Introduction to Full Frame

                 

This blog contains the technical ingredients of the Full Frame Photography workshops and is intended to provide a sense of  the experience of actually participating in a workshop with us. Any interested person will be able to take the ideas from this site and benefit immediately by incorporating them into their own photography.

It is impossible to recreate in words the creative interaction that occurs between workshop participants and instructiors but we have tried to convey some of the flavour and intensity of the workshop experience. To the extent that it is possible, we have adopted the format and included the instrucitonal content that my teaching partner and I provide.

You may use the information presented here to create your own personal workshop. By learning the building blocks of visual design and the techniques for arranging them in the picture space, you will begin to see the world in new ways and you will easily create images that you will find satisfying and others will find meaningful.

Have fun!

2.  

The Most Important Thing

It isn't the camera that makes a really good image. It's the photographer. The camera is

only a tool. The camera is actually a toy. It's a very complex toy and it becomes very important to the serious photographer but it is a toy before it becomes a serious tool.

Really good photographers make really good images. Mediocre photographers make really good images sometimes but only by accident. Magazines like National Geographic don't want to depend on accidental images. Art gallery owners don't want to promote accidental photographers. And not a single member of the viewing public appreciates mediocre photography.

You can learn to become a really good photographer. It's not hard but the very first thing you must learn is not how to use your camera. The first thing you need to do is develop the photographer's eye.

Every photographer wants to learn as much as possible about the camera and very quickly becomes immersed in the technology. We can't help it. It's a fascinating technology, especially today when it's constantly changing. But when you become immersed in the technology, you remain there for a long time. If you've already developed your eye, you will be making good images from the beginning, but if you become enchanted by the camera and lenses and all the other gadgets before you develop your eye, then you're only going to become frustrated with the images you produce.

In the next blog in this series, we will begin exploring the concepts that are the basic foundations of really good photography. It is the only place to begin if you are serious

about becoming a really good photographer and not just an accidental one. These concepts have nothing to do with the camera but they are guaranteed to make you a better photographer right away.