I am featured in an astounding new book ‘Altered Images’, compiled by RomanyWG.

The book has 50 contributing photographers from 18 different countries, including artists you may have heard of through Flickr and other photo-sharing sites. The artists include Max Sauco, Aaron Nace, Solea/Carmen Gonzalez, Mattijn Franssen and Lissy Elle. My images from 2008, ‘The Smothering’ and ‘Reverie’ feature with accompanying text in the book.

The book is a large and weighty, 192-page hardback book, of absolutely lovely quality and well worth the retail price. I’m very happy to be part of this collection of modern creativity in such a luxury format.

I got my copy yesterday and I am blown away by its quality!

You can buy/reserve:

Amazon UK

Amazon.com

(Above: Act drop with model Ruby True)

I can now confirm my next workshops taking place at the Royal Hippodrome theatre in Eastbourne.

The one-day workshops will be running on the following days, and we are taking bookings for all:

Saturday 2nd April

Saturday 30th April

Sunday 1st May

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The price is £199.

You may recall I last did workshops here with Brooke Shaden, which had 10 people. To keep group numbers to a comfortable number, this workshop will be back at the number of 8 places.

We will be shooting with 2 models. The day involves both shooting and editing. After a presentation from me introducing my work, and the day’s aims and concepts, you are whisked off for a brief tour of the theatre whilst I prepare my demonstrational shooting. After I’ve shot, the group divides into 2, and the two groups each roam the theatre, one in the auditorium area and the other round the more derelict parts of the backstage. Everyone therefore gets chance to shoot twice. After lunch we meet back up to edit. With a projector I edit my own pictures,  explaining my process for the techniques I’m using as I go along, and answering any questions. I leave time at the end to then go round to look at everyone else’s results.

If you want to read more info about the theatre workshop please click here, and also see our generic FAQ.

There is not a particular focus on levitation or trick imagery but it has been a popular choice for students during the sessions, as Sarah Schloo’s images below prove, both taken at the last theatre workshop in January, below…

The puppeteer & the pianist by Sarah Schloo

Sonata by Sarah Schloo

Sarah also wrote us a glowing testimonial!

“As an attendee of not one but two of Miss Aniela’s workshops, I feel I am in an ideal position to offer a testimonial of my experiences at both workshops.

“A solid staple of Miss Aniela’s workshops is that they are always different. Whilst their initial foundations remain the same throughout – giving photographers of all abilities the chance to shoot with models as they please, and learning Natalie’s token ‘trick image’ techniques involving levitation – the locations, models, props and processes are all uniquely tailored to each individual workshop.

“Attendees range from beginner to pro photographers, and a wonderful element of Natalie and Matthew’s teaching skills is the idea that no one is left behind. They teach in a manner that is simple, visual, and easy to understand. I found that learning from Natalie, who is a self taught photographer was far more rewarding than learning from a qualified teacher, as she holds a unique ‘student’s view’ perspective – having taught herself everything she now knows means workshops are taught in a relaxed peer to peer environment, rather than a more rigid student / teacher one.

“People I met on both courses seemed to come away not only with a new wealth of photography tips, techniques and a good batch of images that they were itching to edit, but also a renewed energy and passion for the art of photography.

“I myself am no exception to the above, and for that I wholeheartedly thank Natalie and Matthew, and their very flexible and understanding models!”

Sarah Wright

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Dereliction by billposter

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Some more testimonials from satsified students:

“I just wanted to say thank you again for such a wonderful time at the workshop. It was so much fun and filled with laughter, yet also very helpful & educational! Not only at your workshop did we get help along the way, advice, our weight in gold in ‘insider’ tips, but also encouragement to try new things and push ourselves to do the best we could. Encouragement to try, to play, to enjoy ourselves in the fullest, and for us to lead our learning through suggestions and questions. It was exactly the breath of fresh air I needed and have been longing for, and I’m really excited to say that the photos I took at your workshop are the first ones in a very long time that I felt truly content and proud of in a very, very long time. To top it all off, I am itching to watch the instructional videos you sent through afterwards. Thank you!”

Evy McIntyre

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“Wow – now I’ve got a head full of inspiration!  The workshop was a real pleasure, and I learnt so much. I really enjoyed watching you take a shot from the initial set-up, through the shooting and the post-processing to the final image.  The ability to watch how you do things and to ask questions along the way is the major draw for me. It’s also a relief that your workshops focus on the creative side of photography rather than the technical.  Shooting in the theatre was a great idea and much more inspiring than a studio.”

Max Rowan

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Email contact@missaniela.com to book a place.

