Len takes us through a book by Neil Gaiman about making art and why it is important.

Len gets us thinking about how to see and consider our subject that we wish to photograph.

Len’s photography is his therapist. It shows him who he is. It leads him down so many gorgeous paths. In this presentation Len discusses what his photography has taught him, and poses the question, what does your photography teach you?

Len discusses what makes a great photograph.

This presentation looks at similar issues to the previous portraiture presentation, through photographing flowers. Len talks us through considering flower photography as portraiture.

In this presentation Len talks us through a few things to think about when creating portraits…

Brooks Jenson is a photographer and publisher from the USA. His magazine ‘Lens Work’ is revered and collected the world over for its fine portfolios and high quality. I have been engaged in his work for nearly twenty years. In this presentation I introduce you to his work and his analysis of why his photographs fail. This is such a different take on my usual, concentrate on what is working and ignore the rest attitude that I have. I believe we need to celebrate the differences. Perhaps there is something here for you to learn.

A miss hap with my computer sees this weeks presentation only recorded as a zoom meeting. Luckily I make two recordings and we have this one as a back up. Luckily this presentation is full of great abstract photographs from many different photographers and makes up for the lack finesse in the recording.

This presentation introduces us to the world of Abstract Photography. I think this only is the start of this huge and ponderous topic.

in this presentation Len discusses his love for the square format.

In this, final episode of our compositional series, (only for the time being we suspect) Len discusses his rules and methods of composition. It acts as a summary of all of the composition series. It is so exciting to have completed this amazing series.

Len asks us what constitutes ‘fine art photography’? He goes on to explain the nebulous idea that it really is a vague term used to differentiate artistic photography from commercial and editorial photography. Len then explains some of the considerations that you may like to address when creating fine art photography.

In this episode of the Composition course Len discusses how photographs talk to each other. He illustrates this with dyptiches and tryptiches.

In this continuation of the series Analyse This, Len explores some early Australain Pictorialism, with John Kauffman’s introduction of it to Australia and Harold Cazeaux’s Spirit of Endurance. Other artists discussed in this series are Pierre Dubreuil and his tribute to cubism and Jaroslav Rossler’s abstract work from the 1920’s. Len also discussed Margrethe Mather’s work, she was influential for Edward Weston, and they did some amazing work together that Margrethe clearly lead.

Congruence is about bringing all of the compositional elements together to resolve a photograph. Combining your intellectual intent, your emotional intent with the visual centre matching the language across the whole photograph so that it works. In this presentation Len talks about how to tie all the compositional elements together in a harmonious whole.

Len introduces us to the concept of Shuhari from Japanese martial arts. A three step progression to mastery. He shows us how we can use this to reach new heights in our photography.

Depth of Focus is often lampooned by photographers who say depth of feeling is more important. While it is true that feeling is crucial to an images success, depth of field is a compositional element that needs careful consideration. It can add depth of feeling to your artwork. Rather than let depth of field be an inevitable choice made by the camera, why not consider it as one of your active elements of composition. Len also discusses bokeh and a couple of interesting lenses that play with focus. The video camera struggled to focus during this presentation, which is a fitting tribute to soft focus photography. My apologies for this humorous technical glitch.

Len continues oh his journey through the points made in the book “How to be an artist” by Jerry Saltz. He applies this points to his and your photography / art practice.

Balance is an important element to consider in all artworks. Len illustrates this talk with important artworks in painting and sculpture and shows us how to achieve compositional balance. He finishes the presentation by describing how to judge the weight of various elements in an artwork.

In this episode on composition Len discusses movement and time.

In this presentation Len takes us through the work of Jerry Saltz in his fascinating and insightful book on being an artist. This is part one in a two part series. Len illustrates his presentation with work from his “Our Love Affair with Trees'“ series that was co-created with Jodi Rose and is being edited in preparation for the search for a publisher.