That is a pretty broad statement, but it is absolutely true. From your garden to your living room, your art studio to the face of your loved one, it is the pleasing arrangement of the elements of design that make your heart sing.

Unfortunately, a good deal of "art" is being created these days that not only lacks any concept of design, but is created with an attitude of disparagement for design principles. “There are no rules” is the rallying cry.

Well, happily, there ARE rules and they are wonderful ones that deliver a pleasing visual experience every time.

In this online workshop, we will get to the how and why of that “song” through photography.

Once you learn why something “works”, you can make it work for you again and again.

And digital photography is the best possible tool for teaching and learning design.

It is free. Instead of creating one art piece after another to practice, you shoot photos - watching them get better and better with each lesson, and looking at the world in ways you never have before.

We use a closed, invitation-only Yahoo Group as our classroom.

You purchase the workshop from our Shopping Cart, and the evening before the beginning of class, you are sent an invitation to join the Yahoo Group. If you do not already belong to other Yahoo Groups, you will be asked to set up a user name and password.

Each Friday, a PDF booklet will be posted in the Links section of our Yahoo Group. This contains the lesson for the week, with examples, and your assignment, based on the information covered in the lesson. The booklets accumulate into a great textbook for future reference.

You do the assignment in your own time and upload the results to your own Album in the Group Photos section. You post an email saying your assignment is up - and sharing anything you wish about your experiences doing it.

The instructor will post comments consisting of constructive criticism, praise, questions for you and suggestions. These Comments will be public to the class as well because all students learn a lot from them.

This workshop is highly recommended for graduates of our “Art of Digital Photography” online workshop.

That being said, the course is open to any artist or artisan with a digital camera and enough knowledge to shoot pictures with it. You will be able to learn all about composition and design for all your artwork by using this photographic approach, even if photography is not currently an important part of your creative actvity. Be warned that it might well *become* an important part because of this course. However, this workshop does not teach you how to use your camera nor how to be a photographer - that information is available in our “Art of Digital Phjotography” workshop.

Supplies. . .

A Digital Camera No special bells and whistles required, but some zoom lens capability is highly recommended. You must know how to use your camera to take photos.

Image Editing Software. Our preference is PhotoShop or Elements (any version), but PaintShop Pro or any program that allows basic editing, resizing, and resampling is ok. You will use this software to Resample the photos from your camera so they are the right size for uploading to your Album in the Yahoo “Classroom”. A tutorial on this procedure will be available at the beginning of class.

Adobe Reader software (free from Adobe.com) is required in order to open and print the weekly lessons for this workshop.

Mobility. You must be able to go outside and move around. You may not be able to find all the subjects for all the lessons in your own home and yard, so the ability to leave home is recommended (but not required).

Click here to learn about my love affair with photography.

Tuition. . .

Total cost for the 8 week workshop is $85.

Sign Up. . .

Click here to sign up for this workshop.