Above: Performing the past (view on Flickr)

Last weekend I held two workshops in the Royal Hippodrome, a semi-functional theatre in Eastbourne. It was an exciting prospect to use a ‘real’ location and one that had derelict properties about the place. The hardest thing was figuring out what exactly my workshops there would be themed on. I planned for motion and multiplicity which I used in this image for example:

Above: The spectators (view on Flickr)

…but we ended up doing a range of things including levitation, depending on the students’ whims. We started in the auditorium with a brief projected presentation on the theatre stage, where I talked about how the aspects of naturalistic locations (versus studios); natural or continuous light, and movement; either frozen motion or blurred in-camera have a significant place in about 80% of my photography. Those three factors were the themes of this workshop, and I also talked about how my origins in photography have steered me to always seeking the ‘art’ in photography, how I constantly strive to go beyond one mere singular ‘layer’ to offer more of a concept and/or story. That said, the students were to get a taste of how random my workflow can be.

On both days I was pleasantly surprised to see that we had quite a free reign of the theatre, and so our plan of going different ways, two groups each with a model, one herded by myself and by Matt, intermingling throughout, made the ‘workshop’ into a series of little adventures around a big old ghostly building.

Above, the models Bella Grace and Nastazja Piotrowska; and below, Holly Gibbons. As well as shooting in the auditorium and on the stage with the theatre lights, we also shot in other areas of the theatre, such as a peeling-walled room in the upper part of the building.

Above: Holly Gibbons and Bella Grace. Check out the original shot below from which the above composite was made:

There were also all kinds of quirky shooting angles such as narrow red-carpeted hallways and dusty stone stairways. We discovered places we had not seen on our recce, and after I had shot with each of the two models as a form of demonstration, the students tried out their own ideas in each set-up and also given chances to suggest their own ideas.

Approaching 2pm, the models left, everyone dissipated for lunch and would start to upload and analyse their own shots. When everyone was back and the kettle was boiling, I would start selecting and editing pictures from my selection, talking out loud through my thought process and bringing together, on both days, ghostly multiplicity composites. It was appropriate that the students watched my process rather than trying to follow along. After I’d finished, the students started to process their own images and I went round to answer any questions and help out.

I had set myself some ambitious goals on the first day, of trying to show how you can make an auto-bracketed multiplicity panorama… I toned it down as I progressed onto editing and also into the next day, to instead suggest the general advantage of keeping one’s camera on a tripod even during a shoot not intended to be a composite, as an extra auto-bracketed shot of the scene, or taking a shot tilted downwards or to the side, can be very valuable to add extra dynamism and detail to any one scene.

Thanks to all the students, to Matt, to the models, and big thanks to Adrian Smith and Ben Cooper of the Royal Project for making the workshop possible, to the stage technician, and to Juliet Greig for her assistance (including her behind the scenes pics which appear on this post).

The best news is that there are more workshops at the theatre to come. I am planning collaborative workshops with Brooke Shaden in late January 2011: on 19th Jan in LA; and then on her return to the UK with me, at this same theatre venue: 29th and 30th Jan. If there is demand, we will open up more dates, possibly at a studio in London also.

To view some words from satisfied students on this workshop, click here (and see at the top of the page).

If you are interested in upcoming workshops either here or in LA, drop me an email at contact@missaniela.com so we can get an idea of the number of people available. Further info coming to my blog soon.

After having used plain studio spaces successfully enough in my London levitation-themed workshops, I am now ready to embrace a more guttural, ‘real’, and moody space. After doing workshops in the LA warehouse, and feeling happy to sacrifice the cleanness, reliability and sanitised lighting set-up of a studio for a place that exudes tungsten rawness, murkiness and texture, I am even more adamant not to return to the blank canvas of a Colorama backdrop and instead provide more of an adventure for my next students.

I have been lucky enough to come across a partially-disused theatre in Eastbourne, East Sussex, and gain permission to host workshops there. Eastbourne is about an hour away from London by train or car.

I am hosting the first workshops next weekend: 11th and 12th December 2010.

The workshops are one-day classes, one on Saturday and one on Sunday, 9am – 5pm.

The price of the workshop is £199. There are max number of 10 places, so this time there will be 2 models!

This also means there are 2 shooting opportunities for every student during the class: as we want to explore at least 2 areas of the theatre. The main one is the stage and the surrounding red seats of the auditorium, using illumination from the stage lights. The second place will be in another more derelict part of the theatre. You’ll shoot one with me, and the other with assistant Matt. What’s particularly exciting is having the best of both worlds: a comfortable auditorium with working stage lights, and other more derelict areas backstage.

Because we have started advertising this with short notice, it’s unlikely we’ll reach the max of 10 students, so we will have more time for each attendee.

