I’ve just finished up another amazing workshop taught by Sarah Wilkerson at Clickin Moms… Shooting 301: Elements of Design. Having taken Shooting 301: Composition and Creativity in the spring, I knew I wanted to take another advanced class with Sarah to continue to learn more technical and artistic principles to apply to my photography. The Elements of Design focuses on the major design elements and their psychological impact in composition.
Here are the class details from the CMU page:
what we cover:
Elements of Design covers the major components of artistic composition and discusses how photographers can use these elements to maximize an image’s aesthetic appeal and influence its psychological significance. There are four lesson/assignment sets, but the material is extensive and rather intense, so we’ll take a break half-way through to catch up / take a breather / just discuss. The instructor will remain available to you for all five weeks and will hold a webcam based “office hour” for live Q&A, demonstrations, and discussions during break week.
Preassignment: Portfolio Review
Week One: Linear Form, Function, and Type
Week Two: Space, Shape, and Subject Placement
Week Three: BREAK/Catch-Up
Week Four: The Aesthetic and Psychological Power of Color
Week Five: Seeing in Black and White – From Conceptualization to Conversion
- four sets of upper-level lessons and assignments
- detailed, personalized guidance every week
- constructive feedback from Sarah and one or more teaching assistants on each week’s assignment
- daily exercises for peer-to-peer discussion
- over five weeks of access to the instructor for conversation and questions
- provocative, brain-stretching material that will drive you right out of your artistic rut
- webcam based “office hour” for live Q&A, demonstrations, and discussions during break week
One thing that I’m really proud of is that I was very thoughtful in my shooting during class. I took my time composing each image, designing it ahead of time, and just needing a few frames to nail the composition. It was especially challenging because I was traveling the first week of class and had knee surgery the second week of class. I don’t feel that I devoted every fiber of my being to shooting because of physical limitations so I’m a bit disappointed in myself (those darn high expectations!) with what I produced but I’m sharing what I captured anyway.
Week One: Linear Form, Function, and Type
Week Two: Space, Shape, and Subject Placement
Week Three: The Aesthetic and Psychological Power of Color
Week Four: Seeing in Black and White ~ From Conceptualization to Conversion
Every interaction I have with Sarah Wilkerson leaves me feeling empowered and valuable. Her teaching style is one of a complete investment in her students. My peers in class were amazing, I was surrounded by talent and inspiration. There were lots of CMPros (the upper echelon of CM members, accepted by application only) and many of my classmates were accepted into CMPro during class! It was hard not to compare my work to theirs and feel inadequate, but when I look at my work even compared to a few months ago, I see growth. I see beauty. And that is priceless to me.
If you want to see my spring collection of images from C&C, that blog post is HERE. Thanks so much for looking!