ON LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY

Studio Workshops  –  Live and Interactive via ZOOM
•  2023 Dates TBA

This workshop can also be time-shifted for anyone unable to attend on the days it is presented, or time zone is too offset to comfortably attend in real time.

This advanced Master Class explores contemporary landscape photographic practice from three perspectives:

• Pre and post capture equipment and technique
• Field work, workflow, and style
• History, critique, and review

Various approaches to landscape photography are engaged, from the representational to the picturesque, including mythical landscapes, poetic landscapes, politicised landscapes, commercial landscapes, and manufactured or altered landscapes. The workshop was first presented in conjunction with the National Library of Australia’s Peter Dombrovskis exhibition and accompanying publication ‘The Photography of Peter Dombrovskis: Journeys into the Wild’. In 2016 Les spent ten months in the preparation and restoration of over 200 of Peter’s images for the NLA publication and exhibition, and his preparation, editing and printing of Peter’s work along with an analysis of Peter’s camera craft and technique are a unique highlight of this workshop. The exhibition was subsequently re-imagined at Monash Gallery of Art (The Australian Home of Photography) in Melbourne whose collection now also contains the most extensive set of Peter’s contemporary exhibition prints. Specific topics this workshop has covered include:

Working in the Field:
•  Seeing the light – feeling the moment
•  Perspective and where to stand
•  Measuring and evaluating light and dynamic range
•  Focus, exposure and pano stacking techniques
•  Drones and an aerial perspective
•  Backing up, cataloguing and processing in the field

Drawing with Lenses and Light:
•  Lens selection and perspective control
•  Sensor format – medium vs full frame 35mm
•  Weight and portability
•  Tripods – testing stability, ball heads vs geared heads
•  Filters – pre production vs post production
•  Panorama equipment – GigaPan vs Really Right Stuff

Landscape into Art:
•  A brief history of Land represented as Landscape
•  Pictorial design – how pictures function
•  Cultural design – how pictures think
•  Photographing Things
•  Photographing Feelings
•  Artist statements and contextual essays

Processing, Editing and Printing:
•  Focus Stacking – controlling depth of field
•  Exposure Stacking – controlling dynamic range
•  Compositing images – temporal compositions
•  Luminosity selections, highlight bump masks, shadow luminosity masks
•  Increasing presence, depth and dimensionality
•  Exhibition printing to the highest quality

The workshop is presented through critical analysis, demonstration, case studies, practical applications, field work, and individual questions and answers. Participants work with their own cameras and lenses, and process and edit on their own workstations. A beautifully resolved and finely executed A2 exhibition print will also be created for each attendee.

The workshop is supported by a resource rich website with detailed course notes and videos.

Updated 26 November 2022