Read testimonials from past students here. And watch a video of a previous workshop here, showing what kind of class atmosphere to expect!

What are the aims of the workshop?

The main thrust of the workshop is looking at ways to create interesting and dynamic images using the models and this specific location, and how to get the most from it. Crucially, we will not be using flash, but using ambient lighting combined with lights on the stage, for atmospheric images. I plan to use motion and multiplicity as in my image Her fleeting imprint, which also uses an abandoned scene:

We will also be touching upon HDR techniques (high dynamic range) and how a mellow, subtle approach to the technique can transform a flat image – this part is guaranteed to enlighten a lot of people! This is not a HDR workshop (I plan for future workshops dedicated to this) but I will explain the concept and technique, referencing images of mine such as Shaft, which is a mellow HDR:

How is the day organised?

Here’s a quick overview: at 9am we meet in the theatre for a welcome, with tea, coffee, and croissants. I do a brief presentation introducing the day’s aims and concepts, talking about my own relevant images.  By 10am I will be shooting, to demonstrate set-ups in both of the two shooting areas.

We break for lunch at 1.30pm, and re-adjourn at 2.15pm for a full afternoon of editing. I demonstrate my own process live on the projector, following step-by-step if you wish, and then I help everyone with their own. Afterwards we can chat over tea in the theatre or in a cafe down the street.

All students also get a movie tutorial of a finished workshop pic, sent to you after the workshop, to aid your editing and process even after the day is over.

What do I need to bring?

Your DSLR camera, and a laptop loaded with Photoshop. If you don’t have the latter, ask me, as I have one spare. If you wish to just watch me edit, then you don’t need to bring one.

If you would like to sign up to either day, just email me at contact@missaniela.com

You will receive a welcome pack detailing full info on the location, what to bring, and what to expect.

Some more important info:

HOTEL

My friend at the local Grand Hotel has offered reduced rate rooms for anyone who would like to stay over in Eastbourne on the Fri or Sat night, so if you’re interested, just let me know.

WEATHER

As we have rather adverse weather conditions in the UK at the moment, I have been reassuring applicants that if you can’t make it down on the day because of snow, or any other genuine reason, you will not lose your money. You can transfer to another course in the New Year, and likewise if the workshop is cancelled, everyone will be notified and transferred.

And to reiterate:

EQUIPMENT

You should bring your own camera, but I recommend using my camera for the first of the two shoots, to optimise shooting time. This will be less important if we have fewer students than the max class spaces advertised.

Some more images from our very quick recce at the theatre:

Above: another image of the stage and auditorium. The safety curtain will be up and we’ll have access to shooting on the stage.

Above: a cellar full of junk that we will be borrowing props from! There is also a rehearsal room full of costumes that we are allowed to use, but I’ll be bringing a selection of my own gowns etc.

Above: you can do your impersonation of The Shining’s Danny cycling through the red corridor if you wish… the place is really reported to be haunted (there is a ghost tour on the Saturday evening between the workshops).

So if you are interested, or have ANY queries, just email me at:

contact@missaniela.com

Above is an image taken at my latest London workshops! (view on Flickr). The workshops on 9 & 10 October were similar to my very first workshops held in September – with the levitation theme set in a studio, and a class of 8 students on each of the two days.

As it’s coming nearer – I will mention that next month I will be in the US doing more levitation workshops but with Brooke 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 place.

Below: behind the scenes at the October London workshops! The model this time was the very co-operative Sofia Carr who got into a range of poses to demonstrate my levitation concepts.

We got through quite alot of dresses this time!

Above and below: demonstrating the concepts to Sofia.

Above two images: my very diligent helpers… the second image shows Matthew’s ingenius way of helping the post-production later!

Images below… the students from both days in action.

And below shows the post-production we did from 2pm to 5pm. Everyone brought their laptops (or desktop) to join with with step-by-step editing of putting together an image from the shooting. At these workshops the Photoshop level of everyone was varied, but we kept it flowing by popping round to anyone who needed assistance.

Above: Sarah Schloo whose work I know from Flickr, who came to the Sunday course!

Above: after enjoying a coffee after the Sunday workshop with 6 of the 8 students… in my case, I had a very large (when I say large, I mean a cup with two handles) cup of hot chocolate with cream, marshmallows, and 4 chocolate flakes. It was my kilojoule-laden treat after quite a long weekend – these workshops are the hardest work I’ve ever done but definitely the most rewarding too.

After the workshop, I had more time to properly edit the images. I sent all the students a video tutorial showing the process step-by-step, so they have a complete reference. I plan to make these tutorials available online at some point.

If you’re interested to know when the next London workshop will be, just email me. I’m also planning workshops in other cities, UK and beyond. contact@missaniela.com

Thanks to all who made these second workshops a success!

