NEXT SESSION February 19 - March 26, 2010 -
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I teach and love the Fine Art of Photography. With very careful consideration of composition, light, and subject, a photograph can be a self contained and beautiful piece of art.
That is one thing.
A completely different thing is that our world is chock FULL of images that we can use to illustrate our stories, our journals, our handmade books and collages, our life experiences - if we just have a way to record them.
Most of these images, however, are not situated where you can find the right exposure or composition to make a serious photograph. In fact, a high end camera would simply refuse to cooperate in many or most of these situations.
But thanks to modern technology, we have little pocket cameras that can go literally *everywhere* with us, and that are willing to shoot in any circumstances. Even our cell phones have cameras.
These will not often produce "good" photographs right out of the camera. The photos might have a lot of digital noise or too much visual "junk" in the background, but with the magic of PhotoShop and Elements at our fingertips, we can change the photos into better photos, or into art images that look more like drawings or abstract paintings.
With a little digital alteration, a guerrilla photograph becomes a lovely picture indeed - or at least an interesting record of your adventures of the day!
Another way to think of guerrilla photography is "image capture". Many artists buy collage sheets and are limited to vintage art because of copyright issues. Guerrilla photography gives you a way to create your own contemporary image collections which have the added advantage of being more personal - because they are the result of how you see your world, they have your "voice".
This very interesting graphic, which almost looks like a painting, was extracted from the guerrilla photo taken below - taken with my iPhone while I waited for my coffee at a local restaurant.
This word derives from "guerrilla warfare" which means conducting operations in an irregular and/or clandestine manner.
Recently, the word has been used more widely to describe anything being done in a manner that is outside the rules and the accepted way of doing it, as in "guerilla art", "guerrilla journalism", and "guerrilla photography".
I am a professional photographer and photography teacher, and have great respect for all the technical details and traditional standards of photography as fine art.
But, when I started shooting photos for my art journal, I found I wanted to record many images that just were not conducive to making acceptable quality photographs, and yet were critical to the narrative being related in my journal.
On a road trip, my sister brought along her new iPhone while I hauled my usual baggage of DSLR and lenses. She shot so many great images - even in the semi dark - and I had almost constant arguments with my camera over it being much too elitist to shoot bad photos on purpose.
I became convinced that the two genre could co-exist within my passion for photography, bought an inexpensive pocket camera to use for the rest of that trip, and an iPhone as soon as I found an Apple Store.
The rest is history. Although I treasure my "fine" photographs as always, guerrilla photography has won my heart as well. I am never, ever bored no matter where I am - as long as there is a camera in my purse.
Can you guess what this is? It's a gas burner on my stove shot in the dark with my iPhone.
And this, shot with a little Kodak camera (C813), is a close-up inside a copper sink in the ladies' room at Mimi's Café.
This workshop will focus on the two important aspects of guerrilla photography: the shooting. . . and the image manipulation that turns these compromised photographs into art images.
Lessons will be presented for download in Zipped PDF format, and will teach you where to look for interesting images and how to record them.
Then, once the photos reside in your computer, you will learn how to manipulate the images using PhotoShop or Elements, to turn them into art for your various projects.
None. Just a desire to learn and the supplies below.
Supplies . . .
Guerrilla Cameras: I wish I could say that you could happily complete this course with your expensive SLR . . . but I can't.
A "guerrila" camera must be small enough for your pocket or purse. Being "non-obvious" when shooting guerrilla photos is important, and you want a camera that is *always* with you.
You can use your cell phone camera as long as you can upload the photos to your computer. Cell phone cameras are also great because people don't know you're taking photos - they just think you're making a call or fiddling with your missed calls etc.
A "guerrilla" camera should have auto settings so it will shoot in situations where there really are not optimum conditions - like semi-darkness, for example. A Macro setting is a blessing.
You could even use a disposable digital camera, but since entry level digital cameras are so inexpensive these days, you would probably save money buying one of them - and having unlimited shooting - rather than a series of $10 disposables.
I am especially fond of the Kodak C813 which has everything you need and 8.5 megapixels and a little zoom - and can be had for $60 or so. It is small and sweet.
I also love my iPhone and use both of these - depending on the situation.
Image Editing Software.
Any recent version of PhotoShop (version 7 or later), or PhotoShop Elements (version 2.0 or later).
This is not a PhotoShop/Elements workshop per se, in that we will not be teaching the basics of the software. However, by following step-by-step instructions, beginners will be able to edit and alter their guerrilla photos.
Adobe Reader software (free from Adobe.com) is required in order to open and print the lessons for this workshop. Lesson will also be zipped, so you need Stuff-it Expander (Mac) or WinZip (PC) installed (also free - Google them).
And this was the rest of the decor - a sky mural which I shot reflected in the mirror in the corner.
This shadow photo was enhanced in PhotoShop to add the color and the second heart shape.
We use a closed, invitation-only, Yahoo Group as our classroom.
You purchase the workshop from our Shopping Cart, and the day before the beginning of class, watch for an email including a link 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. You may share your results in an Album of your own in the Photos section of the Group. It is always wonderful to see some of what others are doing.
The instructor will answer questions and give guidance and advice where needed.
This guerrilla photo of a painting hanging in a restaurant has turned into a great little illustration and avoids any copyright issues at the same time.
Total cost for the 6 Week Workshop is $65.
Sign Up. . .
Click here to sign up for this workshop.
