Suda House
Tuesdays, 6:30–8 PM
April 9–May 14
(6 weeks; 9 total hours of instruction)
Zoom (except May 14 class, which is in person, La Jolla Studio)
$145/165
Ultimately, your photographs are about you. It’s called your personal work because you see and create with a camera—you experience mindful moments, capturing and preserving these unique images. Now what? . . . Share them on a phone screen, create a social media site or website, make prints that end up stored under your bed? Or really step back and take a look at your photographs with fresh eyes?
If you are an emerging photographer, a seasoned image maker—or just want to embrace a new viewpoint within the creative realm of photography—this class will demystify current trends and point you to tried-and-true methods for understanding your work. It’s a short course to either jump-start a new year with new ideas or solidify your current projects with new eyes and valuable testing of your work with feedback from peers. You will collect your work in a portfolio to be presented during the last class.
We will tackle the following questions: Where do images and ideas come from within? How do you add these into your practice? How do you work/play, and how do you make choices within your editing process? You will be challenged to consider how the visual and conceptual pathways of content, intent, place, and genre apply to your current work, and hopefully these discoveries will drive your future work.
The course will be anchored by readings from The Mindful Photographer, by Sophie Howarth, which will enrich the ongoing individual presentations via Zoom. The final class on May 14 is a presentation of your portfolio—either in print or virtual—will celebrate, full circle, the finding of your creative voice, and at the conclusion of this class, a publication of each photographer’s images will be compiled in an anthology for our First-Person series. One copy will be added to the Athenaeum Library.
MATERIALS: Required for the first-class meeting: on Zoom, photographs (jpg images) to share that define you (one image or a recent set of images that represent your vision). Textbook: The Mindful Photographer by Sophie Howarth, ISBN 13: 978-0500545539. Suggested for every class meeting: either a journal that you currently use or a Moleskine-like bound book. You will need this journal for taking discussion notes for reference during the course and other important thoughts, ideas, and points you want to remember.
Immediately after you register, look for a confirmation email and receipt. In the week preceding the class start date, you will receive another email with more details.
COVID-19 policy for in-person classes:
Masks optional. If you have a fever, cough, or flu-like symptoms, please stay home.
Please note that our policy may change as new guidelines and recommendations become available. The safety of our students, faculty, and staff continues to be our highest priority.