Saturday, May 3 - Sunday, May 4 | Sunrise - 4p daily
Tuition: $250 [Member Rate: $240]
About the workshop
WITHIN THE WAVES — Utilizing Water as a Mirror for Photographic Expression
Moving water’s ability to distort light passing through and reflecting off its surface, warping and fragmenting the surroundings, makes it an ideal medium for abstract art. Starting before sunrise, students will photograph reflections on the Mississippi River, experimenting with different perspectives and shutter speeds. Light will serve as their paint, the waves as their brushstrokes, and the camera sensor as their canvas. Later in the day, the class will edit their images using both traditional and AI-based software, guided by examples from both painting and photography, and share their work during critiques. Participants will gain an understanding of how exposure times affect the appearance of moving water, abstract design and color principles, and how to use AI software to further enhance their images.
Craig Blacklock has devoted his nearly 50-year career to photographing the interface of land and water in wilderness settings—particularly Lake Superior. His recent book, Light Waves—Abstract Photographs of Reflections from Lake Superior (an image from which is in the MMAM collection), along with the Within the Waves exhibition that came out of that work, is entirely based on photographs of reflections on moving water. Blacklock developed unique capture and editing techniques that have nearly created a new medium, one filled with rich colors, extreme textures, and remarkable detail, even in very large images. Over the course of his career, Blacklock has published 19 books, held more than 35 solo exhibitions (two at MMAM), and received numerous international awards.
Materials
Participants should bring their normal digital camera gear (phone cameras only work if they have a longer focal length lens), including the following if possible:
The most important lenses to bring will be in the focal length range of 70mm to 300mm
Any tilt/shift lenses longer than 60mm if you have them
Tripod
Cable release
A variable neutral density (ND) filter such as K&F Concept Variable Fader ND Filter (77mm, 1 to 8.6 Stops) This allows slow shutter speeds even when photographing sun sparkles on the water.
Your normal editing computer setup, if you can manage, or a laptop with a mouse or editing pen, as it is nearly impossible to edit with a track pad. Make sure it is loaded with your photo editing software, such as Photoshop.
Additional software: Topaz Photo AI (or similar). You can download a trial version for free, but if you can afford it, purchase it. This will be used to enhance straight images, and to upscale images multiple times to achieve special effects. This is how Craig created his Dream Waves, Encroachment, and Lamentation images.
Support Comes From
This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund
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