Do you find yourself seeing images to shoot everywhere you go? on your commute, at the grocery, in your yard, with your family... Does your head get turned by the color of the light? Ever get the sense that your visual journals could be more you than they are?
And that desire--the strong desire to take pictures--is important. It borders on a need, based on a habit: the habit of seeing. Whether working or not, photographers are looking, seeing, and thinking about what they see, a habit that is both a pleasure and a problem, for we seldom capture in a single photograph the full expression of what we see and feel. It is the hope that we might express ourselves fully... that keeps us taking pictures. - Sam Abell
I think the place where we cannot completely capture the full expression of our vision is what brings us to visual journaling with photographs. Whether we write out our hearts to fill in what is absent, we physically manipulate the image to add more, or we use other art media to create a complete piece on a journal page, working in a journal gives us a way to more fully reveal our intended vision. For someone who takes a lot of photos, using them on journal pages is a natural expression of your artistic voice.
Think of your photographs and your journal as two parts of one whole. Two parts of your artistic voice, your vision. Come spend the day learning a variety of techniques to work into, onto, and with your photos on the pages of your journal... ways of creating a complete expression using them together. We’ll take on five doable techniques for working into and onto images, learn about composition, integrating the images onto pages, and be prompted to write around what might be missing. You can view more of my journal work by going to youtube.com/user/ludwiglk and clicking on the video “ a look inside my visual journals.”
Supply List:
- your journal
- glue stick
- exacto & cutting mat
- your favorite gel pens or markers
- colored pencils
- drawing/charcoal pencils
- watersoluble crayons or pencils or paint
- water container
- paint brush
- your images
Prep some pages in your journal with backgrounds, (or take my journal making class!), print some photos (see below), and bring along some supplies you probably already own!
Your images are the key to creating your vision. Following the instructions will maximize your class experience. I have some info to share on “how” and “what” to print.
HOW: I’d like you to print 6 photos on matte photo paper. I suggest Staples Photo Supreme Double-Sided Matte. Make them as large as your journal page or ink jet printer will allow. Print 2 photos on regular printer paper. Print 1 photo on satin or glossy photo paper.
WHAT: I have photo prompts for you to use- a concept accompanied by a quote from a photographer, artist, or writer. Choose from images you have already shot, or take new photos. There are more prompts than you need so choose what resonates for you. You do need at least one image of a face. Here are your photo prompts:
THE MAGIC IN THE UTTERLY ORDINARY: As one grows older one should grow more expert at finding beauty in unexpected places, in deserts and even in towns, in ordinary human faces and among wild weeds. - C.C.Vyvyan
A NUMBER OF SIMILAR OBJECTS: Those who look for beauty, find it. -Margaret Wolfe Hungerford
UP CLOSE & PERSONAL PORTRAIT SHOT: There is no charm equal to tenderness of heart. -Jane Austen
DAILY VIEW: The challenge of photography is to show the thing photographed so that our feelings are awakened and hidden aspects are revealed to us. --Emmett Gowin
COLLECT A SMILE: The more serious the face, the more beautiful the smile. -Chauteaubriand
AN EXPRESSION OF YOUR VOICE: Ideas sometimes come to you without visible anchors. The unconscious can be several days, weeks or months ahead of your conscious intent. -Susan Shaughnessy
SILENCE: When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence. -Ansel Adams
YOUR PEOPLE: Adventure is not only measured in kilometers. Strong emotions are not only found in front of the Parthenon. Emotion, if you are worthy of it, will be felt before the smile of a child returning home with his school books, a tulip in a vase touched by a ray of sunlight, or the face of a beloved woman. - Willie Ronis
TINY: Sometimes you can tell a large story with a tiny subject. - Eliot Porter
MYSTERIES: Mysteries lie all around us, even in the most familiar things, waiting only to be perceived. Wynn Bullock
Optional:
I find baby wipes indispensable at ArtFest.
Teacher will Provide:
- clear gesso
- gesso
- gloss medium
- workable fixative
- tissue
