blueheART STUDIOS PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOPS

In Orvieto, Italy

A photograph must be seen before it is made – and that is what I teach at my workshops.

There are so many directions to point the lens. It is my purpose as a photographer to make order from chaos. This is accomplished by showing viewers, readers, as they are, what a place feels like, not what it looks like. To do this we must first transform looking to seeing. But how?

My workshops center on the “why.” Why is it we are emotionally moved to point the lens here and not there? Why select the wide lens over the long? We come to an understanding of the “why” through the “how.” It is critical to master the machine so the resulting photographs are not mechanical. Through the mastery of the machine, we embark on the life-long journey of the mastery of the photographic process through camera and image management… two of the central themes throughout all my workshops.

These workshops become the space where those who desire to live a visual life can share the successes and struggles of image making. I have no secrets, but I do have simple suggestions that will guide you to a new way of seeing. We begin our days with early morning light and work until it’s time for dinner at one of the many fine ristorantes in Orvieto. These workshops will give you a new way of seeing through both the mastery of the machine and the photographic process.

I will teach you how to visualize, in your mind’s eye, a photograph’s tonalities in the finished print through aesthetic decisions you make before the moment you expose light to the film. This visualization is what makes you a photographer and not the owner of a camera.

The daily schedule of exploring Orvieto, at least one field trip, informal discussions, my demonstrations on the streets and in the darkroom will culminate with evening critiques. Critiques will center on both the aesthetic of the medium and the voice of the photographer as it is communicated in the fine print.

I cannot wait to see the new images you make during my Orvieto, Italia film and digital photography workshops.