A blue ‘P’.
I teach a four week online course with the PPSOP, and I also conduct my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops around the planet. I teach people how to incorporate the elements of Visual Design into their imagery.
I also give my fellow photographers weekly assignments to work on for a number of reasons. One of the areas we cover is to “see past first impressions”. To see more than meets their eye, and to focus their attention on finding certain elements that are readily available and all around them. This exercise will help them down the road to either see things occurring naturally in nature, or to use their imagination in creating photos that represent ideas.
What I assign to each of my students is a color and letter to either find or to create. The color and letter should be one in the same, and should be what I always refer to as “A quick read”. In other words, they won’t be around to explain what their color and letter were so the viewer needs to pick up on it right away. They could either find it happening in nature, or create it using their imagination to “Stretch Your Frame of Mind”.
I want my students to realize that there’s two ways to look at everything. The left brain sees things as they are. A tree is just a tree, a bridge is just a bridge. In the above photo, the photographer’s left brain ( the analytical side) saw it as an opening to the sky in the middle of an old building in Europe. She was able to click off the left side and click on the right side of her brain…the creative side. Then, she was able to see her color and letter…a blue ‘P’.
Pretty impressive!!!
Here’s some of the ones that made it to my “Hall of Fame”.
Enjoy the show:
Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com and check out my 2014-15 workshop schedule at the top of this blog. I have a few places left for my workshop at the Maine Media Workshop. It’s a fantastic campus and place to just think about photography. You’re surrounded by energy everywhere you walk. I still have three places for my February 2015 photo trip to Myanmar. An incredible place so rich with photo opportunities.
Don’t forget to send me a photo and question to: AskJoeB@gmail.com for a video critique.
JoeB