I have dates for my next London workshops! They will be on the Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th October. Due to the success of my first workshops, I am going to deliver the same workshop (themed on levitation) again set in a studio.

The class is a ONE-DAY workshop to be held in a studio in London, taking you from conception of ideas through to final images.

My class is for people who want to bring ‘art’ to their photography: to do something dynamic, conceptual and interesting with models and props. It is also aimed at people who are interested in how I achieve certain effects with creative compositing.

Classes will be delivered to a small group size of eight people. We meet in a studio in London, and start with a light breakfast (with organic Fairtrade tea/coffee and juice..) and a welcome talk. I speak about key elements to my own work, and how far I go to prepare a shot, as well as how to seize spontaneous moments and to let the direction of a shoot grow organically. We then proceed onto how those elements will be used hands-on in the shoot.

The aims of the day will be to demonstrate:

- How far I plan a shot and get inspiration: finding starting points

- Using natural & improvised lighting

- Using movement in images to make dynamic results

- How to use Photoshop to subtle degrees to improve your images, from basic adjustments to minor compositing

- How to use Photoshop to create full-blown composite images (the focus of these first two workshops will be on levitation images as seen in my Tricks series, such as Sprung and The smothering which were created with the shots below)

On my these workshops the scene will be set and styled for a new levitation image.

In my workshops, props and furniture will be used suggest a non-studio location and I will concentrate on natural lighting to show realistically how most of my own images have been created. Each workshop is intended to produce a unique result and to recreate my own process closely: one that is often open to improvisation and spontaneity. All students get a one-on-one chance to shoot the model.

After lunch, we proceed to the editing stage, working through my editing process live on the projector/large screen to show you a host of basic, moderate and advanced Photoshop techniques. If you have brought you own laptop loaded with Photoshop, you can then proceed to open up your own images and I spend time going round individually to help you edit your work.

Through my workshops I want to show how simplicity and improvisation can contribute to the production of top quality fine-art photographs, even when on a low budget. However, I will also be talking about numerous technical issues to get optimal quality images, and also giving all the advice I can offer regarding making money from photography in various forms. There will be plenty of allocated time to ask all the questions you wish, and we will drift into a local cafe afterwards.

After the processing, we review everyone’s images and recap the day. You will leave with course notes and you will be able to post your images into a dedicated Flickr group where I can comment further on images you edit later at home.

The price is the same special intro rate of £99

MISS ANIELA WORKSHOP

WHEN’S THE NEXT ONE? Both are separate, one-day workshops:

Saturday 9th October 9.30am – 5pm, 1hr lunch.

AND:

Sunday 10th October 9.30am – 5pm, 1hr lunch.

To sign up for either, email contact@missaniela.com letting me know which day you wish to attend.

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! (but I’ll also be posting updates on my main Miss Aniela Facebook page.)

WHAT IS THE LEVEL? This is important, as I am aiming to make my courses vary by level. Due to feedback, the first course is aimed at people with intermediate knowledge: you should have some experience using a DSLR camera, and, ideally, some knowledge of Photoshop. Email me if you are unsure about levels.

WHERE? In a studio in Tottenham, North London. You’ll be sent the full details, location directions, & itinerary as part of your application pack.

WHO WILL BE THERE? Myself and Matthew, and in the afternoon, the model, and stylist/make-up artist if required.

WHAT EQUIPMENT DO I NEED? You will need your DSLR camera (charged and with sufficient CF cards!) 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 from Adobe here, and make sure it doesn’t expire before the course date!

HOW DO I PAY? Contact me to check availability, and I will send you an invoice to pay the full amount either by bank transfer or Paypal.

CANCELLATION POLICY: If, after paying, you are unable to attend the course, let me know 7 days before the course date, and you can transfer your attendance to another future course date for no extra charge. Cancellations later than 7 days, or no-shows, are non-refundable.

I’VE PAID. WHAT NOW? I’ll send you a receipt and an application pack confirming the locations and what to bring. I will also ask you to send me some information about yourself, your current photography work 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 me to learn a bit about my students before the weekend begins! Then, I’ll see you on the day!

If you are on the US west coast, you may be interested to know that I will be co-hosting a series of workshops with fellow art photographer Brooke Shaden in LA round about Hallowe-en time. Click here for more info!

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.

—–

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:

Miss Aniela page

Brooke Shaden page

I am pleased to finally confirm dates for my first UK photography workshop!

The class is a ONE-DAY workshop to be held in a studio in London, taking you from conception of ideas through to final images.

The first workshops’ dates are Sat 4th & Sun 5th September 2010. Read more below.

