In addition to co-teaching workshops, I also teach private lessons. Lessons are tailored to meeting your goals and needs, so that no time is spent covering material you're not interested in, or that is either too basic or too advanced - I aim for 'just right'.
Lessons can be be in a variety of locations, ranging from my studio near Carnation, WA to any location you prefer. My studio is equipped with a complete, professionally equipped traditional B&W darkroom, as well as equipment to handle digital workflows including scanning film up to 8x10 and producing prints up to 44" wide, and is minutes from the beautiful , rural Snoqualmie valley, an excellent location to practice camera and composition skills.
In addition to face-to-face teaching, I can also cover some material with you via correspondence, either by mail, or over the internet (email and/or instant messaging) and telephone.
Topics
I have experience working with cameras ranging from small, handheld 35mm rangefinder and SLR cameras, through large format cameras, and on to compact digital cameras and digital SLRs. I can assist you with:
Camera Basics - shutter speed, f-stop, exposure, film selection, basic composition skills, etc. for both digital and film based cameras.
Introductory darkroom skills - B&W film processing (both hand and automated), print exposure and contrast, print processing
Advanced darkroom skills - burning, dodging, flashing, bleaching, toning.
Digital Darkroom skills: using Photoshop CS2 to adjust images, including layers, curve adjustments, using masks to perform local adjustments to the image, as well as setting up a basic workflow that will move you efficiently from image capture to final print. My focus with Photoshop instruction is on giving the student a grasp of a small number of key concepts - layers, layer masks, curves, gradients, and soft light layers, in order to give the student the most powerful and flexible tools as the foundation for all photoshop work.
Large format camera technique - focusing, use and setting of movements, film handling, equipment selection.
Zone system - film selection, film speed testing, development calibration, metering, exposure calculation
Digital printing - film scanning, basic image adjustment with Photoshop, material selection, issues in making large prints, printing.
Making the change from film to digital
Those are just some of the topics I've covered with students in the past. If you're interested in something not listed, contact me. If I can help you, I'll be happy to tailor the lesson to meet your needs. If I can't help you, I'll be honest and let you know right up front, and try to help you connect with someone who can help you out.
Rates
Hourly: $45 US per hour, one hour minimum, plus travel. No one hour minimum for instruction by mail or email.
Daily: up to ten hours of instruction, $400/day plus travel and lodging.
Because of various scheduling conflicts and the difficulty of arranging things so that they're inexpensive enough to offer good value to participants but also offer a reasonable return to the instructors, I did no summer coastal workshop.
To avoid a repeat of this next year, rather than attempting to put together a regular workshop on the coast, co-taught with another photographer, I've decided to explore a different arrangement.
Basically, what I have in mind is to announce a series of dates, have people register in advance, show up on the coast in a specified location, and I'll be available for group lessons and private lessons. Each morning, I'll run a sort of 'directed' outing to a pre-scouted location. Folks who join the morning outing would pay as if it was a group lesson. In the evening, I'll lead a group portfolio review.
In addition to the obvious location topics, I'll also be happy to help folks with other issues, such as switching from film to digital, equipment concerns, etc.
As before, in the morning and the evening, the focus will be on being at various good locations and photographing. In the mid afternoon and at night, the focus will be on reviewing the days work, and constructive discussion of photography and positive portfolio review.
As always, the times chosen will be based on getting good tide alignment in the morning or evening at good locations on the WA coast.
Based on those criteria, my proposed date windows are:
- April 16 - April 20
- May 3 - May 5
- May 15 - May 20
- May 30 - June 5
- June 13 - June 18
- June 28 - July 5
- July 13 - July 17
- July 28 - August 2
- August 10 - August 14
- August 27 - August 30
My goal is to give participants the maximum amount of whatever they're interested in, in a format that's flexible enough that different folks can participate in different ways. If you're interested please send me an email and let me know what you're most interested in and give me any suggestions you have on format, topics, etc. The email address is: webcontact2@butzi.net