A Fine Art Masterclass

I recently enjoyed the most fantastically creative and hilarious day in the studio with Laurie and Chloe who had both come along for my 1-2-1 Fine Art Masterclass - Laurie, a talented photographer from Ireland and Chloe, our professional model and dancer for the day. To find out more about what attending a Masterclass involves, what you can learn from it and how it can improve your actual approach to fine art portraiture, read on!

Laurie got in touch with me to ask if she could arrange a 1-2-1 Masterclass with me as she was really drawn to the artistic side of fine art portrait photography and wanted to learn how she could not only bring her ideas to life, but how to style, pose, direct and edit in a painterly fine art style.

Although she had attended numerous professional styled events and workshops with other photographers, she always felt very much under pressure when it was her turn to shoot with everyone watching her (sometimes with up to 12 other photographers) and really struggled with her confidence in directing the model especially when she was also up against the clock! So, Laurie was really finding that her images were rushed, quite random with silly mistakes and there was no real time to make any meaningful connection with her model on the day. That ultimately meant that she often came away with images that didn’t capture what she was looking for or even come close to her own expectations or aspirations. She really wanted to create something different from everyone else’s images that was unique to her as well as discovering her own individual style.

So, how was I able to help?

Once we had secured a date in the diary, I began to ask Laurie lots of questions about what her dreams and aspirations were, what particular style she was drawn to and what areas she found most difficult. I sent her a questionnaire and also, a link to a Pinterest board which was where she could start to collect all the images that she loved and that she really wanted to try to emulate in her own fine art photography. Her gallery was full of stunningly, hauntingly beautiful images by well respected photographers such as Monia Merlo, Gemmy Woud-Binnendijk and Renee Hibbert that spoke of beauty, strength, tragedy and a connection to the Earth.

I believe it’s really important to design a unique Masterclass experience for each of my students that is absolutely tailor-made specifically for them and really focuses on their own specific and individual artistic needs.

On the day itself, Laurie arrived and we had a cup of coffee before settling down to talk about the right ‘thinking’ approach to fine art photography and where inspiration, imagination and the courage to follow your own artistic heart played such an incredibly important role.

I went through my presentation - ‘To Catch a Spark ’ - that I’ve carefully designed to be a reflective mirror to look into and to get my students to THINK deeply about fine art photography, what it means to them, what they want to achieve and how to observe minute details, balance, shades, colour tones and textures and also why, in my humble opinion, portrait photography is a truly intimate human experience. We covered styling, my preferred lighting styles, composition, posing and much more too! Phew!

Our professional model for the day, Chloe arrived and I dressed her to compliment the style of the set I had designed that was close to the core aesthetic of Laurie’s moodboard, before running through the light set up, posing, expression and the little nuances that can sometimes add so much to a portrait. We both spent time photographing this set before I gently encouraged Laurie to choose the outfits for the next set from my collection of vintage and handmade dresses as well as choosing the right backdrops and accessories to compliment - and she was away! Absolutely fantastic and very rewarding for me to see. We covered three different aesthetics, moods and used the lighting style that Laurie’s loved the most.

After lunch, we settled down and Laurie watched me as I edited one of the images in my own signature fine art painterly style, without using actions. Laurie was able to watch, make notes and ask as many questions as she wanted during this final part of the Masterclass. We worked with different textures, colour adjustments, stylisation techniques and overlays too just to add the final touches.

After 6 hours of quite intensive but very funny one-to-one work together, we finally finished at 4pm. The day was a great success and it was so lovely to watch Laurie step into her own power and go from being apprehensive, unsure and not very confident, to styling her own unique sets, directing and posing our model - and understanding exactly what she wanted to create. A job very well done and one that give me no end of satisfaction.

If the idea of spending one-to-one time with me in the studio appeals and you would like to start designing your own tailor-made Masterclass, then simply click on the button below to get started. The total cost for the day is £495 and includes lunch with refreshments available throughout the day.

Please note that I do not offer the 1-2-1 Masterclass to professional photographers who are already training or intend to train or educate others. Thank you.