Masterclasses with Brooke Shaden in LA
Only this week have I announced my first London workshops for 4 & 5 Sep, but I’ll waste no time in also letting you know I will be doing collaborative workshops with fellow art photographer Brooke Shaden on the US west coast in November!
MASTERCLASS: Bringing art into photography
This course is for photographers/aspiring artists who want inspiration to do something dynamic and conceptual with models and props. This is for bringing art into your photography. The one-day class, set on location in a warehouse and then in an editing room, will take you from planning through to processing as we shoot a model to combine an image from Brooke Shaden’s portfolio and mine.
Brooke Shaden (whose work can be seen on Flickr at: www.flickr.com/brookeshaden) is a photographic artist based in LA whose work has similarly utilised the self-portrait, use of compositing and creative editing, as well as quirky locations and painterly-like allusions. We draw on those parallels between our work to host a masterclass that shows you how you can introduce these elements into your own work.
There are also interesting differences between Brooke’s work and mine, which are illustrated in the workshops. You will learn about shooting with a specific and efficient planning structure (like Brooke’s) as well as how to seize spontaneous moments and to let the direction of a shoot grow organically, as in my work. In this sense, the course will highlight two different approaches, and aim to set you free to think for yourself, rather than be stiffly ‘taught’ photography in a scientific sense.
The workshop is delivered to a small group size, min. 6 and max. 10 students. It starts in a warehouse, a location which has been used in Brooke’s previous work, such as Exploring sleep below.
As in the image above also, we will be shooting levitation images.
On the left is Brooke’s work, see her Weightless set; on the right is my image: see my Tricks set.
On arrival, we provide you with breakfast and then begin an introductory talk to welcome everyone to the class, and to go over the key elements to both our work. We aim to work on the shoot as we would in reality: showing you how we get from idea conception through to a final result that is exclusive to that workshop. We then go straight into the practical hands-on shooting with a model.
We then break for lunch (there are many eateries in the immediate area of Van Nuys). The second half of the day is spent editing the images in a room just a few doors down. You will first watch our screen on the projector, whilst Brooke and I demonstrate our own editing process. You bring along your own laptop loaded with Photoshop, and proceed to edit the same images, with Brooke and I offering individual help to each student.
We spend time at the end reviewing everyone’s images and recapping the day. You will be able to post your images into a dedicated Flickr group where Brooke and I can comment further on images you edit later at home. We’re also working on getting a goodie bag of promo codes/discounts for each student 
MASTERCLASS WITH MISS ANIELA & BROOKE SHADEN
The cost of the workshop is $350.
WHEN’S THE FIRST ONE? The first is on Monday 1st November, from 8am – 4pm. We are also lining one up for Saturday 6th November, and can build more workshops within the week depending on demand.
WHAT IS THE LEVEL? This is important, as courses vary by level. Due to feedback, the first course is aimed at people with intermediate knowledge: you must be comfortable using a DSLR, and ideally have some knowledge of Photoshop. Email us if you are unsure about levels.
WHERE? A warehouse and editing room in Van Nuys, Los Angeles. You will get full details in the application pack, along with a more detailed itinerary.
HOW MANY PLACES? 10 places (min. 6 to run a course)
WHO WILL BE THERE? Brooke Shaden, Miss Aniela (myself), and a model. There will also be someone photographing and filming the workshops.
WHAT EQUIPMENT DO I NEED? You will need your DSLR camera if you want to shoot the model (charged and with sufficient CF cards!) Bring a card reader too. You will also need to bring a laptop loaded with Photoshop, to be able to do your own editing on the day. The tools we are using are not confined to the latest Photoshop CS4/5, so it does not matter too much which version you have. If you do not have Photoshop, you can either purchase Photoshop Elements (which is quite cheap) and has most of the tools we’ll need, or, you can download a free 30-day trial of Photoshop CS5 from Adobe here, and make sure it doesn’t expire before the course date!
HOW DO I SIGN UP? Email info@brookeshaden.com with your requested date. You can pay by Paypal or wire.
CANCELLATION POLICY: Cancellations at least 7 days before the course date will be refunded in full, minus any Paypal/bank fees. Or you can change to another course date for no extra charge. Cancellations made less than 7 days before the course date, or no-shows, are non-refundable.
