Fine Art

©Thomas Alleman

The photographs of “natural landscapes” with which we’re most familiar—Ansel Adams’ pictures of Yosemite, perhaps, or those National Geographic series on icebergs or rainforests, in fantastic color—all show the world we would encounter if we could travel to those special, faraway places. A pristine view, unsullied by man’s presence, is usually preferred, but sometimes we welcome a noble lighthouse or a picturesque old barn tucked into the corner of one of these images. Our “social landscape,” on the other hand, is neither faraway nor unsullied, and it’s right outside your door. That social landscape includes taxicabs and telephone poles, beer signs, graffiti, political billboards, mom-and-pop corner shops and people, most of all. In the Social Landscape, people interact with one another and with the vast public spaces that surround and welcome them all—parks and boulevards and plazas— and they negotiate the more organized venues that they and others have chosen to share: stadiums, theaters, bars, clubs and buses. Signage guides participants and pedestrians in direct language, but it also shouts slogans and promises with cleverness and neon. The infrastructure of that built environment must be navigated: streets, bridges, walls, wires, and boxes. Rules, codes and conventions are often unwritten, but they’re in the air for all to feel and follow, or not. Through lectures and discussions, exercises and assignments, this class will explore the Social Landscape as other photographers have seen it over that last hundred years. Students will learn more about their own responses to the Social Landscape and the challenges they must overcome and embrace in order to communicate their experience in photographs that reveal, edify and engage.

Thomas Alleman (for bio see page 38)

Eight Sessions Date: Thursdays, September 29-November 17, 9 am-12 pm PST Enrollment limit: 10 students Skill/Experience level: Open to all levels Tuition: $625 Location: Online

©Ken Merfeld

This class is designed to help you expand your approach to photography, to question the “how” and “why” of your technique, and to challenge and understand your creative process. Do you have a creative palette? Where do your ideas come from? What makes you who you are as an artist? Do you constantly repeat yourself? Are you lost in “tradition”? Are you conceptually “frozen”? Do you ever break rules? The answers to these questions just might open doors to creativity and change how you approach your work. Beginning with the structure, design, and content of your portfolio, Ken Merfeld’s critical eye for detail and his passionate heart for this medium will challenge your communication and technical skills, the overall design sense and flow of your work, the emotional response expected from your viewer, and your personal work ethic. Ken has critiqued, edited, and reviewed thousands of commercial and fine art portfolios and brings an abundance of information, suggestions, and insight as to how approach and present work. Equipment and technology may change every six months but one must remain steadfast in their approach to art and commerce. This class will broaden your creative horizons, question your creative process, and examine where you are going with your work and how it is presented. Ken Merfeld (www.merfeldphotography.com) (www.merfeld collodion.com) is a Los Angeles-based commercial and fine art photographer. During his 25 years of commercial and fine art photography, he has explored the worlds of autistic children, people with their pets, parent and child, tattooed people, bikers, identical twins, transvestites, “little people,” erotica and more. His current body of collodion work has been exhibited in Los Angeles, Santa Fe and Mexico City. Ken teaches photography part-time at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.

Six Sessions Date: Wednesdays, October 12-November 16, 9 am-12 pm PST Enrollment limit: 15 students Skill/Experience level: Open to all levels Tuition: $470 Location: Online