My class is for people who want to bring ‘art’ to their photography: to do something dynamic, conceptual and interesting with models and props. It is also aimed at people who are interested in how I achieve certain effects with creative compositing.

Classes will be delivered to a small group size of eight people. We meet in a studio in London, and start with a light breakfast (with organic Fairtrade tea/coffee and Innocent Smoothie…) and a welcome talk. I speak about key elements to my own work, and how far I go to prepare a shot, as well as how to seize spontaneous moments and to let the direction of a shoot grow organically. We then proceed onto how those elements will be used hands-on in the shoot.

The aims of the day will be to demonstrate:

- How far I plan a shot and get inspiration: finding starting points

- Using natural & improvised lighting

- Using movement in images to make dynamic results

- How to use Photoshop to subtle degrees to improve your images, from basic adjustments to minor compositing

- How to use Photoshop to create full-blown composite images (the focus of these first two workshops will be on levitation images as seen in my Tricks series, such as Sprung and The smothering which were created with the shots below)

On my first workshop the scene will be set-up for a new, bedroom-themed levitation image!

In my workshops, props and furniture will be used suggest a non-studio location and I will concentrate on natural lighting to show realistically how most of my own images have been created. Each workshop is intended to produce a unique result and to recreate my own process closely: one that is often open to improvisation and spontaneity. All students get a one-on-one chance to shoot the model.

After lunch, we proceed to the editing stage, working through my editing process live on the projector/large screen to show you a host of basic, moderate and advanced Photoshop techniques. If you have brought you own laptop loaded with Photoshop, you can then proceed to open up your own images and I spend time going round individually to help you edit your work.

Through my workshops I want to show how simplicity and improvisation can contribute to the production of top quality fine-art photographs, even when on a low budget. However, I will also be talking about numerous technical issues to get optimal quality images, and also giving all the advice I can offer regarding making money from photography in various forms. There will be plenty of allocated time to ask all the questions you wish, and we can always drift into a local cafe afterwards.

After the processing, we review everyone’s images and recap the day. You will leave with course notes and you will be able to post your images into a dedicated Flickr group where I can comment further on images you edit later at home.

The first workshops have a special introductory price of £99

MISS ANIELA MASTERCLASS

WHEN’S THE NEXT ONE? Both are separate, one-day workshops:

Saturday 4th September 9.30am – 5pm, 1hr lunch. 5/8 places left

AND:

Sunday 5th September 9.30am – 5pm, 1hr lunch. 2/8 places left

To sign up for either, email contact@missaniela.com letting me know which day you wish to attend.

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! (but I’ll also be posting updates on my main Miss Aniela Facebook page.)

WHAT IS THE LEVEL? This is important, as I am aiming to make my courses vary by level. Due to feedback, the first course is aimed at people with intermediate knowledge: you should have some experience using a DSLR camera, and, ideally, some knowledge of Photoshop. Email me if you are unsure about levels.

WHERE? In a studio in Tottenham, East London. You’ll be sent the full details, location directions, & itinerary as part of your application pack.

WHO WILL BE THERE? Myself and an assistant, and in the afternoon, the model, and stylist/make-up artist if required.

WHAT EQUIPMENT DO I NEED? You will need your DSLR camera (charged and with sufficient CF cards!) 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 from Adobe here, and make sure it doesn’t expire before the course date!

HOW DO I PAY? Contact me to check availability, and I will send you an invoice to pay the full amount either by bank transfer or Paypal. If you pay by bank transfer you will receive a receipt from me.

CANCELLATION POLICY: If, after paying, you are unable to attend the course, let me know 7 days before the course date, and you can transfer your attendance to another future course date for no extra charge. Cancellations later than 7 days, or no-shows, are non-refundable.

I’VE PAID. WHAT NOW? I’ll send you a receipt and an application pack confirming the locations and what to bring. I will also ask you to send me some information about yourself, your current photography work 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 me to learn a bit about my students before the weekend begins! Then, I’ll see you on the day!

If you are on the US west coast, you may be interested to know that I will be co-hosting a series of workshops with fellow art photographer Brooke Shaden in LA round about Hallowe-en time (more information to come!)

I had the sudden urge to write this post. At the moment I am working on a secret project, part of which involves looking at other artists’ work and preparing it for a kind of, let’s say, showcase. And I am finding a similarity between several of these artists’ responses, when I suggest to them which of their images to use.

Above: ‘By the lake’ (2006), one of my earliest clone pics which I still use alot in articles, exhibs etc.

For these artists, I’m looking at all of their work, and plucking out quite a wide range that spans back to their early days of photography, to meet with their reluctant and somewhat horrified responses. ‘You want that picture? That’s so old… I wasn’t thinking about concept at all back then… I just clicked my camera, and hoped for the best… the quality of the image isn’t so good, as I shot in the lowest of the low Jpeg format…’ and so on.

