This morning I began a class on portrait photography. The class, taught by Polly Donahue, is being offered at the Greenville Museum of Art in conjunction with Furman’s Lifelong Learning program. We meet on Saturday mornings at the museum for three weeks.
Today’s session was a general overview of the various types of portrait photography. This class could just have easily have been entitled "How to Photograph People" because it covers more than what I consider to be portraits.
There are twelve of us in the class, and most seemed to have decent equipment and more than just a basic knowledge of photography. I like the fact that we didn’t have to stop and explain everything.
After looking at examples of portraits, we headed outside with our model, Christy, to find some suitable backgrounds and lighting. It was great working with Christy, but it was difficult with so many of us wanting to take pictures. In the shot below, everyone is crowded around the museum steps as she poses.
I was able to take some shots with very good lighting.
Our homework is to find a location and decide how we want to shoot the model next week. The day will be spent with Christy. The following Saturday we critique each other’s photographs. It should be a fun class.
is this polly donahue that did the pictures for crossroads high school?
I don’t know. It could be – Tom
Guess not