Students will explore the possibilities of creating a setup for shooting their artwork from readily available materials.

From the “home-made” to purchased equipment, we will explore the How’s and Why’s of what is nice to have and what is really necessary to produce good digital images of your art work with both classroom and hands on activities.

This course will cover basic 35mm camera controls on film as well as with digital cameras and how they relate to the use of available light, selection of film or image resolution, using the light meter, composition and camera accessories.

It will also include critiques and discussions on the art of seeing photographically and heightening your awareness of light within your photographs. Bring your favorite camera to class.

Nancy will also conduct portfolio reviews for anyone bringing photographs done previously or those created during the workshop. 

This is a great way to spend a fun-filled four days to learn, re-learn, practice and advance your technique and vision in a dedicated, focused setting.

Technical topics include camera set-up, movements, critical focus and of course, exposure. 

Using Polaroid type films you will instantly see results as you make progress. The bucolic setting of Peters Valley presents a wealth of shooting opportunities.

Gary has been teaching at Peters Valley for many years and has an intimate knowledge of this landscape.

For those just starting out, we can provide a camera and tripod.

This is a rare opportunity to examine the extreme opposites in Photography as often seen when comparing Asian and Western art.

Ernestine Ruben will address some of the issues of polarities such as the effects of people on the environment, the urban and the rural orientation, and the use of composition.  We will refer to Asian painting, calligraphy, minimalist art, poetry, abstraction and look at the comparison between East and West art and the historical and the contemporary.

Peter's Valley is ideal for such a project and the student will be encouraged to try new roads and diversified directions.

We will visit a variety of locations close to Peter's Valley, including New York City (the Urban Landscape).

Digital photography is required.

Internationally known Daguerreotypist Mike Robinson will spend 3 days giving the ONLY U.S.A. Masters Class in the how's and why's of producing Mercury Daguerreotypes.

Afterwards, the students will be able to return home, acquire some equipment and immediately be able to not only make Mercury Daguerreotypes but diagnose & correct problems that invariably crop up.

Topics to be covered are plate fabrication and preparation, safe management of the chemistry, particularly bromine and mercury, gold toning and equipment design and fabrication.

Class is restricted to already knowledgeable Daguerreotypists.

Learn to extend your creative vision with the use of multiple frames to create a single image.

Often times a single image does not express the idea or concept a scene provides for photographers.

In this workshop you will learn how to use digital techniques to expand your vision with panoramic photographs that are stitched digitally.

We will explore the landscape of Peters Valley to create photographs that we will stitch and print in the digital lab.

Discover these historic, alternative image-making processes. You will enjoy learning how to build multi-layered prints using a full range of colors.

Photo-sensitized watercolor is brushed onto paper, upon which translucent drawings, negatives or objects are placed during exposure to strong light.

The results are a combination of painting and photography. Enlarging small format negatives and digital captures to create negatives for these contact printing processes will also be taught.

This workshop will bring the world of film and digital photography together to utilize the many digital printing techniques that are available to the photographer.

Digital printing techniques and Adobe Photoshop have opened a new world for printing your photographs.

Participants will learn how to utilize Adobe Photoshop to create imagery with the same control one had in the darkroom.

Individuals will leave feeling that the digital darkroom is controllable and can offer users more control and creativity than the darkroom. 

The instructors follow their passions in creating intensive three-day learning experiences to help you improve your black and white photography.

Richard and Bruce believe in making the technical parts of photography - equipment handling, exposure, and darkroom work - as mechanical and habitual as possible to free the mind for creative expression.

They also have continued to use Fred Picker's foolproof application of Zone System ideas.

Consequently, they currently run three workshop topics: Getting the Most Out of Large Format, The Zone System Intensive, and Peters Valley. 

This is the workshop to take if you want to learn the art of making platinum prints using both the traditional and the NA2 platinum/palladium printing processes.

