Develop Your Creative Vision 2023 will introduce a new, revised, exciting, and highly personalized approach to learning. Join us to discover your creative vision.

Below you will find our new intentions, prerequisites, and some FAQ’s, to introduce you to the new format, and what it could mean for your photography.

Intentions

Our workshops explore and seek to exemplify four foundational aspects of artistic expression.

These are

• expanding visual awareness 
• the art of discovering subjects with which we truly resonate
• the art of communicating those emotional responses to our subject, in our work
• the value of learning from our viewership.

The exploration of these four facets of expression will happen through

• illustrated talks on visual design and compelling composition.
• classroom and in-the-field discussion of visual and emotional awareness as we listen and follow our resonance to our chosen subjects. 
• exploration of the potential of our cameras to express this resonance to our viewers. For this, we illustrate techniques such as intentional camera movement (ICM) and multiple exposures, and styles such as Representational, Expressionist, or Abstract.
• photographic art is a shared experience between artist and viewer and is honed by daily review and evaluation sessions. As we play the role of both artist and viewer, we foster a safe and supportive environment that encourages creative risk-taking; exploring the strengths and weaknesses of our artistic expression.

The Art of Curation

Curation means to sift through, to pull together, to organize, and to select, art works for a presentation, collection, or exhibition.

In Developing Your Creative Vision 2023, Chris and Dennis will introduce a structure to help you curate your images for a final end-of-workshop presentation. Upon completing the workshop, you will also be given a variation of that structure to take with you, for your personal creative workflow.

Self-curating helps build coherent and high-quality portfolios on the themes, subjects, projects, and ideas; we love the most. This generates a motivated and focused approach to our image-making.

We are all strongly attached to our own image creations; each one is connected with deep memories and emotions. Unless we have a professional curator as a friend, we need a structure to help us self-curate, discover our truest interests, and provide clear focus for our ongoing photographic endeavours.

The art of curation will help us all take our photography to a new and exciting level.

Prerequisites

Participants must:

• have a working knowledge of shutter speed, aperture, ISO, depth of field and the relationship between each. For example, a functional understanding of depth of field and how to change it. 
• be able to switch between auto and manual focus.
• be competent with their computer and photo editing software.
• be able to easily select and group images by theme, subject, projects etc. 
• be able to size and prepare photos for presentation.

What to Bring

After registration, a detailed list will be provided. The basics include

• a laptop computer for daily processing of images. Software should be up to date and reliable.
• to take full advantage of the photographic techniques taught, a camera with multiple exposure capability, including dark and light blend modes, is recommended. However, this is not a requirement. You may have a camera that takes multiple exposures of 2 or 3 or none at all; this is fine, there is still much to learn. Feel free to contact us for clarification. For those with cameras that do not have multiple exposure capability, we offer a Photoshop workaround.
• recommended lenses include wide angle, mid range and telephoto zooms. Specialty lenses, such as fisheye and macro, are optional. 
• tripod.
• a polarizing filter is essential. Neutral density filters are desirable.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

What makes a Develop Your Creative Workshop different?

Chris and Dennis are ‘always on’! That means, while we have a full session during the day of instruction, shooting and one-to-one, we are available outside of regular hours to support your learning in any way. For example, we offer extra instructional sessions to any one interested in night photography, star photography, light painting (local conditions permitting) and more. We are also available to assist with photo editing, file management and image selection.

Is this a workshop or a tour? And what’s the difference?

A photographic tour takes you to iconic locations in a region. You may or may not receive targeted photographic instruction. We offer a workshop which is very different. Instead, we concentrate our efforts in limited areas because we believe that, with repeated visits, you develop the ability to see more deeply and connect with your subject matter in a more meaningful way. On a tour, you may come home with well known images of a place whereas with our workshops, you’ll come home with uniquely personal images as well as the knowledge and skill to continue the journey of fulfilling your vision.

What’s it like to be a participant in a Develop Your Creative Vision workshop?

Here is a first person narrative from a previous workshop participant.

Be sure to see the Testimonial page for more comments from past participants.

What is the refund policy?

• If you register for a workshop and are no longer able to attend:
  – a full refund (less transaction fee) is available if there are more than 30 days until your workshop begins.
  – If there are fewer than 30 but more than 14 days until your course begins, AND your spot can be filled from a waitlist, you’ll receive a full refund (less transaction fee).
  – You may sell your spot to someone else.
  – Refunds are not available with less than 14 days prior to the workshop date.
• Cancellation insurance is encouraged.

What about Covid? What happens if someone gets sick on a workshop?

• The guidelines in place at the workshop location are closely followed.
• If someone becomes sick during a workshop, they are isolated with testing. If a covid diagnosis is confirmed, they cannot continue with the workshop.
• Once again, cancellation and medical insurance is recommended.