Digital Photo Live In-the-Field @ deCordova

Digital Photo Live In-the-Field @ deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum

Photo enthusiast or not, the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum is worth the 40 minute drive and the $14 entrance fee for a visually exhilarating experience, beginning with the museum itself, open to the public in 1950. The original structure was inspired by Julian and Elizabeth deCordova’s, admiration of European castles which they encountered across 70 years of traveling the globe collecting, “everything that took my fancy in every country around the world.”

Since opening there have been considerable expansions of the building and your DPA instructor will spend a good part of the workshop demonstrating and supervising creative options for capturing architecture with different visual interpretations. Depending on camera controls, angles, cropping and other choices, one can create their own signature style of visually depicting any kind of architecture. You will develop the ability to pre-vision how your photograph will come out before snapping the shutter after practicing the various easy-to-learn composition techniques exemplified in the workshop.

This ability comes from your instructor’s explanation of easy-to-learn composition techniques which will be the foundation of your ever-evolving signature style of making dynamic photographs that transcend a snap shot sensibility. Techniques such as Leading Lines, Rule of Thirds, Negative Space, Layering and several others help explain to the viewers of your photographs how they should focus on the main subject and which direction their eye should take from one point to the next and back within the frame of the image. This lesson will guide you in future photo activities whether a family gathering, a neighborhood stroll, a sporting event or a once-in-a-lifetime travel experience.

Once inside the museum, you will travel in a small group of 12 or less, led by your instructor who will help you gain insights into working with natural window light and creating dynamic interior space images. You will enjoy honing in on individual artworks on display as isolated still lives or accessories to enhance a compelling portrait of your workshop co-participants. There will be insights offered for telling a full story with a single portfolio of images or making one photograph that creates visual order to a room overcrowded with disparate works ranging from a variety of paintings on the walls to sculptures on the floor, patching it all together with a patterned flooring or series of lighting fixtures.

The outdoor landscapes, manicured lawns and oversized sculptures are the real photo ops though. Lessons in creating captivating landscape photography will also take place on the premises. This will include panoramics of the scenery, peppered with the dramatic outdoor sculptures from the roof top garden but also time to walk the grounds with your instructor, taking close up photographs of the giant sculptures which range from the mystical to the bizarre.

Each Composition in the Field class begins with a talk with one of our experienced instructors, and then you and your fellow students take a stroll through one of a variety of photogenic locales (in any of the 20+ cities the DPA encapsulates). There is street photography, magnificent interiors, farmers markets, zoos, landscapes, and more, photos of which are included within. These photos are a mix of student and instructor images in many different venues and cities across the United States and Canada. You will have fun in the three hour session, learn to shoot strategically, get more interesting photos of the event, and walk away with a foundation to improve your photographs in the future, whether you’re traveling, or at a birthday party and everywhere in between.

Please note – if a class must be cancelled due to weather or other circumstances beyond our control we will be happy to work with you to reschedule.  If you should need to cancel and require a new class date, contact us. A $25 transfer fee will be imposed without a 3 day notice before the scheduled class.