This week the one word challenge is Atmosphere

What sort of atmosphere can you conjure up for your image this week?

The first in a series of three episodes on Learning to Learn. Len takes his lifelong experience as a learner and over forty plus years as a teacher and distills learning what he has learnt about learning for everyone. Whilst some of this presentation is photography related it is more often pitched at a more general level about learning.

In this episode of Len’s Composition series he discusses the importance of composing the darks and shadows in your photographs. He talks about blocking in the large shapes compositionally. He illustrates this presentation with the work of Ralph Gibson, who is known for crunching his blacks and the work of Fung Ho who shows us how to get the balance between the highlights and shadows just right.

Len discusses the ethics of being a landscape photographer.

This week the one word challenge is Motion

We live our lives in perpetual motion, but can you capture it in an image?

The dance of the Highlights is an important compositional consideration. Our eyes are often drawn to bright areas of a photograph. We need to use these to strengthen our compositions, other wise they often weaken them. In this the 14th presentation in our series on composition Len discusses how to see and compose the highlights.

This week the one word challenge is Dreamlike

Who else is feeling like they are living in a dreamworld at the moment?

Len takes us through some of Larry Fink's ideas on photography. He taught photography for many years and is a recognised master in his genres. His thoughtful ideas about photography have been born from this extensive teaching experience. They are exceptionally insightful and helpful. These ideas are sourced from the Aperture Foundation book from The Photography Workshop Series; Larry Fink on Composition and Improvisation.

In the thirteenth presentation on photographic composition, Len discusses subject isolation using clean backgrounds.

This week the one word challenge is Contemplative

There has certainly been much to contemplate so far this year.

This week Len looks at minimalism.

Len shares his list of Australian landscape photographers who are well worth getting to know better.

This week the one word challenge is Destiny

Who knows what we are all destined for at the moment, current events mean that many of us are not heading quite where we were expecting to this year. How do you picture destiny?

In this presentation in Len’s series on printing your photographs, Len talks about selecting a monitor and selecting a calibration device. Len rounds off this presentation with discussing viewing conditions for your photographs. What lights to use when assessing your photographic work.

In this presentation in the Photographic Composition series Len discusses the Point of Power, the Rule of Thirds, Pi and the Golden Ratio. He shows how these are used in photography and art throughout the ages. He describes how these sacred ratios are derived from nature. Len also gives his advice on using them.

Len looks at some of the secrets of the Masters of Landscape Photography. Here he discusses the difference between chasing the landscape, in contrast to chasing the light.

Len takes us through the second part of this book, and explains how the points are relevant to us photographers.

This week the one word challenge is Identity

Doesn’t have to be your own identity, this word applies to everything and anything! Another challenging word for the week ahead.

Len’s Rules was first published in Better Photography Magazine in Spring 2016 Issue 85.

“Some serious, some not so serious, here’s how Len Metcalf tackles photography in a philosophical sense. Are all of his rules reasonable?” Asks Peter Eastway.