Now, where quality is concerned, unfortunately there is a limit what you can do with a picture that is a grand total of 300kb. Let’s not forget, however, that quality can be rescued using tools like Genuine Fractals, and you can improve on what technology, or your budget, or your brain, didn’t do for you back then.

However, in an aesthetic sense, provided that the image is good enough quality for the purpose at hand, I find that I may be drawn to the artist’s earlier work, in some single cases, more than their recent work. Yet, they seem to think that their earlier work is somehow embarrassing, and take your suggestion as a reminder that they need to clean them off their webpage.

Do I find their response odd? Well no – because that is exactly how I feel as a photographer too, regarding my own work. If someone emails me with a query about a print, or a licensing request, and gives a link to some old crummy picture like Self-portrait in the dark or Raiding the shelf (both below) I either think they’re blind, or just a bit weird with low standards and a penchant for blobby Photoshoppery. I will follow through with their request, unless it involves publishing the image in a context (like an article or an exhibition) where I can choose another one to represent me as an artist.

My feelings are that those images were indeed wanton escapades with my camera, where I might have thought pressing ‘Raw’ would make the camera shriek like a zoo animal and that whiter-than-snow over-exposed highlights can be cured with the dodging tool in Photoshop. If I have the opportunity to use newer work, I will push for it. After all, I’ve had much more experience since then, I think more about what I shoot, I shoot in better quality, etc etc…

That is all very well, so I understand these artists’ responses. However, I want to say to these artists (and anyone else who thinks this way about their work) that your early work (at least, aesthetically, even if it’s poor pixel quality) isn’t that bad. Just because you spontaneously clicked your camera and didn’t think too much about concept does not mean that your images are meaningless and therefore worthless. Sometimes, a lack of specific intention is the best thing. It is possible to produce your best work this way.

An artist’s earlier work might be messy. It might be amateurish. For some artists though, and for some of their work, their best images are their earliest pieces, because they let their true experimental side free, without reigning their techniques in to conform to rules they have learnt from research and reading. There will be the odd piece of work they created in their experimental days that is simply unbridled genius, yet the artist will dismiss it, with a blushing recollection of its lack of pre-shooting preparation. Even the more slapdash work will have some unmistakeable flavour about it that reveals the artist’s true style before they ODed on self-scrutiny. Generally, we are supposed to get better as we go along. We are all told that practice makes perfect, and that we get better with experience, and that we are only as good as our last piece of work, etc. At times like this though, I want to question this norm, because sometimes our most recent work can be our driest, least daring, over-thought-out, concept-heavy, mundane attempts at putting everything we know into our photography.

At times like this, then, I feel that the self-taught artist, the artist who does not study art and photography, is on top. When an artist is free to do what they want, without pressure of personal expectation, commercial motivations, artist reputation, etc, they can produce their best work.

Going away from extremes for a moment (for the artists who inspired me to make this post, I am not in any way referring personally to your work), all I want to suggest is looking at your own work from the point-of-view of an outsider. Does/would an outsider know that a particular image had no forethought, no planning, wasn’t shot with professional lighting, was inferior to your current way of working in all kinds of various ways? No – or not necessarily. There is also the diversity of personal opinions, and I encourage other artists to appreciate that someone might come along and love a picture that you’ve been meaning to delete off your Flickr stream for aeons.

Of course, I need to apply this encouragement to myself, and think about how my own earlier work can be seen as more than a bored student’s attempt at escaping into a dodgily composited, imaginary world full of multiple selves (though some pictures were so bad I did admittedly remove them from my Flickr stream). I am aware that some of my long-term viewers on Flickr prefer my earlier work which is characterised by multiple selves and slightly radioactive interpretations of sunny Sussex scenes. They like it when I upload something new that has a similar vibrant colour palette to the earliest stuff, that might have spent too long in Photoshop for me to deem serious (like this one for example), with a content that, intellectually, is as deep as the baby end of a shallow pool.

We then enter that problematic area of personal taste: one artist’s direction is appealing to some, and not to others. I am equally against an artist trying to please everyone, or feeling guilty that their change of taste doesn’t appeal to all their audience segments. Without making this blog post too long, I just want to mention that personal interpretation is everything. If there is something on your Flickr stream you absolutely abhor, take it off. You are the artist, and you are the only person who has the right to decide what represents YOU.

I just want to encourage you, though, to remember what it is that you’ve always liked about photography, what made you get into it at the beginning, and to carry that passion through.

You don’t have to have a master plan to create a masterpiece. Equipment, rules, and technical know-how really are second to all-important creativity.