I’VE PAID. WHAT NOW? You will get an application pack confirming the locations and what to bring. We will also ask you to send us some information about yourself, your current photography and your experience, links to your work if you have some online, and what you hope to get out of the course. This is an optional step but allows us to learn a bit about our students before the workshop!
This course is predominantly aimed at people who are familiar with my work and the work of Brooke Shaden. If you are not familiar with our work, please view www.missaniela.com and www.brookeshaden.com
This workshop is intentionally different from other conventional courses, because we are demonstrating our own combined and individual approaches as fine-art photographers. Our masterclasses aim to show how simplicity and improvisation can contribute to the production of top quality fine-art photographs, even when on a low budget. However, we will also be talking about numerous technical issues to get optimum quality images, and also giving all the advice we can offer regarding making money from photography in various forms. We can also answer any questions on techniques for self-portraiture, depending on whether this interests you. There will be plenty of allocated time to ask all the questions you wish, and we can always drift into a local cafe afterwards.
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You can keep updated with news on the workshops by joining my dedicated Masterclasses group on Facebook, which will help me to see how much interest there is in workshops and also allow me to shape future masterclasses the way you want!
Also see updates on our Facebook pages:
Posted in Collaborations & commissions, Events - workshops etc on August 20th, 2010 | 14 Comments | Tweet This!
4:19 am on August 21st, 2010
are you coming to seattle?
wait…….$350……do you get a free camera with the class!!!////haaaa!
love from chris
9:14 am on August 21st, 2010
Prices based on both market research of west coast audience, and realistic return for two ladies’ time
definitely need to arrange something in Seattle next time…
7:36 pm on August 22nd, 2010
You can’t teach Art. You’ve either got an artistic streak or you haven’t. Good luck in trying to persuade people they can buy creativity, though.
8:11 pm on August 23rd, 2010
you can teach art,
at the very least you can teach technical skills to
help already creative people to do interesting new things.
even if somebody talentless does something that they have
never done before……something that they may have previously
thought out of reach…..something which they might think is amazing….
then i’m sure they would feel that sense of achievement was worth the
price of admission alone.
i’m sure there will be plenty of takers.
11:35 pm on August 23rd, 2010
I just wish Miss A were doing this near the East Coast. Stop in New Orleans?
The price is quite reasonable, in my view. It’s commensurate with what other photo pros charge for a 1-day workshop, perhaps less.
8:23 pm on August 24th, 2010
hey!
i was only teasing.
$350 is not unreasonable.
and as i said….im sure there will be plenty of takers.
4:21 pm on August 25th, 2010
Yea! I just signed up! I am so excited! I can hardly wait!
3:59 pm on August 26th, 2010
[...] you’re in the US, check out my workshops with Brooke Shaden scheduled for November, as they’re filling [...]
9:45 pm on September 7th, 2010
[...] These levitation techniques will also be covered in my collaborative workshops with Brooke Shaden in November in LA. If you fancy a place, just see this blog post! [...]
1:08 pm on September 8th, 2010
please oh please come to seattle!
12:08 pm on September 27th, 2010
[...] a series of workshops with fellow art photographer Brooke Shaden in LA round about Hallowe-en time. Click here for more [...]
10:17 pm on October 14th, 2010
seattle wants you BOTH!
7:46 pm on October 16th, 2010
[...] Shaden – and there are spaces left on both day-workshops, 1st and 6th November. Read more at this post, or email info@brookeshaden.com to find out more or book a [...]
5:03 pm on October 29th, 2010
@Arty Fucking Smokes,
Well, ‘art’ can be taught, but raw talent can’t. One can teach an appreciation of the arts and if a teacher is good enough, one can inspire the thought processes and motivation to create great art.
I have to tend to differ on your take. Everyone has a voice, a perspective, a way of seeing things in our world. Sometimes it all comes down to knowing what to do and how to do it that makes a key difference in how we see an artist’s interpretation of what they want to convey. It’s those tools or craft (that can be taught) that can actually make a difference in an artist’s presentation. Many photographic artist’s don’t know how to present (lack of knowledge in technical matters) and miss out on the many tools they can use to create wonderful images.
That being said, I agree there is no substitute for having great talent as there aren’t many exceptionally gifted photographers out there.