What is aperture collective?
Put simply is a chance for me to give back. It’s my attempt to share some of the hard won knowledge I’ve acquired over the years with others. I expect to both teach and learn here.
A long time ago I went back to school and took a Photo101 course. In many ways it really helped re-assess what I was going and helped demonstrate that some of the basic skills of photography are often overlooked.
Anyone with a camera and a desire to take better photographs is welcome. I will answer questions, comment on photographs and do my best to help you with photography. I will also help those who aspire to make the jump from casual to professional photographers in any business matters.
Right now the site is kind of empty. That’s ok. Like a blank canvas it’s a great work waiting to happen. I’ll fill in where I can and hopefully others will add to the work with their questions, comments and answers as well.
Thanks for visiting.
A little bit about style
March 27th, 2010 by russell
What you won’t find here are ten easy tips to do anything. For the most part I’m not a big fan of that kind of information exchange. Which isn’t to say you won’t find some bullet points that attempt to reduce some complex concepts into something more easily digestible. Instead, what I am trying to do in the Lessons section and here on the main page is give you some starting points, some ideas, that you can incorporate into your photographs.
As well, rather than encapsulate some concept into a few “tips” what I am trying to is begin a discussion that will hopefully show you ways to absorb these concepts bit by bit rather than trying to master them as a whole. So please, ask questions. Tell me when something isn’t being communicated clearly. This is the kind of interaction I hope will set the Collective apart from other similar sites.
Finally, the critique has been a part of arts education for a long time. And while critiquing a work can often lead to new insights by others to the creator of the work, they can also be harrowing and humiliating experiences. I think tearing apart photographs is a good exercise but I am going to try, very hard, to keep this on a positive feel rather than a dismissive one. So that goes for you too, the reader. Remember that when commenting on images posted here that the goal isn’t to break something (and someone) down, but rather to disassemble a work so that we can all see how it might be better.
Thanks.
Tags: communication, critique, style
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