Lesson Info
10. Slowing Down
Lessons
Class Introduction - Three Steps To Creative Photography
03:48 2Firing The Creative Mind - Part 1: The Camera Points Both Ways
03:10 3Firing The Creative Mind - Part 2: Letting Go Of Judgement
06:53 4Firing The Creative Mind - Part 3: Detaching From Outcomes
04:12 5Practicing Mindfulness In Photography
02:43 6Finding The Visual Narrative
02:39 7Behind-the-scenes: Naples
07:52 8Seeing Beneath The Surface Of Things
02:30Finding Inspiration
03:19 10Slowing Down
03:57 11Three Reasons To Shoot RAW
02:29 12Choosing the Right Frame Format
03:52 13Don’t Be Limited By The Shape Of Your Camera
05:07 14WYSIWYG
04:15 15Choosing Lenses
05:02 16Perspective
02:44 17Considering Foreground And Background
03:10 18Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad But Three Into Two Is Better
03:43 19Separate And Isolate
02:32 20The Art Of Creative Exposure
06:38 21Focus On The Story
04:20 22The Passage Of Time
03:00 23Creating A Visual Sense Of Mood
04:24 24Color vs. Black & White
03:09 25The Decisive Moment
03:00 26Using Color As A Cohesive Tools
01:51 27Photography Is A Two-Part Process
06:55 28Case Study: Recreating The Art of Sumi-e
07:04 29Case Study: Making Something Out of Nothing
04:32 30Case Study: Moody Blues
03:29 31Image Reviews
03:02 32Image Review: The “Thinking Man”
01:55 33Image Review: The Golf Course
02:32 34Image Review: Dreamstate
02:38 35Image Review: Gone Fishing
02:24 36Image Review: Promenade
01:47 37Image Review: Sky and Reflections
01:57 38Image Review: Grass and Field
02:20 39Final Word: Show Me What The World Looks Like To You
04:44Lesson Info
Slowing Down
less haste. More speed was one of my mother's favorite sayings. To be honest, when I was younger, I had no idea what she was talking about. But as I grew older and as my interest in photography expanded, I came to understand the wisdom of the words. This is my current workhorse camera, the one I shoot with every day. I can shoot 12 frames per second with this camera, and it's rumored that one of its successors will increase that to 20 frames. Modern technology has enabled us to take more pictures more quickly for longer periods of time. But quantity doesn't necessarily equate to quality. In fact, in my experience, one almost always comes at the expense of the other. When my father died, I inherited one of these is a five by four field camera made by a company called Ebony. It's a piece of art, beautifully engineered out of wood and titanium in a small workshop in Japan. Now I've never worked with a field camera before, and so I decided in my spare time I'd learn how to use it. I create...
d a little project for myself around a nearby landmark and headed out Whenever I had the time, I gave myself a little project. Using Portland Bill Lighthouse as a center point, I drew an imaginary circle 100 m in radius as my boundary. And for the next year, that's where I photographed. I talked probably 100 images, all of which told a completely different story. All within that tight circle of land. And what it taught me was to slow down, to get to really know my subject and to see my surroundings with my mind as well as my eyes. As any large format practitioner will tell you. When it comes to field cameras, there's a lot to learn. But what I learned most of all was the truly great benefits of slowing down. Nothing can be done quickly with an ebony. It's big and heavy and has to be used on a tripod. Light readings have to be done manually, and exposure settings are set by hand focuses, manual and affected by the tilt and shift movements of the front and rear plates. Film has to be inserted one sheet at a time, and there's no mirror or digital wizardry to flip the image, so everything is upside down and back to front field Cameras are slow going, and therein lies their beauty. They force you to slow down, and slowing down encourages you to contemplate more. It makes you think more methodically about composition and to consider your intention more thoughtfully. It inspires you to adjust your perspective more often and to think about not just what you're photographing and how. But why you're photographing it, too. When we act in haste, it results in stress and tunnel vision, neither of which are conducive to creative thinking and self expression. When you rush through life, you have no time to stop and be present in the moment, let alone immerse yourself in. And if photography is about capturing the decisive moment, then in my view as a photographer, that's where you should be. In the moment. We are not visual stenographers. Our job isn't to simply record events happening in front of us, as if we're casual, disconnected observers. Our job is to learn the lesson each distinct moment has to offer and having taken it upon ourselves by becoming photographers to share that knowledge with the world through photographs, everything in life from the people we meet to our experiences and interactions is a tutor. Remember this When you're with your camera, nothing is ever learned in haste. Slow down and listen to what this moment has to teach you and then take a photograph so you can pass on that new knowledge to me and others.
Ratings and Reviews
Gary Hook
Wow, what a wonderful journey. I love the concept of telling a story with one's photos and as I go through past images, I'm seeing them in a much different perspective. That's the good news, The bad? The lost opportunities I never 'saw' before; however that is a good thing. There is so much to internalize with the material so that it can get out of the head and into the 'heart'. I also found the concept really helps me with composition, both in camera and post. Biggest take away, as Chris underscored in his closing, is to slooooow down, take the time and feel it. Don't be so quick to leave one scene as there remain other aspects, yet to be discovered. A great experience that I truly enjoyed Thank you
Glenda
I loved this course - in particular the latter part of it in which he demonstrated how post processing lets you really tell the story of the image. Another fabulous course. Thanks Chris & thanks Creative Live.
Abdullah Alahmari
Thanks a lot to mr. Chris Weston This course is great and It is a 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 course for me. Beside the other course ( mastering photographic composition and visual storytelling) both courses are Complementing to each other and highly recommended.
Student Work
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Fundamentals