From THIS:

A few people were against me posting this entry, as they preferred me to keep the mystery of my imagery intact.

Because I’d already written it and promised it, I think it’s only right that I publish my entry on this occasion. I don’t do it with alot of images anyway.

Now, first I must advise you: I do not recommend doing something like this, ie. taking a picture in such bad lighting, with so much clutter, and then striving to drastically improve or change the image in Photoshop.

In fact, I have never really planned, for any of my images to date, to do as much work to the image in Photoshop as I might have ended up doing. Take THIS image I did for Life Pure Water, for example -

- for that one, I stitched together two main images, each taken on separate days (one with flash, one not) plus a couple of extra images, and I got there in the end, with many hours’ work. It worked (I think) but I would never recommend PLANNING to take this route. Instead, I think of these occasions as being OPPORTUNITIES when you CAN do something amazing to an image that doesn’t look so good straight out of camera. It is sometimes possible, if you have a substandard shot in your possession, to do something with it – of course it doesn’t always work, which is why you can’t RELY on this method.

I will also reiterate, before I have loads of people expressing their cynicism at a ‘fix it in Photoshop’ attitude, that I don’t overly process all my images.

I have three groups of images: the almost SOOC, slightly tweaked images; the 50/50 images where both original shot and processing style are EQUALLY contributive to the final result; and the third group, the heavily manipulated images where a lot of work in Photoshop takes place to bring together several images into a composite, looking very different from each original shot. This group includes the clone images and the trick images which seem to be the most talked about element to  my stuff. With this category, things can be a blind journey, and that was very much the case with this image in question.

Besides, everyone knows that Photoshop doesn’t fix things itself anyway, it’s the talent of the user, right?

Ok let’s get to the point.

What did I want to do?

This was one of those times (like the early self portrait days) when I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do, I was open to spontaneity. I had the trick images from over a year ago in my head. I wanted to do something like my picture The smothering:

In my head I also yearned to shoot underwater, but that wasn’t to be possible now. I also looked up at my ‘Yoga Cats’ calendar, hanging on the wall, that my sister had bought us for Christmas. That may well have inspired the result (ha).

What did I do then?

I decided to do some movement, and try propelling my body into the air. My flat is small and quite cluttered at the moment so it wasn’t easy getting an open area in which to shoot myself. But I was (a) eager (b) impatient (c) feeling ambitious. I cleared a gangway which was insufficient for shooting but thought, even if these shots get relegated to an archived folder on my hard drive, at least I will have blown the first layer of dust off my self-portraiting abilities.

Shot a variety of pics of myself against the wall with some curtain fabric I hadn’t used before, from a charity shop, round my waist as a skirt. I beared in mind I might composite one leg with another so it looks like both are propelled. Tossed a few playing cards over myself, a prop I have been using in my recent shots, but they didn’t really work in this context.

I must state here: these images are rubbish and I did not spend much time on the settings. I wanted to keep the ISO low enough to not create a world of noise, and to keep some low-light ambience in the image. I know I don’t have to post these images to the world to show off ‘what I did in Photoshop’, and on one level, I don’t want to even talk about this process. I guess I want to share it because I like to share tales of things I have done, whether they involve Photoshop or not. This is something I’ll be doing more of this year – and something I will be doing more of in my next Blurb book.

Did what I could, then uploaded the shots onto my laptop. Looked through them, and approved the ones that could be of use.

How did it come out?

Not good. Did a quick mockup to sense what vibe I was getting from the image’s potential. This wasn’t looking good. Just looked silly: me up against a wall, messy lighting, face looking too dark, no narrative or meaning, not sure what I wanted to try and convey: which way should I rotate the photo? Messy, poor quality, already looking noisy – next time I needed good, diffused lighting to avoid having one big hotspot on my legs.

Was that it then?

I thought so. Considered the attempt a failure, as expected, due to poor preparation. I didn’t see easy potential, I just saw a potentially futile processing nightmare, and resolved to get a better location bext time. Shut down laptop and went to seethe in the bedroom and plan what to do next. Planned to shoot some pictures of myself in the bathtub after replenishing myself with food and water.

After chopping veg, and whilst food was cooking, wandered back to laptop and had another look at the pics. Decided that if I were to do anything with them, it would take some work indeed. Decided I’d try it. I was keen to create something, right now.

Started by cleaning up the image with slight adjustments to Levels, Colour Balance, lightened a little with Shadow and Highlight.

Decided on a crop. I wanted to get rid of the clutter and hone in on the figure.

The main thing I’d need to do is bring another leg in, to replace the supporting sticky out leg, so I got stuck into this vital operation-like stage of compositing. Took the leg from another image (the third one in the 3-image montage above). Took some work to do this.

