Nature Photography
November 16, 2009
Presented by Rex Naden

Biography

Rex Naden (http://www.rexnaden.com/) is a Los Gatos native and has been a photographer for 40 years. His initial commercial interests were in sports and wedding photography before concentrating on fine art natural landscapes. He has retired from a 35-year parallel career in the semiconductor business and has been a full-time professional for several years. He is assisting the well-known landscape photographer Charles Cramer in teaching a class called "Digital Printing for the Fine Art Photographer” at the Ansel Adams Gallery in Yosemite Valley.

Recently a weekend-intensive version of this class has been introduced to Silicon Valley with five classes in 2009. Rex’s work is on display at many businesses, medical clinics and institutions, and private homes nationwide. He is represented by the well-known Art Consultancy Suzy R. Locke and Associates.

[© Rex Naden 2009] [© Rex Naden 2009] [© Rex Naden 2009]

Defining Your Vision Lecture

Each of you as a fine art photographer owns, or can own, a unique vision of style. No competitor will see your vision, which defines your work to the world. Your vision will reveal itself in the fullness of time... but in the mean time you must lay the foundations. Once the foundations are established, specifically including an emerging mastery of Composition, the photographic artist begins to collect a body of work that will allow the identification of his Vision.

The "Left Brain" foundation is technical, including the challenges of equipment, exposure, focus, motion, wind, and moisture. These issues must be mastered with planning, technique, and experience. The "Right Brain" foundation is Composition. This lecture addresses Composition and is based upon analysis and discussion of images illustrating these elements:

Weakeners Strengtheners
Distractors Light
Confusing element placement Color
Lack of Critical Focus Simplicity
Lack of subject isolation Mystery
Lack of balance Depth
Lack of texture contrast or color contrast Design
Lack of context Subject
Poor light Pattern
Ill defined subject Texture

Open discussion will be encouraged; given the fact that this material is subjective, you may anticipate that multiple points of view will emerge!

An advanced digital projector with color-managed High-Definition output will be used, along with a state of the art screen for the most faithful classroom image reproduction.