Marine & Seascape Photography

This is a five-day course ending Friday

Note: Students should have basic knowledge of computer image processing. Students will need to bring a laptop, cords to connect your camera to your laptop, camera, strap, tripod, lenses (normal, telephoto, and any others you want to use), and water shoes.

This course coincides with the annual Schooner Sail in at WoodenBoat, where the students will have multiple opportunities to photograph these historic windjammers from land and from sea.

Each day, with guidance from your instructor, internationally renowned photographer Michael Kahn, you’ll learn to capture images using the building blocks for successful black-and-white photography–texture, tonal contrast, shape, form, pattern, and lighting. The coast of Maine is abundant with unlimited strong photographic opportunities and will provide a wealth of photogenic material. The class is held in the boathouse overlooking the WoodenBoat waterfront where students can watch the sparkling light as it moves over the islands, and see the coming and goings of the harbor. We will take every opportunity to ferry the students in the waterfront boats to see the  harbor and islands from a unique perspective.

Each day, Michael will lead participants on a photography shoot for a few hours in the morning, followed by discussions on Michael’s work. He will share his knowledge on lighting, contrast, composition, equipment film, processing, printing and more as these topics pertain to black-and-white boat, seascape, and landscape photography. We will also discuss how to edit your images and how to pick your unique style.

Following lunch is another few hours of shooting, and an hour of questions and student work critiques where we will review a new image created each day. Shooting locations will include the WoodenBoat waterfront and work-shops, Babson Island, Center Harbor, Brooklin Boat Yard, Benjamin River, the Blue Hill reversing falls, Flye Point, the beautiful town of Stonington, along with other locations. At the conclusion of the course, there will be a slide show featuring a selection of student images from the week that will be presented in the Boathouse after the Friday night lobster bake.

The goal of this week is to help you capture and create a strong image for black-and-white. “Seeing and thinking” in black-and-white is a very common difficulty for photographers. After this course, you’ll be up for the challenge!

Assisting Michael is his wife, Christine Yurick, an accomplished writer, editor and photographer who will help students with technical questions, processing and editing.

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