I then had to clone in patches of wall to cover the unneeded leg (as I had forgotten to take a proper image of the scene ‘without me in it’, the necessary element for trick images). I then stretched various bits of wall to cover offending corners and bits of leg. I’d need to lighten that top foot later.

What next?

Finally got the complete shape of my pose against a relatively clean background. Still wasn’t sure about it at all. Then, Matthew walked past and said ‘Oh, I like this one!’ He is never anything but brutally honest, so that was a good sign. Felt encouraged to keep going, aware that the more I was stretching and lightening and distorting the image, the more degraded it was becoming, but I did some denoising and kept going, happy at least that I had an image already more interesting than the originals.

The main thing bugging me now was the stupid lighting. The horrible dark patch of wall behind my midriff area, which was looking even more like an anomalous stripe after bringing fresh new wall to one side of it.

The more I lightened the image, the more it seemed as if I would be trying to make it look as if it were shot in a clean backdrop, when it wasn’t. And yet darkening it didn’t work: that further exaggerated the inconsistencies of the background.

I decided to go down the route of lightening the image, unsure as to how it would look in the end. Pressing on, I managed to even out the lighting with some selection paths, feathering, adjustment of Levels and Shadow & Highlight, and erasing. And some cloning tool to finish up. It was getting there. I can usually always tell whether it’s worth pressing on, or giving up. If small things can be fixed, then have a go. If the whole thing looks fake, don’t bother. I was happy enough with how it was looking at this stage, just knew it needed more and more tweaks. Of course, my judgement will only always be an opinion, others might disagree. One thing I hate about creating images in this manner is the uncertainty, the peaks of hope that can be followed by troughs of disappointment.

Ok, looking good, now what? What to add to the image to complement that open space? I can’t be holding that remote. Well I could, but the floor looks empty. In fact, is that the floor? Should that be the ceiling instead?

Flipped it 180 degrees: hmm, but how would I insinuate to people that this is the ceiling? Photoshop in some wallpaper? Checked iStock. A load of inappropriate images of rooms, shot from conventional angles, came up. No, don’t want to go down that road. Flipped it back.

Ok, the playing cards – let’s grab some virtual playing cards and give the image the same theme as my last one, to advertise the new website. Besides, the shape of the remote would match a playing card that can be easily inserted in there.

Adding playing cards

Cue a couple of hours of fiddling with selection paths, transform tools of various sorts (‘Distort’ was best for the cards) opacity and levels changes, for each playing card. One by one, cut from a screengrab of my website, they were in. Added drop shadows (handy – click FX in the little icons at the bottom of the layers palette). They looked fake, but I liked it. Not fake as in ‘crap cut-paste Photoshop’, but fake as in ‘glossy computerised Pin-up scene that is more exciting than real cards over the floor’ (at least, to me!) Maybe they actually look shit (and maybe they still need more work) but as an accessory to the wider image, I was happy.

Was that it?

Hmm, everything looks a bit floaty and groundless. Matthew passed by again and said he liked it, but I thought it was too contextless, it was again suggesting that ‘I am pretending this was shot in a studio but it obviously wasn’t, so what’s the point’ look. What about marking out a shadow where the skirting board would be behind me? No – how about more, how about an insinuation of a carpet or at least a different coloured floor ? Selected the bottom half of the image, altered Colour Balance, added some vignetting to top edges of this area. Then erased the parts where the effect was colouring unwanted areas – head, cards, tip of foot etc.

Then knew I had to bring a skirting board into the image, as you don’t generally see carpets without skirting boards… that bit was easy.

Dragged in a photo of a skirting board, lined it up, stretched it all across using the Transform tool, zoomed in close and erased the parts it overlapped. Done!

Now some extra touches: cleaning up the edges of the legs, dodging and burning here and there, replicating bits of hair to cover the darker area at the base of my head, bit of dodging and burning, slight rouge and lipstick saturation. And that was about it. Left out vignetting and any Curves adjustments because they didn’t add to the image much – the image was best left pastel-like and fresh, I felt.

Et voila…

When I look at the image, I see a kind of allusion to the colours and skintones in Elvgren’s Pin-Ups… I liked it because, for me, it reached that point of balance between photograph and illustration/painting, where everything is bold, and yet real. You can see the creases in my foot but not the banal clutter it was once propped up on. I felt I had entered my body and face into a kind of virtual environment without creating too many ugly hanging seams.

Very long task I would not like to do for every photo, nor set out to do. But it shows you can do it to some images, if you really want to!

Next time – I want to explore what ’self-taught’ really means. I’ll be chatting to two photography students. See you then!