Topics to be covered include: paper choices, image color and contrast controls, basic hand-coating methods, use of step wedges and sensitometry, basic masking techniques and equipment choices for setting up your own platinum/palladium darkroom.

This workshop will explore the relationships between objects, light and space and how they come together to create meaningful images.

Through demonstrations, lighting, arrangement, etc. the class will make personal still lives that can reflect their makers’ sensibilities.

The instructor suggests working digitally in this workshop, but it is not essential.

This workshop is for all artists who seek (re)discovery of their creative juices through the use of photography in a perfect setting.

We aim to open doors and express the unknown in our creative process by identifying appropriate techniques, motivations, blocks, plateaus and risks.

Experimentation using photography is encouraged and we will use exercises and specific techniques to stretch the imagination and to improve our skills in the expression of original ideas.

At Peter's Valley, the imagination can flourish, and the atmosphere is extremely conductive to creative productivity.

Subject matter will be open. For those who request them, models can be arranged in advance.

All formats are accessible (but digital is recommended) and basic photographic knowledge is essential. 

Drawing inspiration from the inventors, explores, innovators and tinkerers of some of the originators of Photography, we will use old equipment, homemade chemistry and imagination to translate our thoughts into art using the less predictable methods of the past. 

Using their formulae and techniques, we will shoot portraits, stills and landscapes to create Collodion negatives and positives, or Ambrotypes as well as Tintypes.

We will try our hand at printing negatives using the cyanotype and salted paper processes. A basic knowledge of photography is required for this class.

Learn to control your digital workflow utilizing advanced techniques in Adobe Photoshop along with color management controls to create exhibition quality prints.

We will discuss the controls that allow artists & photographers to take back their artistic freedom with the use of advanced digital printing techniques.

Alternative digital techniques utilizing Booksmart Fine Art Metal & inkAID to expand the creative digital printing process will be explored.

Do we celebrate or honor the land? What is the difference and what direction is landscape photography taking in the 21st century? What are the aesthetics of today?

Throughout this workshop we will consider these issues and more with a variety of discussions, slide shows, critiques of personal work, and daily field trips.

Each day we will traverse the rural landscape surrounding Peters Valley, searching for the ever elusive photograph while examining the gentle beauty of a land that has been inhabited and cultivated for generations.

In addition to daily shooting assignments, topics such as posing, lighting,  placement, photographer's attitude, demeanor and methodology,  model releases, and the business of portraiture will be discussed.

The first portrait assignment will focus on fellow classmates. Using the environs of the Peters Valley campus, students will utilize both natural and man-made backgrounds.

We will then go beyond the Peters Valley environment and learn the how's and why’s of working with local townspeople.

The final day of shooting will utilize both male and female models. Discussions will include model management and etiquette as well as the photographer's preparation for working with figure models.

Tom Persinger, Owner of f295.org, will take you on a journey investigating alternatives to commercially produced lenses. Kinds of lenses, materials, designs, mounting strategies, and visualizing results will be discussed and practiced with students building and using a number of different lenses.

Construction materials, various lenses, etc will be provided so you will be able to bring your designs home to continue to use and refine.

Through demonstration and hands-on opportunities, students will learn the basics of using their digital camera and progress to an intermediate level.

Topics will include camera operation and how the controls of shutter speed and aperture relate to the proper use of available light, film speed, using the in-camera light meter for manual exposures, white balance, tips on good composition and use of camera accessories.

It will also include critiques and discussions on the art of seeing photographically and heightening your awareness of light within your photographs.

Bring your new point and shoot or 35mm style digital camera and instruction book.

Nancy will also conduct portfolio reviews for anyone bringing photographs done previously or those created during the workshop. Lap tops are optional.

This class will teach you how to prepare and sell your art work (and spare equipment) in the digital marketplace.

We will examine all the phases of digital marketing from photographing the work, figuring out where to list, to preparing the listing.

We will look at several art marketing sites along with eBay.