River Valley Photographic Society

Our mid fall photographic workshop will be held in and around the village of Hastings which is located in the municipality of Trent Hills, Ontario..

Field work will be in the surrounding counties of Northumberland, Peterborough, and Hastings. This is one of the few workshops where participants will not have to travel great distances from their homes.

If you are located in and around the counties of Northumberland, Peterborough, or Hastings you will be able to return home each night. By holding the workshop in a central area of Ontario most participants will save the added cost of travel, lodging and meals.

Our instructor will be Andrew Collett, one of the most sought after photographers in Canada. His enthusiasm for the Art of Photography will have you so inspired you will not believe what you will learn about taking pictures. He virtually has you on the edge of your seat just waiting to hear what he has to say next.

Andrew Collett has always loved the character of the land, and the secrets it reveals to the patient eye. As a child, he spent his summers getting to know the landscape of Georgian Bay, Muskoka and beyond. He became an observer of nature, discovering the beauty of places and seasons that were often overlooked by others. Andrew started his career in the business side of visual design, and it was a number of years before he realized he had his own distinctive vision to express. In photography he found a powerful medium into which he could pour his boundless creative energies.

When a scene captures Andrew Collett’s eye, it’s because he has had a vision of what it could be at its best. It could be at four in the morning when the mists rise from the night-cooled land; or, at seven in the evening as a thunderstorm batters a distant line of dark trees. Andrew’s goal is to capture a scene in exactly the circumstances when experience tells him it will be suffused with the most intense emotion. He works hard to grasp a fleeting feeling one which lives for just a brief moment in a masterstroke of light, colour, shape, perspective… and timing. Gathered from the land, he brings moments to life and fashions into them into fine images that are celebrated in interiors of all kinds, where the echoes of what he has experienced will resonate for years to come.

Andrew Collett loves his work. He considers it a privilege and a responsibility to bring these celebrations of our land into people’s homes. His hope is that his renderings of our natural beauty may inspire dreams and memories, and a particular kind of hopefulness that he has felt while walking the trails and pathways of our boundless, natural inheritance.

Oct 22-24, 2010 – Fall Colours & Mastering the Digital Workflow

Master the complete digital workflow from capture to print in this exciting new workshop by professional nature photographer and fine art print maker, Andrew Collett.

Fine art photography is a marriage of technical mastery and creative vision. Both are essential to creating photographic works of art, however, rarely do these "perfect" photographs happen by accident. In his new workshop, Mastering the Digital Workflow, Andrew will teach you the complete digital workflow he uses to craft technically perfect and artistically compelling photographic works of art.

Your time together will be a combination of in the field shooting and studio sessions and will cover the following topics:

Field Shoots:
Andrew will be taking you to some of his favourite locations in and around Northumberland, Peterborough, and Hastings counties where he will be teaching you a combination of technical and creative lessons that will ensure you are shooting for optimal quality while unleashing the creative potential of the scene. Topics covered in the field will include:

    * Learning to shoot in manual mode for optimal aperture and shutter speed settings
    * Reading and understanding the histogram
    * How to choose the best exposure based on the information provided in the histogram
    * Learning to manually focus for maximum depth of field
    * Equipment selection, what works and what doesn’t.
    * Crafting compositions that recreate a sense of "depth"
    * Understanding visual rhythm and balance
    * Selecting compelling subject matter
    * Choosing the right light and atmosphere

Studio Sessions:
Held in Hastings at the Hastings Civic Centre in the village of Hastings, he will be teaching you the digital workflow he uses to bring RAW files to life and prepare them for printing. Using Adobe Photoshop CS4 and Lightroom, he will teach you a workflow that produces optimal quality in a simplistic and easy to follow process. This is not about Photoshop tricks, it is about learning how to subtlety process your RAW file to bring out it’s best qualities in the final print. Once your photograph has been processed, he will then demonstrate how to optimize your image for printing with each participant being able to print their photographs using an Epson printer. Topics covered will include:

    * Colour Management and Monitor Calibration
    * Raw workflow using Photoshop CS4 and Lightroom
    * Using Photoshop to subtlety enhance your image and prepare it for printing
    * Choosing the right paper to bring out the best in your image

The workshop agenda will be as follows:

Friday - 4:00pm Start Time
Orientation at the Hastings Civic Centre, 6 Albert St. E in Hastings. Following the orientation participants will then be heading out to shoot the evening light and sunset.

Saturday
You will be heading out on Saturday for both sunrise and sunset shoots. During the day you will be back in the classroom processing and printing.

Sunday - Workshop will finish around 5:00pm
Will be the same as Saturday with the exception of the sunset shoot.

Limited to 10 Participation
We are limiting the size of each workshop to 10 participants. This will ensure that Andrew can spend maximum time with everyone. He would suggest that you register as soon as you can to confirm availability as this workshop will sell out quickly!

Cost
The cost for the workshop is $500.00 plus HST of 13%. To guarantee your space send a certified check or money order made out to the River Valley Photographic Society, P.O. Box 13, Campbellford, On K0L 1L0

Who Should Attend
This workshop is open to all levels of photographers but will benefit those most who have a basic understanding of image processing software (does not have to be Photoshop) and who shoot with a DSLR camera.

Cancellation Policy
Full refunds will be given if cancellation is made prior to 60 days before the start or the workshop. Unfortunately no refunds can be made if cancellation is made less than 30 days before the start of the workshop unless a suitable replacement is available.

What to Bring?
All your camera gear and don’t forget your tripod! A notebook computer is NOT necessary for the image processing as we will be using Andrew’s computer system in the studio, however if you want to bring your own feel free to do so.

River Valley Photographic Society mid fall photographic 3 day Workshop

Oct 22-24, 2010

Oct 22-24, 2010 – Fall Colours & Mastering the Digital Workflow