big scenic photograph. Craig will build a strong foundation in the first part of this class by teaching the essentials of understanding quality of light, exposure, and basic composition guidelines. Craig then shares his simple but powerful techniques for dealing with one of the scenic photographer’s biggest technical challenges – managing dynamic range. The last half of this presentation is dedicated to a variety of powerful composition tools and techniques for taking your scenic landscapes to the next level.
Participant Image Critique
Each participant attending the Inspirational Weekend may submit one image for the Participant Image Critique session. The image should be submitted on a Compact Flash Card or a jump drive. The Compact Flash Cards and jump drives must be marked with the participant's name. Compact Flash Cards must not be enclosed in the plastic case in which they come when purchased.
Images submitted should be prepared by creating a JPEG image with a ppi of 72. The longest side of the image should be 1100 pixels. This will allow the images to load quickly and be projected at a good size for all to see.
Creating Expressive Photographs of People
In this information packed class Craig starts with confidence building techniques for overcoming fears that photographers may have about approaching and directing people as a subject. Next Craig looks at some basic but very important equipment considerations for photographing people. Craig then explores essential people photography concepts such as lens choice, subject distance, camera position, managing backgrounds and posing. Light is the key ingredient to all great photography and Craig takes participants on a journey from easy natural light set ups and on camera fill flash to more advanced lighting techniques. Craig’s inspiring examples for this class include outdoor and indoor locations, impromptu portraits and street photography, formal portraits, family pictures, pets, and groups.
Seeing Beyond…
In this exciting presentation, Marti discusses various creative techniques that can be used to capture the world in ways other than those associated with traditional photography. Marti walks you through the process of creating less literal photographs that portray moods and feelings, allowing the viewer to create their own stories about the images and take more of a personal journey as they experience your work. Motion blurring, extreme selective focus, out of focus and working with pieces and parts of your subject are just some of the techniques that Marti will be sharing that can help you go from an ordinary subject to an extraordinary final image.
The Magic of Digital Night Photography
After a short overview of the equipment used for night photography, Craig jumps right into a variety of amazing digital techniques that will turn your DSLR into a powerful tool for seeing and creating stunning images in very low light. Craig explains a simple but powerful technique for determining the best exposure in even the lowest of light. Twilight, moonlight, star light and star trails, car trails, city lights, and skylines, painting with light, combining on camera flash with long exposures, and working in extremely low light will all be covered. This is a visually rich presentation with over 100 hundred inspiring examples of the techniques being presented.
The Next Step: The Artist’s Journey
This presentation draws heavily on Craig and Mart’s highly acclaimed Next Step workshop series. While learning to effectively use your camera and learning to see reality relative to your camera are very important aspects of growing as a photographer, the most important part of the creative mix is how we are being behind the camera. Every great image we have ever made is created seeing through the same filter – the filter of our beliefs about the creative process. Through a series of inspiring and uplifting stories Craig shares practical suggestions for peeling away fear and getting more of your heart and more of who you want to become as an artist into your work.
