This workshop is filling quickly. Please call soon to register (505) 983-1400, ext. 11.

A masterpiece is the product of an artist’s individual authentic genius. That authenticity forms presence, the final result of light working on form. An examination of the great master painters and photographers reveals that this relationship—light on form creating presence—is the key element of a genuine masterpiece. This workshop lays out the perceptual and technical skills necessary to practice and achieve presence.

We begin with a detailed study of presence in Old Master paintings and photographs. Then we devote time to learning and applying the perceptual and photographic skills necessary to achieve presence. We head out on location to make our photographs, and learn perceptual correction skills and tools using Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop in the Workshops state-of-the-art digital lab. For simplicity, we use no more than five specifically relevant tools—the emphasis is on the living process of perception and presence, not the complication of imaging tools and techniques. We round off the workshop printing inkjet photographs that highlight the presence we have given life to in our images.

This workshop combines advanced perceptual practice with simple tools. As artists and photographers, our perceptual abilities must be honed to a fine degree. Our tools should be elegant and few, and yet be complete enough to create any effect of light and form we need to produce presence.