You can learn to create truly interesting and inventive photographic images from pictures taken with your 35-mm camera or an ordinary cell phone. Various rules of picture composition will be demonstrated and discussed in class, using images made by the instructor, a professional commercial and editorial photographer, as well as works by other photographers. The course will explore how and when to apply basic rules to photographs, assess when they can improve a picture—and when they should be ignored. 

Plan to bring to class 10 to 20 of your own photographs (as jpgs or in the RAW format), saved on a flash drive. Include both images you love and problematic ones. We will critique these images to deepen your understanding of photographic composition and aesthetics, as well as to explore specific technical challenges you may be having.

Finally, we’ll put some of our pictures through one or more digital editing programs. You’ll learn how your photographs’ composition can be improved and even transformed with the help of these remarkable software packages. A handout and a series of printed notes will be distributed in class.