Water/Lily
I went to the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops to take a class with Keith Carter. It was a tough week, but now that I have the advantage of a little distance (geographic and emotional) I know that if it hadn’t been a tough week, I wouldn’t have been growing as an artist.
But, anyway, the class included shooting models, which as you know from looking at this blog is not my deal. The very idea of it made me feel like I was going to pass out. (Also: some of the models were nude.) I was tempted to opt out of the model shoot, but decided against being THAT person. And I’m glad I stayed. It was an interesting experience, and I got some images that I’m proud of. Like this one.
near Pojoaque, New Mexico
photographed 7.6.2016
PS – Here’s a video of the last-night-of-class presentation from the Workshops. (There’s some nudity, so be careful…)
Posted on July 15, 2016, in Photography and tagged 365 photo project, black and white photography, Keith Carter, melinda green harvey, monochrome, one day one image, photo a day, photography, postaday, Santa Fe Photographic Workshops, Tattoos. Bookmark the permalink. 15 Comments.
One Day | One Image 
I get you…I’m not very at ease shooting people either…
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Fortunately, the models were experienced…neither my shooting partner for the day nor I were, so we’d just tell them first thing that we didn’t know what we were doing. (Like they couldn’t figure it out!) We’d ask them for suggestions for specific locations or poses, and they were all very helpful. In fact, I should give the models all the credit for how these came out.
But all that being said, I still prefer more, shall we say, inert subjects!
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This is a wonderful shot so keep teaching us.
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This is an interesting shot but I don’t think it stands out the way the rest of your work does. It is wonderful that you are pushing yourself as an artist and I wonder how much what you have learned will influence the way you see your more ‘inert’ subjects in the future. Very exciting!
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I was never the sort of photographer who cropped anything; my college photography teacher didn’t let us crop, and that early lesson has stayed with me. Cropping seemed like an admission that the original composition was weak. I am trying to stop thinking like that and in fact have cropped several images lately. So you’ll be seeing that influence from the class. Also, I’ve been trending toward images that are, traditionally speaking, underexposed. I picked up some Photoshop/Lightroom tips on making dark images, and you’ll definitely be seeing more of that in the future.
That week of class was very difficult for me, but I pushed through the hard stuff. I have a fear of being in a rut, and needed something to really kick me in the ass to get me going!
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Sounds like you really got a lot from it. Do you think others in the class were also stretching their boundaries?
I think you college teacher had the right idea by grounding you in strong ‘in camera’ composition lessons, but rules are made to be broken by artists such as yourself. Cropping needs to be done with a solid understanding of the rules or it wouldn’t work at all, would it?
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“You have to know the rules before you can break them.” said by everyone
“There are no f—- rules.” said by the guy that taught my class
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I think I’d like him!
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Yes, I think you probably would!
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What a challenging experience, good for you!
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It was indeed a challenging experience. I was the only non-professional photographer in the class, so I felt completely out of my element!
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Way to go! I’ve been a fan of Carter since I was first introduced to him in one of the popular photography magazines (was it in the 60’s or 70′). I was proud that he was a Texas transplant like me; as if that fact connected us for some reason. I envy your chance to rub elbows with him. Watched the video and was impressed with the work.
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Thanks, Steven. Keith Carter is a good teacher; he clearly loves photography and living a photographic life and his enthusiasm rubbed off on us.
The class had 11 students; I was the only one who wasn’t a professional photographer. That part was extremely intimidating, to be honest, but maybe I learned a few things…
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You know, it’s possible they learned something from you, too 😉
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They probably learned how far they’ve come since their non-professional days!!
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